little white truths

I've had this mascara open for a couple of months now, and while I don't mind it, it's not my favourite so I'm looking forward to getting through it and moving on to something else.

I've just seen however that it's had some amazing reviews, with most people giving it five stars (see Mecca's website), so it obviously works beautifully for some - it's just not perfect for me.

Hourglass claims/product details:

• Get ready for high impact lashes with this long-wearing, vegan mascara that offers 400 percent more volume in just one coat
• This all-in-one mascara delivers dramatic volume, length, lift and definition that wears all day without flaking or transferring
• Featuring the innovative double-sided 4DAmplifier™ wand, the dense bristles add volume while the shorter bristles separate and coat bottom lashes without smudging
• A tapered end ensures even the smallest lashes are reached
• Made without: animal products, parabens, fragrance, gluten, sulphates, nanoparticles, phthalates, synthetic dyes, oil, silicone D5 and GMOs
• RRP $21 AUD for 5.5g or $44 AUD for 9.4g

There's the wand above.

And there are my bare lashes below:

Wearing one coat of mascara: 

Verdict

I think this mascara is ok but it's not my favourite so I wouldn't buy it (it came as a GWP in a Mecca Beauty Loop box). Still, I've been happy enough to use it and I can see why so many people like it.

As you may know, I have huge issues with mascaras and it's rare to find products that work well for me without hassles. If you have hooded eyes like I do, you'll likely know what I mean.

My issues with mascaras are: I need lengthening more than thickening (though both is preferable) and far too many products thicken but do nothing for length; I don't like mascaras that look clumpy and unnatural; I have hooded eyes and invariably wind up with black sh*t on my puffy upper eye area when wands are too fat or poorly designed; and the hooded area can also make it harder to reach the base of my lashes (I think that's hard for everyone, but even harder for those of us with serious puff).

This mascara is ok. The brush isn't too fat so it's easy for me to use and I don't make mistakes with it, it gives reasonable length and volume, and it also doesn't smudge or flake throughout the day. 

Indeed, this is probably the best mascara I've used in terms of lasting power. While most mascaras leave me with a rim of black under my eyes by the end of the day (it looks like a rim of eyeshadow), this one doesn't and it really stays put. That's a huge plus for me personally but of course the flip side is that it's a bugger to remove and I'm often left with the rim of black under my eyes the next morning instead because I haven't been able to remove it all the night before.

What it doesn't do well, however, is separate my lashes. I always end up with little lash pyramids when I use this (you'll see that in the above photos), so I need to go in and separate them with a lash comb. Annoying. Also, it can give that spidery lash look, and I've seen a lot of people complain about that aspect so it's not just me.

Another thing to note is that my formula was very dry to start with, so it wasn't adding much length or volume and it also left little clumps on my lashes. So what I did was add two drops of saline solution to the formula, and that's helped it to give me better length and volume - something to try if this isn't effective enough for you.

All in all, I think this mascara is ok but it's not my favourite so I wouldn't buy it. Indeed, I'm looking forward to moving on to something else, because I have a lot of travel-sized mascaras in back-up at the moment and really need to get through some.

Fine but not perfect.