And guess what I thought? It’s Mascara Monday time for our gorgeOUs N&Kers!

Let’s re-state our review rules:

1. We bought all mascara ourselves (which means nobody is paying us).
2. We wear each mascara for a week.
3. All mascaras purchased were black, and the darkest black they had available.
4. Every mascara used was put on the exact same way, with only two coats. All eye makeup for the comparison pictures was exactly the same.

That’s it…there are no more rules.

Wait…maybe one more…the opinion is ours…take it or leave it. Believe it or not. These are just our 2¢.

What we want in a mascara

Lasting Curl

Staying Power

Colour

Separation

Volume

Length

Most reviews talk about these 6 points. The first 5 are important to me since I’ve got naturally long lashes².

The problem is that my durn lashes ramrod straight. So, I’ve got to bust out the eyelash curler first¹. Doesn’t matter if it’s a mascara dipped in gold. Without that lash curler, the mascara will not reach its full potential.
Application. So after curling and applying Rimmel London’s 24 Hour Supercurler, I found that the product applied quickly, without much fuss.
Curl power. This product didn’t curl my lashes very much. But, once I cyborg’ed it up¹, the mascara worked well.
Staying power. It lasted quite a while. In fact, I found that I needed to get a Q-tip in there after cleansing to ensure all the product was out. (Lots of other people experienced this as well. See some other reviews.)
Separation. That curved brush is thick and it’s got some junk in the trunk. Angle that brush around & work it for your lashes. As the product has a thin consistency, lashes were separated beautifully with no porridge-y clumps.

Colour. Yep, the colour was “very black”. See Volume as this affects appearance of Colour.
Volume. Oh sigh. Here’s where it falls short. I got length, separation, curl power, colour… do you really need volume, too? Can all 5 equally co-exist in 1 mascara? I layer my mascaras anyways, so I’d just pair it with a volumizer.

Interesting tid bit: Rimmel London gives a dupe on fake lashes here. Did this dupe work for you?Did this dupe work for you?

Would I buy again (Yes!) & would i recommend it?

For newbies this is a good starter mascara.

For the seasoned mascara-ists, you’ll have to pair with a volumizer.

Footnotes

1 Mr Nals calls me cyborg when I’m using the curler. I’ve found that when I put curler under the hair dryer for 2-3 seconds, the curl is intense and adding a good mascara suspends it in curl-perfection.

2 My lashes have lengthened and volumized with EyEnvy eyelash conditioner! Our review is available here.

This week Nals

will be reviewing Katy Perry’s Katy Kat Eye mascara (by Covergirl).

Their kitch

. . . is the sculpting brush.
Indeed this is a swashbuckling brush, all swirly and packed with bristles. It applies the product to your lashes, with luscious accuracy.

Red dot eyes show results after 2 coats

drawback

The product is a bit thick so wipe it off real good before applying. (The first time I used it, I didn’t and ended up with a gd huge black molten glob in my eye… and had to trash the contact¹.) The issue may not lie in the mascara’s viscosity, but rather, the scooping expanse of the brush.

Conclusion?

Defo try this mascara… but not ideal for the novice user.
Footnote:
¹Truth be told, the black glob looked like something out of X-Files.

To read previous Mascara Reviews, please search our Mascara Monday tag.

Mondays can feel like a real drag. That’s why we bring Mascara Mondays – to jolt some excitement back into your week.

(Our other reviews are under the Mascara Monday tag.)

Today, I will be reviewing

⇒ ⇒ Length Matters ⇐ ⇐

I am a Julep Maven.* As such, every month, I get a box of polish, skincare or makeup goodies from Julep. So when Length Matters arrived at my door step, I said “Come on in, honey.”

To remind y’all about The Rules of Engagement:

1. We paid for everything ourselves and were not comp’d.
2. 2 coats were used for the photos with same make up.
3. This is just our opinion. Take it or leave it.

The brush: plastic nubs on a plastic base. Julep site describes it more eloquently.

The formula: on the thin side.

Positives:

• Doesn’t clump easily.
• Good price point for Julep Mavens.
• Thin formula = easy application.

Considerations:

• Doesn’t give a luxury coat to the lashes. Julep site says this is buildable colour. So keep applying til you get what you want. (sigh… if only the rest of life was like that…)
• Not readily available in drug stores but easier to find than EyEnvy.

Conclusion:

For lengthening, sure it looks like it does the job.

But we all know it’s also about thickness. So, here it falls short. Can I fault it for something that it doesn’t claim to do? Not really.
So my 2 cents: try it if you are a novice or want natural looking lashes. I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy it. But I’d happily use it if it came in my Maven subscription!
Footnotes:
*if you’d like to try out Julep Maven subscription box, we may be able to get you a few bucks off. Just leave a comment below. And we’ll email you with the deets. (When you leave a comment, the web master will ask for your email. Please don’t post your email in the comments for gen pop to view.)

Have we enticed you to try this mascara?

What are your thoughts?

Kells started us off with a bang with several Mascara Monday reviews. (Feel free to search our tag cloud for her Mascara Reviews.)

Today, I will be reviewing

⇒ ⇒ EyEnvy ⇐ ⇐

No spoiler alerts here (hee hee) but the love story began with a co-worker of mine. As if she had stepped out of game of beach volleyball, in to my life walks Miss T. She sports an au naturel look with lashes that go on for dayzzz. I asked her the secret. She told me EyEnvy serum. Then off I trotted like a truffle piglet, snout to the ground… and did I find the serum? Hells to the nope. Firstly, only select places sell it. Of those places I visited 3 with no luck. And I fruitlessly called a myriad of others. SOLD OUT! Scant weeks before Christmas & can you imagine the nerve of people to gypp me out of a precious bottle!

So I begrugingly settled for the EyEnvy mascara. Pfft. Peanuts.

Sooo … I have sensitive skin, a sensitive schnoz and sensitive freaking eyes. Initially, I thought I was the s-word to EyEnvy. This is because the next morning, my eye were sore puffballs. This happened several morning before I figured out the culprit.

Turns out, this stuff coats your lashes like a second skin. So when removing makeup, add a 2nd step: Get out your cleanser-covered Q-tip and get to cleaning up in there for an extra minute or so. (Like one of those skin-eating pedicure fishies… but… not weird or as creepy.)

Once I did that, all was shanti.

So, to remind y’all about The Rules of Engagement:

1. We paid for everything ourselves and were not comp’d.
2. 2 coats were used for the photos with same make up.
3. This is just our opinion. Take it or leave it.

The brush: conventional.

The formula: is thick and sets kind of quickly. Make sure you do your coats quick but thin. So after swirling your brush in the bottle (not pumping like it’s a bicycle-tire pump), do a few good zig zaggle squiggles near the roots to build volume then move up to ends. Don’t just do your coat roots to tip. You must squiggle.

Positives:

• My lashes got thicker after using daily for just a few weeks. And for you skeptics, the thicker lashes still look thicker with other mascaras, too.
• It has staying power.
• It’s got tons of coating power. (But I needed >2 coats to get the desired effect.)
• Colour=Very black!
• Compact product line.

Other Considerations:

• Not for the novice as one needs to build coats quickly and thinly like a pro.
• Clumps quickly (avoid this by applying thin coats).
• Not waterproof.
• On the expensive side – especially if you’re just trying it out.
• Poked my eye a few times with that hard as nails brush.
• Semi-challenging to source – can’t just pick up at your local drug store.
• Need to pay extra attention to removing product – I thought I was sensitive to it until I started the Q-tip step.
• Only available in black (at least in the stores I looked at).

Conclusion:

Once I figured out how to apply & remove it properly, I fell in love. I have long lashes but they don’t stay curled. With EyEnvy, my lashes are thicker and longer and… remained curled.
→For the seasoned mascara-ista: thumbs up, must try!
→For the newbies – stick with drug store specials till you hone your technique.

Have we enticed you to try EnEnvy?

What are your thoughts?

VOLUMINOUS FELINE NOIR MASCARA

As you know by now, I always start with the simple rules I followed when taking the pictures. They are:

1. We bought all mascara ourselves (which means nobody is paying us).
2. We wear each mascara for 1 week.
3. All mascara’s purchased were black, and the darkest black they had available.
4. Every Mascara used was put on the exact same way, with only 2 coats and all eye makeup for the pictures was exactly the same.
5. That’s it…there are no more rules.
6. Wait…maybe one more…the opinion is ours…take it or leave it. Believe it or not. These are just our 2 cents.

So what’s the deal with this black cat of a mascara?

It’s actually pretty good. Aren’t you glad I’m not so negative this week?

For starters, the brush is great. I find the little nubs help get close to the root and allow for the lashes to be coated well and separated. All the things that I like.

The mascara itself is nice and dark, which is what I look for. AND it doesn’t clump like some of the previous weeks I have tried.

I also wore this to the gym, like I usually do and it did not streak or smudge. Which I think is a bonus. To me it means it has good staying power.

Sadly, I do have A boo.

This formula tends to be a bit dry. I find you have to get that wand a good swooshing around the tube to whip it up. If not you may find that it dries out to fast.

So what do others think of this mascara?

I read LOreal’s website and here’s what others are saying:

(nada)

Well…here’s the thing…no one has made a comment on Loreal’s website about this mascara! So I have no idea what others are thinking. However, I’m sure they would agree with me! After all, I feel that over the past few weeks I have really started to know a good mascara.

Would I buy this one again?

Yup!

Would I suggest it to others?

Yup.

Let me know, have you tried this one? What did you think?

Oh, and as for me and mascara Mondays…I will be taking a break…and letting you all hear from Nals. She’s gunna give some mascara’s a roll. Stay tuned.

Just another Mascara Monday in the books. This week was a new mascara by Covergirl called Peacock Flare.

For a little reminder, I will start with the rules I follow. I’m sure by now (and if you have read the past few weeks) you know them. But just in case, they are as follows:

1. We bought all mascara ourselves (which means nobody is paying us).
2. We wear each mascara for 1 week.
3. All mascara’s purchased were black, and the darkest black they had available.
4. Every Mascara used was put on the exact same way, with only 2 coats and all eye makeup for the pictures was exactly the same.
5. That’s it…there are no more rules.
6. Wait…maybe one more…the opinion is ours…take it or leave it. Believe it or not. These are just our 2 cents.

So what did I think of one of the newest mascara’s launched by Covergirl? Meh. I had high hopes. It’s in a pretty bottle. The brush is easy to hold. And that’s really about it.

First, the brush. Like I said it’s easy to hold, which I highly suggest Covergirl continue to use. However, the brush itself is odd. The nubs (yes, I am calling them nubs) on the brush are short and it’s not totally clear in the pictures I took, but some are super short. According to Covergirls website it’s a “feather-fan brush” that’s supposed to help coat and separate each lash. But not really.

The first few days I really liked the mascara itself. So I was excited about the week of fab lashes thinking I would be walking around with these feather like lashes. Nope! I was let down. Man* does it dry out fast. But the end of the week it was starting to get a little clumpy and needed some finessing to get the lashes right and the clumpies off.

I just read over some of the reviews on Covergirls website. Needless to say, most people agree with my assessment. One person calls the wand bare, and another person compares the mascara to an old dried out mascara. There are people that do love it though…but I wonder if they have changed their mind after using it for a week or longer.

Have you tried this one? What do you think?

Oh, and if you have a mascara you think I need to try, send us an email at nalsandkells@gmail.com and we will be sure to check it out!

Let me break it down for all you N&Kers. But first, I will go over the rules I follow:

1. We bought all mascara ourselves (which means nobody is paying us).
2. We wear each mascara for 1 week.
3. All mascara’s purchased were black, and the darkest black they had available.
4. Every Mascara used was put on the exact same way, with only 2 coats and all eye makeup for the pictures was exactly the same.
5. That’s it…there are no more rules.
6. Wait…maybe one more…the opinion is ours…take it or leave it. Believe it or not. These are just our 2 cents.

This week I applied Covergirl’s Plumpify blastPRO. Hmmm….where do I start? Ok, let’s start off with what I didn’t like because unfortunately there’s more I didn’t like.

First, the brush. Oi, that brush. I think Covergirl was trying to reinvent the brush, but I’m sorry, did no one try it out before rolling it out? This brush is not soft, oh no, it’s hard and scratches you. If you are like me, you like to get as close to the root of the lash as possible. However, try getting this brush in close! Let me tell yah, you will feel it if you touch your lid. It will scratch you. It should change it’s name to Meangirl.

Once you get past the scratch of the brush it’s an ok mascara. Now, if you like your lashes to have a super natural look, that doesn’t really look like you are wearing anything, this is the perfect mascara. It certainly does not Plumpify by any means. But it will separate each lash with a thin coat of mascara giving you a darker natural looking lash. To me, that doesn’t equal plumpify. Plumpify says bold, big, fluffy, juicy, dark lashes. Not thin and natural.

That being said, this is a perfect mascara (if you don’t scratch  your lids off first) for that day look, going to the grocery store and the gym…but…be warned…it sweats off easy. After my gym routine I did need to wipe off my lids and under eyes. So maybe if you are trying to impress that hottie at the gym, don’t wear this! Unless you don’t sweat like cheese in the sun!

So what did I like? Glad you asked! I did like that it gave a natural look to the lashes. Yes I do like a good bold, dark lash. But not for everything. I mean, do I really need bold lashes for breakfast dates, or dimsum? Ok, maybe I do…but I could settle for a nice natural lash.

Also, I just went and read the reviews on the Covergirl webpage. And people seem to agree with me on the brush. Leelu commented ” If the brush were less harsh and offered softer bristles this would be a perfect product!” Can’t say I would go as far as perfect product…but “less harsh” is a good way to put it.

But like I have said in the past, if you like this one, hey you go girl*.

Side note, when we use a * after girl or women or any gender descriptive word, we are saying we are inclusive of all who identify.

Anyways, back to Mascara Monday…

Again,

Let’s start with the rules I follow:

1. We bought all mascara ourselves (which means nobody is paying us).
2. We wear each mascara for 1 week.
3. All mascara’s purchased were black, and the darkest black they had available.
4. Every Mascara used was put on the exact same way, with only 2 coats and all eye makeup for the pictures was exactly the same.
5. That’s it…there are no more rules.
6. Wait…maybe one more…the opinion is ours…take it or leave it. Believe it or not. These are just our 2 cents.

This week I got to test drive Maybelline’s Lash Sensational Luscious Mascara.

Alrighty then! This week was soooo much nicer than last week.

So let me start with the yays.

First of all this is a thick dark cream, which is great…however, I could also say it’s a nay…but I will get to that in a minute. Personally, I do like a good thick mascara.

Next “yay” was the brush. It’s angled, so it allows you to get to the smaller lashes and closer to the root of the lash. Interestingly enough, when I showed a friend the brush earlier this week, that was what she said she didn’t like. (Then I got to watch her painfully attempt Gigi Hadid’s fiber mascara, as she accidentally got fibers in the eye, ouch).

Finally, this mascara, even though it’s thick, it doesn’t dry out. There’s a mascara coming up in the near future of reviews that drys out fast. But not this one, which is great for all day, flexible wear.

Now the nays:

I have 2 nays…

1. Try and wash this mascara off…a hot shower with soapy water will not do the trick. You definitely need to invest in a good makeup remover. This whole week I have been exiting the shower as a raccoon. You think it would be so cute, but no! It’s hilariously horrid. I’m like a raccoon after a night of drinking and crying over something that just isn’t worth crying over. So be warned. If you are trying to impress someone and want to exit the shower all cute and fresh, this will not help you!
2. And honestly, if you look at the reviews on the Maybelline website for this mascara you are going to get the same thing I am saying here: because this mascara is thick and creamy, it can be clumpy! You can’t just pull out the brush and start putting this on, no no…you need to prep the brush, clean off the extra. A little goes a long way. And as I have said in the past reviews about applying more than 2 times to get it the way I like it, this mascara does not need that. The more you add, sometimes it stops being so luscious and starts to get lousy, clumpy and just plain ol’ messy.

Would I buy this one again? Yup.

Would I suggest it for a mascara newbie? Nope. 

Should you buy it? That’s your call!

Oh!  If you have a mascara you think I should try…Please let me know! I’d be happy to give it a whirl.

Leave me a suggestion in the Comments below.

Let’s start with the rules I follow:

1. We bought all mascara ourselves (which means nobody is paying us).

2. We wear each mascara for 1 week.

3. All mascara’s purchased were black, and the darkest black they had available.

4. Every Mascara used was put on the exact same way, with only 2 coats and all eye makeup for the pictures was exactly the same.

5. That’s it…there are no more rules.

6. Wait…maybe one more…the opinion is ours…take it or leave it. Believe it or not. These are just our 2 cents.

So what is this weeks Jet Black mascara? The Covergirl So Lashy!  Ugh…I’m so disappointed with this one as I love love love Covergirl Mascara (in the past I have tried and used many times, their LashBlast and really liked it). On the Covergirl website others tend to agree with me, giving it a 3.8* out of 5.

Honestly, I’m trying to think of a positive thing to say…and I’m stuck. I was thinking that little spiky ball would add something special…but it doesn’t. Since I’m headed down the path of reasons why I don’t like it, I guess I will just dive in…

1. The wand. It’s not that great. It’s not consistent all around it, so you have to find that perfect angle. And really there is no perfect angle.
2. I stick to my 2 layers in the pictures I take and then usually I find I do more than 2 layers just to get it the way I like it. However, I found I could spend so much time going over and over my lashes and they still never looked that fab.
3. I found this particular mascara smudged easy and ran. I test all the mascara’s at the gym too. And this one, over the last 2 I tried, definitely needed to be wiped off my lids and under eyes before leaving the gym.
4. The stupid spiky ball. I was thinking it would be helpful, but it’s really not. It just gets in the way. You finally think you are getting somewhere but the stupid ball keeps screwing it up.

Bleh, I feel bad for being so negative. Sorry Covergirl, but this one isn’t solashy, it’s sosucky. Not even worth trying it on sale. Don’t forget rule #6. If you love this one, then hey, that’s great! (I just hope you bought it on sale!)