Quick and dirty on cheap mascaras..

About a month ago, I picked up a few tubes of mascara from Target and decided to give them all a test run to see if I could find a cheap, daily-use mascara that I liked. Here's what I found out..

Absolutely no mascara (please excuse the wild eyebrows)

L'oreal Voluminous Power Volume 24-hour Mascara

 

• I wasn't especially thrilled or overly disappointed with this mascara. It promised "extreme results" that ended up being a little more extremely globby than anything. The consistency of the mascara was clumpy and dry. It may have been partially the odd brush that, to me, looked like a miniature version of either the big spinning cloth thing in the car wash or a Swiffer duster. I was able to build it and get a little more of a dramatic look, but it just wasn't working out, and I wouldn't put this stuff in my daily rotation. I actually gave it to a girl I work with who was going out after work and needed mascara. I won't miss it! Overall: I give it 2 out of 5 stars. Nothing spectacular, but what nonetheless it stayed on fairly well, however it did get flaky.

L'oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara

• Another from L'oreal Voluminous line. I had read about this mascara on another blog and decided to see if it measured up to all the hype. And it didn't disappoint. For 9 smackers, it's not bad! It applied easily. I like the brush much better..it's elastomer rather than a fiber brush, however it -so- wobbly that it makes precise application a pain. It got a little sticky and clumpy when I decided to go over my lashes a time or two more, but as long as you're careful and the brush isn't super-loaded, you should be good. This is for sure a mascara I would fall back on if I ran out of my usuals. Overall: I give this stuff a 3 of 5 stars. It's a good mascara. If they had put a better brush on it, or at least a less flexible one, I'd like it a lot more!

Maybelline Illegal Length Fiber Extensions Mascara

• This stuff was probably my favorite of the bunch. I liked the brush better than the actual mascara. It's a straight, fiber bristle that you can get in the tight areas and really hit those hard to cover lashes. The mascara itself is a little ho-hum, but it gets the job done. I used it for three days during the week, and it wasn't half bad. It lasted fairly well through the day up until the third day when a flake got in my eye and then it was all downhill from there. Overall: I'll say 3.75 stars of 5 on this one. It's good. Just don't get it in your eyes..paaaaiiinn!!

Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies Mascara

• This was another blog-recommended mascara. Bottom line..there is no truth the these falsies! After about four coats of this stuff, my lashes were covered, clumpy, and nothing close to what I wanted. It's dry. The flex brush is terrible - I honestly almost took it back before I used it, thinking the wand was broken. And I had a one-way ticket to TFB raccoon city. Overall: 1 of 5 stars. I do not recommend this stuff. Period.

Hard Candy Lash Ink 4 Day Lash Stain Mascara

• I picked this mascara up on a midnight trip to Walmart for almond milk (gee thanks Walgreens for not having it). First off, as the name implies, this is a stain. Nothing about this mascara, if you even want to call it that, will give you those dreamy long lashes that every girl would die for. It's a stain. And stain, it does. It reminded me of ink, which basically I guess it could be considered cosmetic grade ink. It's almost runny, but it goes on fairly well with the exception that it will get on your eyelids. The brush is a teeny-tiny, pencil thin dense spiral fiber that gets into and in between the lashes for good coverage. My eyes did burn a little when I first started applying this mascara, but I think it may have been more so from the odd smell than the actual product going on my lashes. It's almost a hair-dye smell. Good stuff though. I would recommend removing it nightly because it may stay on four days, but it'll also put some lovely black smudges on pillow cases if you wallow around in your sleep like I do. Overall: 3.5 of 5 stars. If they could incorporated this into a lash building mascara, it would be awesome!

None of these mascaras were anything really out of the ordinary, but considering they were all under $10 a piece, I was surprised to find a couple that I actually do use fairly often (Illegal Length and the Hard Candy stain). This was a fun review though! 

If I could recommend any mascara right now, it would absolutely be Benefit Cosmetics They're Real.

I love it!!

(Note: No compensation was received for reviewing any of these products.)