I saw Sugar Shock‘s Kristen Vinakmens at a press meet recently and experienced sharp lash envy. Upon my obviously resentful “wow, you have great lashes,” she attributed their drama to L’Oréal Paris Extra-Volume Collagen Mascara ($11.95 CAN/$9.99 US). I’ve not yet tried it because I’m on hiatus from mascara (got killer lash extensions I’ll tell you about soon), so here’s Kristen’s snappy review while I go find my sample before staff snags it for herself.
*****
Confession: I’ve never met a mascara I didn’t like. Well, okay, that’s not entirely true – there’s been a few of the smudge-y, flake-off, lacklustre volume variety that have have failed to meet my Bambi-eyelash expectations. But for the most part, mascaras set my heart – and my eyes – aflutter because of their quick-fix beauty results. And L’Oreal’s latest offering, Extra-Volume Collagen Mascara, has passed the Bambi test with flying colours. It’s the latest in the Voluminous line, which is one of my all-time favorite mascaras. First, the brush: pull out the wand and behold the mammoth applicator, which is a full 50% bigger than a regular brush. It’s so big, in fact, that it might instill fear of a mascara-eyeball collision. But I’ve discovered that such a huge brush is a good thing, because it grabs and coats every single lash in one fell swoop. I was also, admittedly, a little skeptical at first of Extra-Volume Collagen’s uber-sci-fi-ish formula, with its blend of water-binding hyaluronic acid and collagen, which is typically used in dermo-cosmetic treatments. But not surprisingly perhaps, Extra-Volume Collagen won me over by giving me pumped-up and wide-eyed lashes with maximum volume. Lashes with body? Yes, it’s possible! Seriously, I don’t think I’ve had lashes this big without wearing falsies.
For more from Kristen — definitely check out her post on gorgeous cosmetics line Chantecaille — visit Sugar Shock at sugarshockbeauty.com.
L’Oréal Paris Extra-Volume Collagen Mascara is available in Canada right now at Well.ca (free shipping in Canada; no minimum order) and drugstores as of July 15th; and in the US at lorealparisusa.com.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
could u pretty please try this soon ??
i need to know what YOU think…..
no offence to the person who tried it, but I KNOW you, and trust your judgement….
i have to say i am a huge mascara slut, the commercials for them suck me in time and time again….only to be disappointed….
and i wanna know how easy it is to remove for us contact users !! ::))
Janine,
I can’t wait for your post about lash extensions. I’ve been so curious, but I’d like to find out where you got them.
darling,
i have stay in lenses, they stay in for a month at a time !!
hence the contacts comment. ::))
nope i dont need to……
just have to be really careful that i dont rub too hard…..
and it is cool to wake up and be able to see. ::))
J, I just went out and purchased this product blind yesterday. I was thrilled to see this post and have some positive feedback. I’ll be sure to post my comments once I’ve cracked open the tube. As you know I’m a big fan of the L’Oreal Double Extend series thanks to you and my wedding. Their latest efforts (red and white tube) do not disappoint. I felt like I had falsies on with each use. I wasn’t too jazzed about how it came off though. The little tubes that wash off the ends of your eyes freaked me out at first. It just took some getting used to. Hopefully this new addition to their mascara family won’t disappoint.
Hah ha — thanks for the support, Tania :-) Kristen’s pretty savvy, and her enthusiasm over this mascara puts it at the top of my list to try when my extensions are done with.
I’m puzzled by your wondering how easy it is to remove for contact users — that you wear contacts shouldn’t come in to play when it comes to taking off mascara. You should remove your contacts first and use eye makeup remover to get mascara off anyway. How do you usually do it?
I got them at Kirsh Cosmetics Studio at 503 Marlee, which is between Lawrence and Eglinton, just west of the Allen. More expensive there than at many other salons because it includes the purchase of an oil-free makeup remover or lash sealant. Post to come…
Does that mean you don’t take them out? How cool. But wait — you don’t take them out when you clean off your eye makeup?
Cool. I can’t say whether this mascara would be good for such a contact-lens situation or not, though Tania. I suspect the only person who could tell you would be another who wears the same kind of contacts. I know for me, I’d take my contacts out to clean makeup off — as it is, I run into too many women who never get all their eye makeup off properly, even though they don’t wear contacts.
You rock, KP — I can’t wait to hear what you think!
Yeah, the tube-formula mascaras can freak a girl out when removing because at first you think you’re losing lashes (you’re not, but it takes a bit to figure that out, as you did).
The brush for this mascara is pretty fierce; I’m looking forward to trying it when my extensions are done (week six or seven and still going strong, though!).