Pretty Pretty Pretty

Review: Beauty tubes August 17, 2008

Beauty tube, wtf??? Well beauty tubes were first developed by Kevyn Aucoin, writer of the Making Faces make-up books- that is if you believe the lady at Mecca Cosmetica who told me so. And since being developed, the idea has spread to many cosmetics brands. And here I’ll review L’oreal’s version.

But first, ‘tubes’ in the world of mascara refers to the effect this new range of products has on each lash - it surrounds each lash with a latex-like substance, which thickens, lengthens, and awesome-ifies lashes. The tubes are apparent when you remove your mascara, at which time the tubes slide off the lashes using only water!

Check out the advertising and product claims here.

The above photo shows the L’oreal mascara (on the right) benchmarked against one of my favourite mascaras - YSL’s Everlong (on the left).

Good points about the L’oreal beauty tubes:

• It really does lengthen and fatten lashes.
• Leaves a ‘false eyelash look’, great for going out.
• Washes out in water cleanly, leaving no smudgey black panda-ing (if you are under the shower).
• Reasonable price (approx. $NZ30).

Bad points:

• It’s really heavy, and does clump lashes together.
• Not a natural look - I wouldn’t wear it for ‘everyday’.
• It takes 30 secs to remove if you’re using a cotton pad - that’s a long time. In fact it is quite difficult to remove using a cotton pad, and blobs of black remain all around the eyes. BUT if you shower to wash it off, it removes entirely.

Verdict: On balance, I still prefer my YSL for most mascara wear. The L’oreal is great for going out, when you can spend the extra time to apply (you need to apply primer & black) and to remove. But it is fussy to apply - I recommend having a lash brush handy to brush out the clumps. And it looks a bit ott for everyday.

For more info on new mascaras see this herald article about mascara.

In the News: YSL RIP June 2, 2008

Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent died, aged 71.

I wouldn’t ordinarily give too hoots about high fashion, but I’m a fan of a few cosmetics that fall under the YSL brand - Baby Doll, Touche Elcet, and YSL mascara. These products are so luxurious, and such a treat to use. Plus I love that my local YSL counter lady is a beautiful 60+ year old. She’s given me great tips on YSL products, and she told me that you don’t need to replace your mascara as often as ‘the experts’ tell you. Just wash the wand regularly, and it’ll last 6-12 months.

Free Sample: Guerlain mascara

My curly-haired-friend lucked out during a casual stroll past the Guerlain counter. Here’s her story:

The lady at the Guerlain counter gave me a free sample of their new two-brush mascara. I tried it out and I have to say that it is not as exciting as it looks. You get one large brush for the top lashes and smaller one for the bottom ones.

The fantastic thing was that this mascara actually lasted the whole day without running. The bad thing was that I found the big brush didn’t really do a good job of separating the lashes, they kind of all separated thinly and it didn’t really plump them up very much. While the smaller brush did a good job for the smaller lashes, I don’t normally use mascara on my bottom lashes so I found that it was a little redundant.

Overall, the actual mascara was not much better than lower priced ones and the two brushes are ok if you actually use mascara on your bottom lashes.

Free sample: Lancome Mascara May 27, 2008

I clipped a coupon from a magazine that let me get a 2ml sample of mascara from a Lancome counter. When I presented the coupon to the lovely Lancome lady, she generously gave me two to try.

The first is the Virtuose, which got good reviews on Totalbeauty.com. It promises 6 times the volume.

The other is Hypnose, which also got good reviews. It promises 100 Degree Lash Curve with Divine Length All Day. CurlGuard formula lengthens and holds a divine lash curve for up to 12 hours. The KeepCurl brush provides an outstanding eyelash curler effect.

So I road tested them for you. Here’s me with no mascara:

Here’s me with the Virtuose on the left and Hypnose on the right.

                                          LEFT: Virtuose                        RIGHT: Hypnose          

Method: I applied the mascaras to each side for approx. the same amount of time using the same application method (straight up from roots to ends, over and over), and under the same conditions (slightly steamy bathroom, clean eyes).

Verdict: The Virtuose certainly does curl lashes - I was surprised at this actually, because I’m dubious of such claims. And it goes on nicely, no clumping. The curved applicator is a bit hard to get used to though.

The Hypnose is a bit disappointing. It’s super clumpy, as you can see from the picture. So difficult to tell if the ‘6 times the volume’ claim is true (even if I could measure it). And it was a bit messy - I ended up with black bits on my eye lids.

I slept in both mascaras (in the name of science) and they both lasted really well - no smudging over night. The Hypnose is probably the most water resistant as it was difficult to remove even with eye make-up remover.

I like my current brand of mascara, but if I wanted curly lashes in a flash I’d go for the Virtuose.

Maybe you could be cheeky and ask for one of these samples without the coupon thing I clipped from a magazine. It’s worth try!