I don’t think it’s a huge secret that I am a cheapskate. Which works well with my life right now. I buy store-brand food and medicine. I buy hair products from the Generic Value Products line at Sally. I only buy clothes that are on sale. Am I making my point?
One of my favorite things in the whole wide world is makeup. Typically, I wear drugstore makeup; wearing only bareMinerals on my face is my one exception. I have a couple of other “nicer” makeup pieces, but they are few and far between. You are going to see a lot of CoverGirl, Maybelline, and L’Oréal in my makeup case. It’s not that I don’t enjoy the fancier brands, I just can’t justify spending the extra money on them right now.
My hunt for the perfect mascara has been an obsession. OBSESSION. And that’s putting it lightly. I have tried every drugstore mascara in the world. My favorites are L’Oréal Voluminous and CoverGirl Lash Blast. I love them, but they always leave me wanting more. I thought that maybe my eyelashes were the problem. They are blonde and fine and not all that long. Mascara might be great and everything, but it can’t work miracles. Or can it?
Chelsea gave me a tube of Benefit’s They’re Real! mascara last weekend. She said she thought it was awesome but that it got all over her eyelids in two hours. I was willing to give it a try. I quickly put on a couple of coats, without doing the rest of my eye makeup, and liked the way it looked. I thanked her and slipped it into my purse.
I did my makeup for today, and decided to give They’re Real! another spin. I applied eyeshadow primer (as I always do), a shimmery champagne shadow all over, a dark gray/brown in my crease, and black liner on the top and halfway across the bottom. Then I applied The Mascara. Now, keep in mind that I am not a one or two coats kind of girl. I do a good two coats, let it dry, curl my lashes, and do one more light coat to separate my lashes. HOWEVER, I have never had results like this. See for yourself:
Sorry for the creepy stare. It was the only way I could capture the full effect on camera. I mean, LOOK AT THEM. Yes, those are my real lashes. I never want to wash my face again.
I didn’t have the problem of the mascara rubbing off on my eyelids. I think the primer/shadow combo took care of that. I feel that I have been able to achieve this look with Voluminous and Lash Blast, but it never STAYED this way for longer than a couple of hours. When I took this photo, I was a good 6 hours into this mascara. It stayed put and my lashes stayed curled.
The only bad thing about this discovery? Trying to figure out a way to not feel guilty about spending $22 on mascara. I’ll get back to you if I make any headway with that.
Note: Another mascara of Honorable Mention that I’ve recently tried is Maybelline The Falsies. Not as natural looking, and a little harder to work with (clumped easily and I didn’t like the curved “spoon” brush), but stayed curled pretty well and gave the same effect.
Note 2: I will be doing a tutorial of sorts for my Ombre Glitter Nails (featured in the first photo) later this week. They were a bit hit at Glamazon weekend.
Look at me! You’d think I’m running some kind of makeup blog!
Comments on The LfT Review: Benefit’s “They’re Real!” mascara
From Manderz:
I’m looking forward to that nail tutorial, because they look so cool!!
And I think I might have to buy me a tube of They’re Real because I love what that mascara does for you, so now I have to see what it does for me. Even at $22 + whatever stupid Canadian mark-up is.
From Kara:
I haaaaate trying to find the perfect mascara. I’m currently using Lash Blast Fusion by Cover Girl and it seems to do pretty well on my stick-straight and short eyelashes.
They’re Real looks amazing though! I have no idea if I could justify spending that much on a tube of mascara, if I could even find it in Canada!
From Suburban Sweetheart:
My favorite is from Urban Decay, Second favorite, Blinc. Both are too expensive but so worth it.
From MaDonna:
SO cute! I just spent my Sephora gift card from Christmas on Benefits BadGal Lash, which I do love, but now I wish I picked up “Theyre Real” instead..
From Laura:
I wish you hadn’t told me about this! Your lashes look amazing and I have major lash envy. But, I just looked this up at my local makeup store, and a tube costs around $30 here in England. If you figure out a way to not feel guilty about the price, share it with me! In the meantime, drugstore brands it is.
From Lisa:
I recently got Avon’s Super Shock mascara and love it. My lashes are non-existent and it gives me nice full lashes and doesn’t end up smudged under my eyes at the end of the day.
From Alice Rosenhagen:
That was a sludge from Santa this year to find the best mascara….I, oops, Santa had heard it was pretty awesome and I, oops, Santa had been wanting a new mascara to use that wouldn’t smudge and clump, etc. Santa thought the girls could try it first….apparently Chelsea didn’t like it but glad to know you did. It wasn’t cheap though BUT IF IT WORKS , then go for it!
From Amanda:
Put Vaseline on your eyelashes at night, wash off in the morning, apply mascara (I use voluminous too), and you will be amazed at the length and volume!
From Drea:
Wow, that’s after 6 hours of wear!? I usually use Voluminous and after 6 hours, my lashes are sad and straight again. Womp womp. I dunno if I can bring myself to use “expensive” mascara, though. The tube doesn’t last long enough for me to justify the price!
From Jill:
Ummmm I think I will be shelling out $22 to try this mascara. Because YOUR LASHES LOOK AMAZING!!!! Yes, potentially stupid if I don’t like the mascara, but I have a sephora gift card burning a hole in my pocket. I tried the Falsies and I didn’t care for it. I just felt like it gave me clumpy lashes and didn’t do much for me.
From ...love Maegan:
OMG YOUR EYELASHES ARE AMAZING. Wow.
From Sarah:
Those are my favorite drugstore mascara brands too, except with the L’oreal Voluminous I like the million lashes one. I’m definitely going to have to try the Benefit. I’ve been using Lanomes Hypnose Drama lately. At 26 bucks it’s not cheap, but good mascara is worth every penny.
http://www.lancome-usa.com/Hypnôse-Drama/1000371,default,pd.html
I have fine blond lashes too.