Saturday, May 8, 2010

Rimmel The Max Volume Flash Mascara (Review & Swatches)

I bought this Rimmel The Max Volume Flash Mascara ($7.50 at CVS) soley based on packaging. I'm usually not one to do that -I usually read tons of reviews before buying anything but the flashy pink tube with gold writing really drew me in. I also heard a few good things here and there about that "hot pink Rimmel mascara" so I figured why not?
The Packaging: As I stated already, I love the flashy bright pink tube with the gold writing. It's very fun and girly -something that really catches the eye. I have no problems with the tube itself. Now above is the little illustration on the cardboard packaging of what the brush is supposed to look like. It's described as "their biggest brush ever," so I'm here thinking, "WOW, this brush must be gigantic!!" I've had good experiences with other huge drugstore mascara brushes so I had high hopes. Now when I opened it, I realized the brush wasn't really huge at all. Plus, I like my mascara brushes to be I guess very "fat" and "full" (not sure how to describe this.) This Rimmel brush felt a little more "medium sized" for a "big" brush -like there were some empty spaces. Compared to other "big brushes" like Prestige's My Biggest Lashes and from what I can remember, Maybelline Colossal and CG Lash Blast, this brush didn't seem very big at all. It also felt very "bristle-ly" and "plastic-y" like a toilet scrubber thingy. You know how you have your plunger and then you have a toilet scrubber thing to clean the toilet bowl (it's usually white).. well it reminded me of that.. those types of bristles.
Above from left: Prestige My Biggest Lashes brush, Rimmel The Max Volume Flash brush.
The Product: For a volume mascara, I'd say this gave me very average volume. I was hoping for a little lash length in there too but no luck (then again this is NOT a lengthening mascara though.) The only good thing is that my curl lasted -but my lashes pretty much always stay curled throughout the day. Now back onto some things I didn't like.. The mascara made my lashes very thin and "crunch" which didn't feel good or look good at all. My lashes looked dry and flaky and bits of mascara would fall around my eyes. It was also incredibly clumpy -which I can usually handle with my trusty lash comb but no matter how many times I "combed" my lashes, they were stilly clumpy and crispy looking. Also, the color was your average basic black (I bought the normal 001 Black.)

Eye Swatches.. (Please excuse the brows and random hairs!!.. I know it's not very fun to look at.)
Overall: For me personally, I wouldn't buy this again. It didn't really do much for me except make a flaky, crispy looking mess. In the picture above, my lashes look I guess decently long but really, that's all my lash curler right there. I have to remind you that my lashes are naturally thin or and not super long to begin with so I'm always looking for miracles when it comes to mascara. I'll still be sticking to Prestige's My Biggest Lashes, which gives me great length, volume, curl, and decent color. I'm thinking this may work for people with longer, thicker lashes but I did find it to be flaky and clumpy. For me personally, I give this a solid C because I found it to be an average mascara (it did it's job of volumizing averagely) but the packaging was fun.

6 comments:

  1. just found your blog and love it! :) love your eyes! hehe

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  2. Thanks! And so glad you're enjoying the blog. =)

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  3. those mascara looks great! You look so flirty in those eyelashes hehe. I agree with you on Nicole Scherzinger, it's more like Nicole Scherzinger + pussycat dolls cuz it's always about her! No wonder they broke up!

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  4. Thanks! Not liking it much though thanks to the flaking. Yea.. stinks that they broke up but I guess that's what happens when you got Nicole + the other dolls. I didn't even know the other girls' names!

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  5. Thanks for the review, Kali! I almost bought this too, thank goodness I didn't and decided to stick to my trusty CG LashBlast! : )

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  6. Yea, I ALWAYS want to buy new things even if I have something that works great for me. Why do we do that? I'm happy Lashblast works for you! It didn't for me. =\

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