Benefit 'they're Real' Mascara Review

In an older post from a couple of months ago, I issued a warning about fake benefit products on eBay - the one I was unfortunate to purchase was the, what I thought, the 'they're Real' mascara. I photographed the wand and showed how it reaaally isn't the real thing. See the post here.

After getting a refund card in Debenhams with £14.50 on there that I had to spend in the shop, well, my mind ran away to the makeup section, even though that October I had already bought a gazillion other makeup products. I was actually looking for a waterproof YSL mascara that is, considering my lack of luck, discontinued. Looking for mascaras to hold curl, I gave up because the elderly women at Dior and Chanel boutiques scare the c*** out of me and I feel they didn't really like me saying "nah this isn't good, bye" to them. Finally I turned to benefit with their massive-titted woman with the massive letter across her and bought the mascara without even trying it, that's how tired I was.

  

The packaging isn't all fabulous, but it's handy and  the tube is smaller than the usual long mascaras, thus a slightly shorter wand. It does feel like quality. 

 Above is 3 coats of the mascara on curled lashes. What I've noticed with this mascara is that it doesn't deposit black product on the upper waterline (which is something I want because it adds depth and definition to my tiny eyes), which is a negative for me. I guess that's the "natural" look but I don't like it. I find that I have to wear it with my Stila Major Lash Mascara because it does a fantabulastic job of getting that blackness on my waterline: 

As you can see - no curl. Almost none at all. Does it curl better than some other mascaras? Well, yes. It does have a tiny bit of an uplifting power over, say, Bourjois Elastic Mascara which just does absolutely nothing to my lashes (mind you, it's not a curling but a lengthening mascara, and it does a decent job at the latter). Overall, I do like how it makes my lashes look and feel - it has a random sort of rubbery feel to it. 

Is it really "smudge proof"? No. I asked the lady at the counter whether there will ever be a waterproof version and she said "it doesn't need to be, it's water resistant". Silly lady. It runs like the Niagara falls.

The brush has mixed feelings from me, even though it is this mascara's main selling point. See picture below. It's a plastic brush, something I love and hate. Love because it separates lashes, or at least tries to. Kind of. Are my lashes separated? Not really. First coat is fine, but after the second I have to use a clean mascara wand to try and fan my poor, miserable lashes out a bit. Does the famous ball-shaped spiky end work? Not for me. If you examine the picture below you will see that a tonne of product collects in the end of the brush (as it always does) and thus you have to work pretty hard to get it out, and even so, you will damage those spikes in the end. It is supposed to be used for the hard to reach lashes. Sure, I would use it, but the dollop of product that is in the ball puts me off the idea.

Why hate? Because it kills my poor eye skin. It hurts like a b****. I do not use this everyday and would not recommend it to others. The spikes scratch my waterline, they scratch my lash line, they scratch everything. For the result that I get, the pain isn't worth it. And actually, it is never worth it, ladies. Seriously. 

 

Have a silly picture of my face with the applied mascara and crazy hair. As you can see, it really doesn't do much for me and the dream of a larger eye helped by curlier lashes is lost on this mascara. Nonetheless I will continue using it as a day time mascara and throw it into my makeup bag, but it will be added to my "Meh" list of mascaras that have failed to become my holy grails. 

:) x 

PS I forgot to mention that I do not use this mascara on my bottom lashes because it clumps! Not as bad as some other mascaras (Revlon Grow Luscious Waterproof Mascara, I'm looking at you) but still pretty bad, and I like my bottom lashes to just be coated thinly but be very black for definition, and for that, I use Stila Major Lash (♥).