Rimmel's latest mascara offering: 3 looks in 1...

Rimmel's latest mascara offering is the 3 looks mascara. My initial thoughts were ones of confusion, 3 looks in 1? How can that be? Even when I got the mascara home and examined it I was still a bit perplexed. It finally occured to me that when you twist the dial, the pressure at the top of the tube increases or decreases, thus allowing more or less mascara on to the wand, depending on your desired look. You probably are a bit smarter, and worked that out quicker than me. The pictures on the advert are so exaggerated it's not even funny, so I decided to conduct my own little test to show you what the different looks you can really create are. Turning the dial to number 1 is supposed to create 3 times more volume; number 2, 5 times more volume and number 3, 10 times more volume than your ordinary lashes. Ok... so below is a picture of the wand to give you an idea of the amount of mascara released on the wand on each dial, top left is number 1, and going clockwise, 2 and 3. Sorry they are not the same size exactly, but hopefully you can see the difference in the wand each time.And below are pictures of the mascara when applied with just one coat. When twisted to number 1, lashes are really separated well with just enough volume to enhance your lashes without it being glaringly obvious you're wearing mascara, a nice natural day time look.Number 2 for me is probably the best way to wear the mascara. More volume yet still enough separation so you don't get that nasty spider looking lash situation. The only problem with this was I felt like I couldn't achieve the right length with my lashes. They seem a little stumpier in this picture. I guess I could fix this with a dash of another mascara on the tips, something specifically for lengthening.Number 3 is below, different lighting in the shot, but you get the idea. My lashes were pretty lengthy after application but I'm not too keen on the volume side of things. You can see from the top picture of the mascara wand that when the dial is on number 3, there is a LOT of mascara on the wand, and that's the problem, the bristles on the wand can't really do their job because the wand is overloaded. So instead of separating it just kind of puts a huge chunk of mascara on your lashes which you're left to try and sort out. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who doesn't use mascara a lot. I wear it everyday almost without fail, so I feel I'm a pro at applying it on myself by now! I could see myself getting in a mess with this if I wasn't so familiar with the whole process though. Looking at the picture I think it resembles the spider lashes I was talking about. My lashes are volumised but it's like I can count how many lashes I have which just isn't quite right.

My overall conclusion of the mascara: I like the idea of it more than the actual mascara. 3 looks in 1 seems too good to be true, and sadly yes it is. If you want to create 3 different looks you probably need 3 different mascaras. Personally I think it's better to have a mascara that is buildable. Examples of these are L'oreal Lash Architect, and Rimmel's Glam Eye Mascara. They really separate your lashes so you an build up the volume by applying a greater number of coats. I sort of think this mascara is trying to do too much. It works well on number 2 though, and that can be built up but then it renders the other dial numbers useless. So honestly, this is a bit of a gimmick which I clearly got suckered in to. Like I say, nice in theory, but it doesn't represent what Rimmel is about. I really rate Rimmel mascaras on the whole, I have quite a few reviews on here, but this just isn't one of their best. It's probably better for someone looking for a daytime mascara, using it on dials 1 and 2 depending on how dramatic you want your lashes, but I'd steer clear of number 3, it just doesn't deliver what it's meant to and their are plenty of better max volume mascaras out there.

Anyone tried this and had more success?

Bourjois 1001 Lashes Mascara Review

I briefly mentioned this mascara in a recent post but didn't give much of an opinion on it. It turns out I really like this mascara. I have quite low expectations with Bourjois, I find their eyeshadows quite boring and not very well pigmented, their nail varnishes chip super quickly and anything else I've tried to be a little overpriced for the quality. That said, I do really like their mascaras. I went through a phase of wearing nothing but the Volume Glamour mascara, I loved the plumped up lashes I found myself with, that no other mascara could match with just one coat.

I've since become very fussy about what I want my mascara to do, and I no longer just want volume, but length and separation too. (We girls are allowed to be fussy!) I can't really fault Rimmel's Glam'Eyes mascara for achieving all three and that mascara has definitely earnt its place as one of my HG's. I would say the 1001 lashes mascara is on a par with Glam'Eyes. It might not look much in the picture below, but this is just one coat, and I've found that it's very easy to build up for a more dramatic look. Also I'm not blessed with very long or thick lashes!The bristles are shaped very similarly to Glam'Eyes and aren't at risk of snapping off, they're firm but flexible. What makes this mascara unique is the shape of the wand, the bristles are kind of twisted around which actually helps to coat more of your lashes. I would highly rate this mascara, it's good value for money, (on offer right now around £6 at Superdrug I think) and is a pretty innovative design.

I love the super sleek packaging too. I did at first think this was a lash primer because of the white packaging, but I've found it's easy to pick this out of my mascara collection amongst all the black tubes!

Bad points? I've noticed that as the day wears on, I end up with a slight black mark on my brow bone from this mascara. That's because it really curls my lashes up to the point where they keep touching my brow bone. Slightly annoying yes, but it goes to show what it can do for my sparse eyelashes. If they bring out a hardier, waterproof version I think my problem is solved.

Just another reminder about my giveaway. I will be picking the winner really soon, so you have one more day to leave a comment if you want to be entered!

Rimmel Mascara Overview

It seems like there's a new mascara released every other day and it's difficult to know which mascaras do what they claim, and which aren't worth your money or time experimenting with. Now I've tried a lot of mascaras out there, but generally I go for affordable drug store brands since mascara is something I use on a daily basis and consequently get through the most amount of this product over any other. I think it's very easy to get suckered into the advertising campaigns, who doesn't want sky high, beautifully thick lashes? It's pretty pointless looking at those advertising pictures and thinking that's the effect you're going to achieve. More often than not, that photo you see isn't a result of the mascara but is created by false lashes. I'm not against using false lashes, I love them, I just wish that these adverts wouldn't give people false hope in trying to achieve something unattainable from a product. I would rather see exactly what the mascara does, and know what I'm buying in to beforehand.

Rimmel are one such brand that use false lashes in their advertisements. This isn't to say that their products don't work, just not to the extent that they claim. Over the last few months Rimmel have released four new mascaras which I wanted to review and compare for you to help you choose which is the best one for you.

The first of the four to be released was Magnif'eyes which people seem to either love or hate. I wouldn’t recommend buying Magnif’eyes at all, it really did nothing it claimed to. It’s supposed to give 70% uplift, so it’s quite unique in the way it lifts your lashes, rather than lengthen and volumise, this way it should give you a more awake look. I don’t feel I achieved this however, it didn’t seem to lengthen, volumise or lift my lashes, just made them look darker! A few of the bristles fell off the brush which I think is a common problem when this mascara was first released, maybe Rimmel have worked on the brush now but I wouldn't risk using it again. Perhaps if you already have nice thick lashes this would be a good everyday mascara if you want a natural look, but for me I can say it did very little which is why I have no pictures, because I no longer use it.

Next to be released was Lash Maxxx. Now after Magnif’eyes I wasn’t sure what to expect but I thought I’d give it a go because the brush design seemed quite innovative and completely different to Magnif’eyes! There’s only one way to apply the mascara, it has two sets of bristles, finely separated like a comb design so is pretty simple. This is very effective in separating your lashes and manages to coat them wonderfully. This mascara does for me what I hoped Magnif’eyes would do and more. Not only does it separate but it gives great length and volume, AND is clump free!

I think it's definetly worth a try if you haven't already. I've also found this mascara a good one to use after applying Loreal's Lash Architect, it builds up the volume even more without clumping, so is a great alternative to false lashes if you want a dramatic look without the hassle of applying them. Following Lash Maxxx was Glam'Eyes, my personal favourite. The brush design is completely different to Lash Maxxx, but gives a similar effect. It has bristles the whole way around the brush, alternating between short and long bristles, again these bristles are very close together so give great separation. What makes this mascara one of the best is the way it's easy to apply and unlike Lash Maxxx, you can build the volume on all your lashes. The short bristles make applying it to your lower lashes and the corner lashes very easy, this was slightly more difficult with Lash Maxxx because all the bristles are the same length, you'd have to angle the brush to get in the corners. It's great for everyday make-up aswell as special occasions when you want to build up the intensity.

The latest installment from Rimmel mascaras was Sext Curves mascara. Again this mascara had another innovative brush design which I hadn't seen before. The best way to describe it would be three spiky balls! The idea is that it will give you more emphasis on some lashes than others, creating a curved effect. I'm not too convince by this. The rubbery bristles work quite well to separate your lashes but I didn't feel I got much of a curved effect. Certainly after using Glam'Eyes I think I'll be hard pushed to find a better mascara. Like Magnif'eyes, I think this a mascara for a natural make-up look, when you don't neccessarily want people to know you're wearing it. Another alternative use for this mascara would be to just apply it to your bottom lashes. It's one of the few that is incredibly easy to use in this area and practically fool-proof in never getting any mascara smudges beneath your lashes.

So there's my overview of Rimmel's mascaras, hope you found it useful!