Review: Maybelline New York Volum’ Express The Hypercurl Mascara

I am jealous of all those people who have thick, long, dark and voluminous lashes. I have few girl friends with envious lashes and even some guy friends with thick dark lashes. Then why not me??!! I have sparse and almost straight eye lashes which are hardly noticeable. So, it is obvious that I always look out for mascaras that can give me those fluttery lashes. So, recently when I finished off my Maybelline colossal mascara I thought of trying a new one and ended up buying Maybelline New York Volum’ Express The Hypercurl Mascara. Read on to see if it delivers what it claims.

Maybelline Says: Enjoy beautiful curled lashes with Maybelline New York Volum’ Express The Hypercurl Mascara.
Featuring a powerful curl-lock formula, this mascara gives you voluminous, curled eyelashes for up to 18 hours. Sweep on this mascara and add definition and drama to your eyes!
Here’s why you’ll love it:
• Has an exclusive curl-lock formula that gives you dramatically curled lashes
• Adds volume for expressiveness
• Keeps lashes curled and voluminous for up to 18 hours
• Comes in waterproof and washable variants

Price: Rs. 275

Packaging: It comes in standard Maybelline mascara packaging with a black glossy body and rose gold text. The top is as usual screw-open types. You can find the shade name at the bottom of the tube.

My view: The one I bought is in the shade “Very Black” and this is the washable variant.

The previous mascara that I was using was a water-proof one and Oh my God!! it is such a pain to remove a water proof mascara. I always ended up rubbing too hard and few of my eye lashes would always fall off in the process of removing the mascara. For someone who already has sparse eye lashes, seeing her lashes fall off is one BIG shock! For eye lashes, the rate at which they fall is always greater than the rate at which they grow. Do they even grow back ever?? Like seriously, do they??

So, I preferred buying the washable variant for the Maybelline New York Volum’ Express The Hypercurl Mascara. I like the packaging. It is pretty. The brush is little curved and the bristles are small and dense. The brush is however pretty sleek and it fails to curl my lashes.

As the name suggests Volum’ Express, Hypercurl..I was seriously expecting it to do miracles. But, it did NOT. All it does is darken your lashes and may be adds little bit of length. Thats it!! No volume, no curl. Nil. Zilch. Nada. I tried to make it work by applying the 2nd coat but that didn’t help either. Infact it clumped my lashes badly..very badly. No one likes clumped lashes. I don’t. Do you?

I am highly disappointed with this product. I had loved my colossal mascara but this one is a big failure.

This is good for everyday/office use when you just want to darken your lashes a little bit which is not very evident. They should have named it “Everyday Mascara” and then I would have definitely given it a big thumbs up but since it says hypercurl, volum’ express I expected it to do much more so it is a thumbs down from me.

Take a look at the photos below and decide yourself.

Let me know if any of you guys have used it and how you felt about it and if you are planning to buy a new mascara you can totally skip this.

Rating: 2.5/5

See from the sides. do you see any curl? I don't.

This is what I meant. So clumpy!! Ew!!

Maybelline Colorsensational Moisture Extreme Lipstick- Bronze Orange

This is my own first ever lipstick. Yay!! I researched a lot before finally zeroing onto Maybelline lipsticks as they are pocket friendly,offer great quality & a wide variety to choose from. I decided to buy one from Maybelline Colorsensational moisture extreme range. But I was confused whether to buy mlbb types or a bright one. Since this was my first lipstick purchase I didn't want to go overboard and wanted to start with a single lipstick.
So after looking at hundreds of lip swatches online I desperately wanted to buy Maybelline "My mahogany" or Maybelline "coral pink". I finally made a list of all the cosmetics I wanted to buy and went to the store. (I was soooo excited!!!) I asked the SA to show me the 2 lipsticks that I wanted to buy, but "coral pink" was out of stock. As soon as I saw "My mahogany" I was sooooper happy. But all the happiness vanished and my smile turned into a frown when I tried the lipstick. It did not show up at all on my pigmented lips [read pink :)]. duh!! I was soo upset.
But since I was determined to buy my FIRST lipstick I decided to continue my search.

Finally I found a beautiful shade which was exactly what I was looking for. The frown again changed into a big & a wide smile :D
The shade is just sooo PERFECT for my pigmented (read pink) lips. I can wear it as mlbb with a single swipe & can build it up to an orangy/brownish/n*de shade. I love it!!! I am also surprised that nobody in the blogo-sphere has ever raved about this shade. It's a wonderfully perfect color especially for all the beauties with pigmented lips.

Shade: Bronze Orange (CB42)

Color & Pigmentation: It shows up as a n*de orang-ish shade on my lips. It's well pigmented.
It can be worn as a MLBB with a single swipe & can be built up with 2-3 swipes into a n*de-orangy shade.

Texture: It has a creamy & soft texture with a glossy finish. I love to reapply it. Neither does it dry out my lips nor does it settle into the fine lines.

Staying Power: It stays for 3-4 hours on me (without food) and fades away leaving a slight tint behind.

Final Verdict: This is a great product, especially for the girls with pigmented lips.I think it will suit people with fair to wheatish skin tone & might not look good on dark beauties. I will definitely be repurchasing this particular shade. It has become my HG shade now & will also love to try out other shades from this range.

Take a look how it looks on me:

without flash

with flash

P.S: Sorry for the bad pics. Most of my pics got deleted by mistake..will update this later.

VOV Kajal/Kohl Swatches & Review

I truly believe that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder…. that’s why I like to keep my eyes pretty and beautiful :) 

Kajal or Kohl is that product which most of us can’t do without. It’s the basic makeup product which all of us own..soooooooo basic that it’s actually thought of more as a necessity rather than as a makeup product..(atleast I think so) 

I have been wearing kajal for the past 7-8 years now & for me it’s as important as water. Without it I feel NAKED..!!! (you understand now..!!). People who wear kajal know that a day without it makes them look sooo SICK and WEAK!!  Seriously guys..!!! (It’s a great way of making excuse to your teachers/boss in case you want a day off ;) )

Without any more blabbering let us move onto the product:

Price: Rs. 130 (big) and Rs. 85 (small)

My View: I have been using VOV kajal for more than a year now and I must say that it’s really good. I have used lots of kajals (lakme, Revlon, maybelline, lotus etc) but I found this to be the best among all of them.

PROS:

• Staying power: It stays for good 7-8 hrs on me with just a little bit smudging. (mind you I have watery eyes)
• Color & texture: It’s highly pigmented and has a very smooth texture but doesn’t melt.
• Although it isn’t water proof but it doesn’t get washed off by water easily.
• It comes in simple pencil form (big size) as well as in form of retractable pencil (small size).

CONS:

• The only con I can think of is that it is not available in retractable form if you want to buy a bigger one.

me wearing VOV kajal

(L-R) single swatch, double swatch

                                                                         washed & rubbed

me wearing the kajal