Mascara Monday- L'Oreal's Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara

Bonjour!!

Hope you had a great weekend! Yesterday I went to Target and had a bit of a beauty haul.. do doo.. and helped a gal pick out hair color, haha! She was in the aisle and turned to me and said, "How do you know which one to choose?" So I started in... and by the end she had her color, AND I gave her a $3 coupon I had clipped that morning. The kicker was that I was in a baggy shirt and baseball cap (pink!) and she still took me seriously, haha!! Seriously though- I LIVE for when that happens! I love talking to people and helping. Mmm warm fuzzies. =)

**Also! Ulta is having their 21 Days of Beauty, which started Sunday. What is it? Each day they feature certain brands and have demonstrations and you can sign-up for applications and such. Also, there's a special discount on 1 product each day. I'll keep you updated at the beginning of each post, as follows:**

Ulta's 21 Days of Beauty, Day 2: Stila, Philosophy. Deal: Stila Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliners, buy one get one free. 


Anywho! Up for today is L'Oreal's Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara in Black Crystal, $10.99 at Walgreens.

What it claims:
A new two-step lengthening mascara professionally developed to illuminate your eyes.
   Step 1: Lengthen and Intensify. Adds volume and length to lashes while intensifying eyes.
   Step 2: The illuminating top coat infused with light-reflecting pearls highlight your eye color with 
   exclusive sphere tip brush.
Clump free, flake and smudge resistant. 


Let's take a look!

Sphere illuminator on left, base mascara on right. 

Mascara brush. (I love this brush!!)

Illuminator brush. More on this later. ;)

Without mascara. 

Without mascara.

Without mascara.

Just the mascara, no illuminator.

Just the mascara, no illuminator.

Just the mascara, no illuminator. (My wonky lashes on the right are me, not the mascara.)

Check out that definition!! 

Mascara with Illuminator on top. 

Bling Bling!

In the whole, I really like this mascara! I've worn it for a few days, and it is very easy to apply (notice the definition and no clumps!) and it stays fairly well. I did experience some flaking, and also I had to reapply before going out one night, but that still was a good 9 hours of wear. 

As far as the "illuminating" which I basically think is "glitter," haha-- I haven't quite made up my mind about this. I think a nice, glossy mascara is probably about as glitzy as mascara should get. It tends to come off more as eyeshadow that fell into your lashes than an intentional sparkle. It is kind of fun to add a little pizazz every so often, though. ;)

The brush for Step 1 is AMAZING. I really have to give L'Oreal credit for this-- all of their Double Extend mascaras are really decent formulas with great brushes. The brush for Step 2 is not so great on it's own, (see the review for Telescopic Explosion here), but as far as a brush to put another product on top of mascara? It works quite well. Something with the bristles and how they don't really match with the "normal" brush just.. works. Interesting! It also adds just a smidge more length~

It did a good job of lengthening, though not as much as I'd hoped from a lengthening mascara. However, the definition and lack of clumps made up for this! So many mascaras just don't do well at that. The volume was lacking, but it's not marketed for that so I can't hate on it. 

What do you think? Do you use mascaras that are catered to your eye color? Or just plain ol' brown or black? 

Until next time--

~Beauty Maven