When Good Mascara Goes Bad...

Mascara. I find reviewing it extremely difficult, because it can be a real "Marmite" product.

Lets start with the brush - some people love a plastic comb, some love a traditional "spoolie" brush. Thats before we even think about the "new generation" of wands which are a hybrid of the two... and what about shape? Straight? Curved? "Spoon shaped"? S Shaped? A spiky torture ball?

Then there's the formula - some love a wetter more runny consistency, while some like a thicker consistenct of product.

Also, every one seems to love a different effect with their mazzy - some like length, others volume, some want curl, some want all three. Some like a bit of a clumping fake effect, others are all about the natural look.

It's a jungle!

One of my all time personal favourites is YSL Faux Cils. As with every single product on the market though, it's not perfect - one of the most common criticisms of the product is that it dries up pretty quick - I've always found that 3-4 months is the longest I can get out of a tube, and at £21.50 a throw, it's an expensive one to fall in love with.

This comes in 6 shades - Black, Brown, Sublime Grey, Violet, Burgundy and Blue. It was also recently released in the high pigment black version - "Noir Radical".

In the past I have only ever bought the normal Black version - I first picked it up for my wedding day (my love of the mascara outlasted the love of the now ex-husband...) and repurchased several times. I then started blogging and testing out lots of other mascaras. But recently I felt like treating myself and this was calling me. I decided to try the new Noir Radical version - after all, a mascara can never be too black really for my tastes.

The packaging and wand are all the same as I remember...

The wand is my favourite type of all - a traditional large, but not too large full brush. It also still has that familiar rose scent to it, which I personally really like - some obviously will hate it though!

It's the type of mascara you can tell you are wearing - its quite dramatic, but I love that - having paid nearly £22 for it, I want it to stand out!

So far so good hey?

But the title of this post kinda gives away the fact that something aint quite right with this mascara.

I'd heard rumours of this transferring and running, but I hadn't noticed any problems... until now.
Consisently this week I have been driving home from work and glanced in the rear view mirror to see a member of Kiss looking back at me.

Ok... slight exaggeration, but there's definitely a problem here...

See that smudgy dark stuff under my eye? That's not actually supposed to be there. I haven't even been rubbing my eyes, crying, sneezing or any of the other stuff I'd expect to cause mascara to run...

Another problem with the mascara is that due to the vast amounts of black pigment in the formula, it's very hard to remove. I use a balm type product at the moment to get this off. I'll often remove it at night, and then on getting up the next morning will notice I have panda eyes after I finish in the shower. I mean I knew that an extreme black mascara was going to be very pigmented, but really? A day later and still there?

The bottom line is though, that I still love this mascara in general. I'll be buying another tube in the future, but this is where me and Noir Radical part company. I'll be sticking to the regular Black version from now on!