Maybelline Great Lash Lots Of Lashes Mascara Review

I've never really had great luck with Maybelline products. I used to love their Express Finish and Colorama nail polishes before they were reformulated/discontinued, and I bought their makeup remover every now and then, but that's about it. However, after trying and loving four new products in a row from them (one of them being those Lasting Drama gel eyeliners which I still think are absolutely amazing), I'm starting to change my mind about Maybelline. I've been trying more of their products when I would have avoided them before. And now I'm about to say something that I've never said, and never in a million years thought I would say:

I love Great Lash.

Great Lash Lots of Lashes, at least. I've always hated the original Great Lash. My mom used to use it and would occasionally buy it for me and I thought it was the most pathetic mascara ever. Over the years, I'd see it win awards in various magazines and so I'd buy another tube expecting it to be awesome, but no, it never did a thing for my lashes. So, I'm not really sure what inspired me to buy this new Lots of Lashes version. Could have been that Maybelline was buy one, get one 50% off at Ulta, but... yeah. For one reason or another, it found its way into my shopping basket and I fell in love.


What I didn't know about this mascara when I bought it was that it's the original Great Lash formula, just with a new and different brush. Maybelline describes it as "heart-shaped" and I can kinda see that, but it's really more elongated, like a tapered cone where the bristles at the base are longer than the ones at the tip of the brush.

Ingredients
(click to enlarge)


Maybelline Great Lash Lots of Lashes in 140 Blackest Black
I didn't actually figure out that it was the same Great Lash formula until I had already used it about a dozen times. It doesn't say that it is anywhere on the package, it only says that it's new. Only when I went to Maybelline's website to see what other colors they had did I find out that it's just Great Lash mascara with a different brush. I don't know how just changing the brush could make such a difference, but somehow it does.

"America's favorite mascara even after 40 years, now with a heart-shaped brush."

What I liked:

• This mascara gave me great length, volume and definition in only two coats, without clumping.
• The brush really does grab on to each individual lash, lengthening and defining without depositing too much product. It's like a little lash comb.
• It's dirt cheap. $5 for a 0.43 oz tube.
• The hot pink and green tube is cute. That's the one thing I've always liked about Great Lash.
• Easy to wash off, doesn't leave a lot of black residue around my eyes like some mascaras do.

What I didn't like:

• It flakes. Every Maybelline mascara I've ever used has flaked on me, and this is no exception. It's not severe, and it's less flaky than the other Maybelline formulas I've tried, but my usual mascaras never flake and this one does.
• The Blackest Black shade is really not as black as it could be.

This little $5 drugstore mascara really impressed me. I'm pretty devoted to my beloved Cover Girl Lash Blast, but this is half the price and nearly as good. I think the results speak for themselves. Change the brush and Great Lash mascara actually does something. Who knew?

Maybelline Color Show Limited Edtion Fall 2012 Nail Lacquer Collection Swatches and Review

Just spotted this cool new collection of Maybelline Color Show nail polishes. They have their own display apart from the regular Color Show display and according to their labels, they're all limited edition. The Maybelline Color Show Fall 2012 Limited Edition colors are:


Maybelline Color Show in 700 Avante Green. Green-blue-gold multichrome with metallic chrome finish. Looks like China Glaze Unpredictable to me.


Maybelline Color Show in 705 Auburn Ablaze. Brown base with red and burgundy shimmer. Has a slight purple tone to it at some angles, but looks mostly brown with cool red shimmer on my nails.


Maybelline Color Show in 710 Metal Icon. A medium silver-grey multicolor/rainbow shimmer. There's a lot of different colors in here, but they're subtle. It looks mostly like a grey base with chunky silver shimmer. It's not a Chanel Graphite dupe, but it's similar.


Maybelline Color Show in 715 Boho Gold. Warm gold, olive, yellow-green and blue multichrome with metallic chrome finish. Not a dupe of Chanel Péridot, but pretty close to Deborah Lippmann Swagga Like Us.


Maybelline Color Show in 720 Pink Cosmo. Light pink, lavender, gold and green multichrome with metallic chrome finish. Similar to a lot of the recent pink/gold/green duochromes (Nails Inc. Stratford, Deborah Lippmann Sugar Daddy, China Glaze Swanky Silk, etc.), but lighter and slightly cooler-toned.


Maybelline Color Show in 725 Downtown Brown. Warm, very red-toned brown base with teal-green blue duochrome shimmer. Similar to Urban Decay Bruise / Misa Embroidered Emerald. Basically it's MAC Club eyeshadow in nail polish form.

The formula on these was good but very thin. All the shades were equally thin and very sheer- I needed four coats of each to achieve full opacity and that's what I'm wearing in these pictures. The only actual problem I encountered in application was that a few of the brushes were defective; one had bristles sticking out, one was cut at an angle and one was flared at the ends. Dry time was fast despite doing four coats.

This collection seems to be riding on the Chanel Graphite / Chanel Péridot chrome-finish multichrome/multicolor shimmer trend that's really big right now. I like how duochrome-heavy the collection is, but I already own the original versions of a lot of the colors so it's a bit redundant. However, these are pretty cheap (around $3 each), so they might be a good way to satisfy a lemming for one of the more expensive dupes without having to pay as much.

New Maybelline Color Show Nail Lacquer Collection Swatches and Review

Maybelline has a whole new line of nail polish out in drugstores now. It's called Color Show and it consists of 40 colors. The display has the colors divided into categories (like crackle aka 'shredded', shimmer, foil, creme, et cetera) and there's a very good variety to choose from. Maybelline shows all the colors on their website and they have an app you can download to virtually try on all the colors. I only picked up the ones that looked the most interesting at the time: Denim Dash, Styled Out, Twilight Rays and Wine & Dined.


Maybelline Color Show in 10 Denim Dash. A light-medium dusty aqua-leaning blue with flaky foil shimmer. This blue is one of those muted blues that I love, like Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue. Bright color but not clean and crisp. The shimmer in this is cool, too. Flat, flaky foil particles with silver-blue-green iridescence.


Maybelline Color Show in 20 Styled Out. Similar to Denim Dash, just darker, more of an actual denim color, and with pure silver shimmer. I can't decide which of the denim blues I like more. I might have to go with this one because it's a little darker and it has more shimmer. They're both really cool, though.


Maybelline Color Show in 240 Twilight Rays. A black creme base with large, chunky, flaky gold foil shimmer. Some of the gold flakes flash green, which in some lights causes the entire polish to have a greenish tint. Kinda like how China Glaze Wagon Trail is black with gold shimmer yet the polish seems olive sometimes. I love this one, and I especially love how big the gold particles are.


Maybelline Color Show in 420 Wine & Dined. My label says wine and dined, the Maybelline website says "wined and dined", I'm not sure which is correct but I'm going with the label. Anyway, this is a vampy duochrome glass fleck. It's a blackened red-brown base with wine, purple and bronze glass fleck. At an angle, you can see a golden duochrome color shift. Like a browner, less sparkly version of Nicole Sounds Grape To Me. I see a few larger pieces of shimmer mixed in with the glass fleck, and I even see some sparks of bright purple now and then. It's a gorgeous color, but I think it looks better in the swatch than it looks on my nails in real life; seems more shimmery on camera.

The formula on these was mixed. I found the two dark colors to be runny and difficult to control. The blues, however, were perfect. Dense and smooth, not runny at all. The brushes aren't the best shape and size for getting a good curve around the cuticle, but it's nowhere near as bad as the Express Finish brush. I did three coats of each polish and only the darker colors needed all three. Dry time was average.

Quite a few interesting colors in this collection. A lot of common ones that you probably already have (red creme, silver foil, black crackle, stuff like that), but still a few really good ones. I think I'm going to go back for some of the purples next. I wonder if they'll ever expand this range to have special effects topcoats... It would be like a reboot of Colorama! Still holding out hope for something like that. Colorama was awesome. I miss it.

I bought mine from Walgreens, $4.99 each. They're on sale buy one, get one 50% off right now.

Maybelline Eye Studio Color Explosion Luminizing Eyeshadow in Amethyst Ablazed

Not to long ago I posted a review of that Maybelline Color Explosion Pink Punch palette and didn't really care for it... Yet, for some reason I decided to buy all but one of the Color Explosion palettes anyway? Okay, it was for the awesome glitter, but still... stupid decision. Anyway, here's another one of the Maybelline Color Explosion palettes- this one's called Amethyst Ablazed.

Maybelline EyeStudio Color Explosion Luminizing Eyeshadow Palette in Amethyst Ablazed.

Man, that looks SO PRETTY, doesn't it? Can't deny how insanely gorgeous this looks in the palette.

Here it is swatched heavily over Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion.

And here's a look I did using it:

I used the light shade on the inner lid, medium shade on the rest of lid and in the crease and on the lower lashline and the glitter on the center and inner lid with Fyrinnae Pixie Epoxy.

This palette is slightly better than the Pink Punch in terms of color payoff, but I still don't think it's good. It's patchy as hell no matter what primer I use it over and the colors just don't want to stick to the skin or blend at all. You can see how patchy it looks on my eye up there. The glitter is really the best part of this palette. It's amazing; it has silver and pink and blue and purple and it goes well with pretty much anything... So at least the $10 I spent on this palette isn't a total waste.

This is honestly some of the worst quality drugstore shadow I've used in years. After my shockingly good experiences with Wet n Wild and L'Oreal HIP, I had assumed that all drugstore brands had improved their formulas, but I guess I was wrong!

But, if you think the Maybelline palette is beautiful, take a look at this...

This is the Lancôme Color Design palette in Amethyst Glam. They look pretty similar, don't they? In fact, all the Maybelline Color Explosion palettes seem like dupes of the Lancôme Color Design palettes. Except... the Lancôme palette rocks. Sure, it's like $30 more than the Maybelline, but it actually is good instead of just looking good.

Ah, well... at least I'll get a lot of use out of the glitter. Should I even bother reviewing the other Color Explosion palettes I bought? I already took pictures and swatched them but haven't felt like writing anything about them...

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner Swatches and Review

Here's something I haven't tried yet: Drugstore brand gel eyeliner. I saw these at the store and thought they looked pretty nice, so I figured I'd give them a try. My jar of MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack is on its last legs, so it was about time for me to pick up another anyway. Historically, I haven't had the best luck with Maybelline products, but I took a chance on these and I'm really glad I did. They rock.

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner

The colors I chose are Blackest Black, a matte deep black, and Eggplant, a shimmery blackened purple.

Instructions and ingredients.
(click to enlarge)

Each Lasting Drama liner comes with its own brush. It's not your typical eyeliner brush, either. It's small, flat and rounded at the end. It feels like it has synthetic bristles.

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner in Blackest Black applied using included brush


Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner in Eggplant

Maybelline EyeStudio Lasting Drama 24 Hour Gel Eyeliner in Eggplant, applied using included brush

What I liked:

• Easy to find; available in any drugstore.
• Blackest Black is nice and opaque, no need to go over the line multiple times to achieve full, even coverage.
  
• The formula is extremely smooth and creamy. Not too dry, not too wet, perfect gel texture.
  
• Each liner comes with a brush and the brush is actually really good for applying this type of gel-textured liner. One thing I like about it is that it is flat and has a precise edge so it's easy to draw winged liner without making the lines blurry or too wide.
  
• Quick drying.
• I haven't experienced any flaking, smudging or eye irritation while wearing Blackest Black
  
• Under $10 each, depending on where you shop.

What I didn't like:

• The Eggplant shade is not as opaque as the Blackest Black shade. I had to apply multiple layers to make an opaque line. Applying multiple coats causes the liner to flake when touched.
  
• The Eggplant shade isn't as strong of a color, either. It looks soft and faded and it lacks impact. I would have liked it to look more like Eggplant.
• Blackest Black could be a little blacker; it's not quite as dark as MAC Blacktrack. It's really not bad, though.
  
• While some places carry these for under $10 (I paid about $7 for mine), I've seen others price this as high as $12. MAC Fluidlines only cost $15 for the same amount of product.
• Very small shade selection. Only four colors (black, brown, charcoal, purple).

Like I mentioned above, I'm really glad I took a chance on these. I'm rather impressed by the quality of them. The Eggplant wasn't exactly up to par, but I'm definitely going to buy Blackest Black again. It applies just as easily as the MAC Fluidline gel liner I normally buy, lasts just as long and looks just as good. The formula is creamy and a little on the wet side so it applies smoothly and without skipping. Plus, the brush it comes with actually works perfectly and I honestly wasn't expecting it to. Add another one to the list of shockingly awesome drugstore makeup items.