Maybelline – Volum’ Express The Mega Plush Mascara Review
Back story: Long ago when I was an adorable 4 year old my brother brought home chickenpox’s. I ended up with a horrendous case of those red dots riddling my entire body. The chickenpox’s even took over my eyelids/lash line causing me to lose ALL my eyelashes on one eye. My mother, who is mascara obsessed prayed and prayed to the lord that my lashes would grow back (aw, thanks mom!) and they did grow back!
So what does this story have to do with current day? No, I did not get my mothers undying passion for mascara. I’m not a mascara snob in the least, but with that being said my chicken pox eyelashes are very different from my normal eyelashes. Chickenpox lashes are not as full, a few gaps, and not as long. It’s nothing crazy noticeable as long as I use the right mascara. If I choose the wrong mascara I will have an eye full of nice lashes, with decent fullness/length, while the other eye looks sad and pathetic with spindly lashes and accentuates a few of my gaps missing lashes.
This makes me an excellent mascara tester. I can test mascara to see what it will look like for woman with thinner lashes, and women with average to thicker lashes.
Onto Maybeline Volum’ Express Mega Plush Mascara. I was using Maybelline Falsies for a while and really liked that mascara, and then I abandoned it after I discovered L’Oreal Voluminous False Fiber lash! But upon upon seeing the Mega Plush commercial chuck full of air dancing feathers and puffyness I fell trap to the lure of ‘less wax’ and ‘gel mouse’. I thought it might make my chickenpox lashes more plump and feathery and thicker! A girls dream!
Obviously I write long reviews, but this review really speaks volumes with my moms comments about me wearing Maybelline Mega Plush Mascara:
I notice my mom staring at me and then she says: “Is that new mascara? Your lashes look like shit. Even your good lashes”.
My feelings weren’t hurt as this was the truth.
This mascara is terrible if you have thinner lashes and looking to build feathery volume. Also not so great if you have thick-ish lashes but still want some umph. The brush has a flexible head that wiggles like a mofo, which didn’t allow me to really get in there and coat my lashes at the base. I swapped out brushes and used a different mascara brush one day thinking this would help. Yes it did help a bit, I was able to firmly coat my lashes at the base. The picture below makes the flexible brush look exciting…. it’s not.
I’m not much of a crazy re-coater, but on my chickenpox lashes I recoat usually once. With this mascara no such luck. Once I tried to re-coat it stuck all my lashes together making my lashes look so thin, wirey and clumpy.
My good lashes didn’t look all that good either. No real volume or fullness. They also looked kind of wirey and brittle. Not plush. I noticed no difference in texture of this mascara… gel mouse can suck it.
Below are some pictures. First picture is me wearing my normal L’Oreal Fiber lash mascara. You can probably notice one set of lashes looks a little less full, but usually I have eyeliner on which helps disguise my uneven lashes. But overall not bad.
Second picture is Plush Lash. CLEARLY you can see the difference between normal lashes and chickenpox lashes. So if you have thinner lashes you’re lashes may end up looking like my right eye. While my left eye, which has thicker lashes isn’t so bad I still don’t think it looked plush especially close up and in person- the picture looks better than it does in person. Yes, it made them look longer…. but I couldn’t control the brush so lashes got stuck together and looked wirey and messy.
In these pictures I REALLY worked at the Mega Plush, took about 5 minutes to carefully apply this. L’Oreal mascara took me maybe… a minute to apply? Notice how my L’Oreal lashes look more plush than Mega Plush!!!!!
Next up, I can’t believe I am admitting this… but I never wash off my eye make up. Terrible. I’m probably going to beauty hell. So the big test for me is if I sleep in my mascara are my lashes ok in the morning? A lot of mascaras clump my lashes and coat them with a stiff glueness that I can’t get off in the morning (often reminds me of eyelash glue where it wads up on your lashes and sticks them together). When this happens I generally can’t wash it off- it’s really weird and yes, totally my fault. And no, I don’t use ANY waterproof mascaras.
So I wake up the next morning after my plush lash disaster and literally my lashes are stuck together. I’m all confused and wondering if I had some drunken wild night involving super glue… then I remembered it was just a new mascara test run. I peel open my eyes, look in the mirror and this mascara had gummed up so bad and stuck together all my lashes… literally. Big balls of mascara glueing my lashes together giving me the look of 4 lashes on each side. Cleary this is not a mascara to sleep in. I tried to wash it off and it took me 3 tries to get all the gluey, clumpy, sticky mess off! ….You’re all thinking ‘serves you right you idiot for sleeping in your mascara’ and I shouldn’t included this I my review because most of you smarties wash your mascara off an won’t run into this… however, what if you’re on a date, it’ goes really well, and you hit his place and ‘fall asleep’ in this mascara? Let me tell you that you will wake up with glued together eyelashes and balls of clumped together lashes. Not sexy. Last I heard men don’t like when you can’t open your eyes and gaze at them.
I read some reviews saying this is a mascara for beginners and I just beg to differ. It really does nothing for my lashes. I don’t know about ya’ll but I want mascara to make my lashes look better, not like “shit” according to my mom.
Review and Swatches: Revlon ColorStay Whipped Creme Makeup Buff 150
I’m a MAC Liquid Studio Fix Girl. I know, I know… full coverage, heavy, cakey, blah, blah. I know all about the horrible reviews! But I’ve been using it for years because it’s the ONLY foundation that has a good pale shade for my NC15 skin and can cover my blemished-red-combo-really dry-flakey-patched-skin-with-oily-T-zone-skin *whew*. I love the buildable/layerable coverage it offers me because some days my skin is clear-ish, some days it’s a mess, other days it’s crazy flakey and often during the summer time it’s oily….. I know, my skin has multiple personalities! With Studio Fix I can adapt it to my daily differing skin needs just by altering my application techniques/tools. Plus it has multi-tasking abilities because it doubles as my under eye concealer. Basically MAC Studio Fix is like the Jack Rabbit of the vibrators- does everything I want it to and MORE, but maybe sometimes it’s a little over the top?
You’d think MAC Liquid Studio Fix is my HG, but my skin never looks very ‘natural’ and I am firmly aware of this, but a made up face goes with my overly made up wanna be 1950’s sexy house wife style, maybe a slutty 1950’s housewife though? Slippers and blowjobs after work… I’m pretty sure that’s what my make-up whored up face says about me. Yet I’m always on the market for a foundation that does everything Studio Fix does but looks a tad more natural. When I stumbled upon raving reviews on Revlon Colorstay Whipped Foundation it seemed like everything I was looking for! Medium/full buildable coverage that looked natural! SOLD!
$13.99 got me a glass jar full of what I was expecting to be magic in Shade 150 Buff. I raced home and washed off my Studio Fix… I was sure I’d be saying “Peace out Studio Fix! This face is going to be looking flawless and NATURAL!” . I applied it with a stipple brush, but found I had to rub/tap it in with my finger for a smoother result. It wasn’t really whipped, more like a nice cream texture which I liked.
It applied easily but oh boy, the outcome was a horrible grey/green/yellow face. It was dull and had what I like to call ‘death’ undertones. It wasn’t even that the color is too light- like I mentioned I am a NC15, which is a light tone with yellow undertones. But the 150 Buff was grayish with a tinge of green/yellow making me look like a zombie. It’s so dull and muddy! Often times I have this issue with Neutral toned foundations, but it’s funny because I have pretty neutral undertone- not really yellow nor pink, sometimes I feel MAC NC15 can be too yellow for me depending on my application method and which MAC foundation I’m using. A lot of the reviews I found on Buff 150 mentioned it had slight yellow undertones, which I thought would be comparable to NC15 and a great shade for us pal gals. Didn’t work for this pale girl!
I tried to capture the grey color by comparing it to my NC15 liquid Studio fix on the left, Revlon Colorstay Whipped 150 Buff in the middle, and Studio Sculpt NC15 on the far right (every picture is in the same color order). I compared it to MAC Studio Sculpt because I wanted to show a range of the NC15 colors, plus the Revlon Whipped foundation reminded me exactly of MAC Studio Sculpt Which…. I hate, but we’ll get to that in a minute!
Some pictures have flash and some don’t- but I think you can see what I am talking about how the Buff 150 looks more neutral (which may be great for some people) but note how it looks a bit muddy compared to the NC15’s. Too muddy and dull for me (yet it’s very light/pale like the NC15’s). My initial reaction of the color was positive: “This will be a great color for me!” when looking at it in the pot. But pot to face is very different! You can’t tell well in these pictures but it turned so grey on my skin!
Now that we’ve got my color matching horror out of the way, lets move on!
I tend to like more of a matte finish, but I am always intrigued with foundations that claims to have a semi or natural matte finish- not dewy but not a complete matte. It seems to make for a more natural finish in theory but not on my skin! I should have learned my lesson with MAC Studio Sculpt which left me with a tacky finish that would not go away, I had to powder over a tacky mess which was a nightmare. The powder stuck like a magnet to my tacky skin thus making my face look disgusting and highlighting my dry patches and yet still looked dewy everywhere else. Dewy and dry? How does that work? It doesn’t work. Why does a natural finish have to mean sticky skin???
…. The Revlon Colorstay Whipped did the EXACT same thing. I even set it with my Skindinvia Shine No More spray before I powdered hoping that would take away some of the tackyness. I let it sit for a good 20 minutes hoping it would set…. but nope. It didn’t look as dewy as Mac Studio Sculpt, in fact it looked more powdery but my face felt so sticky. It was the sticky factor that prompted me to powder not so much the LOOK of the final finish. I just couldn’t stand my face feeling sticky plus I felt like it wasn’t setting. Like it’d smear/transfer everywhere sans setting powder. After 20 minutes of waiting for it to dry to a non sticky state, I had to re-rub it back into my skin because I noticed it started accentuating my peach fuzz hair that I’ve never noticed before! After panicking and thinking “I am not a Kardashian! I am not hairy!” I realized how strange it was to be able to re-work a foundation after it had been on my skin for 20+ minutes, it was as if I as just applied it…. obviously this foundation was not going to stay in place without some help. I don’t know about that 24 hour claim! The crazy thing is I didn’t over apply this- the coverage is pretty nice, a little goes a long way which impressed me. I didn’t have to ‘layer’ or build the coverage. One sweep all over my face resulted in awesome coverage, and two sweeps under my eyes hid my dark circles. But I can’t imagine if you are trying to build coverage because I see this getting more sticky/tacky as you layer/build! Finally I set it with my finishing powder and the fluffiest brush I could find. Yup, my colorless finely milled finishing powder clung to the sticky foundation making the result look even more powdery. Not the natural look I was going after.
At this point I looked liked walking death with a grey cast to my face and a powdery finish. Sexy? Sure if I were a zombie. A zombie who worked at a beauty counter and could not color match my own living dead skin tone.
Since I am hardcore I left it on my face just to test out performance (no I did not go outside, I didn’t want to scare any small children with my deathly look). I was curious how it would hold up throughout the day. After I powdered my face and waited another 20 minutes I felt like everything settled. My skin looked and felt pretty matte. The powder-ness kind of sunk in and looked a little bit better- although like I mentioned this really accentuated any facial hair I had. Keep in mind I’m naturally blonde and not hairy at all, yet I felt the need to go shave my face after looking in the mirror with this foundation. Ick. It held up well through the day, I had it on for about 4 hours when it started looking a little dry/dewy on my combo skin but nothing too terrible. A good 6 hours into it I felt like I needed to rub it back into my skin as it started to separate on my chin and settle into my larger pores on my cheeks.
I got less dewy with Revlon Colorstay Whipped than I did with MAC Studio Sculpt, which was a plus. I felt like MAC Studio Sculpt made my skin look smoother than Revlon Colorstay Whipped though. Also MAC Studio Sculpt offers livelier fair shades- bright and nice, not dull and deathly. Overall these two foundations are very similar. I’d say if you hated Studio Sculpt you’re probably going to hate Colorstay Whipped or vice versa.
I’ll stick to Studio Fix and I will be returning the Colorstay. Even if I could find a better color match in the Revlon Whipped Color Stay I can’t stand the sticky mess it leaves on my face. Sure, maybe it’s a skin prep issue or something… but I’ve never had issues my serum/moisturizer/primer combo before and I am not about to change it up just to suit this foundation.
Skindinavia Bridal and No More Shine Finishing Spray Review
Date night at a dimly lit bar has major skin benefits. Oh girl, you know what I am talking about… overhead beer signs casting off an amber glow that dances across your face creating a soft focus effect to blur out all your skin imperfections. Hollar! That’s what I’m talking about! However with my skin recently clearing up I find myself wanting to take my dates into locations with harsh light just to prove my skin is lookin good!
…But wait… what’s that… oh shit, a foundation meltdown. Make-up slipping and sliding. I’ve always suffered from this no matter what foundation or primer I have used. I end up doing a lot of re-applying my makeup if I have plans at the end of the day, because my make-up will not last a FULL day let alone a few hours. I always contributed my make-up meltdowns to my crappy dry patchy, oily, zitty combination skin.
With a newfound determination to put an end to makeup meltdowns I did some research on finishing/setting sprays. I swore on a bible that I would find a product that would extend the life of my make-up, help rid me of the summer greasies without over drying my dry patchy skin! Tall order but I was ready to use my face as a guinea pig. You do what you gotta do!
First I went MAC… once yo’ go MAC yo’ neva go BACK! Very untrue, I religiously use MAC foundation so I figured I’d pair it off with their Fix+ spray. I hated the Mac Fix+ spray; it made my make-up look disgusting and highlighted pores and wrinkles I didn’t even know existed. It was not a good introduction- ‘SURPRISE GIIIIIIIIRL your skin looks worse than you ever thought it could!!!!”
Next I looked into Model in a Bottle but a lot of reviewers felt it was overly fragrant and left behind with tight hairspray feeling on their skin, even with the sensitive skin version. Plus, to be honest the name ‘Model in a bottle’ gave me unreasonable expectations anyways. Knowing me I’d spray it on and expect to have Heidi Klum skin instantly. With Model in a Bottle scratched off my list I tried the Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray, and it started to break me out and I didn’t notice it doing much of anything. Felt like I was paying 30 bucks to spray water on my face and I could do that for free without the tight skin feeling. Plus spraying water all over my face seems more sexy, a hose, a bikini, a hot day… the start of a 70’s porno.
Then one morning I logged onto facebook with coffee in hand, a rich slathering of clay mask chilling on my face and I noticed a status update from Beauty Stat about Skindinavia 10 Years Younger Setting Spray. In that moment I asked: “Dear Lord… is this a sign? An answer to my prayers?”
Originally I was intrigued with the Skindinavia 10 Year Younger Setting Spray, no, not like I want to look 19…. but since I have dry-ish skin I thought this would be a good match because the 10 Years Younger is geared towards more dry and mature skin. However I researched the shit out of Skindinavia sprays and very few people seemed impressed with the 10 Years Younger. Apparently most reviewers found it to accentuated their make-up, lines, and pores all while giving dry skin a blast of glowy/dewyness… and I HATE dewy (dewy finishes look terrible on my skin despite the fact I have such dry areas).
Eventually I settled on the Skindinavia Bridal Setting spray. It seemed fancy and yet hardcore… a bride obviously wants her makeup to last throughout stress, pictures, tears, dancing, and mass amounts of steamy secret make-out sessions. I couldn’t find too many review on the Bridal spray, but the few I found said it helped keep make-up looking fabulous throughout the day, it had a nice finish and took away that cakey make-up look while still battling shine. In my cart it went! I was a little furious that Skindinavia didn’t offer The Bridal Spray in the smaller size. You can only get the Bridal Setting Spray in a 4oz for $29 while the other sprays are offered in a 2oz for $19.99. (P.s. I ordered from Dermstore because they have a return policy where on Skindinavia site… no returns if it’s open, but next breath they also have a 60-day satisfaction guarantee policy return with no questions? This made me confused. Which is it? I can return? I can’t? I’m naturally blonde… don’t confuse me. Plus Dermstore had a 10% off code and the most insanely fast shipping)!
At the very last second of checkout I panicked and also added the Skindinavia No More Shine Setting Spray. While I have horrible dry patches I also get the shinies mid day especially in the summer (I don’t handle heat well, and my make-up handles even less well than I do) and that’s been annoying me lately. Nothing worse than looking in the mirror to see your reflection starting back at you through your nose shine. I was worried about the No More Shine Spray being too dry for my dry areas but with a return policy on my side I got some major balls and threw caution to the wind and ordered BOTH of them! BAM. Something so freeing about ‘If I hate it I can return it!’
…..Onto the actual reviews!
Skindinavia Bridal Setting Spray-
I was looking forward to this spray extending my make-up life for up to 16 hours, but also taking away the cakey look my make-up can sometime leave behind. In the description it states: This weightless mist gives you a healthy, luminous finish over your makeup and sets it in place, for your special day and luminous is exactly right. It doesn’t leave a ‘matte’ finish, but it also doesn’t leave a ‘dewy’ finish. I will admit it’s a very natural like finish, but I don’t think it works out well for my skin. The luminous finish almost shows off my pores when sprayed on over my powder and makes my make-up look ‘gummy’. I found I get a better result if I spray this on right after foundation, then set it with my powder (I use a pore refining powder so it smoothes out and mattifys the ‘natural’ finish the Bridal spray leaves behind). This kind of defeats the purpose. I know.
On the plus side this does help extend the wear of my make-up and instead of my skin getting too greasy I just get a soft natural looking glow by the end of the day which is better than my normal summer oil ball at the end of the day. Another plus is when I spray it on it doesn’t make my skin feel dry, and it hasn’t irritated my skin nor has it broken me out!
No More Shine Setting Spray-
When I first tried this I used it under and over my make-up like some other reviewers suggested. Ick! Big mistake! It was probably a mistake because of my combo skin- my dry patches did not like that idea. My make-up, even with primer looked patchy and got stuck on my dry patches. My foundation would not go on smoothly when this was sprayed on my skin before make-up.
Next day I sprayed No More Shine on right after I applied my foundation (not before!). Let it dry. Powdered my face and added my blush then sprayed this on again as my final step. This method worked a lot better but left my face feeling like if I were to smile my face would crack. However it didn’t make my face LOOK any more dry, just felt drier.
My make-up help up better with the No More Shine than it did with the Bridal. The No More Shine left me with more of a matte finish, which I prefer and I really didn’t get shiny during the day, where as with the Bridal I got dewy.
A mix of No More Shine and Bridal-
Since I am a genius, I decided to work some magic and play around.
Realizing I didn’t like he luminous finish of the of the Bridal Setting Spray, but also realizing my dry skin felt too dried out with the No More shine but loving the matte finish it left behind I decided to apply a few spritz of the Bridal spray right after my foundation application. Then I powdered and blushed and set my entire face with a few spritz of the No More Shine.
Drum roll please……..
This combo works amazing for my combo skin! Oil control without being overly drying. Not too matte, not too dewy. Make-up lasted through a 4 hour date on a hot summer evening in a shithole bar with a broken AC, then it lasted another 3 hours of drinking and girl gossip with friends and still looked amazing at the end of my night (my hair was another story!). Keep in my mind my make-up never looks fresh and enacted past 3-4 hours just under normal conditions. I’ve been wearing this combo of setting sprays every day for about a week and everyday I am shocked that my make-up still looks great by the end of the day! I still touch up mid day if it’s a hot day, but I’m not having to re-wash ALL my make-up off and start over if I have evening plans!
I am thinking these Setting Sprays would be awesome as birthday, stocking stuffer, or bridal gifts. There’s a setting spray for everyone’s skin type- normal, dry, combo, and aging skin. No skin type is left behind! I’m honestly in love with these setting sprays, yeah I had to shell out some extra cash and buy two and do a little experimenting mix and matching but the end result is worth it!
On a side note I’ve also recently re-broken out my old Bare Escentuals Prime Time Primer (which I thought I hated, but apparently with my new found clearer skin I really dig it) and that’s also working great with these setting sprays to help prolong the life of my makeup.
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