I’m so incredibly happy to be posting on Beauty Debutante! It’s so exciting to be part of this very cool site.
My name is Amy of Café Makeup, a relaxed beauty blog that looks at all kinds of gorgeous makeup. When she can, my daughter Liz helps me out with the blog–and she was able to model the two products under review today. I’ve been a makeup lover for years, and especially love Chanel, NARS, Edward Bess, Burberry and a host of other high end brands. That being said, I love a bargain and so love to go looking in drugstores to find the treasures that won’t break the bank. That being said, I try to apply high standards for judging products.
As part of my guest appearance here, Rimmel London sent a few items from its Beach-Ready Essentials line. This includes several water proof items, and UV-protecting lipglosses and nail polishes. Today, I’m going to focus on two: Sexy Curves Full Volume & Curve Mascara – Waterproof in Black (around $7.50, depending on the store) and Rimmel’s Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer Pencil in 230 Deep Ocean (between $4 and $6). To complete the disclosures, I bought an extra Sexy Curves mascara–one for me, one for Liz–so we could both try it out.
First, the mascara. I love big, plushy lashes. With a name like “Sexy Curves Full Volume and Curves,” I had high hopes. I’ve gone through a few tubes of Rimmel London Volume Flash Mousse Mascara, which in my opinion gives a very similar big-volume effect to the higher-priced Dior Show Mascara for less than one-third the price. Could Sexy Curves be even better?
Sexy Curves Waterproof has a triple-curved brush, which according to the package, curves in for volume and out for curl. It sort of looks like three balls on a stick, doesn’t it? The brush has a lightweight feel.
For volume, both Liz and I had trouble getting huge volume from the brush–we wiggled it, then we didn’t wiggle it, and then we held it both horizontally and then vertically. Eventually, Liz held the brush vertically, and painted her lashes using only the outermost ball. That technique seemed to maximize volume the best. We gave it three (3) coats.
Sexy Curves colored Liz’s blonde lashes well, and added some volume, especially at the base. We found that the mascara tended to create little “groups” of lashes, rather than separating the lashes out individually. This grouping seems to give Liz fewer lashes than she naturally has. Here is the final effect (top and bottom lashes) with Sexy Curves:
Rimmel Sexy Curves
Rimmel Sexy Curves
On Liz’s other eye, we used Yves Saint Laurent Faux Cils mascara, a volumizing non-waterproof mascara that sells for $30. With the same three (3) coats, Yves Saint Laurent gives a more volumizing effect:
Yves Saint Laurent Faux Cils
Yves Saint Laurent Faux Cils
Liz and I both found that the mascara gave a lifting effect to the lashes, but that the Sexy Curves curl didn’t hold up over the entire course of the evening. We did a “splash test” to see how Rimmel’s Sexy Curves would do with water. We were relieved to see that there was no black, runny mascara that appeared on Liz’s undereye, but we did not see much Sexy Curves mascara left after splashing with water either. There was noticeably more Faux Cils left on her lashes after the splash test compared to the Sexy Curves side.
Overall, although we were expecting big volume and curl, we found that Sexy Curves Waterproof gave us a much less definition and ooomph than we were hoping for. I couldn’t help but wonder whether this mascara should have been marketed as a product that delivers a “natural effect.” Although I would buy Rimmel’s Volume Flash Mousse mascara again, I will pass up on Sexy Curves Waterproof. Apparently, we are not alone with our concerns about the mascara–as you can see, Karen at the Makeup and Beauty Blog shares some of our concerns and Temptalia gave this mascara a “D” rating.
Second, the Exaggerate Waterproof Eye Definer pencil in Deep Ocean is a pleasant, deep blue color that adds a nice touch of color to the lashline. This is an automatic pencil that does not need sharpening–you simply twist the tube to get more product.
One nice feature is that one end of the brush has a smudger–a feature that I like especially for traveling. You can put this in your carry-on and leave your smudge brush behind.
I really loved the color of the liner-it’s a beautiful, deep heather blue that helps whiten the eye area. If this liner were sold in a J. Crew catalogue, they’d probably call it “Peacock.” Or maybe even “Delft” or “Seaport.” This is not a standard navy; there is a touch of yellow and it is lighter in tone, but still deep enough to provide plenty of definition. A good, beachy shade. You can see it on Liz’s lower waterline in the pictures, above.
I love liners with soft, smooth textures, and Rimmel’s Exaggerate Waterproof fits this description perfectly. Deep Ocean glided on without any tugs or pulls. The liner stays soft before it sets, and I used the handy smudger allowed me to soften the line very easily. Don’t push too hard with the smudger, or you will find this liner disappear. If you use it gently, it works well. I really did like the final effect. I did get some fading on the waterline after a few hours–that being said, I’ve literally never found anything that has lasted all day on my eye’s waterline. For the lashline, I want to point out that my eye area isn’t particularly oily and I got about the wear that I expected from a pencil of this type– certainly several hours. So, I wouldn’t say that the liner wears like iron, but it does last pretty nicely for a pencil in this price range. However, if your lids are oily, you may have more migration (Liz experienced it).
Bottom line: Rimmel’s Exaggerate Eye Definers are worth looking at–the color and texture is nicely done. Personally, I’ll be passing on the Waterproof Sexy Curves Mascara.
online from Amazon.
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If you plop the smudgy part off, you’ll find a liner sharpener under it. It sharpens the liner perfectly.
My mom would like to know where she can find the Exaggerate eye liner so she can buy some she likes how it marks her eye.
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