Maybelline One By One Volum' Express Mascara

Something a bit different today; I'm reviewing mascara. Let's call it Mascara Monday shall we?

Normally, I am pretty unadventurous when it comes to mascara. I don't like spending money on a new one only to hate the formula and have to buy another type, wasting money I could have used for nail polish or lipsticks. However I've recently started to have problems with flaking in my normal favourite brand so I thought it was time to try something new. Enter Maybelline One by One Volum' Express, in Black. It claims to make your lashes bolder and fuller without clumping. 

This is the Lash Catcher brush, claimed to catch, coat and declump your lashes. Instead of a traditional one with bristles, it's one of the new style rubber brushes with lots of stiff plastic 'teeth'. I was torn about this because I have quite thick lashes and this kind of brush tends to make them clump together, so I usually stick to traditional brushes. However this one has denser 'bristles' than many I've seen and is closer to a traditional brush in appearance so I thought I'd still give it a try. See that strange hair like thing on the end? For some reason you tend to get these with this mascara - I got them from new so it can't be an eyelash, I guess there are lash lengthening fibres in this mascara (or maybe the liquid just thickens into strings) and occasionally you get a long one like this. Anyway I just pick them off, they're annoying but not a deal breaker for me. 

One Coat

Once I'd used it I noticed a few things. One, it actually is quite good at coating without too much clumping. score one to Maybelline. Two, the tapered end makes it easier to get the lashes in your inner corner without painting black all over your skin. Also good. Three, the bristles get down close to the roots very easily. Normally with a regular brush you have to work at this. If, like me, you're not an old hand at using plastic brushes, this means you poke yourself in the eye quite a few times until you adjust to the reduced amount of pressure required - ouch!!

Two Coats

As you can see you do tend to get little 'blobs' on the end of your lashes here and there, again a bit irritating but I found that if you leave it to dry (which doesn't take long) you can pick those bits off easily enough. Again I think this is just the lash building part of the mascara getting a bit carried away :-p

Once applied it wears pretty well. It's not waterproof (though there is a waterproof version available), but I can come home after a full day at work and it's still there, without flaking or smudging under my eyes. This is an improvement on my previous favourite Rimmel because that used to look great when applied but tended to flake or otherwise 'disappear' so it almost looked like I hadn't bothered with mascara that day.

Removal is pretty great. I always use a bi-layered oil/water based eye make up remover (the ones you have to shake before use) which will remove anything and everything, but even so, some mascaras need more effort than others. My lashes tend to hold on to mascara 'residue' and even when I take them off before bed, sometimes I wake up the next day with panda eyes. Maybelline One by One came off almost completely with one good swipe of remover and is still gone the next day :-p

Would I buy this again? For sure. It's not without its' faults (I still prefer 'proper' brushes and those fibre bits are a little annoying) but it makes my lashes look pretty good and lasts well, is buildable and doesn't require a sandblaster to remove.