I’m a big E.L.F. fan, and when I found out they sold mascara for only a dollar, I had to dig in. After stopping by my local Target, I decided to test out the E.L.F. Essential Regular and Waterproof Mascara Duo. E.L.F. claims this mascara duo is “long-lasting, smudge and smear proof,” and I was eager to see if their claim was legit.
Applying the Mascara
First off, if you plan to use this mascara, please use E.L.F.’s eyelash curler. It’s $3.00 at your local Target, so it won’t hurt your pocketbook too much. If you apply it without using the curler, it looks pretty ugly.
With that said, this mascara does not go on well. I tried the waterproof mascara first and really was turned off by how dry the mascara was. I tried applying it to my lashes but it took numerous applications to get it to thicken and darken my eyelashes. It also clumps easily, so be mindful of that. You can pick out the clumps with a small tweezer.
The regular mascara applies slightly better, but is still inferior to other cheap mascara brands, such as L’Oreal. Again, it clumps easily, but darkens and thickens the eyelashes slightly better than its waterproof version.
How It Stays
E.L.F. claims its Essential Regular and Waterproof Mascara Duo is long-lasting and won’t smudge or smear. This is mostly true — until you stick it out in humid weather.
To test it out, I wore their waterproof mascara in the shower and let the steam heat my face for five minutes. I did not wash my face or my hair, yet when I got out, the mascara had smeared. If it only takes five minutes of hot shower steam to mess up their waterproof mascara, I can’t imagine how this would fare on a hot, humid day. Luckily, I live in the Midwest, so humidity isn’t a big concern. E.L.F. isn’t doing so well so far.
Any Good Points?
I’m going to be honest here — I don’t like this mascara. It’s runny, clumps easily, and applying it is fairly challenging. I don’t like spending five minutes trying to apply mascara; I don’t think most people would either. However, there is one good point about this mascara, and that’s the “long-lasting” feature of this product. It may run in humid weather, but if humidity isn’t a concern for you, this mascara lasts all day long. I’ve applied this mascara in the morning before running errands and it stays on until you go to sleep.
Of course, the price is appealing too. Just a dollar for a tube of mascara is very cheap; expect to spend twice this much for a comparable cheap mascara. Unfortunately, this might be E.L.F.’s, problem — it’s not just cheap, it looks cheap. This mascara isn’t staying in my makeup bag, but in the interim, I’ll test out more of E.L.F.’s mascara products to see if they’re any better.
Reference:
E.L.F.