Monday, December 27, 2010

Voluminous Million Lashes by L'Oreal (With a Healthy Dose of Social Commentary)




    I am always searching for a mascara to make the most of my lashes. I was a little hesitant to test this mascara after reading a lot of the online reviews, but when it showed up in my mailbox I decided to give it a try.

    L'Oreal's Voluminous Million Lashes claims to give you seriously dramatic lashes, with tons of volume and the look of a million lashes. Here is a screen grab from a tv spot Eva Longoria did for the mascara in a foreign market.

    Unless her lashes grow like shark's teeth, I can clearly see where the faux lashes are placed. I get that things have to be dressed up for television and print, but makeup ads are making me mental with all of the ridiculous retouching and faking the benefits of the product. I know some of the ads may even have a disclaimer that the photos have been retouched (this product doesn't contain a disclaimer in the 12/10 In Style), but that doesn't make me feel any better.

    (The lashes are slightly more realistic in this mag ad, but not by much.)

    What bugs me about this is that it sets the expectations so HIGH. In my mind, I know my lashes will never look like this in real life, so I take my expectations down a few notches and expect them to look half as good as Eva's. But there is one problem.

    THAT ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN EITHER. So no matter how I look at it, I'm going to be disappointed. My lashes will never look that lush and long and thick. I'm just not sure it's responsible to keep the expectations so high with the knowledge that it won't ever live up to the dream. I'll also shell out another $7.99 to try another type of mascara that might offer closer results to whatever impossible look is floating around in my mind's eye. So either way, some days I end up feeling like I lost. That can't be good, can it?

    (My measly lashes with NO primer. Normally, they are invisible without some primer.)

    At the end of the day, this mascara did a surprisingly good job. It didn't make my lashes look any thicker or curlier than other mascaras I have tried. It did make my lashes slightly longer, which was fantastic. I didn't experience the clumping some people complained about. I also didn't experience the flaking. Mine wore very nicely for a full work day. I liked this mascara. Just don't base your hopes on the ads. Unless you are really good with daily use of false lashes.

    This was sent for review. L'Oreal still tests on animals. Rumors are this will change in 2013.

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