Maybelline Great Lash Mascara

This is one product I have heard about often: Maybelline Great Lash Mascara has been mentioned time and again in magazines and websites as, well, the perfect mascara. It comes in washable and waterproof formulas, in black, brown, and clear. The packaging is bright and colorful, making it easy to find in the most cluttered makeup bag. And did I mention that it's cheap? It's listed on Drugstore.com as $4.49.

As much as I'd always heard about this wondermascara, I'd never triend it... until last week. I was standing in line to check out at Target and was glancing over all the little extra goodies they have on sale beside the check-out counter, when I saw this product (the washable version, in black) on sale for $3.99!

Now, I have to admit-- I'm not much of a mascara girl. I have naturally dark lashes and during the day usually get by with just wearing eyelinder. However I do like having mascara for nights out, so of course when I saw this much-talked about product on sale for a mere few dollars I grabbed it raced home to try it.

Perhaps it's not being used to wearing a lengthening mascara everyday... but I was amazed when I spread this on my lashes! It was like they doubled in size instantly! And NO clumps! Now, I have experienced that before with different mascaras only to find clumps forming a little later, so we'll see... I have also read that you can keep clumps at bay by swiping the wand through a kleenex to get rid of excess product before using it.

Anyway, I kept the mascara on the rest of the day and did not notice any smudging. I only applied to top lashes, though-- I think that's a tip that's wise to follow with any mascara (I personally prefer to highlight the bottom half of my eye by lining the inner rim of my lower lid with a dark liner instead of using mascara). Then, at night when I took a shower, I purposefully skipped the eyemakeup remover to see how it would do with a regular cream clenser. I was quite pleased to step back out of the shower with my mascara gone, and only a trace of black smudged under one eye. Other mascaras (particularly waterproof ones) have left me with raccoon eyes after using makeup remover AND washing my face.

Do other mascaras work better than this one? Possibly. Are they worth the extra money? That's up to you. I'm always dissapointed in that I have to throw away barely used tubes of mascara after the required 3-6 months since I don't use them every day, so to me I'm quite pleased to only spend $4 for a product that works pretty darn well. I will say, however, that to me this look still seems a bit severe for daytime and I still prefer to use Neutrogena's Clean Lash Tint for casual daily wear-- it gives lashes a bit of a kick, but looks 100% natural. I'll save the big guns (like Maybelline) for evening. ; )