Blessing in Disguise

Last week I lost my favorite mascara, Benefit's - They're Real! I looked EVERYWHERE and text my friends in hopes that our stuff had gotten mixed up together at the cabin. With no luck, I gave up looking for it and decided to buy a new tube. That new tube ended up being my blessing in disguise! After my first use, I immediately noticed the difference from my old tube of mascara...I've had that tube for way too long and it was time for me to re-buy!

They're Real! is described by Benefit as a lengthening, defining, curling and volumizing mascara, and it does a good job delivering on most of those promises. It doesn't appear to do any curling on its own, but it does hold curl well which is good enough for me since I always use an eyelash curler anyway. It also adds some fairly impressive volume and length to my lashes. Now do they look like I'm wearing falsies? No not quite, though this mascara delivers better for me on this promise than any other mascara I've tried before it that promised the same. It's not a lack of length or volume that really separates my mascaraed lashes from faux lashes, but the noticeable texture of mascara. Mascaraed lashes just never look as smooth as bare lashes or faux lashes, and They're Real! is no different in that respect. But it does still give me drag queen worthy length and thickness in two coats, which it does without smudging, clumping or flaking. What else I can really ask for?

The brush is pretty awesome. It's a standard rubber bristled brush you see on lots of mascaras these days, but has the added bonus of a few long spiky bristles protruding from the pointy end. These are great for getting at the lashes in the very inner and outer corners, though they must be used with caution as the end often picks up more product than the rest of the brush. You can wind up with goopy corners if you aren't careful!

The only downside I find on this mascara is that it doesn't build very well. If you try to use more than two coats, your lashes are likely to start looking kind of crusty. I imagine this would be a real problem for girl with short or sparse lashes.

I also picked up Urban Decay's De Slick Spray and a Benefits Eyebrow pencil during my makeup store run. I've heard mix reviews about the make-up setting spray, but decided it was worth to try out. I haven't gotten around to using it yet, but after today will be my first time so I'm hoping for the best!

While making my purchase, the cashier threw in a few free goodies in my bag too! I got a travel size bottle of Urban Decay's De Slick, travel size bottle of the All Nighter Make-up setting. I debated between the two full size bottles of both make-up settings and went with De-Slick because All Nighter contains dimethicone, a conditioning silicone, that mixed with oily skin makes it glisten. I'll try it out at least once. The last free goodie was Urban Decay's Eyeshadow primer.

After today's use on most of the new makeup products just bought, I will have good things to report back! Do you use any of these products? Any thoughts?