Well hello beauties, the camera is fixed and I am back! (and thank you for your patience whilst I've been AWOL). If you've been with me a while here on BTB, you'll know that I am the harshest critic of mascara and liquid liners, an ardent and devoted supporter of just the one or two of each.
I've been loyal to my beloved Chanel Inimitable for several years, trying and dismissing plenty of other mascaras that don't meet my altudinous standards - which is why you almost never hear me talk about mascaras here. Liners are a similar story, the Stila Stay All Day and Tom Ford liners are my go to and nothing else compares. I'm a self-confessed mascara snob - lower end mascaras have left me wanting. Frankly, when it comes to mascara and liquid liners, I just don't mess with drugstore. So admittedly I was dubious when a brightly coloured package of liners and mascaras from Rimmel arrived on my doorstep. They make some pretty big claims with their latest launch and I was truly interested to see if items that retail for less than £10 could possibly live up to them. I'll let you know from the outset, there's a mix of HG worthy and wah-wah - so let's jump into it!
Claims
The new Scandaleyes Reloaded mascara £4.99, claims to be the answer for those who want voluminous, carbon black, large and in charge lashes, that stay put all day, through whatever life throws at you, but removes easily without irritation or hardship. The patent-pending formula is supposed to be smudge-proof, sweat-proof, flake-proof and humidity-proof thanks to a wax grafted polymer, and promises to build volume, which you can apparently layer up to 11 times without it looking horrible and clumpy. It's pretty far removed from the original Scandaleyes mascara, with changes to the brush, and most importantly the formula.
Packaging
I won't try and convince you that the packaging is beautiful, because it's not. A sizable, plastic tube, it's pretty bulky and brash with it's fiery orange colouring. But this is drugstore, and if this is where we're making our savings, by forgoing luxurious packaging, then so be it. The tube does have a lovely, affirmative click shut which I like. The brush is huge, a little too big for me, although there are no gimmicks - no curves or weirdly shaped bristles etc - it's a tapered, bristled brush (not plastic or silicone) in a classic shape that I really like.
First Impressions
Firstly let's understand my lash situation. They're pretty crappy. They're not full, not long, are stick straight, Asian and stubborn. I tried applying the mascara straight onto bare, uncurled lashes and it was a definite pass - they just looked heavy, weighed down and straight. If you've stubborn, Asian lashes, I don't think this mascara is going to hold a curl for you unaided, especially as it's such a wet, glossy formula. Remove and reconvene. After a little play, I found the best results came with a really thorough curl with my CT lash curlers, and a coat of an empty tube of waterproof mascara on the roots of the lashes, to hold them in place. Then I go in with Scandaleyes on the rest of my lashes to build up volume and seal everything in. With this technique, it's so much better. The tubing-style mascara almost provides a vinyl-like coating that really reminds me of the Thierry Mugler vinyl lash topper that was around years ago. It's wet, slick and glossy, possibly a little too much for me as I'd prefer a dried, more fluffy look, so I'm secretly hoping it improves with a little drying out and maturing like a fine wine #mascaraaging.
Performance
The mascara comes in both Black and Extreme Black - I can't really tell the difference between them. I don't know why they bothered with 'Black' - if I want big volume, I want deep, rich colour, so would always plump for Extreme Black over just Black. The two things I was interested in were 1) is it really smudgeproof, long lasting and reliable? Because I can get waterproof to smudge on me. And 2) how easy is this to remove? Because waterproof, long lasting mascara can be a bitch. I'm really happy to report that this lasts all day. I can rub at my eyes, sweat, crease up with laughter and nothing. My lashes are still an acute shade of onyx, and none of the intensity or volume is lost. And the best part? It removes completely with warm water! Or with micellar water on a cotton pad, without tugging, scraping, or getting the oils out. I'll be sharing pics of me wearing all the products in this post so head on over here for a peek.
Conclusion
This mascara isn't going to be for everyone. If you have already decent natural lashes, that curl easily and stay curled, I'm pretty sure you'll love this. If you like a glossy, vinyl look, tons of volume and can get on well with a huge brush, you'll also love it, especially for the price - it lives up to it's claims of being long wearing and reliable, and removes really easily. For me, it's a little too difficult to work with, as I can't use it on it's own and I'd prefer a fluffier, more feathery finish.
Let's move onto the liners. Along with the mascara, there are a couple of new liquid/felt tip liners to play with and now these, I'm definitely on board with. There are two tip styles: The Precision Micro - a fine, traditional tip for thin lines and wings, and the Thick & Thin - a highlighting pen tip that you can do both thin and thicker lines with. I mentioned above that I'm a strict devotee of the Stila Stay All Day and Tom Ford liners, so I didn't expect something from the drugstore to even compare. However, the moment I swatched the Rimmel Scandaleyes Waterproof eyeliners £5.49, I immediately thought these had potential. The colour is deliciously inky and intense, and the formula seeps out of the saturated, precise tips with ease so that you're not tugging on your skin. Give these a few seconds to dry and they do not budge. I can rub at the swatches on my hand and there's no movement, no flaking, and no dip in intensity. On the eye, they're just as long lasting, staying put through humidity and sweat, smiling and laughing.
A couple of things that I really like are that the liner layers really nicely. For those of us that aren't liquid liner experts, I find it really useful to be able to adjust and correct, even after the liner is dry, and still have the finish look perfect. The liner lasted a good 8 hours on my eye before I took it off, with the flick staying nice and crisp, but I could tell from the swatches on my hand/arm that these are liners that fade nicely rather than crack or crumble. It'll be interesting to see how quickly they dry out, as that's something that I love about the Stila liner, but so far, I'm thoroughly impressed and would definitely recommend - they're better than any other drugstore liquid-style liner I've tried.
A big thank you to Rimmel for letting me try these goodies, have you tried any of these latest products? Let me know your favourite mascaras and liquid liners below!
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This post contains PR samples, all opinions are of course my own.
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