Rimmel London Volume Flash Scandal’eyes Mascara
Price: £6.99

Being a self-confessed mascara addict, when Rimmel released their new ‘Scandal’eyes’ product a few months ago, I was immediately desperate to try it out. The television and magazine adverts promised a lot, calling it a ‘lash revolution’ and that the innovative formula would leave my lashes ‘shaped, plumped and exaggerated to perfection’. At £6.99 it’s definitely a bargain, so I wasn’t expecting miracles, but nevertheless I was curious about the hype!

Sadly this product has lived up to its price. The mascara itself is sticky and gelatinous, and so instead of a fan of lengthened, volumised lashes to flutter you are left with about four super thick, super stuck together ones.  The oversized brush is awkward and no matter how careful you are, you will end up with splodges of black on your brow bone and under your eye, not an attractive look! To its merit, your lashes do end up looking longer and darker, but only to any effect when used with eyelash curlers. Normally I’m a huge fan of make up at affordable prices, but in this case Rimmel could do so much better.

Verdict: Not completely useless, but your seven pounds is better spent elsewhere.

Benefit Bad Gal Lash Mascara
Price: £16.50

With the Benefit beauty team behind it this mascara naturally held real promise, and I was sure that the money I forked out for it would be worth it, right? Wrong. The synthetic bristles do nothing to help spread the mascara evenly over the lashes, and it’s an effort to even get the product to stick due to how dry it is (it looked and felt about five years old!), leaving you with specks of black everywhere. It does nothing to help lengthen or thicken the lashes and is useless on the lower lash line, resulting in panda eyes galore! It also left my lashes feeling stiff and breakable. Also, within a month of purchase the mascara had completely dried up inside the tube.  As a Benefit product, and so one of the mid to higher end range of mascaras, I was really disappointed as their creations are normally so long lasting and worth the money. So with everything in mind, I’d say avoid, avoid, avoid.

Verdict: Definitely overpriced, very dry and flaky product, don’t bother!

Bourjois Volume Clubbing Mascara
Price: 7.99

Bourjois’ offering is specifically aimed at the 18-30 age brackets, with the name, packaging and adverts homing in on the younger generation’s need for a mascara to last all night under extreme pressure. With longevity in mind, this product definitely does what it says on the tin. Or tube. Its staying power is impressive, although if you haven’t been out all night partying it can be extremely hard to remove, even with waterproof make up remover! That being said, if you are out all night partying, it will easily cling on until the last song has finished and you’re on the night bus home – still doe-eyed and fluttery! The formula is acceptable, it’s not too sticky or too viscous, and goes on easily enough. But the brush did become clumped and dry fairly quickly, although if you want a mascara with endurance that is usually part of the deal.

Verdict: Worth it alone for staying power when clubbing, and wearing all day without having to reapply.

Rimmel Sexy Curves Intense Black
Price: £8.19

Sexy Curves is another of Rimmel’s contributions to the world of cosmetics, and like their ‘Scandal’eyes’ mascara, promised big results, unlike ‘Scandal’eyes’, Sexy Curves definitely lived up to its name and its promise!  Claiming to boost lash length and volume by 70%, I was apprehensive at first at whether it would be worth it at just over eight pounds. However I was most pleasantly surprised. The undulating plastic brush is perfect for coating every lash, top and bottom, and really does significantly increase both length and volume (although perhaps not exactly 70%!). It lasted as long as I would normally expect a decent mid to lower priced mascara to, and didn’t flake or run. The flatter end of the brush is also really useful at catching even the tiniest lashes at the edges of your eyes, without causing clumping.

Verdict: One of the best mascaras I have used, definitely worth the price, give it a go!