Review: 17 Va Va Va Voom Volumising Mascara

Apologies for being totally MIA yesterday, I fell victim to a lovely combination of tonsillitis (which is possibly becoming a chest infection) and a really long evening training session for Brownies. I eventually got home at about 9pm, dosed myself up with paracetemol and cough medicine (why can't someone make a nice tasting one?) and went straight to bed (where I had some very bizarre dreams- feverish dreams are the best!) so I'm really sorry I didn't post, I hope you didn't miss me too much! :p

Anyway, onto todays review: I've had this mascara for just over 3 weeks now (you can see my haul post here) so I've well and truly put it through it's paces for you.

This mascara is available from Boots for £6.29 (all 17 cosmetics are currently on 3 for 2!) and contains the standard 8ml of product. It comes in Black or Brown/Black (which is what I have) and the packaging is rather pretty (I love purple and silver).

The main reason I got this mascara was the brush- it's huge! It's a traditional bristly brush, with long and dense bristles, rather similar to Benefits BADgal lash mascara brush. It has quite a flat top, which sometimes collects excess mascara, but it's quite easy to remove on the tube and I've not found that to be a problem. Despite it's denseness the wand doesn't cling on to excess mascara, and applies just the right amount to coat my lashes nicely.

I love the way this brush works; it really does coat each lash evenly from root to tip with very little effort. I find the brush really easy to use as it seems quite short compared to other mascara wands of the same width, so I have a lot of control over it (meaning I don't get mascara blobbed on my inner corner, which I used to be rather good at) and the dense bristles have no trouble grabbing each lash, no matter how fine they are.

The formula is also fantastic, it doesn't clump, even with several coats, but really does give my lashes volume- which is great as my natural lashes are long but very fine. It doesn't give me any length; which for me is a plus (my lashes are definitely long enough) but I'm not sure it would be good for someone looking for both length and volume.

Although it doesn't claim to be waterproof it holds up quite well to tears (I watched Love Actually last week; guaranteed tears) and horrible weather as long as you don't rub at wet lashes, and it doesn't flake or smudge at all throughout the day. Despite lasting so well, it also removes really easily with eye make up remover- no rubbing required, it's very gentle!

After using this mascara I have no idea why I liked using a plasticy brush for so long, the dense bristles really work for me and my lashes, and if I don't get sucked in by any other mascaras (which lets face it, I might...) I'll definitely be re-purchasing this mascara :)


What's your favourite type of mascara brush? And what's your current favourite mascara?

                                                                                                    xGretalRabbitx