L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes in Carbon Black

I picked this mascara up from Shoppers Drug Mart for about $7 CDN on sale, whoot whoot!

Photo credit: Lorealparis.ca

I did some research on this mascara before I picked it up - knowing full well that about half of the women out there hated it with all their guts, and the other half were madly in love with it. I hoped that I was one of the latter.

This mascara features a flexible silicone wand with spacious bristles. L'Oreal describes the design as a "Clean Sweep System [which] wipes the brush free of clumps" for a clean, defined, voluminous look. It is supposed to be ophthalmologist-tested and allergy-tested. It claims to be clump-free and fragrance-free, as well as safe for contact-lens wearers and those with sensitive eyes.

Oh my, oh my, oh my. How I adored this mascara.

The packaging is tres chic. Who wouldn't want to pull this golden tube of deliciousness out of their makeup bags, I ask you!? This definitely looks more expensive and high-end than any other mascara I've tried. Kudos on the packaging, L'Oreal. I especially love the way the inside of the tube is designed, with the little 'cleaner' feature that pulls excess product off of the brush before you get it out of the tube.

The brush was perfect for getting right in to the base of my lashes, and because of the way the brush was designed, it got just the right amount of product on my lashes - enough to thicken them, but the brush wasn't so gobbed up with product that it couldn't clear away the excess at the same time. This brush is a little bit larger in size - sort of reminiscent of CoverGirl's infamous LashBlast mascara, but with a gentle curve that fits the curve of your natural lashline perfectly. This brush wasn't as torturous as the L'Oreal Clean Definition Telescopic that I loathed with it's razor sharp bristles; still not friendly if you happen to get it too close to your lashline, but not nearly as painful.

The wand also features short bristles mixed in with longer bristles, to lengthen and clear out any clumpage. Ingenious design, I tell you. Brilliant!

The mascara itself has an interesting smell. It's not overwhelming or overpowering, but it's not nice either. Sort of a "peppery-plastic" smell, and yes, you can quote me. I don't know if I notice the scent too much after it's applied, but when you first whip your brush out of the tube, it's sort of a startling discovery - especially when you're not used to smelling anything from your mascara tube.

The formula was thin, but not as thin as other L'Oreal mascaras I've tried. Usually I have to leave my L'Oreal mascaras uncapped for several days before they dry out enough to be usable. Not so with this mascara.

It was pure black. Like the blackest of black mascaras - it made my green eyes pop like you wouldn't imagine.

On the left, 2 coats of the L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara.
On the right, my naked lashes.

It volumized my lashes fantastically. But it wasn't clumpy and it didn't make my lashes spidery. I got separation and definition, yet the base of my lashes was dark and thick. Somehow this mascara did exactly what I wanted every mascara in the history of ever to do for my eyeballs.

A comparison of my naked lashes to my lashes with
2 coats of the mascara.

On the top - Left: 2 coats of the mascara, Right: naked lashes
On the bottom: Left: 3 coats of the mascara, Right: 1 coat of the mascara

I never tried curling my lashes with this mascara, but I have no doubt that it would've rocked it up in that category also. I've heard a lot of complaints about this mascara flaking and such, but I never experienced a problem with flaking or transferring. This mascara stayed put on my eyeballses.

BUTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT.... there's always a but... haha, I said "butt"...

This mascara was no comprendo with my eyeballs. Every night after taking my mascara off, my eyes would itch and water and burn so bad. Sometimes they even itched during the day if so much as a little flake got into my eye... It was maddening, I tell you. I considered that maybe it was just environmental allergies, but as soon as I stopped using this mascara the problem went away. So unfortunate.

And the price is sort of a con as well. If you're buying this mascara full price, expect to pay at least $9 CDN. Depending on where you purchase it, you might be looking as much as $11 or $12 CDN dollars. Ouch. My wallet is crying...

Needless to say, I'm really disappointed. I wanted this to be my holy grail mascara - now it's just taking up space in my drawer, and I'm not really sure what to do with it. Maybe my sister would like to take it for a test drive...

3 out of 5 stars.
A huge part of me wants to give this 5 or 6 stars, just because it is that amazing. But I knocked it down to a 3 because the price I pay in pain and agony just isn't worth any delicious lashes.

Sigh de la sigh. What mascara duds have you tried? I want to know.