Review: Max Factor Excess Volume Extreme Impact Mascara

I find it interesting that Max Factor’s newest mascara has such a long and descriptive name. I think they really want to make an impact (pardon the pun :P). But the name isn’t why I wanted to try this mascara! What intrigued me was that the mascara was double ended and one of those ends contains a lacquer. Not many brands do mascara lacquers (the only brand that comes into mind is Hourglass), which usually go on after your regular mascara application to add even more darkness, depth and most importantly gloss (think very dark black and seriously glossy lashes). I haven’t tried the Hourglass mascara lacquer myself but I’ve heard that it can be a little tricky to use and can make lashes clump together and become somewhat sticky. Seeing this cheaper alternative, I was intrigued! Not only do you not have to paint on the lacquer with a little eyeliner type brush (where you have to individually paint each lash like with the Hourglass mascara lacquer) you receive a volumising mascara which works perfectly along side the lacquer.

The mascara contains 20ml of product, which is pretty darn good! A regular mascara contains about 10ml of product, so each end of this mascara is almost like a full tube of mascara (even though each end looks quite small). And something random – this mascara is made in Ireland which I thought was nice lol The first end of the mascara contain the regular volumising mascara. It’s a nice formula and the brush separates your lashes very easily with minimal effort. I’m totally a volume mascara loving girl since my lashes are already lengthy, but lack volume. I would give the volumising mascara about a 7 out of 10 in the volume department. You can also layer this mascara on quite a bit without your lashes clumping together. The brush itself is a silicone brush with quite small bristles. I like the brush more than I thought I would (I like those traditional BIG mascara brushes with lots of long tightly pack bristles) and I think it works well with the formula.

Above: Side 1 Extreme Volume Mascara.

The lacquer doesn’t itself necessarily add volume, but because you are layering product on your lashes, it does help to build them up a little (the same effect happens when you use a mascara primer underneath your regular mascara). What surprised me was the lacqer brush – a really ordinary mascara brush, with short but tightly packed bristles. It make lashes darker and like I said, helps add a little more volume. The lacquer itself doesn’t look or feel like a lacquer, but rather just another type of mascara formula (that is darker in colour). It doesn’t really make lashes look glossy as such, so that disappointed me a little. I was hoping this mascara would give my lashes a new ‘effect’ as such and while it’s lovely to use, it doesn’t really deliver on that front. The mascara wands on each end are also quite short and stubby. You get used to this packaging fairly quickly but I would have preferred to pull out a wand and use it freely, without it being attached to anything.

Above:  Side 2 Dark Lacquer.

The mascara doesn’t smudge throughout the day on me and doesn’t flake either. It’s a little difficult to get off, only because you have to layer so much mascara for the effect you are after. But with a little waterproof eye makeup remover, you shouldn’t have any issues. For the price especially, I think you are getting a lot of product in a really decent formula. It’s not exactly what I imagined it to be – but it is a very nice mascara.

My HG mascara is Dior’s Blackout mascara and while that mascara is double the price and contains only 10ml of product, I find that when I layer Blackout on my lashes, I get a similar result (and its a little easier to remove). Blackout lasts me a long long time (I find the mascara gets better as the formula starts to slowly dry out a little) about 6 months, so while Blackout is around the $50 mark (I try and get a friend to smuggle me in a few tubes from overseas where its cheaper!) I think price wise it is still economical (I don’t use mascara everyday either – thought I should point that out) for me. Max Factors Excess Volume costs $25.95 at Priceline, so you get a pretty darn good mascara for that price! If I didn’t have my darling Dior Blackout on hand, I would most definitely use this baby 🙂

Above: Wearing Max Factor Excess Volume Extreme Impact Mascara

I haven’t tried this mascara along with a mascara primer. I have a feeling it would be overkill, only because the mascara itself contains two different forumlas which need to be layered consecutively. However, it’s probably worth a try!

This was the first Max Factor mascara that I have tried (I know, where have I been?!?) but that’s because I just <3 my Dior Blackout lol

Have you tried this mascara or any of the Max Factor mascaras before? What about a lash lacquer?  Does the idea of a lash lacquer intrigue you? It definitely intrigues me and I hope they keep tweaking the formula because it could really revolutionary for our lashes!

Catch ya next time beauties!

Beauty Bee~

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