I’m not sure whether or not I have addressed the fact that I had a mascara dilemma going on lately, but I did. All of my favourite mascara’s were running out one by one and I had almost nothing left. I tried using the last bits and pieces out of some mascara’s I had laying around, but it really was time for a new one. Because I didn’t feel like splurging on one I decided to buy an affordable one and give it a whirl. I bought the Essence Forbidden Volume mascara. Today it’s time for the review. If you’re interested in finding out whether it’s a budget find or a budget fail, make sure you continue reading!
Let’s start off with the packaging. It’s relatively basic but it’s not too bad. It does lightly remind me of an old Yves Rocher mascara I used to have (and didn’t love). It’s dark blue with red detailing on it. Simple, a bit too bulky for my liking, but totally okay. It doesn’t look cheap and that’s the most important thing when it comes to the packaging.
Essence has quite a wide variety of mascara’s and I have to admit I have only tried one of them in my life, the Princess Lash mascara I believe it was called. I didn’t like it at all which is why I never bought another Essence mascara again. However, after reading some very positive reviews on this one I decided to give Essence one more shot. And I’m glad I did, really glad.
But before we jump into the details let’s first discuss the brush. I feel like I always say I prefer rubbery/silicone spiky wands when it comes to mascara, but somehow I always end up using the opposite. The thing I don’t like about most of Essence’s mascara wands is the fact that they’re insanely large. This one luckily isn’t. It still isn’t the smallest brush, but the size is just right.
When I first opened up the bottle I felt like the stopper in this mascara wasn’t really like the ones in my other mascara’s, which made me think there would be a ton of mascara on the wand. Luckily it isn’t like that either. I do have to say that the chances of getting a chunk of mascara on this wand is bigger than on some other mascara wands, but it’s not too bad at all.
In about 50% of the reviews I read, the lashes of the person wearing this mascara looked absolutely amazing. In the other 5o% of the posts the lashes looked a little clumpy and almost a bit spidery. I wasn’t sure what to expect because of that but luckily it turned out to be better than I initially expected. This mascara isn’t clumpy at all on me (unless you use way too much product). It actually separates the lashes pretty nicely, it creates length and tons of volume. I have to say this mascara didn’t let me down at all.
The last important factor when it comes to mascara is staying power. I have pretty watery eyes so I have had moments where I walked around with terrible racoon eyes. To my surprise it wasn’t like that with this mascara. It did lose some of its volume throughout the day, but non of it ended up underneath my eyes, and that’s all that matters to me.
Overall I have to say I am extremely impressed by this mascara. I’m glad I finally decided to give it a chance and I’m glad that it turned out to be such a great mascara. It definitely isn’t less of a favourite than some of my high-end mascara’s. Well done Essence! If you’re on the hunt for a great budget mascara, this is definitely the way to go!
The Essence Forbidden Volume Mascara is available at the drugstore for €2,99.
That was it for today’s review. I hope you enjoyed reading it and be sure to let me know whether you think this is a budget find or a budget fail!
XOXO, Nicole.
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