Product Review: Revlon Custom Eyes Mascara

While buying a tube of toothpaste the other day, CVS once again blessed me with one of those "$5 off the cost of" coupons. Specifically, $5 off the cost of Revlon's Custom Eyes Mascara. Typically this product retails between $8.99 and $10.99. Being the makeup junkie that I am, I always jump at the chance to try something new (especially if its on sale!). I figured, what's the worst thing that could happen in this deal? I spend $3.99 on a drugstore mascara, and toss it if it stinks? Worse tragedies have happened.

So I picked up my mascara in Blackest Black (the only color for Mascara, as far as I'm concerned), and like any good makeup addict, I gave it a spin this morning.

First, some background on this mascara: this is absolutely a gimmick product. The concept  behind this product is that you can choose between two different lash looks with the built-in bristle turn-style. The cap has a rotating mechanism that allows you to decide how many bristles the wand uses to apply the mascara. With one click, one layer of bristles retracts into the wand, allowing for an application that makes lashes look long and "dramatic" (i.e., "thick"). Two clicks adds the extra layer of bristles back, supposedly making your lashes more defined.

You can see the turn-style at the end of the wand, along with an indicator to let you know which look the wand is currently set to.

This is the wand set to 1 click: long and dramatic. If you look very closely, the wand is slender and the bristles are thin.

2 clicks: definition. The difference between 2 clicks and 1 click is subtle, but you can see a little more thickness among the bristles and the wand is a little more full.

At this point, I should point out the actual head of the wand is very flimsy. It's made of very bendable plastic, and when inserting the wand into the tube, one must be careful not to snap the head off. I suppose given the concept behind the product, it would be hard to have a retractable mascara wand that was sturdy. But still, it's a little unnerving to think you might break a product when using it. Additionally, I can see the potential in this wand to pull a substantial amount of product out of the tube once it has been used a few times.

So how does it look? Well, let's see:

These are my lashes with two coats of Custom Eyes in the 2 click "defined" look. 

Please excuse the terrible lighting. My bathroom is cream colored, but apparently my camera translates "cream" into "ochre."

After the stuff has dried, there is a very small bit of flaking. If you're like me (with ridiculously thick lashes) your lashes are gonna clump together to a small degree with this product. Easy enough to separate them, but be advised nonetheless. 

Interestingly though, my lashes feel very soft with this formula. I don't feel like my lashes have turned into spider legs, despite the thicker consistency of this mascara. It does add a bit of length to my lashes as well, which I sort of dig.

Another shot:

All in all, I'd give this mascara a solid B. I really don't like how flimsy the packaging is, and the flaking worries me a tiny bit. But the two different look concept is interesting, and my experience so far has been mostly satisfactory. I'll definitely keep using it and update this post with any new developments or complaints.