From top to bottom; Too Faced ‘Better Than Sex’ mascara ($29.60AUD), Benefit ‘They’re Real’ mascara ($45 NZ), Collection ‘Does It All’ mascara ($17.49) and Jordana ‘Best Lash Extreme’ mascara ($3.59 US).

Good afternoon class,

Keeping on with the theme of comparisons on my blog currently, I thought I’d chat to you today about my favourite mascaras. Lashes are super important because we use them to flutter at potential suitors, they help us perfect our sarcastic eye roll and personally, I need to compete with some of my students because little boys seem to have the most beautiful thick, long eyelashes (unfair!). I am super picky when it comes to what I’m going to put all over my eye area and especially the concoction I am smothering all over my lashes but these four mascaras have stolen my heart and opened my eyes (literally).

The four mascaras I am talking about today are the Too Faced ‘Better Than Sex’, Benefit ‘They’re Real’, Collection ‘Does It All’ and Jordana ‘Best Lash Extreme’. These are the mascaras I would reach for, I use these regularly and I would repurchase all of them (and I can assure you, I have already). For those of us who don’t have a disposable income (myself included) or who can’t justify a mascara splurge at the moment they range in price from just a few dollars to $45NZ. So there is something out there for every one!

I have said it before and I will say it again, this mascara is totally Better Than Sex! I can tell you right now it took me a good few minutes of reassurance to my boyfriend that I was just joking after I exclaimed that after popping my Better-Than-Sex cherry but hopefully he won’t read this because I WAS TOTALLY NOT JOKING. It is so, so, SO good. From the catchy name, to the packaging, to the size, to the formula, to the wand, to the lashes. This is perfection in a product.

To begin with, the packaging is all I could ever ask out of a mascara’s packaging. It’s pink (my kids will tell you that’s my favourite colour), it’s a nice decent size, it feels luxurious and expensive, it’s subtle and it’s a metallic sort of finish which I love! I love the way the name is indented(?) on the packaging too. It just feels like a princess’ mascara and I’m lucky enough to have got my hands on it!

The brush is uber large, and it’s sort of a strange shape too, thicker on the ends and slightly thinner in the middle of the brush. Looks like a tiny child and squeezed the middle of the brush with their tiny hands. Well, can we give that tiny child a medal please? Because what ever they’ve done it works like magic! It thickens, it gives a fantastic coat of product, it lengthens and it separates the lashes just enough. Personally, I like my lashes a teeny bit clumpy because it makes them looks thicker and darker and this mascara achieves this perfectly. Any more though and they would be too clumpy. However, I find that even after 2-3 coats of mascara you are still able to separate them to your preference.

Not a bad price point for a mascara, considering the cost of mascaras in store, and I usually buy mine from http://www.beautybay.com which ships for free to NZ if you spend over $19AUD. However, at present the mascara is sold out on Beauty Bay so check back later as they should restock it soon. (Let me know when they do, I need to buy like 20 back-ups!).

Next up, a cult favourite on YouTube and long-term fave that I have only just got back into my life again. Gasp! The ever controversial They’re Real by Benefit. Let’s face it, you either love it or you hate to love it. The one thing on everybody’s lips regarding this mascara is how tricky it is to get off, and being the honest blogger that I am I did need to bring that up first and foremost. It is not as easy to remove as other mascaras are. However and a BIG however – it. is. fan. tastic. Please don’t let its reputation stop you from trying this mascara!

The packaging looks and feels like a nice quality, quirky wee mascara. Did I mention I LOVE that metallic look on mascara packaging?! I love the colour as well, it just screams high quality to me, and it is just that.

The brush on this mascara was something I had never come across before. It’s a comb-like, soft plastic-type brush with small bristles. It is a normal looking brush until the top which almost has a sort of ball shape just on the very top of the brush. This wonderful invention means that you are able to use the ball shape on the top to target lash areas and separate/coat them without having to twist your arm around in weird positions while multi-tasking your mouth-open-mascara-face. It is amazing. It’s one of those moments when you wish that you had come up with the idea. I have trouble with one particular clump (for want of a better word) of lashes that I can never separate properly. Well that was until I discovered this mascara. It’s perfect for the lower lashes as well, it allows you to give them a decent coat of mascara without getting it all over your lower lash line!

The formula (aside from being difficult to remove) is a weird mix between wet and dry. Like, it’s a nice wet/thin mascara, however it’s quite a dry brush and it doesn’t pick up a heap of product. Which, to be honest, is probably a good thing considering removal issues. To be fair it’s not THAT hard to remove. I use makeup wipes to remove it and that worked fine although now I’d probably use something which is designed more for specifically removing mascara so that it was less tugging at my lashes and did the job a little gentler. Benefit also sells a remover especially designed to take off this mascara which I haven’t had a chance to get my hands on yet, however I have heard great things!

Overall, this is the most expensive mascara, but it honestly is fantastic, especially if you have trouble applying mascara the way you want it, or applying it to the lower lashes. It NEVER smudges, it separates the lashes perfectly, it lengthens, it curls, it gives volume and it lasts for forever! 10/10 would bang. Do it.

I’ve included the Collection “Does It All” mascara because it is a dupe for the Benefit “They’re Real” and who doesn’t love a good dupe right? Also I assume not everyone reading this blog may want to spend $45 on a single mascara so this is a more affordable option. Although not as high quality and not quite as amazing, this mascara is most definitely a great dupe for the above product. The best thing about this mascara is that it’s so easily accessible! It is sold at Countdown supermarkets in New Zealand nationwide and is often on sale! (Did I just hear sale?).

The brush on this mascara is very similar to the Benefit one with the ball shape on the top of the wand. I find it slightly larger which makes it ever so slightly more difficult to use, but it does the same sort of job as the Benefit one. The packaging of course is not quite as luxurious as the last two mascaras, but the price makes up for that! I picked it up for around $10 on sale which was an absolute steal for this product.

The formula is similar to the Benefit mascara although it’s easier to remove (yay!). It’s a nice comb brush which separates the lashes nicely and gives you a lot more control over what you are doing. It lengthens and curls and gives volume and all that jazz and I would totally recommend this one if you are looking to try something new! Especially if you were looking to buy the Benefit mascara but you weren’t sure about it, testing out this one would let you know if you’d like the Benefit one or not because they are very similar!

Ahhh the Jordana ‘Best Lash Extreme‘. It’s cheap, it’s cheerful (well, the packaging is a bit emo but you get my drift), and it does an absolutely fantastic job. Aside from the name not making a tonne of grammatical sense (which always makes me a little frustrated) this mascara is my go-to. I probably use this mascara most often and for travel, in the car and in my desk at school because it is so damn cheap! I have probably bought about 10 of these so far and I never finish them! Now that I think about it, they seem almost never ending.

The brush on this product is fairly standard. Not a firm comb-like texture like the others it’s more like a thick soft-bristle. I don’t know what it is but it does a fantastic job of creating volume and length on the lashes! It’s a thick formula and very wet at the beginning. I actually find that after you give it a chance and use it a few times it dries up a little bit and performs much better. It reminds me a lot of the Maybelline Falsies mascara (which is another one of my faves!). If you like that then you will definitely love this.

The fact of the matter is that this mascara is crazy cheap. Like, crazy cheap. I think that every single person reading this right now needs to order one – just to try it out! I’m just asking you to try it out, because I know that you will fall in love like I have!  It’s so handy to have around, and although the quality may not be as superior as the other three mascaras, it is still absolutely fantastic and it actually works on a different sort of a level. It has everything I like in a mascara and it’s super easy to remove, lasts for ages and doesn’t smudge!

I buy mine from http://www.beautyjoint.com and it is around $3-$4 USD which works out as about $6NZ. Shipping is super inexpensive and I use the cheapest shipping and it usually takes around 2 weeks. Look out for some more of my beautyjoint faves coming soon!

If you do anything after reading this, go and buy it. In fact go and buy them all. Then tell me what you think. I feel excited when I share things that I love with you because I feel like I’m unlocking secrets and sharing them with my friends!

Let me know which mascaras you have tried and the ones that you love! Unlock and share your secrets with me – I’d love to hear them!

You can contact me on misswhitesmakeup@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram.