the flutter wars - phase 1

In order to really give everyone an idea of where my preferences lie when it comes to mascara, I thought I would show an set of visual comparisons for two of the mascaras I mentioned in my initial flutter wars post. For the first two photos, I'm posting crops from a single picture, so you can see things with the same light and exposure (no image alteration aside from slight sharpening). The last one is a separate picture, done about 15 minutes later - this one with no image alteration whatsoever.

This is my right eye, unadorned. No makeup has been placed on this eye whatsoever. I feel lucky that my lashes have a natural darkness and enough of a curl to play with, so I don't need to struggle with eyelash curlers or any such thing. Because my lashes are already reasonably thick, I don't pay attention to a mascara that promises thickening - I'm mostly interested in length or flash. Usually base coats increase thickness, so I only try them as a curiosity.

This is my left eye with two coats (well, honestly, one and a half) of MAC Pro LongLash on the top lashes. No other makeup has been applied. You can see that the lashes are both lengthened and separated, with the tiniest ball on the end of some of the lashes. It's not dramatic, but for a staple I don't particularly need dramatic. So for a score on this one, on a scale of 1 to 10 for each aspect, I give it:

Endurance - 9
Look - 7
Feel - 6
Flutter Factor - 7

I think I'll call it the ELFF score from now on, and will grade all my makeup that way. ;) Also, I am always pleased to note that the length and color still matches well with my lower lashes, which is crucial - my lower lashes are significantly longer than they seem, and so I hardly ever put anything on them. After all, I am not really interested in looking like Alex from A Clockwork Orange.


With this in mind, I'll present my right eye again, now adorned in the DuWop Lash Lacquer. This photo was taken literally a minute after application, so everyone knows what I'm actually after in a mascara.

This is a single coat of mascara and a single application of topcoat to my top lashes only. No other makeup has been applied. If you take a close look, you can see that the DuWop gives a visual illusion of changing the angle of my lash curl for my mid-lid lashes, as well as doing additional lengthening and pretty kick-ass separating, without the nearly-invisible ball that the LongLash places at the end. I like how soft and glossy they look at the ends - not like the slightly sooty look I get with LongLash. A second coat of mascara would make the lashes look quite thicker at the ends, but would still keep that elegant sweeping point that I find so appealing.

The DuWop look is what I'm after in a mascara, but sadly, in about an hour the mascara that is covering the ends of the lashes will start to flake away, shortening the look. Before 4 hours are up, it will end up looking like a low-rent version of the LongLash - which, since it's more expensive than the LongLash [$19 versus $11], makes it additionally annoying. ELFF:

Endurance - 4
Look - 9
Feel - 7
Flutter Factor - 7

~ * ~ * ~

Here are the mascaras that I'm planning on trying:

Cargo SupersEyes
Sue Devitt Microquatic Luxury Lash
Smashbox Bionic mascara (the squalene claim in the ingredients list made me nervous, but I skin-tested this without poor effect, so I'm fairly hopeful.)
YSL Faux Cils (per PerfumeShrine's suggestion!)

and on the drugstore end:

Maybelline Lash Discovery
Rimmel Extra Super Lash
Rimmel Lycra Lash Extender

any others people would suggest I look into? Nothing with any hydrogenated anything, if possible. ;)