Pupa Vamp! Mascara

I like volumizing mascara - but I need the feathery, "natural" sort of volume, not the dozens-of-spider-legs volume. In other words, I want that mythical creature of mascaras, the one that will give me thickness, separation and length, while still looking completely natural.

You can laugh. It's ok. I know I live in Crazy Town on this one.

I'll tell you though...the Vamp! Mascara that I received from Pupa comes fairly close to achieving all of my lash dreams.

The packaging is cute, sassy and vaguely futuristic, with the kind of fat, curvy, natural-bristle brush that seems antithetical to its purpose. The fatter end works surprisingly well when it comes to to finding and coating those tricky little inner corner lashes, and the curved middle portion somehow makes it easy to wiggle the wand right into the base of the lashes without smearing my eyeball. It's really great for getting every last lash, root to tip. I think that's the key to the natural volume effect. It's not adding a thick layer of potentially clumpy goo to each lash, but really getting at all the lashes to make their presence felt.

With one coat, this gives me great length, a nice curl, good definition and clump-free, natural thickness. With two coats, some of the definition is lost as thickness is augmented, but that's perfect for the day-to-night transformation - from bright-eyed and feathery to vampy, indeed. With several coats, this achieves the effect of false lashes, with minimal clumping. The key is to do the wiggle at the base, and then sweep through the length.

The formula dries relatively soft, so the lashes don't end up spiky and crispy. They stay flexible to the touch, yet they hold that curl very well.

This would be in my personal top 5 mascaras, but for the fact that it does smudge in the outer third of my eye. Not terribly, but enough that I need to do a midday q-tip wipe. If your eyes are less watery/oily than mine, this may not be an issue for you.

Behold: scary up-close eyeball picture!

One coat on the left eye, top lashes only.

Availability: Most drugstores like Jean Coutu, in the prestige aisle. Price is 20$ CAD.

Pros: Great balance of thickness, length, curl and definition that still looks natural at one coat. Builds rapidly with multiple coats without becoming clumpy. Brush makes it easy to capture all the lashes.

Cons: Not smudge-proof on me.

(The item was sent to me by the brand to consider for review. This post is not sponsored or compensated.)