Maybelline Great Lash Mascara

Whenever I read that Allure magazine had once again voted Maybelline's Great Lash Mascara into their Beauty Reporter Hall of Fame, I have to laugh and wonder what criteria they used to make this decision. Great Lash may be Maybelline's pride and joy as the number one best selling mascara in the marketplace, but I honestly cannot see what all the fuss is about. I have tried this product off and on over the years, and every time I do, I end up throwing it away. Allure's beauty editors should remember that "You get what you pay for" is something that definitely applies to Great Lash!

Why am I so down on this product? Experience is the best teacher, and while I am sure there are many women who use this mascara and think it's really great, I am not one of them. When I use mascara, I want a product that does something other than put a little color on my lashes. I'm looking for length and volume, and if I chose to curl my lashes before applying mascara, I certainly don't want the product to be so gummy, sticky and thick - like tar in a tube - that it straightens then right back out! I have no need of a mascara that makes my lashes stick together in stiff little clumps and takes forever to dry. Why would I want to use anything on my eyes that flakes off and smears underneath them, leaving me looking as if I have a black eye, or am part raccoon? Who in their right mind would choose a mascara that is difficult to remove, and permanently stains washcloths and bed sheets? Someone who was making their face up for a Halloween party might choose this product, as the color I used (Very Black) is about the most unnatural looking black I've ever seen, quite harsh and unflattering. It reminds me of "pretend" makeup that is sold for children to use to go with their Trick-or-Treat costumes! A couple of coats of this stuff, and your eyes look as if they have a tarantula sitting on them!

I just can't understand why so many beauty magazines and Hollywood makeup artists rave over this product! Maybe because it is cheap, and a tube is used once only on a model and then tossed to prevent contamination? So many people, like me, have bought this product in good faith after reading about it in a magazine or seeing it used on a television program, and have been very disappointed. There are many other drugstore mascaras in the same price range that perform so much better than this one, including some made by Maybelline. (NY Lash is one.) But Great Lash is everything mascara should not be!