Essence Volume Stylist Curl & Hold Mascara

I bought this while I was waiting for the super hyped up L'Oreal's Lash Paradise to reach Slovenia (I bought it then online) and now, having tried both I wonder why isn't there a hype surrounding this one as well? I picked it up in the drugstore without reading any reviews, actually because I don't recall seeing any or I didn't notice them and I made my choice purely based on the fact it's a pretty looking mascara. I've had it for a couple of months now and I find it quite impressive.

This has one of the strangest, but classic type of brushes. It's got an odd pattern of length of bristles, with one part of normal bristles and then a completely random bold patch in the middle part. It just looks unfinished and I have no idea what purpose it serves. I don't think here the brush contributes to anything important, though it separates ok, but they could have just done a regular shape and most likely no one would notice the difference.

Formula is a great consistency as soon as you open it and it's neither too gloopy or too liquid, so you don't have to wait for it to reach its full potential. At this one you just open it and it works the same as it will in two days, two weeks or two months. As is usually for Essence, the formula is intensely black, but what is not so common is that the formula is almost waterproof or at least it behaves similar to a waterproof formula. By that I mean that is difficult to remove completely, even with Biobaza Cleansing Micellar oil (Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water in Oil removes it, so you don't need a greasy duo phase remover), but this also means it lasts really and without smudging. I remove it after about 13-14 h and it always looks really good at the end of the day, there might be a flake or two, but it's nothing major. I never had any smudging and I wore it when temperatures were high. It's an all-in-one formula, so plenty of volume and length for seriously big lashes, plus it also defines ok. In terms of curling the lashes and keeping them curled, it's not bad despite being a regular mascara. While it only manages to lift them up about half way by itself, if you use it in combination with a lash curler, it will hold them up better than most regular mascaras and that's most likely due to an almost waterproof-like formula. The formula is quite light and on the dry side, so that's also the reason it doesn't drop the lashes immediately unlike more wet mascaras. However, because it's not such a heavy formula, some might find it takes them too long to build it up.

Packaging is fine, nothing leaks and the neck doesn't get unnecessary dirty, but it is quite a big and chunky mascara that could easily have at least a smaller cap. 

I got mine in DM for 3.29 €. For the price this is a great mascara and in terms of effect, so far I find it's better than Lash Paradise as it's just a bit more volumising and lenghtening, though they perform quite similarly on my lashes. The only minus I find is that it's difficult to remove and I buy regular mascaras precisely because I want easy removal at the end of the day, while I wear waterproof version that keep my lashes perfectly curled for special occasions.

Have a great day!