On first viewing this mascara I found its appearance to be quite intimidating purely due to the long, thin and sharp looking applicator brush that Clinique have designed for this mascara. It is very different to anything I have had to put that close to my eye before, having a plastic, very curved wand applicator. There is no 360° brush on this make-up typical of the standard mascaras that we are used to seeing in shops. Its design is relatively unique, though similar strange looking products have been seen recently on the market such as Givenchy Phenomenal 'Eyes Mascara.

The applicator consists of one side of rubber spikes with which you apply the mascara to your lashes. There are two rows of these spikes on the wand being approximately 0.1 - 0.2mm in length. These spikes are intended to give the eyelashes the 'high lengths' it advertises in its name. As mentioned previously this is not the most timid looking of applicator brushes, but it is surprisingly flexible and I can vouch that if poked into the eye by accident this will not leave any lasting damage.

The applicator is strong but not dangerous, the curved shape of the wand is meant to trace the shapes of the top and bottom eyelids from the base to the ends of the lashes. Obviously this cannot be accomplished to suit each individual person's eyelid shape, but for me it fits well and I manage to get good coverage across all my lashes at once, so that gets my vote. I do think the length of the plastic 'fang-like' applicator spikes would benefit from being slightly longer in order to better grip the lashes, but overall it does give a good coverage in a small number of sweeps.

Personally I prefer, thicker and much fuller looking lashes than Clinique's effort gives me here. It does provide the length that it advertises for which I would rate product as good; the spikes separate from root to tip and give a clump free set of lashes. One drawback I find with this product however is it does not give a full and thick appearance which I prefer my mascaras to do. I know that this is predominantly advertised as a lengthening product so I cannot grumble too much, however the product description does state it gives you "volume upon immediate application", which I disagree with.

The product come in two colour only, black and brown, be warned neither of these are waterproof. I sometimes found after a brisk walk to work on a windy day I would have slight black tear marks coming horizontally from the outer corner of my eyes, which is never a good look! For 7ml of this product you will pay approximately £15 from any Clinique product stockers (Boots, Debanhams etc.). This is not a particularly high price for Clinique mascara; I feel this is perhaps because of its rare looking features. I have stopped using this recently in favour of a more voluptuous mascara but it was still going after about 6 weeks of use, so it seems to be a long lasting product for the money.

This mascara won the "Winner of the Top Sante Health & Beauty Glow Awards 2011 for Premium Cosmetics Range" apparently, so it can't be all bad. It is also, like most Clinique products ophthalmologist tested. It does also say in the product description "For best results, use with Lash Building Primer" which is perhaps where I went wrong, however if I buy a mascara I do not want to have to pay for an additional piece of make-up to achieve its optimum performance, it should really be all in one. As a contact lens wearer I would rate this produce as good, the applicator spikes are relatively safe from touching the lenses being quite short, however the lack of waterproofness is an obvious issue.

Overall I think Clinique have better mascaras on the market and would rate this one as an average 3/5 stars.