Where there's a wand, there must be a way? (Barry M Extreme Black Waterproof Mascara)

Member Name: wildrose9104

Product:	Barry M Extreme Black Waterproof Mascara
Date:	20/02/09 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Its cheap

Disadvantages: Smudges, bulky wand and brush, awkward to apply

As with many of my fellow female make-up lovers out there, mascara is one of those products which are never quite there. You can never find the perfect mascara. For me there is a checklist and a mission of which a mascara must fulfill (I swear I'm not generally so fussy...):

At the top of my list is:

1. Waterproof. And when I say waterproof, I literally mean waterproof. That mascara can't move a millimetre, smudge, run... nothing.
2. The wand needs to be the right length and size for good application. Wands that look like a scrambled mess, they just don't give a good application. It needs to be neat, therefore avoiding clumping and having too much mascara on the wand.
3. Colour and vibrancy. If a mascara says 'intense violet' then that is how I would expect it to look on my lashes. It's quite a disappointment to buy a mascara like that to see the colour on the wand and after application to barely see it on the lashes.

The Barry M Extreme Waterproof Black Mascara is a product which immediately caught my attention when I was out shopping. Firstly because it was only £5.95 and secondly the packaging was bright and bold - this really hooked me in, I admit it! It was also easy to spot as it was in a Barry M stall as are most Barry M products in places like Superdrugs and Boots. The product promises to volumise, lengthen and thicken lashes... that's quite a lot of promises!

Feeling very optimistic about my newest Barry M purchase I decided to try it out when I got home. The wand twists and pulls out, as with most mascaras on the market, and to my horror (yes, oh the horror!) the brush on the wand looked very bulky and messy. But wait a moment I thought, I haven't even tried applying this yet, this mascara still has hope! So I proceeded to apply the mascara, but unfortunately with great difficulty. Now, I have been using mascara for a good few years and have never experienced such problems with application. The brush was so bulky, that even tilting my head back and applying the mascara, it imprinted on the upper lashline and left lots of little clumps creating a mess. So after many cotton buds soaked in makeup remover and half an hour later, I was a little exasperated to say the least and quite disappointed.

The staying power of the mascara was... well ok. Not great. It smudged a little but why keep it on when you end up looking like a panda? I think if Barry M re-designed this (the wand), I think it would produce much better results. The mascara colour itself was bold, but really the wand applicator lets it down. All in all, not a product I would buy again and it is the only Barry M product I can say I really dislike!

Summary: A let down waterproof mascara.