I do love a bargain. I was therefore delighted to discover that a recent copy of "Glamour" magazine was giving away some freebies with each copy of their magazine. As the freebies were from the "Benefit" cosmetics range, which I had tried only once or twice before, I decided to purchase a few assorted copies of the magazine to take full advantage of the small selection of cosmetics on offer.

One of the freebies at this time was a small box containing a small, 4.0g "travel-sized" tube of "Bad Gal Lash" mascara. I believe there was only one colour or shade choice available at the time, which was a dark black shade. I used the mascara, thought it was a nice enough product, and promptly rushed out to buy a couple more copies of the magazine to create a small 'stockpile' of the mascara tubes before the magazine was removed from general circulation.

My reasons for doing this are not difficult to understand when you consider the price of the full-sized tube, which is more than double the size of my petite version coming in at 8.5g. The usual price for this full-sized tube is £16.50, so doing the sums shows my freebie tube should really cost around the £8 mark. As the magazine only cost in the region of £2, it is easy to see the savings I made.

The packaging for the product is quite attractive I suppose, although I couldn't confess to thinking it was at all innovative or offered anything particularly eye-catching. The plain black tube and shiny 'chrome' effect lid are actually rather cheap looking in my opinion, although I am more concerned with how a product actually performs, rather than the packaging it is provided in. I couldn't honestly say that the product would have caught my eye from the display in the shop which is quite surprising, considering the higher-than-average price tag of the product.

Removing the brush from the tube, it looks to be larger than average, and certainly larger than many 'curling' mascaras that I use on a regular basis that often have a thinly-designed brush. It is difficult to tell what the 'selling points' of this mascara actually are, as there was very little information provided with the product due to it being a free sample. A quick look online tells me that this mascara has been created to provide "Full, voluminous lashes" so I was expecting the end result to be quite dramatic.

I found that this was not the case at all, which was probably down to the consistency of the mascara, which I felt was quite thin in comparison to many of the other 'thickening' mascara products that I use regularly. Being completely black in its colour, the rather thin liquid looked to be quite 'average', similar, in fact, to some of the mascara products that I have from 'budget' priced cosmetic ranges.

In my experience, it is those mascaras that have slightly thicker liquids that help to create a more 'intense' look, so anything with a slightly thinner consistency always causes me to be dubious about it being able to achieve any sort of real 'volume' or 'thickening' effect.

The larger-than-average brush provided with the Bad Gal Lash was not overly cumbersome for me to use, and I didn't experience any problems with smudging or anything which is a huge plus point of course. I have to be honest here and say that my eyelashes are very dark and quite long naturally, so I felt they were able to cope with the larger-than-average quite easily. I could quite understand if somebody with short or very fine lashes found the brush more difficult to use, but this wasn't the case for me.

I found the results from using the Bad Gal were quite unremarkable, but that is not to say I was not happy with the product. To explain a bit better, I felt the product provided full coverage to my lashes, and the process of applying the mascara was quick and easy to undertake, probably down to the large brush. I also felt that the liquid mascara was of quite a high quality, as I experienced no 'dripping' or smudging, neither did the mascara rub off or run too hastily; it's not waterproof, but it didn't budge too easily either - perfect for me and my own requirements.

"Full & Voluminous" didn't come close to the end results. Instead, I felt my lashes were covered to perfection, with the end results being much less noticeable than that of a voluminising or 'thickening' mascara and I was actually quite surprised to learn that this product is marketed as such. I had assumed it was a rather 'everyday' mascara product, designed to provide full colour and coverage to the lashes as this best describes the results achieved, in my experience.

I am happy with the results, but only for everyday wear or for less formal occasions. For a more dramatic or 'intense' look, I opt to use a different product entirely as the Benefit Bad Gal just doesn't deliver on this score. So, if you are thinking of purchasing it on this basis my advice would be to steer clear, and this goes for anybody with short or fine natural lashes too as I just don't think the product is suitable for creating this type of effect.

As a side note, the product is absolutely ideal for me to take on trips and holidays due to its petite, 'handbag sized' tube. This is something that could not be said of the full-sized version of course, but it is a huge advantage for me, and is another reason that I wanted to purchase a couple of the 'freebie' tubes.

I have experienced no issues in terms of sensitivity or aggravation to the sensitive eye area which has led me to the conclusion that the product actually contains quite a mild, gentle formulation.

Additionally, I have had no difficulty in removing the product along with the rest of my facial make-up, finding a moist facial wipe or some everyday make-up remover are more than adequate to remove all traces from my skin.

In summary, I am happy enough with my freebie tubes of the product and think it provides a nice effect for everyday use. I didn't feel the product lived up to its claims however, so one star removed from the product rating for that. As for the ludicrous price tag that the full-sized version carries, I feel this is vastly overpriced for what is essentially an everyday, rather basic mascara product.

As @ the time of writing (August 2012), the Benefit Bad Gal Lash Mascara (8.5g tube) can be purchased online at Boots (www.boots.com) for the sum of £16.50 plus postage costs. I believe there is a free gift available with the product for a limited time. You can also purchase in store.