I don't have the time or the inclination to wear much make up on a regular basis but the one item that I wear everyday is black mascara. I am always on the look out for bargains and special offers so I was pleased to spot that Glamour magazine was giving away Benefit products with every issue a few months ago. I snapped up a copy offering a small 4g tube of Benefit 'Bad Gal' mascara, feeling sure that I had nabbed a bargain for just the £2 cover price of the magazine.

The tube itself is fairly simple, with nothing to indicate its supposedly 'premium' branding. If anything, the plain black tube with a silver metallic looking lid seems more like a budget brand, in all honesty. Likewise, the brush applicator seems pretty basic and is actually quite short and stubby with a fairly small coiled head section which slides easily in and out of the tube, without lots of excess mascara building up around the edge.

I'm not bothered too much by these design aspects so long as the product inside performs well although my expectations of a mascara are actually pretty minimal. I'm not too fussed by all these claims that different brands make about being able to lengthen, thicken and resemble false lashes and so on - I just want a product that will coat my lashes evenly without smudging or clumping, helping me to luck slightly more awake than I usually feel!

My first disappointment came when applying the product. I found the brush head to be far too short and stumpy to apply a decent amount of mascara on to my lashes. I also found that the tiny lashes at the corners of my eyes were missed completely, needing repeated applications to create an effect that was far from perfect. For some reason, the mascara just didn't seem to adhere to the brush head particularly well and didn't seem to want to stick on my lashes much either, almost as though the consistency wasn't quite thick enough for its primary purpose. Even with several coats, I didn't feel that this was really sufficient. The only saving grace here is that the mascara didn't start to clump on either the brush or my lashes, despite the repeated applications, although I suspect that is just because there wasn't enough being applied due to the poor performance of the brush and the mascara itself.

My second issue with this mascara is that it smudges incredibly easily, even many hours after application. I must admit that I do rub my eyes a lot during the course of the day and I wear contact lenses which may or may not make a difference but, even so, this mascara smudged more than any other brand that I've ever tried - even the cheap Aldi or Collection 2000 varieties. I really do not like resembling a panda after a stressful day at the office so, for that reason, I soon stopped using this as it really has to be the worst mascara that I've ever used in terms of staying power during the course of a normal day. Given this, it's no surprise (but very small comfort) that it washes off very easily at the end of the day, without needing to scrub and without any soreness or irritation.

If this had been a basic Poundland jobby, this might be more understandable but I would be very annoyed had I paid the £16 price tag that a full sized Bad Gal mascara usually costs. As it is, I resent paying the £2 I did for this mini version. (The magazine was pretty poor too!)

I really cannot emphasise enough how disappointed I was with the coverage and staying power of this supposedly premium branded product. I've never purchased any Benefit products in the past and my experience with this mascara is enough to ensure that I never will in the future.