I'm always on the lookout for new mascaras to try out and after getting a £5 No7 voucher recently I decided to have a look at their mascaras. I ended up picking up this Exceptional Definition Mascara which was £12.50, making it £7.50 with the voucher. I chose to buy it in black, but it is also available in brown-black.

The tube it comes in is quite thick compared to other mascara tubes. It's a sparkly dark green colour which looks really nice but it's not as flashy as some of their other mascaras. The lid twists off easily and the wand comes out clean, not covered in mascara.

The brush is a bit odd looking, it has the little plastic/rubber bristles which are becoming so popular on mascara brushes these days, one side of the brush is flat with short bristles, the other is curved and has longer bristles, and there's a little ball of bristles on the end. I find the brush comes out very evenly coated in the mascara, no big globs or clumps anywhere.

I wasn't really sure of the best way to use the brush so I looked on the Boots website which tells me that the curved side is for building volume, the flat side is for separating them, and the little ball is for getting those tiny little lashes in the corner of your eyes. So the first time I used it I used the curved side then the flat side, but that just put far too much mascara on and made my lashes stick together at the roots which looked awful!

Using the curved side of the brush gives an amazing effect. It's very easy to brush onto the lashes and it coats them so evenly. It gives a nice bit of extra length and volume whilst still looking nice and natural. The black colour is nice and deep and my lashes look shiny and healthy, not that horrible mucky look some mascaras give. The effect it gives is a very open-eyed look, lots of definition, no fakeness and nothing over the top. I don't use the flat side for the reason already mentioned. The little ball on the end is brilliant, it really does make it easy to get into those little lashes that usually escape the mascara brush.

I prefer to just use one coat of mascara as I don't like the over-the-top look, but this one is buildable so you can create a more dramatic evening look if you want. It doesn't start to clump or stick lashes together until the third coat so the look is less spidery than other mascaras produce.

I've found this doesn't flake or rub off. It's not waterproof but I have been caught in the rain with it on a few times and it hasn't run. It lasts all day long with no signs of it wearing off, but when I come to take it off it comes off easier than most other mascaras I've used which results in much less rubbing at my eyes. I wear contact lenses and I haven't found this irritates.

All in all I think this is a great mascara whcih I would definitely buy again and am happy to recommend. Well worth the money even at full price.