I heard about this mascara a long time ago, in fact it was last summer on the Yahoo Answers site and it was a vague mention by someone in the beauty industry in response to a question about new mascaras. So I duly Googled it as I do for many products but could find no information. Then some time last autumn I was invited by Boots (I'm on their e-newsletter mailiing list) to a special pre-release sale. Now as much I like new things I am not a huge mascara fan in general. Though I like mascara, I find it doesn't make such a difference to my face as say foundation and blusher, and so I don't go crazy for them unlike some girls but even if I were a huge fan I don't think I could have been bothererd to go specially. So anyway it wasn't until the beginning of this year that I finally noticed them in the shops.

Now the packaging for this masxara is rather unusual, most simply follow a standard cylidrical format but this is really fat in the middle, a sort of reverse hourglass effect. This seems to be a new trend because Maybelline has since released a new mascara with an identical design. The colour of the tube is black which is to be expected but doesn't grab the eye in the way that some do like the previously mentioned Maybelline's Collosus which is bright yellow. You get 13.1 ml in a bottle and the colour you choose is indicated on the bottom of the tube. There is a choice between, black, waterproof or brown black.

What stands out about this mascara is its huge brush. It's probably twice as big as some brushes and has many many bristles which vary in size and get shorter towards the end of the brush. The size of the brush can make it cumbersome however and thus harder to reach the small lashes at the sides. As such I sometimes find little flecks of mascara above the lashes which is annoying. The brush is one of those special IFX ones, which is meant to reduce clumping but I didn't notice this to be much more effective than other mascaras. I find that it does separate lashes well enough but if you attempt to build it up to get the so-called False Lash Effect then the clumping begins. I also sometimes find the shape of the lid make it harder to hold the wand and sometimes it starts to slip out of my hand.

This is available at Boots and Superdrug and has a RRP of £10.99. Recently it was on offer at Boots at £7.99 and as their offers tend to by cyclical I expect it will go back on offer in about three months time. However I got mine off ebay and paid £5.50 for one which was sealed which was a bargain as I would not have bought it for over £10 however good everyone claimed it was. So my advice get in online or wait for a promotion.

Now I know this has had a very good reception but I can't say I was blown away by it. I like it but it's not so good that I am promising life long devotion to it and will most likely try something else next time. There again I am quite unusual in my opinions because I didn't think the Masterpiece or Masterpiece Max was amazing either. However these mega mascaras do seem to be dong well with good sales of this and the new Colossus according to the empty shelves. I think this is a mascara trend because I have read quite a bit about Covergirl's Lash Blast, available in the US, which has the same over-sized brush and had loads of girls singing its praises. Perhaps this is where Max Factor got its inspiration...