Like most women I have tried my fair share of mascara's over the years and have been quite happy with the Maybelline Great Lash mascara for some time now. I try to (if I remember) replace my old tube of mascara every 6 months, but this time instead of buying my normal replacement tube I decided to try Max Factor's Masterpiece mascara, probably largely swayed by the adverts (the one with the girl from Memoirs of a Geisha), to see if it was any better, plus it was on offer in Boots at the time which I must admit was the final deciding factor. I think it normally retails at £8.99 for a 4.5ml tube which for me is quite expensive. It comes in three colours: Rich Black; Black Brown and Deep Blue. I tried Rich Black.

The blurb claims that the new iFX brush that comes with the Masterpiece mascara is the first of its kind. It is designed to "facilitate precision brushwork, delivering superb definition to your lashes, framing your eyes and making them stand out beautifully". Basically it is meant to reach the smaller lashes at the corners of your eyes better.

Masterpiece Mascara comes in a nice shiny gold tube, which looks quite elegant and sophisticated. When you remove the brush from the tube it makes a satisfying popping sound, and I found that just the right amount of mascara was loaded onto the brush and I did not need to wipe any excess off the brush with a tissue before application. The iFX brush does not appear to be curved, and has what looks like rubber flexible spikes all over it in no apparent pattern, which taper towards the tip.

I found it was easy to apply the mascara, it went on smoothly, and just as claimed it was easy to get to the smaller lashes at the corners of my eye. After application I usually always use a lash comb to separate the lashes and remove any clumps, but this was not a necessary. I thought the brush was excellent, a definite advantage over other mascara's.

I normally only apply one coat and I really liked the look this mascara gave, it opened up my eyes without looking too fake. I found that my lashes appeared longer and fuller, and did not stick together. I thought the mascara also had a curling effect on my lashes. The overall effect was very good, but not anywhere near what is shown on the advert, maybe you need more coats for that (or fake eyelashes). My lashes felt soft and not at all stiff. Having applied the mascara in the morning I found that it lasted until I finished work easily, but by the time it was time to go to bed it had started to disappear. I would definitely last a night out without any problems.

On some occasions of wearing it I have found that my eyes had become quite irritable, and when I looked I could see that the mascara had flaked and crumbled, and that there were little black flakes around my eyes. I have only recently started wearing contact lenses so this could have caused me to rub my eyes more, but once the mascara starts to crumble this caused me a lot of irritation. I found my eyes were more irritable on days when I wore this mascara than days when I didn't.

This mascara is not waterproof, but then it does not claim to be. It also does not state that it is suitable for contact lense wearers. I found it very easy to remove with eye make-up remover, there was no residue left behind.

In a rather sad fashion I decided to compare it to my normal mascara (Maybelline Great Lash) by putting the Masterpiece on my left eye and the Great Lash on my right to see which was best. I curled my eyelashes before application and combed them immediately afterwards. I found it was easier to get the mascara onto the lashes with the Masterpiece, it transferred better but that is not to say the Great Lash was bad, the Masterpiece was just easier. I prefer the look the Masterpiece gives me when I don't curl my lashes first, but by curling them the advantage was lost. Both sets looked the same, the Masterpiece might have just made my lashes look a little bit thicker. The lashes of the Great Lash felt stiffer and more stuck together than those of the Masterpiece eye, and even after 10 mins I could still get the comb through the Masterpiece ones easily, whereas the Great Lash ones had dried and stuck together so it was more difficult. Both mascaras lasted well all day, but I found that when I came to remove them that evening there was more on the cotton wool pad for the Great Lash eye than the Masterpiece eye.

In conclusion I did like the effect the Masterpiece mascara gave, but I did not feel that the result was any better that that of my much cheaper Great Lash mascara (it's about £5 for 12.5 ml), so I won't be buying it again. I also personally found it far to irritating for my eyes, but I think it would be ok if I wasn't wearing contacts, however I am not going to give them up for the sake of a mascara.


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