I bought this many years ago after reading a lot of rave reviews about it in glossy magazines. On use I thought it was rubbish and rarely used it, I've recently been given another tube and wondered if the formulation and or brush had changed. I'm sad to say it hasn't.

The Mascara is very cheap it's £5.19 at Boots right now and £3.25 online from 'cosmetic-kingdom' I have seen it cheaper too, it's even available in multi-packs of about 4. It's not bad value for the price as it is usable it's just not as special as the blurb would have you believe, but isn't that usually the way.

The Maybelline claim.

The below is lifted directly from the Maybelline complete with American spelling.

* America's favorite mascara conditions as it thickens
* Lash-doubling waterproof formula glides on smoothly to build great-looking, smudge-proof lashes
* Lash-building brush makes it easy to get a full lash look without clumps or globs
* Contact lens safe and hypoallergenic
* Waterproof, also available in Washable and Curved Brush

The Great lash I have is in blackest black, it also comes in very black, and brownish black. On sliding the wand out of the tube I'm aware that there isn't a lot of product on the brush, which I quite like as I don't want to feel I'm glooping my eyelashes together straight away. The brush is a spiral bristle type, a lot of people don't like this because it is small. I love it for that very reason. I don't have huge sweeping eyelashes (though they aren't particularly short either) but this 'old fashioned' brush works well on my lashes and gets right in to the roots, lower lashes and corners of the eyes. If only the product itself were better.

On my eyes is where my problems with this mascara starts, as I sweep the brush through my lashes there is very little difference apparent, and it takes several sweeps before my lashes start to look more defined. The look is not very noticeable even with several coats, and the claim of buildability in my opinion is nonsense. The shade of the mascara I'm using is a very good dense black and has a slight gloss to it as healthy lashes do, so if you have fair lashes you will see more of a difference than those of us with dark hair. The mascara seems quite wet on application, and if I blink I'm left with an imprint of my lashes both under my eyes and on my upper lids below my eyebrows, it takes a while to dry down thoroughly. Maybelline advise that you don't let the mascara dry between coats, which shouldn't be a problem as it takes so long to dry.

If you like a very natural look then this could work for you, however in my opinion the look is so subtle that it's really not worth bothering I'd rather go without. I did eventually get some definition with many many sweeps of the brush, but I don't have time to fiddle for ages with my mascara, and the look remained below average.

Once dry (eventually) I find it to be quite flaky compared to other reasonably priced mascaras I own, and my eyelashes feel sort of brittle. I don't find the mascara creates too many clumps and keeps the lashes fairly separated. I do not notice any lengthening or thickening of my lashes.

As for conditioning my lashes with use, absolutely not, there is no difference to the condition of my lashes while using this whatsoever.

Considering how little effect this has on the look of my eyes it does take a fair amount of scrubbing to get off. I always use an oil based make up remover for water proof mascara and they usually come of with a minor tussle, this puts up quite a fight, and if the look was good then this stubbornness to come off would be a positive rather than just a hassle.

I believe the poor performance (in my opinion), of this product is almost entirely down to the formulation and not the brush, as I when I threw away my first Great Lash I saved the (washed) brush and have used it very successfully with other mascaras, giving a much better result. In fact the brush is the only thing that lives up to the Maybelline claim in that it allows the product to glide on smoothly. I want to love this, every time I try I hope it will give me lovely black natural lashes if nothing else, but it doesn't. I would say that all the other claims are advertising hyperbole, and I will never buy it again or even use it if given as a gift.