L'Oreal Lash Architect 4D Mascara in Black Lacquer

I always think mascaras are such a tricky one to buy. A lot of them are exactly the same as eachother just with tiny variations in packaging and brush sizes. After my Dior Iconic ran out, I decided to try something new that I've never tried before, and after much deliberation and walking in and out of Boots I ended up going with L'Oreal's Lash Architect 4D in Black Lacquer.

I'm not really sure what the difference between black and black lacquer is?! They offered both so I just went for the one that sounded a bit fancier haha. This mascara can be bought for £10.99 from any high street make-up stockist.

There are a couple of things I look for in a mascara - one is the pigmentation of the black and the brush. I've found a lot of mascaras aren't a true black - and can look kind of greyish on your eyelashes, and I really hate that, so I try and go for the blackest one's I can find. Secondly - the brush for me is really important. I'm not a huge fan of big chunky brushes as I can't get to the edges of my tiny lashes very well - so I tend to buy mascara's with thinner brushes, and preferably in made of rubber as the fibre ones tend to come apart and get stuck in my eyes ( ALWAYS happens to me) however this time I went for a fibre brush to see what happens.

I'll be honest I haven't bought a high street mascara in a long time...



And I'm not entirely convinced with this one.

Firstly I really dislike mascara's that don't come wrapped up or in a box as you can never be sure if they've been tested or opened lots, and this one came with neither which slightly disappointed me, so I chose one from right at the back. Its only a really small point but I don't like to buy a mascara to find its been opened lots already and dries out within a week.

So anyway, this has got a nice sized brush. Its quite small and a little tapered so you can get at the small lashes in the corner, and its also at a slight angle to curl the lashes as it coats them. It does this quite well.

The consistency of the mascara is nice, its not sticky and dries super quickly.

So as you can see, the mascara does a nice job of lengthening, but doesn't really do much for volume (as promised by L'Oreal) which disappointed me a little bit. When you try and add extra coats it goes a little bit clumpy and stuck a few of my eyelashes together.

I also really like to wear mascara on my bottom lashes but I noticed that the brush really had trouble coating these, and throughout the day tends to print near the corners of my eye, which I hate soooo much as it looks so messy.

With eyeline I don't feel like it really does that much for my eyelashes, it doesn't make them stand out particularly well or do anything special, and for £11 I feel like it could do a lot better (or for the extra tenner I could of bought dior).

ONE MORE THING... I've had this mascara for about a week now and I've noticed the fibres are already coming out! and they are sooo tiny and I have to check the brush before I use it because if they got stuck in my eyes they'd never come out.. urgh.

Overall I'm not really impressed with this mascara. I've never had a L'Oreal mascara before and I can't say I'll be buying it again. I like the length it adds to my lashes but it prints quite a lot (regardless of the weather) and I like the packaging, but I don't think its anything special. I'd give it a 2 out of 5.

What's your favourite mascara?