Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Beach Week Day 3 - Clinique Lash Power Mascara

I am not a person that wears makeup to the beach or pool.  I personally think it is tacky when women show up wearing a full face of makeup at the beach.  I don't have time at the beach to keep up with my makeup and prefer to let a glow light up my face.  In addition, I find that wearing makeup at the beach means messy touch-ups after it begins to wear off and most of it ends up becoming a melted mess in your beach bag.  the only piece of makeup that I will give you is a bit of waterproof mascara.  A light touch will makeup your lashes lovely and defined and won't look made up when you are playing in the surf.

I purchased one waterproof mascara this summer and I bought it for two reasons; the first being that I wanted to wear a bit of tint on my lashes when I go to the beach and the other reason being that I wanted to try something that won't smudge in humid weather.  I have had some issues with wetter mascaras during the summer (especially Givenchy Phenomen'eyes) smearing and smudging when the humidity rises.  I have been hesistant about trying a long wearing formula since I have had problems in the past with this type of formula irritating my eyes, especially if I have contacts in.  Clinique's mascaras are all tested for sensitive eyes so I hoped that if any formula wouldn't be irritating, it would be a product from this brand.

Lash Power is the formula that fits the bill from Clinique.  "Mascara with staying power.  Vows to look pretty for 24 hours without a smudge or smear.  Lasts through rain, sweat, humidity, tears.  Yet the formula removes easily with warm water.  Unique brush reaches and beautifully lengthens even the tiniest lashes.  Ophthalmologist tested."  This product is available in both black and brown shades, of course I bought the black, I'm not a fan of brown mascaras. 

I used this mascara is two different ways.  The first way is use by itself and the second is use over another mascara.  By itself, this mascara produces long and defined lashes but not the volume that I crave in a mascara.  Clinique recommends that this product is best applied in several thin coats instead of one thick coat.  I agree with the several thin coats, it is much easier to keep the lashes defined with applied this way. This style of application gives the lengthened and defined lashes, they are enhanced yet natural enough that it looks appropriate at the beach or pool.  To get a more dramatic look, I tried to use this product over another volumizing mascara.  I kept this experiment in the Clinique line, applying one coat of Lash Power over one coat of Lash Doubling.  It didn't clump but I made sure that I kept the coats as thin as I could.  This type of application allowed me to have the volumized lash look that I normally favor.

The application of this mascara alone stood up to all the circumstances of use.  It didn't stray or smudge when I wore it during the day for regular activities.  It was in place after running on the treadmill and stayed on during the quick shower that I took after running.  The application of the two wasn't quite as successful.  It was fine during regular activities in humid weather but didn't hold up quite as well in the water.  Also, I could see a difference between the two trials in the removal of the mascara.  The mascara alone didn't even remove with eye makeup remover, I had to take a wash cloth that was soaked in warm water and then wipe it off in the shower.  In the second experiment, the eye makeup remover got about half the application of the two mascaras off and the rest came off in the shower.  I realized that my thinking with the two mascara was on point however, I can't fully cover the volumizing formula with the waterproof formula. 

With a product like this, I will concede to mascara at the beach or pool.  I feel better with mascara on and I know that many other ladies do too.  This is very nice waterproof formula and it stays in place no matter what your activities for the day are.  I don't think that I would do the layering for the beach or the pool since I don't think that the combination would hold up to extended time in the water.  However, I would do this mascara by itself to hold up the elements.  A bit of lash definition never hurt anyone at the beach however full full eye makeup still isn't a "Do" for the beach.

photo courtesy of Clinique

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