Review: L'Oreal Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara

L'Oreal Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara in Black Quartz (for brown eyes)

Price: MSRP $10.95

Claims: "Black mascara infused with a hint of color adds volume and length to lashes while intensifying eyes. The illuminating top coat infused with light-reflecting pearls highlights your eye color with our exclusive sphere tip brush. Clump-free & Flake and Smudge Resistant."

 

Review: I received this product to review for free through the social marketing site BzzAgent.

This mascara has two ends: a black mascara for volumizing and lengthening, and a top coat to highlight your eyes. The basic black mascara is nice, goes on easily with no clumping or mess. It lengthens but doesn't provide much volume, which is fine because I have a lot of lashes already.

Black mascara, one coat on top lashes only:

 

The top coat says it has "light-reflecting pearls" but it's really just copper-colored glitter. Not even finely ground subtle illuminating glitter, but big ol' chunks of the stuff. One application of the top coat leaves a large number of the glitter particles, which feel is a little over-the-top for daily use. I ended up using an eyelash comb to get some of the glitter off. Throughout the day, the glitter particles would catch light and I'd see weird flashes out of the corner of my eyes.

Top coat brush:

Mascara (top lashes only) with illuminating top coat (top and bottom lashes):

I don't feel like the glitter is subtle or illuminating to my eye color at all - it's just very obviously glitter. There's nothing wrong with glitter, but based on the claims, you'd think it would be more fine and subtle, not over-the-top sparkly. I think it would make a fun look for wearing out at night, but not something I'd wear very often, especially not to work.

All in all, it's a good overall mascara, and I like the idea of two looks in one. The mascara seems to hold the curl throughout the day, but I was disappointed to see a few black flakes on my cheeks at the end of the day the first time I used it. Since wearing it without the top coat, it hasn't flaked, so that might be the problem. I'll continue using it, but I don't see myself paying nearly $11 for this product when I have found other (cheaper) mascaras that I like better.

Overall rating: B-

Would purchase again? Probably not