Review - Maybelline XXL Pro Extensions Waterproof Mascara VS. Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara

I mentioned a couple posts ago that I hate the Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara I've been using for the past few weeks. I started using it because it claims to make your lashes appear "117% longer after just one month." Uhhh...yeah right. After using it for a few weeks I see absolutely zero difference in the length of my lashes. It also clumps and smudges everywhere, and doesn't hold a curl. My lashes almost look even worse after putting the mascara on, if that's even possible. I kept using it even though I hated it, hoping to see a long-term difference in the length, but that's not happening so finally I decided to chuck this horrible mascara.

I used to use a Maybelline mascara with the white primer wand on one end, and I remember really liking it so I decided to try one of those again. I read a tip somewhere that waterproof mascaras hold a curl better, so I settled on this Maybelline XXL Pro Extensions Waterproof mascara. It claims to "tame unruly lashes" and boost length up to "85%."

I LOVE this mascara! It's one of my favorites that I've ever tried. The Step 1 primer side does seem to separate and straighten out my lashes that like to poke out every which way, although it doesn't weigh down my curl. The Step 2 mascara side builds on top of the primer to add length and volume, again not weighing down the curl. I also really like the brush on this mascara. The Rimmel brush would ALWAYS get mascara on my eyelid, but this brush doesn't do that. The only thing I find annoying is that because of the dual-sided packaging, the wand is really short so the tube bumps against my cheekbone when I'm trying to get the lashes on the very ends. But that's really not a big deal. The formula isn't "wet" like the Rimmel one so I can use the tip of the brush to get the baby lashes without getting clumps all over the place.

Here are some photos of the process:

Bare, uncurled lashes. Yeah, I know they suck.

Curled lashes using the hair dryer method (see below).

Step 1 primer side. 2 coats.

Step 2 mascara side. 2 coats.

Comparison shot! Ignore the fact that I look cross-eyed.

So yeah, pretty awesome results for my short, stubby, straight blonde lashes. I realize now they look a bit clumpy, but I'm willing to give and take a bit when it comes to having curlier, longer lashes.

Edited to add: I wrote this review before I actually wore this mascara out and about for the day. At the end of the day I had black smudges all over my under-eye area! Not good. I'm not sure if it's just because it was super hot and humid today, or if it's the mascara. That's a big negative, although it probably won't deter me from continuing to wear it until I find something better.

P.S. Here's a tip for curling your lashes that I just discovered! Blast your lash curler with a hair dryer for a few seconds before curling. It made a HUGE difference for me! Just make sure it's not too hot...burning your eyelid would suck.

Any other mascara recommendations out there?

Essie Smooth Sailing

If I had to choose my top 5 favorite polishes (not that I could ever actually choose), this would probably be one of them. This is Essie's Smooth Sailing from their Braziliant summer collection last year. It's a medium cornflower blue color with silver and purple shimmer. It's such a unique color and I love the chunky shimmer.

One thing I also love about this polish is that it's a color that works any time of year. I wore it a few times during the winter, and I just wore it the other day which totally complemented my tanned skin. The application is just the best; this is two perfect coats.

If you were forced to choose a top 5 favorite polishes, what do you think would be in it? I think butter LONDON Wallis would also be up there for me; I'll have to showcase that one on my blog soon.

EOTD - Autumn in Summer?

This eye look ended up looking a bit more autumn than summer, but it's still gorgeous! I used a heck of a lot of products in this look so brace yourselves!

As always I started with Urban Decay Primer Potion. Then, I blended Urban Decay Half Baked, a light golden shimmer, into the inner third of the lid. I patted MAC Rule, a light matte orange, into the center, then MAC Red Brick, a darker matte orange, into the outer third. Into the crease I blended MAC Embark, a dark matte brown, and darkened the outer crease with Urban Decay Snakebite, a shimmery dark bronzey brown.

I lined my lower waterline with Wet N' Wild Coloricon eyeliner in Dark Brown and set and smudged it with Embark, Rule, and Red Brick. I lined my top lashline with Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Demolition. Finally, I finished my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara in Extreme Black.

Hey, that wasn't so bad! Love the pop of bright orange in the center with golds and browns! What do you think; is this summery to you, or does it look too autumn-ish?

EOTD - Pink and Grey

I sure have been posting a lot of eye looks lately! I have been challenging myself to use shadows I haven't used in a while (or ever!) before buying any new ones. So far I'm resisting the temptation...I'm sure when I get paid next week it'll all be for naught, though. The new Sugarpill palette is calling my name...

To start this look, I used Urban Decay Primer Potion as I always do. On the inner third of the lid, I blended Urban Decay Free Love, a light shimmery pinky coral. Then, I packed MAC Free to Be, a matte pinky coral, all over the bottom of of the lid. This shadow is a little hard to work with so you really just have to keep packing it on to get it to be really opaque and bright. It's gorge though so I give it a free pass. In the outer half of the lid, I blended NYX Greyish Brown, which is a matte dark grey with a bit of bluish-looking shimmer (totally don't get why it's called Greyish Brown. there's no brown in it whatsoever). I blended NYX Dune, a dark grey shimmer with a bit of golden shimmer in it, into the crease.

On the bottom lashline, I used NYX Eye/Eyebrow Pencil in Grey and smudged it with a bit of Greyish Brown. I highlighted the browbone and inner corner with...I can't remember. I think it was either UD Bootycall or Mary Kay Moonstone. To line the upper lashline, I used Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Perversion. Finally, I coated my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in Extreme Black.

I love the combination of pink and grey! What do you think of this color combo?

EOTD - Mojo Spa Isis Loose Eyeshadow

Just a quick couple photos for this post, but I wanted to show you guys my last Mojo Spa loose eyeshadow that I picked up a couple weeks ago called Isis. For this look, I basically used the same products and method that I did for this eye look, but instead of using MAC Plum Dressing, I used Isis. Isis is a crazy sparkly cool purple with blue-ish shimmer. Also, instead of Blackout, I used Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid eyeliner in Perversion on the top lashline.

Sorry this photo's kind of blurry on top, but you can
see the shimmer better this way at least!

P.S. Totally off topic, but does anyone have recommendations for a heated eyelash curler and/or a good mascara for short, stubby, pin-straight lashes? My lashes have always sucked but it seems like they've been getting worse the past couple weeks. I'm currently using a Revlon manual eyelash curler, but the curl fades away almost immediately after putting on my mascara. I also hate the Rimmel mascara I'm currently using b/c it's really liquidy and gets all over the place. Thanks!

EOTD - Beachy Golden Eyes

I saw a look like this on, I believe, a promotional image for Too Faced's new summer palette. It's a shimmery golden lid with a light turquoise bottom liner. I love how summery this color combination is! It makes me think of sitting on the beach watching the ocean.


As always, I started by prepping my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion. I blended Urban Decay Baked, a shimmery gold, all over my lids. Then I (carefully!) patted a Mojo Spa loose eyeshadow in Havana, an insanely sparkly dark brown, into the crease. I darkened the outer corner with MAC Embark, a dark matte brown. I lined my upper lashline with Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in Demolition, a dark brown.

On the bottom, I lined my waterline with NYX Slide-On Eye Pencil in Tropical Green, a dark metallic aqua green. I set this and smudged it ith Urban Decay Flipside, a bright shimmery turquoise. It showed up much brighter and bluer in real life; for some reason it doesn't pop as much in photos. I highlighted the browbone and inner corner with Urban Decay Bootycall as usual. Finally, I coated my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in Extreme Black.




I absolutely love this eye look and basically want to wear it all summer long. It goes great with bronzed skin ;)

Essie Navigate Her

I'm sure you've seen this polish before, but it's probably one of my absolute favorites that came out this spring so I just had to share it. It's Essie Navigate Her, a light pastel spring green creme.

It applied like a dream in two perfect coats. It's different than a lot of other light mint greens because it doesn't have any blue in it. I absolutely LOVE this color! My best friend, who also bought it for herself, ended up not really liking it because she said the color reminded her of boogers. I was like... o_O...the most gorgeous boogers ever! (Ew, sorry, that was gross.)

Anyway, a few days after this I put a coat of butter LONDON Tart With a Heart over this and it was even more beautiful!

EOTD - Vibrant Purples

I recently got a slew of new MAC eyeshadows. I created my own palette full of purples, because I adore purple eyeshadow on me. It really brings out my greenish greyish eyes, in my opinion. Here's a look I did with some of my new shades:

First, I prepped my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion. Then, I patted MAC Vibrant Grape, a matte reddish purple, all over the bottom part of my lid. I blended MAC Plum Dressing, a shimmery reddish purple, into the crease. I darkened the outer part of the crease with MAC Fig. 1, a dark matte eggplant color. I lined my lower lashline with Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil in Rockstar, a dark eggplant, and set it with Fig. 1. I smudged Urban Decay Blackout, a matte black, into the upper lashline.

I highlighted under my brow and in the inner corner with Urban Decay Bootycall, a light champagne shimmer. Finally, I curled my lashes and finished them with Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara in Extreme Black.

I love these purples. The warmer, reddish purples really work with my skintone and eye color. Vibrant Grape was a little hard to work with because it was on the dry side, but with some work I got it to build up to opacity. What's your favorite color eyeshadow to use to bring out your eye color or skintone? 

Revlon Tangerine

Pantone has decreed that Tangerine is THE color of the year, which perfectly coincides with my deep rooted obsession for all things orange lately. This Revlon polish, incidentally called Tangerine, was calling my name.

It's a light, bright orange with visible shimmer. It applied wonderfully, flowing on in two easy coats. Maybe a smidge on the thick side, but not bad. Perfect summer pedicure color!

Showing off my pretty ring that I got at a cute shop on Milwaukee Ave. called Tiara Love.

EOTD - My interpretation of Mac's "Call Me Bubbles" quad

A couple months ago when Mac's "Call Me Bubbles" quad came out, I was dying to have it but by the time I had the money to spare, it was sold out. :( So I became determined to replicate it with other shadows. The quad consisted of a matte pinky coral, a shimmery light orange, a beige highlighter, and a metallic copper. Since then, I've acquired shadows that I think are as close as I'm going to get to Call Me Bubbles, and I'm pretty happy with it! Here's the look I did.

I started by prepping my lids with Urban Decay Primer Potion. I used Mac's Free to Be, a pretty close dupe of the matte pinky coral shade in their Call Me Bubbles quad, on the inner half of the lid. This color is gorgeous, but it's pretty dry and takes some time to get the opacity right. On the outer half of the lid, I used Mac's Rule, a matte light orange that's really soft and buttery. It's pretty close in color to the orange shade in the quad, but matte instead of shimmery. In the future I think I could mix it with Urban Decay's Half Baked to get that gold shimmer in it.

In the crease, I used NYX's Copper, with some NYX Rust to darken the outer crease. Both of these shadows are gorgeous in color, but a little sheer and powdery. I could probably use it damp next time to make it a little easier to work with. I lined my lower lash line with  NYX's Slide On Eyeliner in Golden Bronze, and smudged it with NYX Copper. On the upper lash line, I used Urban Decay 24/7 Liquid Eyeliner in Demolition, a dark brown. I finished by sweeping my lashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in Extreme Black.

Overall, I'm pretty excited about my interpretation of this Mac quad, although now that I see the colors on my actual face, I don't think I love pink and orange together on my skintone. I love pink and I love orange, but together on my eye, they make me look like I've been crying! Hah. Oh well. At least I tried!

Essie Armed and Ready

Today I have for you a polish that I've been thinking about picking up for a while, and I recently decided to snatch it up when I was at Target! It's called Essie Armed and Ready, and it's a dark grey with some coppery shimmer. I've heard it called a dark olive green before, but I don't see any green in the base. Just grey. Totally gorgeous and unique!

It also had an amazing formula. You could probably almost get away with one coat, but I did two just to make sure everything was even. It wasn't too thick or too thin. Love it!

EOTD - Fairy Eyes

My best friend loves this shop in Wicker Park called Mojo Spa. They sell all sorts of delicious-smelling body products and adorable soaps shaped like cupcakes. They also do nails, makeup, and I think even massages and waxing. I've gone in a few times with her but never bought anything before. We went there last Friday evening so she could pick up some lotion, and the owner (who was awesome and hilarious) coaxed us to get our makeup done, which they were doing free that evening. He also mixed us up couple cocktails!

While my friend was getting her makeup done, I sipped my vodka cranberry and scoped out Mojo Spa's makeup range, which I hadn't even known they sold. The loose eyeshadows stole my attention and I spent about 20 minutes agonizing over which colors I wanted the makeup artist to use on me! They had at least 30 loose eyeshadows in a wide range of colors, most of them extremely sparkly and gorgeous. I knew I wanted to buy a couple, and when the awesome and hilarious owner told me they were buy 2, get 1 free ($10 apiece) that sealed the deal for me.

One of the loose shadows I walked away with is a GORGEOUS sparkly mint green shade called Garden Party. The next day I couldn't wait to try out a look with it.

To start, I prepped my lid with Urban Decay Primer Potion Original. I then smudged NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Horse Raddish, a light mint green that matched Garden Party pretty closely, all over the bottom half of the lid. I had never used a loose eyeshadow before, so I was nervous about spilling it or getting green powder all over my face. I used a flat eyeshadow brush, dipped it in the powder, tapped off the extra, and patted the shadow into the area where I had smudged Horse Raddish. Some of the extra did sprinkle off, but I tilted my head downward while I was doing it so it landed on my mirror, not my face. I patted Garden Party all over the bottom half of the lid.


Then, I lined my lower waterline with Wet n' Wild Color Icon eyeliner in Dark Brown. I set it with Mac eyeshadow in Embark, a matte dark brown. I also lined the top lash line with Embark. I smudged a bit more Garden Party on the lower lash line. To finish, I swept my eyelashes with Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara in black.

blurred to show the sparkle

I absolutely loved Mojo Spa's loose eyeshadow and I want to go back and get more! It was so pigmented and sparkly, and Garden Party made me feel like a fairy! Also, anyone that lives in Chicago should definitely check out Mojo Spa on Milwaukee Ave. It was a fun, girly place with some really adorable products, and an awesome and hilarious owner.

NOTD - The obsession with yellow continues!

One of my favorite things to do to pamper myself is go to Target and pig out in the cosmetics aisles. I can literally wander up and down the aisles for an hour, looking at all the pretty makeup. L'Oreal polishes have never done anything for me before, but on a recent Target session I spotted this bright yellow polish. Yellow and orange are seriously the two colors I'm obsessed with for spring, but my yellow polish collection is lacking, so I immediately snatched it up.

L'Oreal nail polish in Tweet Me is a bright primary yellow with, I was surprised to discover after picking up the bottle, subtle iridescent shimmer. It goes on a bit sheer; I had to do three coats. It's also a bit watery, but it wasn't horrible. Overall the formula definitely isn't my favorite, but it's not enough to deter me from loving this unique shimmery yellow!