Argh! For years, I’ve used L’Oreal Voluminous mascara and loved it. It did exactly what I wanted, which was to make me look like I had a schmillion long lashes. It added volume, but also separated my lashes wonderfully. And it was effortless to use. I got away from L’Oreal for a few months (maybe almost a year), because I kept getting samples of higher end mascaras to try. But when the samples ran out, I went straight back to my old reliable standby – and got a horrifying disappointment.
I’d always bought regular Voluminous in the past, but this time I decided to try waterproof. It was a clump fest! But maybe it was just the waterproof formula, right? So I went back and bought the regular formula. It was a clump fest, too.
Look at that. Clumps everywhere, and they transfer onto your lashes just like that. I have a number of techniques for applying mascara, and I’m usually able to get clump-free performance out of almost any mascara. Not this one. There was just no way.
Okay, maybe the mascaras I’d gotten were old or something. Stores are getting worse about trying to pawn off old stock on us, as the recession keeps going. So I followed the instructions I’d read somewhere to declumpify it – you run some warm-to-hot water in a cup, and stick the mascara down in it, up to the level of the cap (just so the cap won’t get too hot to touch).
It worked! For a day. For a day, people. I was so displeased. I did the declumpifying thing again, and again, and every time it worked once. Every morning, I found something like the above picture waiting for me again. I tried wiping the brush off on a cloth, but in order to wipe off enough to get rid of the clumps, I had to wipe off so much that it lost all its wonderful properties that I loved about it. I had an Elf mascara that was performing better than that. (Seriously – both their Mineral Infused and Studio Lengthening & Volumizing formulas are almost as good as Voluminous used to be, though your mileage may vary because no single mascara rocks for everybody. I know EmilyNoel83 didn’t feel she got the schmillion lashes look from the Studio mascara.)
I’ve read other complaints, all dated fairly recently:
11-5-11: At first, I liked this mascara because of the volume it gave my lashes; a little clumpy, but it wasn’t that bad until throughout the day it flaked a lot around my eyes and into my contacts.
11-1-11: Not so good. While it is volumizing, it is also clumpy, flaky as heck! (maybe I got an old package, I don’t know) and just plain awful. It doesn’t curl. Was sorely disappointed in this.
10-22-11: I saw that a lot of famous makeup artists like Mario Dedivanovic..etc using this mascara so i decided to try it out. For me, it doesnt work at all.. I think this is the worst mascara that i tried so far. It makes clumps and not so much volume like its advertised.
I preffer Maxfactor Flase Lash Effect.
There are still some recent good reviews coming in. I’m pretty sure one of two things is happening here:
- L’Oreal has changed the formula, and the good reviewers are actually getting the old formula while the rest of us are getting a bitter preview of things to come.
- The good reviewers are getting new packages, but there are massive amounts of old stock on the shelves for the rest of us – so much, in fact, that I suspect it’s L’Oreal cleaning out old stock rather than stores holding onto it for years. I mean, I live in a very densely populated city where stores usually have trouble keeping up with demand. It’s hard to imagine they’re holding onto this stuff for more than a few weeks after they put it out on the shelves.
I think they’ve changed the formula. I think they’re giving us something cheaper to keep the profits up without raising prices, and hoping we’ll buy it based on reputation and not return it to the stores. And they got me, on two bottles. But I’m spreading the word so you won’t have the same experience. If you decide to buy this one, make sure you can return it to the store, and follow through on that if it’s as bad as what I got. Save yourself the $7 toward something better. Even Elf!
I’ll be reviewing my Elf mascaras soon, and then as those run out I’ll be trying other drugstore ones in search of my Holy Grail mascara. I’m a big believer that mascara is one of those items you do not need to spend a lot of money on, especially since it’s smart to throw out mascaras every 3 months to avoid bacteria contamination.
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