My take on L’Oréal Paris Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara

I’ve been approached by Matchstick (a word of mouth marketing company) to do product reviews several times. Unlike most of the companies who contact me, Matchstick required me to complete a survey first to ensure I’m part of the demographic they are targeting for their clients. In the past, I’ve never made it past the survey stage because of my age.

Things have changed. This time around, I wrote back and asked Danah, their new blogger relations co-ordinator, why they keep contacting me since it was a waste of everyone’s time. I also mentioned that you – yes, all of you reading this post right now – don’t belong to one age band and it was short-sighted of them to discount Bargainista because I am older than the top of their age band for most products. (People who follow this blog are anywhere from teens to at least mid-50s.) She approached me because of a mascara program for L’Oreal Paris. I assured her women their 40s still wear mascara. ;-)

Danah and I met at a Toronto Fashion Bloggers’ Brunch. I talked to her about blogger influence, the next day she had a chat with her client and they decided to include women in my age group in the program. Well, I’m still not convinced they made this decision for the right reasons but I was happy to participate, get a better sense of what Matchstick was all about and try some new make-up.

I was quite impressed when I received a cosmetic bag (“The Glam Kit”) filled with two containers of L’Oréal Paris European version Double Extension Beauty Tubes Mascara. the product I was asked to review and some other stuff:
• 1 x L’Oréal Paris Cosmetic Bag
• 1 x L’Oréal Paris Cosmetic Brush
• 1 x L’Oréal Paris Eye Shadow Quad in Grey
• 1 x Carbon Black Liquid Liner
• 1 x Guide to Smokey Eyes

You may remember it wasn’t that long ago I reviewed another new mascara. So I hope you don’t mind if I make a few comparisons.

I’ve been spending a lot of money on mascara so I wasn’t expecting much from L’Oréal Paris Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara – it’s available for $14.99 at most drug and grocery stores. I’ve been using this product for about a month now. (I figured I needed to try it for a while to give it a fair shot.) At first, I was pleasantly surprised. The biggest benefit was this product didn’t smudge. I wear contact lenses and usually buy waterproof mascara. It still smudges. Guess what this cheap stuff that isn’t waterproof doesn’t smudge at all.

Similar to the Lancôme XXL Cils Booster, the first step of the L’Oréal Paris Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara is a white cream I applied to my lashes. The second step is a black mascara. I like how both tubes are part of one package but I found the application awkward because the two brushes emerge from the middle and the cream and mascara products need to be screwed apart from either end. It would be easier if the brushes were contained in the tops like typical mascara tubes.

I really liked the staying power of this product. It lasts all day and stays on all night if you’re like me and sometimes to tired to remove your make-up before bed. (shh!). My eyelashes looked long and lush. It also washes off very easily with soap and water.

What I didn’t like was my eyelashes looked a too thick and unnatural. (I much prefer the appearance of my eyelashes after an application of Lancôme Oscillating Mascara.) I also found my eyelashes were more likely to fallout while I was washing it off.

At first, when the product was fresh it had a perfect consistency. Not to thin or thick. After two week, it became very gummy. I guess that’s where it shows the difference between premium beauty counter products and drugstore brands.

I’ve had a lot of eyelash experience in the past few months. Coincidently, I wore professionally applied lash extensions for my cousin’s wedding in December. If you watch this video, the make-up artist claims you’ll get the same results from Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara. The lash extensions looked natural. They made me look like I had more lashes. I disagree that Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara produces the same results.

Expert Advice

Over to you…
I’m not ready to give up on L’Oréal Paris Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara entirely. I don’t miss raccoon eyes. So if you know of another mascara that also staying power but maintains a fresh consistency until the last application, please leave a comment and let me know.

Save $5…
If you’d like to try L’Oréal Paris Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara and get a coupon mailed to for $5 off, you can sign up online and enter the code “2HMT” in the upper right-hand corner. I’m not sure about you but I think it would make a lot more sense and be more eco-friendly if you could print a coupon right off their website. Don’t you? Besides, then you could buy it right away

If you’ve tried L’Oréal Paris Double Extend Beauty Tubes Mascara, Matchstick would love to get your feedback too. Please take a couple minutes to complete this survey.

One more thing: Matchstick, I’m so glad you let me participate in this program but I find the process you put your bloggers (and “influencers”) through to onerous. I much prefer trying products without any strings attached. Oh ya, and I haven’t received follow-up phone call from you yet. Your instructions stated you’d be calling me for feedback about a week after I received “The Glam Kit”. Several of the links you’ve sent me are broken too.

Lancôme Oscillating Mascara - is it worth the hype?

I have to give a shout out to the marketing folks at Lancôme. They invited me to the Toronto launch for their new Lancôme Oscillating Mascara. The event was during the day. When I told them I’d be unable to attend because I work full-time, they offered to send me a sample if they had any left over after the event.

Boy, am I glad they did. I’ve been using Lancôme masacara for years, specifically Défincils Waterproof paired with Cils Booster XL. I truly expected Lancôme Oscillating Mascara to be more of a gimmick than anything. The idea of a vibrating wand is a bit weird (there’s a recyclable battery in the handle). I was wrong. It works! My lashes look longer than ever without any clumpiness.

According to Lancôme, “Lancôme Oscillating Mascara [sic] has more than 7,000 micro-oscillations per minute, Lancôme Ôscillation emulates the makeup artist zig-zag gesture providing an ideal 360 degree coating around each and every lash. It is fast, simple and easy to apply for repeatedly perfect results – lashes are lengthened, separated and multiplied.” You can check out the instructional promo video and join the community if you’re passionate enough about mascara.

Apparently, it’s eco-friendly and energy saving too. Each container provides 180 applications (double the amount of regular mascara.) Gee, I thought you were supposed to throw out mascara after three months? If that’s the case, it doesn’t matter if you get twice as many applications does it?

Beauty, in this case, doesn’t come cheap. Lancôme Oscillating Mascara retails for $39. Then again the Défincils Waterproof-Cils Booster XL combo I’ve been using rings in at $54.50.

Available exclusively at Lancome.ca and at Lancôme counters at The Bay now, Lancôme Oscillating Mascara will be available at all Lancôme counters starting in January.

What’s your favourite mascara? Will you try Lancôme Oscillating Mascara, why? why not?