Review: Maybelline The Falsies Push Up Drama Mascara

First of all, can I point your attention to my shiny new logo, which the lovely Stashy has created for me? She saw that I’ve been too lazy to make my own since starting my blog a year and a half ago, so she took matters into her own hands and was wonderful enough to make me not one, but 8 logos for me to choose from! I loved all of them but I ended up picking this one – I love the watercolour floral design! HUGE thank you to Stashy for being a good friend and picking up my slack!

Today’s post is a review on a mascara I’ve been using for the last three weeks, which is the Maybelline Push Up Drama mascara. This mascara was released in October of 2015, which was surprising to me because I thought this was a somewhat new mascara that came out late 2016! Shows how behind the times I am when it comes to mascaras. Back in January, there was a sale on all Maybelline mascaras at Superstore, so I decided to give this one a try. This was on sale for $5.99 when I purchased it.

I’ve generally had good luck with Maybelline mascaras – actually, one of my all-time favourites was the Maybelline One By One mascara, which they’ve long discontinued. I’ve tried a good number of Maybelline mascaras since, but haven’t tried anything new from them for about the two years. I was super intrigued by this one! Who doesn’t want their lashes pushed up?!

First of all, let’s talk about the packaging. One end is pink, and the other side, which is the wand handle, is red. I think it’s really cute – with the black, pink and red, it kind of gives me a sexy Valentine’s Day vibe!

Now, let’s take a look at what this mascara claims to do:

-Cup-shaped bristles lift lashes from root to tip while creamy, plumping formula gives instant volume and holds curls in place.
-Lashes look lengthened for a dramatic eye look.

The applicator is a plastic comb rather than the traditional brush. The comb is made up of spiky bristles, and the spaces between the bristles is what forms the “push up cup” shape. I’m not entirely sure about the mascara’s claim to have a “creamy” formula. The texture of the mascara didn’t seem any different from any other mascara I’ve used.

The very first time I tried this mascara, I hated it. The Push Up Drama mascara has a pretty dry formula to begin with, which I usually prefer as I find dry mascaras easier to control. However, my experience was that the cup shape collects large clumps of mascara, which get deposited onto my lashes when I apply it. When I tried to brush it out with the comb applicator, the spiky bristles would make my already sparse lashes clump together so that by the end of it all, I looked like I had five large eyelashes. The more I tried to brush it out, the more clumpy my lashes got.

However, I knew that as with all mascaras I used, my first impression of all mascaras is never the same as my final verdict, so I continued to use it to see how the formula would change. By the end of the second week, the mascara had started becoming a little drier, and I noticed that I didn’t have as difficult a time with the application. I still had to take time to brush out the clumps, but at least I could eventually brush it out, whereas my lashes just clumped together worse and worse when I first tried the mascara.

I apologize for the blurry photo, but I literally took 30 pictures of my eye and this was the least blurry of them all! 😦 In terms of the performance, this mascara did give me decent length, but the volume was lacking. Considering the name of the mascara, I was expecting lots of volume! However, it does hold a curl quite well, and I felt that it did not budge all day. My lashes could only handle two coats of this mascara before they started wilting, but I have weak, sparse lashes, so those with thicker and stronger lashes may have better luck with layering this formula. Overall, I would say it gave my lashes a natural look, but there was no drama to be found, as the name suggests.

From reading reviews on MakeupAlley, it looked like a lot of people had smudging issues with this mascara. That is usually a concern for me as well, so I was on high alert when trying it. Interestingly enough, it does not smudge when I apply it to my top lashes only, but when I also use it on my bottom lashes, it leaves black smudges all over my under eyes. I didn’t have any issues removing this with my usual MAC Cleanse Off Oil.

Overall, these are my thoughts on the mascara:

Pros:
-Holds curl in place
-Provides length
-Inexpensive
-Removes easily

Cons:
-Does not give volume
-Smudges
-Wand applicator leads to clumping of lashes

I didn’t particularly enjoy this mascara; I feel like there are much better drugstore mascaras out there that are less fussy to use, so I will not be repurchasing again. Have you used this mascara, and if so, what do you think?