Best Mascara Ever: Essence Lash Princess Volume Mascara

Here she is, Lovelies!  The mascara you never knew you always wanted:

I was discussing with my friend Erin earlier today that people do not give Essence Cosmetics the credit its due.  Because its a budget brand, people erroneously assume that the quality is low.  Honestly, I think, for the money you spend, it doesn't get any better.

Its sort of snuck up on me recently, how much I am gravitating to this brand.  I own, and enjoy, several of their eye palettes, and we covered not that long ago that they make what is, in my opinion, the most universally flattering nude lipstick color known to the free world, in Barely There, which I talked about here and here. And probably other posts as well.  Its a really great nude, and if you find it, you should buy it, because it literally looks good on everyone, no matter what color flavor crystal you are.

I bought this mascara in a two pack, at Christmas time, along with the Lash Princess False Lashes Mascara.  What's funny is, the Volume Mascara was  described as the "every day, daytime mascara," and it was the Falsh Lashes that was described as the one that would transition you to an evening look.

I started out just wearing the Falsh Lashes mascara.  Because who has time for a a daytime look when it comes to eyelashes? Lets just skip right to the big guns in my opinion.  My poor little Volume Mascara was just going to waste away in the corners of one of my ill-organized makeup bags.

My daughter, the makeup thief, had other plans though.  Halo, age two, loves nothing more than putting makeup on with me in the mornings.  She calls it "pretties," or rather, she yells it, "pretties" because though she looks like a girly girl, this young lady does not play.  She is also fond of stealing my makeup and hobbit-holing it away somewhere, only to emerge with it days later, makeup destroyed, and Miss Lady of the opinion that she is beat to capacity, and that no one could be prettier than she.

I had concerns that my Falsh Lashes had met such a demise (they didn't, see the earlier paragraph, re: ill-organized) but I decided to give the Volume Mascara a shot in the absence of the tube that Essence itself was marketing as superior.

Honey, somebody lied, because this stuff is WAY better.  I'm deeply annoyed by this, because this mascara has everything I hate, namely a curved fiber bristled wand, but damnit if it doesn't get the job done.

Every time I write a post about mascara I think to myself how odd it is that I own probably $500 worth of mascara and nary an eyelash curler.  So picture this but with curled eyelashes.  The thing that impresses me so much about this mascara is that it doesn't cake on the wand, ergo, it doesn't cake on my eyes.  Even my "They're Real" mascara, which is widely regarded as one of the best mascaras, gets cakey on the wand and can be really hard to keep my eyelashes from sticking together.  I don't even have to clean this wand off before I apply it.  It gives me great separation and length with just a coat or two.

I went to Ulta today on my lunch hour with my mom.  I'm in this store probably four times a week.  They know me there.  While I was waiting for her to have her eyebrows tinted, I realized mine really needed to be tweezed.  I went to go buy a pair of tweezers, and while standing in checkout, the employees, who see my face early and often, stopped to comment on how great my eyelashes look.  They've seen me in a lot of mascaras, and have never mentioned any of them before.  I think part of the reason is because this stuff doesn't give me spider eyes.  It *almost* looks like I could just have good eyelash genes, but like most of us, the boys in my family got the good lashes.  So anything I've got going on is man-made.

I only wear mascara on my top lashes, because a makeup artist once told me that it makes them look longer, and I feel like this still looks natural.

So, here's whats wild.  This mascara is incredible and it costs $4.99.  Thats cheaper than drugstore mascaras.  Your L'Oreal, your Cover Girl, your Revlons, none of which are cruelty free, are all more expensive than the Essence, which isn't tested on animals.  And if you hate it, which you won't, you're only out $5.  There's literally no downside here.

So go to Ulta.  Or Target, or order it online.  You'll thank me later.  And order me an eyelash curler while you're at it.