25x Fuller? 80% Visibly Longer? How Dumb Do I Look?: Revlon 3D Extreme Mascara
Written: Jul 28 '07 (Updated Aug 06 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Thickens fairly well; lengthens some; no flaking; stays dark all day; lashes stay soft
Cons: Doesn't live up to length, curl or volume claims; difficult to remove; bad applicator brush
The Bottom Line: A disappointing mascara from Revlon. The claims are just too lofty and this stuff doesn't perform as it should anyway.
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| moonsista's Full Review: Revlon 3D Extreme Mascara |
The display and the packaging caught my eye. Dramatic black packaging, a dramatic silver chrome tube and an equally dramatic display made me stop in my tracks at my local CVS drugstore. There it was - the newest mascara from Revlon. Even the name was calling my name - 3D Extreme Mascara. Oh yeah. I had to have it. I normally like a lot of Revlon's products, so I made my way to the checkout counter with my new mascara clutched in my greedy hands.
Product Details:
Revlon 3D Extreme Mascara is the newest mascara from Revlon - following on the heels of many brands that promise extreme length and volume. This one's claims are pretty lofty: 25x fuller, 70% curvier and 80% visibly longer lashes.
This mascara comes in three shades: Blackest Black, Black and Black Brown.
The tube that 3D Extreme Mascara comes in is a normal cylindrical mascara tube (thanks, Revlon, for not giving us a huge, awkward tube that wastes room in a small purse). The tube looks a bit heavy and like it's made of metal, but it's really very lightweight and is just a plastic tube covered with chrome paint. The tube's cap is also made from silver chrome but is texture and reminds me of the texture on the end of a metal tire gauge.
There is .21 oz. of mascara in each tube.
The applicator brush is very different from others I've used. Revlon says that this brush builds dramatic lashes three ways:
- Shorter bristles deposit mascara for extreme fullness.
- Extended bristles lift lashes up and out for maximum length, curl and separation.
- Tapered tip reaches corners of eyes to magnify and multiply the smallest of lashes.
From Revlon.com: Get the extreme lash makeover with 3D Extreme™ Mascara! It creates dramatic lashes with extreme fullness, curl and length – 25X fuller, 70% curvier and 80% visibly longer lashes. The Exclusive Bold Impact™ Brush is tapered to lift, amplify and separate even the tiniest lashes. The patented lightweight gel formula with intense color pigments delivers bold lash look in one step – no primer needed! No caking or flaking. Available in 3 shades. Also available in Waterproof.
Ingredients (taken from packaging):
Water, paraffin, stearic acid, trimethylsiloxysilicate, cyclopentasiloxane, trisiloxane, carnauba wax, acacia senegal gum, beeswax, glyceryl stearate, triethanolamine, silica, nylon-12, dimethicone, hydrogenated olive oil, stearyl esters, polyurethane-1, hydrogenated polyisobutene, dimethiconol polyethylene, simethicone, dimethicone crosspolymer-3, lecithin, sorbitan laurate, polysorbate 20, propylene glycol laurate, propylene glycol stearate, phenoxyethanol, caprylyl glycol, 1,2-hexanediol. May Contain: Iron oxides.
My Experience:
I was intrigued not only by this mascara's claims, but also by the applicator brush. It's called Bold Impact Brush according to Revlon, and it's their exclusive design. OK - so they might have designed it, but did they even test it out? This is one of the worst brushes I've EVER used in my 27 years of wearing makeup.
I chose the Blackest Black shade, which is no more black than any other black shade I've seen.
Taking the wand out of the Revlon 3D Extreme Mascara tube, my big balloon of hopeful anticipation was deflated right off the bat. I stared in disbelief at the tremendous amount of mascara that was clinging to that brush. Here's why: the bottom 2/3 of the brush is flat on two sides, and has shorter (super short, in fact) bristles on the other two sides. The top 1/3 of the brush has more normal bristles, but they are still a bit short in my opinion. So the whole brush is smaller than a normal mascara brush. The mouth of the mascara tube is the same size as a normal mascara tube. So bringing out the tube means that the brush doesn't drag much on the sides of the tube before it comes out, getting some of that excess mascara off the brush. The brush comes out gloppy and full of mascara. Seriously - I had to wipe 80% of that mascara off by scraping it on the sides of the tube. Now, the directions on the packaging say to use the shorter bristles to deposit mascara, then comb through lashes with the extended bristles. I learned the first time I used this mascara that it doesn't work because there's just too much mascara there. And I mean way too much. It's a gloppy mess. So scrap that idea.
After wiping off the excess mascara, it's time to apply the mascara to my lashes. This is normally not a problem, but I still feel like I have too much mascara on the brush - but who has time to keep wiping mascara off the applicator brush? Not me - let's keep it moving. So I apply the mascara, which goes on OK. I try to use the longer bristles, because they are better at distributing the mascara along my lashes than the short, stumpy bristles.
Once the mascara is applied, I don't see the effects of that Bold Impact Brush and I don't see how this mascara is doing anything that other mascaras don't do. In fact, this brush is below average. I could tell the first time I saw it that it wasn't going to be the wonderful, drama-inducing brush Revlon claims it is.
I apply the mascara like I apply any mascara. I normally apply two coats. With some mascaras, including Revlon 3D Extreme Mascara, a third coat makes lashes into spider lashes. It's impossible to get three coats of this mascara on without lashes sticking together and looking awful. It's definitely because too much mascara gets deposited onto the lashes - because there's too much mascara on the brush! Revlon also claims that the tapered tip of the brush reaches into the corners of the eyes easily in order to reach the tiny lashes - however, you'll have to wipe a ton of mascara off that tip first before sticking it in the corners of the lashes, otherwise you'll have a big clump of mascara on those baby lashes and probably on your skin too.
When I'm done with my two coats, my lashes aren't 25x fuller. They're about 1x fuller. My lashes aren't 70% curvier. They're about 50% curvier - because I used my eyelash curler. This mascara offers ZERO curling. And they definitely aren't 80% longer - they appear to be about 10% longer. And even that is a stretch. This mascara lengthens my lashes no better than any other lengthening mascara out there.
A few nice things about Revlon 3D Extreme Mascara is that it dries fairly quickly, it stays dark all day and does not attract face powder and powder eyeshadow like some mascaras do. When mascaras do this, it makes the lashes look less dark. I really don't need to touch this mascara up during the day. Also, my lashes stay soft all day and are never stiff or hard.
Overall, this is not a great mascara. It's an average drugstore mascara. But the brush ticks me off so much that I'm deducting a star for that alone. It's ridiculous how bad this brush is - and Revlon tries to pass it off as something great. Another annoying thing is the 25x fuller lashes claim. How dumb do we look? Apparently pretty dumb, as these cosmetics companies just keep rolling out the mascaras with lofty claims that don't even come close to living up to those claims.
Two stars.
Price and Purchasing Information:
I paid $7.99 for my tube of Revlon 3D Extreme Mascara. I found it at my local CVS Drugstore, but it's now becoming more widely available at other stores such as Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Rite Aid and Walgreen's.
Check Out A Review Of Some Of The Many Other Mascaras I've Tried:
Revlon High Dimension Mascara
Lancome Flextencils Full Extension Curving Mascara
Urban Decay Big Fatty Mascara
Urban Decay Skyscraper Mascara
Prescriptives False Eyelashes Plush Mascara
Clinique Long Pretty Lashes Mascara
Cover Girl Fantastic Lash Mascara
Cover Girl Multiplying Mascara
Maybelline XXL Volume + Length Microfiber Mascara
Maybelline Sky High Curves Mascara
Avon Lash Designer Mascara
Jane Hi-Fiber Mascara
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 7.99
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