Thursday 27 June 2013

Ilia beauty mascara in Macao review

When I read the description of Ilia mascara in Macao I was very intrigued. My expectations were really high, and I am afraid that my imagination ran away with me (I was imagining long gold/copper lashes that you could see in a latest 3D movie).



Back to reality I have found this mascara to have positive and negative qualities.

Positive:
1. It holds the curl really well and gives that wide awake look to the eyes (even when I am falling asleep)
2. The brush is one of the best brushes I have used, it holds just the right amount of mascara, and when applied lashes are nicely separated, without the clumps.
3. When you catch a bit of sunlight on your lashes the effect is pretty spectacular, it really creates a soft focus around the eyes (no gold magic I'm afraid but it adds a little sparkle to your gaze)



Negative:
1. Doesn't work with dark shadows or dark eyeliners (the copper colour looks too subtle in comparison and eyelashes get a bit lost)
2. Contains phenoxyethanol.

I did put it through the paces and find that it performs really well in the warmer weather (well 25C that was the hottest that we had this year so far), there was no melting and no flaking.



My eyes can get pretty sensitive with mascaras and this one did not cause any irritation or itchiness. I tried combining it with a darker mascara from a different brand but it didn't work, I think you might need them both to be ilia (or similar formulae) for that to work.

Overall I find Macao shade of mascara to be best for daytime or candlelight dinners, used on its own with no extra eye makeup.

4 comments:

  1. You have gorgeous eyes! I just ordered this, I hope it looks as great with my hazel eyes!

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    1. Thank you :)Do let me know how it works for you, would be interesting to compare

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  2. I personally don't think I would get this as I already have black eyelashes but I can imagine how this would work on blonde eyelashes. The last picture of you shows a little bit of a sparkle, but not sure if that's the effect of the lighting but it looks very pretty!

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    1. I was trying to get my lashes to catch some sunlight so you could see the effect of mascara :) I asked Louise Dartford yesterday about what you said and we both think that it should work great with black eyelashes as it adds a copper hue to them, it is just you won't get a thickening type of effect, you will get a little sparkle.....it is very pretty but I can see how it might not be for everyone

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