The entire Double Extend line consists of double-ended tubes. One end is a primer, the other a mascara. The Beauty Tubes is a specific fomula that uses a polymer that shrinks and encases each lsh, rather than spreading and oil-based “paint” on it. I thought the idea sounded interesting. It’s apparently big in Europe and helps to eliminate the issue of waterproofing mascara. I guess it never caught on over here because women see the tubes wash down the drain and are afraid they’re losing their lashes. Or so they say.

The reviews are all over the place it seems. Some people absolutely loved the product and others thought it was awful. I bought my tube from Amazon for a reasonable price and quickly wanted to try it out. I first discovered that the primer is white and goopy. From the get-go, it gives my lashes a spider-like appearance. I hated it. But then you have to try to cover it all up with the mascara itself and that doesn’t bode well for the already forming spider lashes.

If I roughly brushed out my lashes after it dried – no doubt doing some damage in the process – my lashes looked pretty good, though. The effect was much more dramatic than my previous mascara and the formula seemed to aid curling. I have ridiculously fine hair and eye lashes so I didn’t mind this. My eyes really seemed to open up more.

I wasn’t ready to give up but I wasn’t ready to be yanking on my eyelashes every day. It wasn’t worth the effort or pain so I took another look at the reviews after my first few failed attempts and saw that others agreed with me about the spider lashes – but not many. After seeing that a few women had given up using the primer, I decided to go that, route too. Perhaps the primer was the main issue.

So I’ve been using L’Oreal Double Extend Beauty Tubes without the primer and I like it a lot better. The primer is the main culprit when it comes to the clumping and I can use fewer coats, thus reduce the possibility of spider lashes, when I don’t have to try to cover up the white primer. Honestly, whoever devises white primers is a moron.

The result is a smoother lash with a bit of curl and more length. I don’t necessarily need length because my eyes are pretty deep set and there’s not a lot of room for it but it doesn’t look bad. This mascara doesn’t offer much in the way of volume, which would be great, but each lash is super define. After it dries, it feels slightly plasticy but my lashes are still flexible and don’t break.

I haven’t had any raccoon eye issues from bleeding during use and I’ve had the occur even with waterproof mascaras so this one is great if you’re like me. Washing requires a little soap and water but it does not come off in actual tubes. It sort of flakes off. In fact, if I wear it to sleep – I’m awful about that, I know – and rub my eyes in the morning, it will crumble off a little. This probably isn’t a 24-hour mascara because of that very act. Crumbly mascara under your eyes isn’t much better than raccoon eyes; although, it is easier to clear away in my experience.

I’m a little disappointed that I essentially only got 50% of my money’s worth because I won’t be using the primer. If L’Oreal isn’t going to create a better primer, I would much rather purchase just the mascara and feel like I got a better deal. However, knowing not to use the primer, I will probably keep buying this product as long as they make it.

Let’s start with the awesome!

L’Oréal Paris The One Sweep Eye Shadow is not only catered toward your specific eye color (mine are green but you better have known that!) but is intended to require minimal time and effort because, as the name suggests, you only have to sweep the applicator over each eye once. Unlike other color-based palettes, One Sweep eye shadow offers three complimentary shades in a rainbow-esque pot, instead of separating all the colors. I received the Natural color palette for green eyes. L’Oreal has included a curved, foam applicator that you sweep over the colors, picking up a bit of each shade. You then apply by sweeping the applicator from your inner to outter eye. The end result is a darker shade toward your lash-line as the color increases in brightness toward your brows.

The One Sweep Eye Shadow, Natural Green

I also use the upper edge of the applicator to apply up to my brow because the one-sweep just doesn’t quite cut it. It’s still much easier than applying three separate shadows, however. I also find the blending to be fairly decent. The overall time and effort is greatly reduced and, because I am an impatient person, I would definitely recommend this to others like myself. I also don’t find myself wasting time cleaning up. This eye shadow doesn’t flake or crumble as much as other powdered shadows I have tried.

I find the overall presentation to be a bit underwhelming. This is a very subtle look and some might find it a bit too bland, even for daily wear (and even when wearing Urban Decay Primer Potion underneath). It’s definitely not the striking, night-time look that some women will prefer and they may opt for the playful palettes, instead. I don’t think I would be going out on a limb to say that most users will feel the same because the natural palettes are so similar. They all just feature shades of brown, taupe, mauve, tan et cetera. While this doesn’t look bad on my green eyes, it doesn’t highlight the color as much as my normal light pink/medium brown eye shadow routine.

Still, it’s a good product if not great.

But my praise pretty much ends there because the other L’Oreal product I had a chance to test for this BzzAgent campaign didn’t blow my mind. Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara is intended to lengthen lashes while it highlights your eye color. It’s the first double-ended mascara that I have had an opportunity to use.

The first wand applies a base coat of tinted-black mascara. “Tinted black” does sound quite odd, I admit. L’Oreal has crafted “Black Bronze” for green eyes and “Black Copper” for blue eyes. Generally, the mascara is tinted toward the wearer’s eye color but, in person, it looked pretty black to me. The wand is your basic bristle style, which I hadn’t used in a while, and now I remember why: this wand style sucks. The base mascara feels thick and gummy and gives a sloppy, spidery impression–unless you spend all your time scraping the majority of the product off the wand. When I did that, the result was nicer but the mascara still felt gummy and almost wet even after it dried. Although it did make my lashes appear noticeably longer, it wasn’t attractive when coupled with the clumpy look.

Double Extend Illuminator Mascara

I didn’t necessarily think that L’Oreal’s Double Extend Eye Illuminator Mascara improved upon my natural eye color and I wouldn’t be recommending it to a friend anytime soon. I also think the product design itself is bit poor. The tube isn’t flat on either end so, when using, you have to set it down on its side and hope it doesn’t roll around. I’d really like to rest it on one end, instead.

Furthermore, I found the design of the glitter wand to be awkward and pointless. Instead of straight bristles, it billows out toward a spherical end but this really doesn’t help me. Perhaps because my eyes are so small, but I just found that the sphere gets in my way.

If I have one positive to say about this product, it’s that while it may not be waterproof, it does stay on quite well throughout the day.

If you’re in the make-up aisle, skip the mascara but consider getting the eye shadow. You can get a $2 off coupon from L’Oreal’s website.

Thanks to BzzAgent for this opportunity!

Volum’eyes, which I believe also to be known as Extreme Volume Mascara (they have the same tube design and brush) is the first Rimmel mascara I’d tried. I had had success with other Rimmel products previously and was looking to step up from the drug store brands I had been using for mascara. I choose “001 Black” because, honestly, who needs any other colour?! I digress.

Both of these mascarars take a different approach to the mascara brush tool and with the Volum’Eyes mascara, this is a mistake. The tube claims that Volum’eyes is an “instant full volume comb mascara” that will create “volume & separation for dramatic false lash effect.” Instead I found the brush to be awkward and extremely large and bulky, as the picture illustrates. Also, rather than fine volume and separation, I found myself with sickly looking lashes that many would call “spider” eyelashes. I was not impressed. To top it off, my spider lashed were extremely clumpy probably due to the fact that the large brush collects far too much product to allow a smooth application.

I was open to a new brush style in hopes that it would create a dramatic effect as Volum’Eyes promises. Unfortunately, the promises are empty. Sure, I did get a dramatic effect but it was not the effect anyone would want on their eyelashes. Because of this, I’ve only used Volum’Eyes by Rimmel a handful of times.

On the other hand, Rimmel’s Lash Maxxx Mascara really impressed me with it’s refined brush tool, smooth product consistancy, slick packaging and overall performance. Again I chose black in the waterproof formula.

Where the brush of Volum’Eyes was thick and bulky creating a scary mess, the Lash Maxxx brush is the finely tuned grandchild providing true separation and holding true to its claim of providing “3X multiplying effect.” I was definitely impressed by how gorgeous my lashes looked because of this mascara and where Volum’Eyes left horrible clumps, there were virtually none using Lash Maxxx.

Furthermore, I was equally impressed by just how waterproof this mascara is! I sweat frequently so I was looking for a mascara that would hold up to that without smearing and Lash Maxxx does just that! Unlike other mascaras that may or may not claim to be water proof, including Volum’Eyes, Lash Maxxx has very little if any smearing under wet conditions.

I was also unexpectedly delighted to find that this mascara hold curls fairly well. It far outperforms any other mascara I have ever used in this aspect.

Overall, Lash Maxxx mascara by Rimmel created a dramatic yet clean look with little clumping, a high degree of water resistance all the while holding curl in my lashes. I would definitely recommend it.

The winner of this battle, hands down is Rimmel’s Lash Maxxx mascara – a make up which delivers on its promise to create a dramatic multiplying effect with its unique tool.