Thursday, October 1, 2009

Lancome Curved Brush Mascaras: Hypnose Drama, Virtuose Black Carat, Definicils Pro

If I weren't so madly in love with my Armani Eyes To Kill Mascara I'd probably be gushing a lot more about some of the curved brush Lancome mascaras. They really are very good and I have a soft spot for Lancome mascaras since the days they were the best one on the market.


As far as I can tell from weeks of testing (including too many days I've had a different mascara on each eye. Beauty bloggers are scary people), the brushes have slight variations (Hypnose Drama is s-shaped, though it's hard to see in the photos), but the bigger difference is in the formula.

I absolutely love the curved brushes. They don't leave any lash untouched and they do a superb job in curling, which is my main need of any mascara. My lashes are probably above average in thickness and length, but they are ridiculously straight, which utterly sucks. Unless a mascara is capable of performing a lash lift I have no use for it, so the curved brushes are a great help.


Definicils Pro is the old familiar. It was the best mascara in the 90s but not really exciting in this age of phenomenal lengths and volumizing products. However, the brush does help in kicking it up a notch or two and reaches every last lash.


My favorites are Hypnose Drama and Virtuouse Black Carat. I always have a tube of the regular Hypnsoe in my stash because it's such a great performer and never ever smudges. It might not be as amazing as the famous Givenchy PhenomenEyes, but it's also not as high maintenance and can be quickly applied, even on the go. The Drama version is even better and I'm highly impressed.



Virtuose Black Carat looks a bit thicker and glossier. I think it holds a curl even better, but I haven't seen a significan difference in length and volume compared to Hypnose Drama. It might look different on someone with shorter or sparse lashes, so I can't be 100% sure. I didn't have a sample of the regular Virtuose to compare, but from what I see on the Lancome website, the new version is an overachiever that aims for length and thickness, while plain Virtuouse was mostly about the curl.

In any case, all of these are worth trying, especially for die-hard Lancome fans.

Lancome mascaras ($24.50) are available at every half decent department store as well as directly from lancome-usa.com (or your local version).

All photos are mine.

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