CoverGirl Clump Crusher Mascara: My Thoughts

Disclosure: Affiliate links.
By now you've probably read a bunch of reviews of CoverGirl Clump Crusher, because it's not exactly new any more. But there are a few things about it that I've found interesting, and that I didn't see mentioned anywhere before I bought my own, so I thought I'd share them here.

I was interested in trying out this particular mascara since I am a huge fan of CoverGirl LastBlast mascaras. I've probably tried out more than a dozen other mascaras in the last year or two, but LashBlast is still my favorite, and I was using it before I ever started makeup hoarding blogging. I find the LashBlast brush really user friendly - easy to get down to the roots of my stubby lashes - and the formula lengthens and volumizes without getting all spidery. It's not overly dramatic, but it looks great. It also never splatters or smears or flakes, which I think is at least partly because it has a drier formula (and I actually prefer it after it's been open for a couple of weeks and dried out even more).

Most of the information I read about Clump Crusher suggested to me that it would be similar to LashBlast but even less clumpy. I mean, there are a bunch of tests people have done in which they apply 48 layers of mascara or whatever and it never clumps. That's not particularly useful, but good to know, I guess.

I don't have a tube of LashBlast available right now to compare directly, since I am still using up the handfuls of other mascaras I decided somewhere along the way I needed to try. But here are my thoughts about Clump Crusher. I got it in brown, because all my other mascaras were black, and I like to have a brown option on hand. Since my coloring is so light, it's nice for creating a more natural look.

It definitely does not clump. Surprise, surprise. It also has a fairly dry formula, comparable to LashBlast. One thing that I love about the non-clumpiness is that it means that this stuff works better on my lower lashes than any other mascara I've tried, because non-clumpy also means non-globby. I basically have seven short eyelashes below each eye, and trying to apply mascara to them is usually a semi-disaster. I tend to end up with a blob on each lash, and then I have to wipe the blobs away and sometimes the blobs transfer to my lower lid. It's annoying and doesn't look too pretty, so half the time I skip my bottom lashes completely. But this stuff just coats each individual last evenly, and that's it! It's a fucking miracle. I'm going to keep one of these on hand just for doing bottom lashes even when I'm using something else on the top. Here are some photos of what it looks like on my eyelashes:

Invisible eyelashes with no mascara.

Three coats of Clump Crusher on upper lashes; one coat on lower lashes.

Three coats of Clump Crusher.

Four coats of Clump Crusher on upper lashes.

Another thing I like about this mascara is the curved brush. I don't necessarily find that it fits the contour of my eye much better than a straight brush or anything like that. But if you use it backwards, i.e. on the convex side, it functions similarly to the spiky balls of bristles on the ends of some mascara brushes, like Benefit's They're Real or e.l.f.'s 3-in-1 Mascara (reviewed here). That is, you can use it to get at smaller lashes in the corners of your eyes, etc., without the rest of the brush getting in the way and transferring mascara to your eyelids. Handy.

Clump Crusher brush.

This mascara really holds a curl for me too. Or I guess a better way to put it, since I don't usually use an eyelash curler, is that it holds my lashes in the position that I comb them. Since I use the brush in upward strokes, my lashes stay standing upright, as if I had curled them. This does mean, however, that it makes my lashes somewhat stiff and spiky (not soft and "fluttery" like some mascaras), but I don't think they look unnatural. This formula wears really well for me, with my fairly watery eyes and oily lids. The last few days I have had itchy eyes and have been putting drops in them repeatedly, and even under these extremely circumstances, I've had minimal flaking.

Overall, I really like this stuff. I think it is pretty comparable to LashBlast (photos here), but with even less clumpiness. Judging from the photos, it might be a little more spiky/wiry looking. If you like LashBlast, Clump Crusher is worth a shot. If you hate LashBlast, I'm not promising anything.