Do I Need This? Mascara Primer (Wet N Wild PhotoFocus Lash Primer vs. Lancôme Cils Booster XL Mascara Base vs. Benefit They're Real Tinted Lash Primer)

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Welcome to the latest installment of my Do I Need This? series. In these posts, I offer my experience and opinions about whether or not I think a product or technique is worth it. Obviously, you don't really need ANY beauty products, so the answer to the question is always going to be no, to some extent. But is it going to change your life (or face)? Is it going to make things easier? Are you going to notice any difference at all? That's what I'm getting at. You may disagree with my verdict, because we all have different bodies/faces/brains/desires, but I'll try to offer a starting point, at least.

I wrote a while ago about how it seems like we're supposed to "prime" our whole bodies these days, and it's getting a bit ridiculous. Nevertheless, eyeshadow primer kind of changed my life. Or at least how I wear eyeshadow. Mascara primer is another one that's been around for ages, at least in more expensive brands, but it's popping up more at the drugstore now as our need to prime proliferates. Over the years I've got countless mini tubes of mascara primer from brands like Dior and Lancôme as various gifts-with-purchase, and I've used them, but I was never really sure that they did much. So I figured I'd do a quasi-scientific test of a few lash primers to see if they actually make difference.

Do you need mascara primer?

Short answer: No, just use an extra coat of mascara.

Fix Your Face: Revlon Custom Eyes Mascara Review

Revlon Custom Eyes Mascara in Blackened Brown

I just wanted to give you my impression of this mascara in case you are thinking of picking it up at the CVS sale (I got it for $2.25). If you don't have a CVS nearby, or it's sold out, it's also on sale for $2.29 on Ulta's website.

It has an adjustable brush that is supposed to let you choose between "Length and Drama" or "Length and Definition". Basically you turn the end of then brush handle and it shifts the bristles so that they are all aligned or staggered. I'm not sure that the position of the bristles actually makes any difference. You be the judge:

"Length and Drama" setting

"Length and Drama" setting

"Length and Definition" setting

So there you are. The way mascara works varies from person to person, depending on the type of lashes you have, and the effect you're going for. This might be worth a shot for under $3. It's a little clumpier than I usually like, but it's pretty good. It has the kind of spiky plastic bristles that Covergirl Lash Exact et al. have. I didn't have any problems with smearing or flaking at all. I'll to keep using it for the next few months.

The one thing I don't like is the color. Blackened Brown? It just looks black to me. I prefer to have a brown and a black mascara on hand, but this doesn't really fit into the brown category. The brush is also weirdly bendy. Like it's flexible where it attaches to the wand. This doesn't really affect its performance, but it's unusual.

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Fix Your Face: Eyelash Curler

This kind of eyelash curler is the shit. Much less scary than the typical scissor-looking torture device thing. Right now Sephora has it on sale for $3. (Along with a bunch of other stuff! It’s a good sale.)

If you miss the sale, you can get similar ones from drugstores for around $5. I got this one from Avon, and it works just fine.