From Microscopic to Telescopic!!!

Okay, I said it wouldn’t happen, but it did – Penelope Cruz has done it again! As the ‘Face of L’Oreal’, she’s managed to persuade me once again to part with my hard earned cash, and splash out on yet another of her recommended beauty products, in a bid to convince me that I too, can look like her – this time, it’s L’Oreal’s new Telescopic Mascara.

Penelope had been shouting out at me to try this new one by L’Oreal in various magazines and TV adverts for weeks, and every time I went into my local Boots the Chemist during my lunch break I would come face to face with her giant cardboard cut out head by the tills, telling me that I too could look as gorgeous as her, if I forked out £8.99 and applied it to my spindly lashes. I managed to resist the temptation (for a little while at least), but whilst in my local Superdrug a little while ago, I noticed that they had it on ‘special offer’ - £2.00 off the RRP. At only £6.99 I figured I’d give it a go!

It’s approximately six inches high, thicker at the base, and it tapers slightly towards the tip. The annoying bit about this particular product is its packaging. The bottle itself is placed inside a cardboard and plastic container and it’s absolute murder to actually remove the mascara from the packaging. Unless you want to break (or seriously damage) a nail or two, I suggest you ask a pal (who doesn’t mind risking a broken nail) or a husband/partner to remove it for you. The plastic is sharp and almost ‘welds’ the bottle to the cardboard!

Once I’d managed to remove the mascara from the packaging and I opened the bottle, I noticed how tiny the brush looked. It’s just as long in length as any standard mascara brush, but it is noticeably a lot lot thinner. If you look at the end of the wand you can see a ‘star shape’ as the brush has what L’Oreal states is a ‘Precision Multi Comb’ – i.e. it consists of four rows of very small combs, forming the ‘star shape’. As the comb is so very skinny, it enables me to reach even the tiniest of lashes into the very corners of my eyes. I have to say, that before I used this product, I wasn’t aware that I even had so many tiny lashes in the corner of my eyes. The comb is extremely flexible and at first glance it appears to be quite flimsy. Once you start to use it, however, you find that it’s actually quite robust.

Drying time is also a very important factor for me, as I’m always in a hurry getting for work most mornings and need a product that dries fast and effectively. Again, this mascara is brilliant. I find I can blink my eyes very soon after application, without any tell-tale black/brown dots appearing over the tops of my cheeks or eyelids! It lasts very well over the day and does not smudge or smear as the day wears on, and although it does not claim to be smudge-proof – it actually should, because all the times I’ve used it, it hasn’t once smudged! It isn’t waterproof, but as I stated earlier, there are waterproof varieties in the same colours out there – it’s just that I always find waterproof mascara very difficult to remove.

My eyes can be quite sensitive to some products I use, so I have to be fairly careful when trying new products. L’Oreal Telescopic Mascara is kind to my eyes and (thus far) I have not developed a sensitivity to it! This may be of course as the packaging also states that it has been tested under ophthamological conditions and that it is also suitable for people with sensitive eyes as well as contact lens wearers – perfect!