Hourglass - Caution Exreme Lash Mascara - First Impressions

Hourglass Caution Extreme Lash Mascara

Space NK £25.00

 

To be honest, this mascara wasn't even on my radar. I'd just mentioned to my mum, that whilst she was in her local Space NK in Cambridge, she should check out Hourglass.

Oh, and she checked it out alright! She tried out the new Hourglass Caution Extreme Lash Mascara and loved it so much that she bought one for me too!

How great is that? They're certainly the words that you want to hear on a dull morning "I picked you something up from Hourglass"!

 

My mum had reported that this built her lashes up so much that she could actually feel them brushing against the lens of her glasses! Sounds pretty incredible.

 

What Hourglass say:

An all-in-one mascara that delivers endless length, intense volume and sky-high lift for extreme, dramatic lashes. The combination of the innovative 4D Amplifier™ brush with the continuously buildable formula create lashes that defy the boundaries of traditional mascara.

 

 

Packaging

This is a seriously weighty bit of packaging with the classic Hourglass triangular shape. The weight, feel and gold colouring of the tube instantly screams luxury!

 

 

The wand

After hearing about it's miraculous powers from my mum, I was slightly surprised that the wand looked like...well, a mascara wand. I don't know, I was expecting something a little more ... magical and innovative!

Despite the weight of the packaging, the wand is actually not at all cumbersome to hold. In fact, it feels extremely natural and ergonomic for application. Top marks for that.

But here's something to hold on to till a bit later in this first impression review - look at the amount of product on the wand. And that is after wiping some excess off onto the rim of the tube.

 

 

Application

Like I've said, the wand is fantastic to hold in the hand and also for applying.

This is absolutely a first impressions review - I've only been using this for just three days now and so my opinion could change either way after longer term use.

On my very first application, I was really happy to see that the wand didn't seem overladen with product and it didn't really feel too wet either. You know how with some mascaras you think that once you've used a bit of product up, the brush won't be so wet and clumpy with product? Well, this has been the opposite for me. My very first application was so smooth. It coated my lashes from root to tip really nicely without smudging, flicking or flaking and I was really happy that with the end result after just one coat. Fluffy lashes which were considerably extended and curled. A massively different outcome than I had encountered with the Benefit Bad Gal Bang Mascara, which had promised similar results, but in my experience, failed terribly on all counts.

So for the first two days of use, I was really happy with the lash-lengthening and building effect. Although I did have some smudging on my lower lash line on both days within just a couple of hours of wear - so that's one disadvantage that I noticed immediately, and a couple of points would have to be deducted for that because no one wants panda eyes.

On day three, when I decided that maybe I should document my thoughts and took these photos, I started to notice some quite subtle and not-so subtle changes on closer inspection. And this is only day three, which does concern me slightly.

Remember the photo of the wand which does have quite a lot of product on? Now I don't know if a couple of days worth of inserting and re-inserting the wand into the tube makes a bit of product build up but it's definitely gotten quite a bit gloopier on the brush. This, in turn, has made application just that little bit more clumpier.

 

 

Here's one eye with the mascara and one eye without any.

You can clearly see just how well this lengthens lashes (this is just two coats) but application has definitely got more clumpy in just a couple of days. It's certainly not as fluffy as when I first used this mascara.

 

Removal

Again, comparing this to the Benefit Bad Gal Bang, there's absolutely no comparison in terms of how easy this is to remove. The Bad Gal Bang was an absolute nightmare to remove, and it was after losing a fair amount of lashes trying to take it off that I decided pretty swiftly that the Benefit was definitely not for me.

However, the Hourglass Caution comes off very easily, using just regular micellar water. And that's a definite bonus - no rubbing or scouring at your eyelashes at the end of the day!

 

Final Thoughts

I was happy that my mum feels that she's found her Holy Grail of mascaras in this product. But so far, very early days, for me, I'm not sure that I would call it the only mascara that I'd use from now on. The most points are given for the lengthening abilities and easy removal. I'm ambivalent about the sudden experience of clumping. And disappointed by the smudging under my lower lashes within a relatively short amount of time. It's too early to give this a definitive review, but I'd say that first impressions veered towards the positive rather than those niggling negatives.

 

UPDATE!

I feel it only fair to report (since this first impression review was written after only three days of use) that the early 'clumping' and 'excess product on wand' issues seem to have resolved themselves a great deal! However, the maximum number of coats I can use without clumping is just two coats. Still loving this mascara at this stage - and I wouldn't be surprised if it takes top spot for my mascara of the year choice.