As a blondie with really light eyelashes, I've always been very self conscious about how different I look without mascara on. I have longer eyelashes, but without some product on there, you can't even tell I have any! I think if you polled all light eyelashed ladies, 95% of us would say that if we could only wear one type of make-up, we would choose mascara.
Therefore, for as long as I can remember I have had an obsession with eyelashes and mascara. My parents were slow to let me wear make-up (the agony of being the first born!), but I have very clear memories of being in seventh grade and sneakily wearing clear mascara, thinking it would help with those blond eyelashes. It obviously didn't do anything, but since I started wearing eye makeup in high school, I've been obsessed with making my eyelashes darker, longer, and as prominent as possible. I've done it all - eye lash tinting (did nothing), Latisse (lengthened but didn't darken), eye lash extensions (hated that you can't properly wash your face and the $$$), as well as try just about every mascara on the market. It wasn't until I tried the Too Faced's Better Than Sex mascara that I was truly loyal to an eyelash product for almost three years. Then a couple of weeks ago, I heard about Bobbi Brown's Eye Opening Mascara, and was finally tempted enough away from my holy grail mascara to give it a try. Thanks to Sephora's amazing return policy, I really didn't have anything to lose. Now that I've sufficiently had time to give it a try, I wanted to show you guys how they compare.
Brush & Formula: Both have fairly large brushes, but the Bobbi Brown wand is definitely bigger - the first time I used it, I was a bit overwhelmed just by how large it actually is! They do say that you should use a mascara brush that has the shape of the eyelashes you want. So for me, I want as thick and voluminous lashes as possible, so those are the kind of brushes I look for. The formula of the BTS mascara is definitely wetter, especially at first. I actually didn't really like the first week or two of use just because the formula was too wet, and not buildable enough for my liking. The nice thing is that one tube lasted me about 3-4 months. The BB mascara, on the other hand, definitely starts at that perfect buildable formulation, which I really like. I also think it takes fewer coats to really build up to the look I want - I could get away with even just one coat over a primer, but I prefer to do two, just because bigger is better in my book! Time will tell how long one tube lasts though, and at $7 more expensive, I hope it lasts just as long!
Application & Wear: I've had several readers tell me this, so I know I'm not the only one, but I could never get the BTS mascara to not smudge along my lower lash line when I was applying it. I don't know if it's because of the hourglass shape of the wand or what, but it got to the point where I tested out a smaller wanded mascara from Clinique just to see if that helped (it did, but I hated having to add another step). Several people also said that the BTS mascara flaked off really bad for them. I personally never had that issue, but I also always used an eyelash primer first. Now with the Bobbi Brown mascara, I don't have that issue with lower lash smudging, so I really think it's the brush from the Too Faced Mascara that caused that problem. With the Bobbi Brown mascara, I'm still using the primer, so I haven't had any issues with flaking with that formulation either. Both are easily removed with my Glossier cleanser (it's too hot in the house to currently use my preferred method of make-up removal, coconut oil).
Appearance: I think these pictures really do portray the brush = eyelashes theory - the Better Than Sex eyelashes are a bit sparser, thinner and fluttery, while the Eye Opening eyelashes are thicker, longer, and slightly crowded. For me, especially since I wear glasses daily, I really prefer it this way. Ideally, I want someone to think that my eyelashes are fake (is that such a small request or what). Up close, it looks a bit strange (kind of like spider legs...) but behind glasses that make my eyes appear smaller, I really like how the Bobbi Brown Eye Opening mascara looks. My eyelashes just appear longer, thicker, and darker, and really do open up my eyes. Am I completely converted from three years of loyalty for Too Faced's Better Than Sex? ...I think so. I'm definitely going to continue to use the Bobbi Brown Eye Opener mascara, and hope it holds up as well as it does now!
Have you used either of these great mascaras? Do you have your own holy grail mascara you want to share?! While I really like the ones I've found, I'm definitely opening to trying others.
