Review: Yves Saint Laurent Faux Cils Mascara

YSL Faux Cils to me is the epitome of fancy mascara, I mean the price of this is hefty! But I have heard that this mascara is one of the best and so I've always wanted to try it out myself.  It's advertised as a 'Luxurious Volume Effect Mascara for a False Lash Effect'. To me, volume is what I want most in my lashes, I have a decent amount of them, but always want them to look fuller and luxurious wouldn't hurt either! I received this product, along with a few others that I will be reviewing over the next week from StrawberryNet.com, my reviews are always honest however, and not influenced by anything other than how I personally feel about them.

The leaflet that came with the box explains that this mascara is unique in that it's "formulated with a triple-film complex to add volume and definition to lashes, making them appear thick and luxurious. An innovative combination of ingredients helps give the eyelashes a full look: a coating film of cellulose polymers and nylon particles adds volume to the lashes, pro-vitamin B5, algae extract and aloe help moisturize eyelashes and create a natural full appearance, the brush is specifically designed to increase volume while separating and defining each lash. A conditioning film helps optimize the curling effect, and a fixing film, which is combined with waxes helps the mascara adhere to the lashes without a stiff appearance."

This mascara comes in a luxurious (how many times can I say luxurious?) heavy, slender gold tube. I have this in colour 02 Rich Brown. I know most people opt for black mascara, but I find they can look too stark on me and I prefer a dark brown, this dark brown is quite dark too. I got this from StrawberryNet.com for $19 CAD (the black is more expensive), much cheaper than I would of spent in the store, which would of been like $31.50 CAD I believe. And StrawberryNet is offering an additional 10% off everything at the moment too.

The brush itself is pretty great, it's long, so it fits the width of my eye entirely in one sweep. The bristles are short and dense, so it gets to the base of the lashes and is very easily to apply. The directions in the leaflet advise to clean the brush on a weekly basis with a dry tissue once a week, I guess this is because the brush wand gets pretty packed full of product. Since the brush holds so much product it does not take many coats to get the perfect look. The bristles are traditional wired bristles, not plastic. This mascara is also scented, it's a flowery smell, I like it, but it may bother some people.

Now the results, the first eye is bare, nothing on it, lashes curled, and the second is a coat of YSL Faux Cils. I think the result is pretty awesome. It doesn't flake or get crunchy at all if you built it up. I only do a few coats normally, 1-2, but if you did build this up, I imagine it would get clumpy. It holds the curl very well too.

And here on the left with YSL Faux Cils and nothing on the right side. I love what this mascara does, it volumizes a lot, thicken up the lashes and makes them stand out. I am not sure if it's equal to the results of false lashes however, I would say no, you can get more drama with false lashes. I actually tired applying false lashes for the first time ever this past weekend, it was a major fail!

Now do I think it's worth the hefty price tag? Well with high-end cosmetics you pay a high-price because it's a fancy name and you expect to get exceptional results. I think YSL Faux Cils is very good, one of the best mascaras that I've ever used, however I think you can achieve similar results with a much cheaper mascara. As an experiment, I put YSL Faux Cils on the left eye in above pictures, and Cover Girl Lash Blast Fusion on the right, can you tell the difference? I think YSL Faux Cils volumizes a bit more, and Cover Girl lengthens better. Also, my lashes are softer to the touch on the YSL and crunchier on the Cover Girl. The Cover Girl mascara is like $8 at drugstores and the YSL is $30 US.

The other issue with it is you get 7.5ml with the YSL and 13.1ml with the Cover Girl, so while the tube looks hefty, the amount that you get is much less. Mascaras typically only last 6 month before you should throw it away, and I have read that the YSL gets dry after 3 months. Personally, I keep mascaras past the 6 month mark because I use so many at once, so to me, it's not an issue, but something to consider.

Would I recommend this product? If you only buy a couple mascaras a year, yes I would recommend this one since it's pretty great. If you like switching up your mascaras and already own many drugstores ones, I would say stick to them.