I thought it was about time that I featured this mascara range by Maybelline since for the third time yesterday I spotted a tube of one of these in another pro makeup artist’s kit. These aren’t new, they’ve been around for almost two years now.
Previously, before yesterday, I spotted both tubes of these variants in Jeoff Moran’s pro kit, Jeoff is one of Emphasis Salon’s in-demand makeup artists and I have watched him, he’s one of the best I’ve ever seen locally. Before that time, I spotted the same mascara in a veteran freelancer’s collection at Tinette & Co. at Fort. Yesterday, I saw the cat eyes variant in the kit of 4-year make-up pro, Clarence who is currently cast in a local style reality show. Given that I’ve spotted these magic wands in the hands of some of the country’s best make-up masters, they deserve an appropriate segment of show and tell. The tubes of the hypercurl range are certainly eye-catching wrapped in a chrome pink and black.
There are two editions of Hypercurl mascaras, the first one is the standard Php 250.00 Volum’ Express Hypercurl with 3x Volume boost and 75% “curl” effect…
…and the second is the Volum’ Express Hypercurl Cat Eyes variant that claims to give 5x more volume and the same amount of “curl” which also comes in a limited edition tube with Hello Kitty on it, it also costs almost double the first one at Php450.00 and I’m still trying to understand why. Both versions are waterproof. Click “Read More” to see how the mascara wands are different and see me trying on both mascaras.
The Volum’ Express Hypercurl’s wand is more traditional than that of the Cat Eyes variant, it’s like a classic mascara wand with a slight curve in it to encourage more lift in your lashes. The Cat Eyes wand reminds me of the wand of my favorite lengthening mascara, Majolica Majorca’s Lash Expander Frame Mascara.
This is how the standard Volum’ Express Hypercurl looks in Very Black…sorry I forgot to write “before” and “after” on the photo. First you see my curled lashes without the mascara then you see me with mascara. I kind of failed for you guys here, since I SHOULDN’T have curled my lashes in the first place to test the “Hypercurl” effect. So for this review I’ll say it does hold curl really well. The regular variant is a great everyday mascara, that isn’t clumpy adds just the right amount of volume and lift, plus a bit of length.
At Php250.00 I recommend Volum’ Express Hypercurl as a local mascara you can get almost anywhere Maybelline is stocked, it reminds me of my fave “everyday” mascara which I’ll feature in another feature in the future. Next is, the Volum’ Express Cat Eyes, which is great but I had higher expectations considering the higher price of Php450.00.
In the case of the Cat Eyes variant I believe that the formula is a win but the comb wand isn’t…because of the wand lashes don’t separate and end up looking all spidey like. The comb isn’t the same as the one of Majolica Majorca’s mascara where there’s a fine tooth side and a wide tooth side, Maybelline’s Cat Eyes wand comb only has one side. There is definitely a bigger boost in volume and length but I still have to comb my lashes through with a spool brush after because they group together. I saw Jeoff Moran, the makeup artist at Emphasis, he used the standard hypercurl variant first to boost volume and give lift, then he combed the outer corners with the Cat Eyes mascara. Among the two I prefer the regular Volum’ Express Hypercurl instead of the Cat Eyes Hypercurl mascara because of the more traditional brush that really gives a more natural look that you can build up, plus it’s also the one that wins because it’s way cheaper. If there’s one thing I wanna change when it comes to mascaras it’s how brands are so comfortable in falsely advertising them…watch both of these ads for the Hypercurl mascaras on YouTube, you can really tell that false lashes are essential in false advertising. The ads are actually super ridiculous, it’s so wonderful that countries like the UK have just drawn the line on false advertising in beauty.
