Hello! ~♥ I am reviewing the Holika Holika Magic Pole Mascara in the type #01 Power Volume for you today. This product is also available in #02 Long Lash, but since I have naturally rather long, but very thin lashes, I went for the volume type one.This mascara comes in a neat packing that fits Holika Holika's "magic" theme pretty well. It is triangular and has a holographic dark purple surface with golden letters on it. Really neat!Holika Holika says about this product: "This magical mascara vows to look beautiful and glamorous for all day long without a smudge our smear. The two-parted wand allows you to sculpt the perfect lash: The stick part coats with amazing volume and the ball part separates. It lasts through rain, sweat, humidity, and tears, yet the formula removes easily with warm water."The Holika Holika Magic Pole Mascara is also available in a waterproof version. However, I prefer this one as s I don't have a big problem with smudged mascara and am too lazy to use extra products to remove waterproof mascara.
The mascara itself does not look too fancy. Because the packing isn't holigraphic like the outer cardbox, it does not look as magical and elegant, but a bit bubblegum-packing like. It's not ugly, but I do prefer the outer packing.
The special thing about this mascara, and also what gives it its name, is the mascara brush. It consists of two parts: A stick part, similar to regular mascara, and a round ball part and the tip. As the description says the stick part will coat your lashes with volume and the ball part will separate your lashes so they do not stick together. However, I find the stick part of the brush incredibly hard to use. How do you coat your lashes with the much slimmer part without the round, much bigger part, blocking your way? I have to admit that I could not really figure it out. I can get mascara on the tips of my lashes like this, but to cover all of them I would need to get the stick part so close to the roots, that the round part would cover my lashes, my eyelids, and my eyes. It probably is possible somehow, but not for a person with two left hands like me, so I stick to mostly using the round tip part. However, that part works really well for me. I find it much easier to work precisely and cover the tiny lashes at the outer corner of my eyes, as well as my lower lashes with it than with a "normal" mascara.For whatever reason the mascara wand is made of a soft and flexible material. I could not figure out whether there was any point behind that. It's not like it has any effect on applying your mascara.I have mixed feeling about the result of this product. There is a significant difference and I actually like how my lashes look with the mascara. However, considering this was supposed to be a volume mascara, I don't feel like it really gives me the desired effect. I have seen a review of this mascara by a blogger who had really full natural lashes and the mascara made them look so much fuller even! But my lashes are so thin and scarce, that I feel like the mascara just cannot magically create more volume.
I think I am, overall, feeling neutral about this product. Just like all the mascara that promised additional volume which I have tried before, this one can't give me any significant change in volume. It makes my lashes darker and slightly longer (just a visual effect because the lighter ends of my lashes get darker, I suppose), but they don't appear fuller.Still, from all the mascara which promised volume and didn't keep up to the promise, this is still one of my most favorite, because I find using the round brush more handy when you want to catch all these tiny lashes. Neat packing design
Round tip part of the brush makes it easy to reach tiny lashes
Smudge-free
Can be removed with water (waterproof version is available for those of you who prefer this)
Stick part of the brush is hard to use
Doesn't create any significant volume if you have thin lashes to begin with