Recently I had the chance to review three Cover Girl Lash Blast mascaras: Lash Blast Volume, Lash Blast Luxe, and Lash Blast Length. (I had bought them at drugstore.com “buy one get one 1/2 off” when Sirvinya put out the allcall for someone stateside to get these to her. I figured that by getting them at half off for the second one, I could also have some for myself. Then it turned out that she'd been inundated with messages, didn't see my direct message, and had already gotten the CG mascaras…so I was left with six tubes I'd bought. Hence, review time!)

I've used a few different mascaras in the past few years, but my favorites are Tarte's Lash Hugger mascara and Bare Escentuals' Flawless Definition mascara. I'd tried Cover Girl's Exact Eyelights a while back with fairly "meh" results - so I was curious as to whether or not any of these "lash blast" mascaras would add up to the hype.

Lash Blast Volume

• Manufacturer: Cover Girl
• Availibility: available nearly anyplace that sells Cover Girl
• Color Range: very black, black, black brown, brown; available in regular or waterproof formulas
• Cost/Amount: averages $8 for 13.1 milliliters/.44 fluid ounces, or .61 per milliliter/18.18 per ounce
• Would you buy this product again: no

Any store that carries Cover Girl will have this variety, even if they don't stock the otherLash Blast mascaras (Luxe and Length). It comes in the bright orange tube, with 13.1 ml (just under half an ounce) of product for $6 to $9, depending on store. (Average price I've found: $7.50 per tube.) Available in four colors - very black, black, black/brown, and brown - and available in regular or waterproof formulas. The waterproof formulas can cost a little bit more, but usually cost the same as the non-waterproof.

When you initially purchase it, the applicator-cap is separate from the tube - allowing people to view the applicator itself, which mascara companies seem to be selling as much as - or more than - the formula of the mascara. The Lash Blast Volume applicator is a big, blunt thing that I found difficult to use. I had to do two separate passes to get the center lashes, whereas with longer applicators I only have to make one pass - and then getting the smaller end lashes was all but impossible. With many applicators, I just use the tip of the wand and have it pointed more toward my eyeball to get at the end fringe. With this applicator, it looked like I was trying to stick a blunted crayon into my cornea.

I do not love the packaging. Not the color - while bright orange isn't my thing, this won't necessarily be easy to lose - but the shape of the tube. It bulges outward in the middle like an overweight Corinthian column. The tube falls over a bit too easily. It's like a drunken Weeble.

I got this in black-brown. The color seemed to have much more brown in it than black; but overall, it wasn't too bad, or too far off.

The cost - $8 for 13.1 ml/.44 oz - works out to 18.18 per ounce, or .61 per milliliter. It's less costly than my two go-to mascaras, but it's not the least expensive "drugstore" mascara. It isn't even the least expensive mascara Cover Girl sells, though it's not their most expensive. It's definitely one of their costlier ones, though.

The formula seemed to work okay. No outrageous clumping, though it's hard for me to tell if the difficulties in application were solely due to the applicator, the formula, or a combination of both. I did not see a noticeable increase in volume after applying one coat, though; and didn't even see that much definition. Two coats gave me some increase in volume, but nothing that thrilled me too much. This particular mascara did not seem to add any length, even after three coats. The mascara didn't spot/flake/smudge during normal wear once I cleaned up the initial application-mess (have I said how much I dislike that applicator?), but after about five hours I noticed some smudge-off under my eyes. I wasn't outdoors running around, my eyes weren't runny, it was just a normal day...and I was noticing the smudges after less than a full day's wear. This happens with the less expensive non-waterproof-formula mascaras, but doesn't generally happen with all of my mascaras - so this, on top of the lack of volume, was a bit disappointing. Ingredients, in the order listed on the back of the packaging, were water, glyceryl stearate, ammonium acrylates copolymer, disteardimonium hectorite, propylene glycol, stearic acid, copernica cerifera (carnauba) wax, triethanolamine, acrylates copolymer, synthetic wax, polyvinyl alcohol, lecithin, propylene carbonate, polyethylene, oleic acid, denatured alcohol, benzyl alcohol, glycerin, xanthan gum, panthenol, phenoxyethanol, propylparaben, methylparaben, ethylparaben, sodium laureth sulfate, trisodium edta, simethicone, tocopheryl acetate, tocopherol, iron oxides, and two "may contain"s: titanium dioxide and ultramarines.

Lash Blast Length

• Manufacturer: Cover Girl
• Availibility: available nearly anyplace that sells Cover Girl
• Color Range: very black, black, black brown, brown; available in regular or waterproof formulas
• Cost/Amount: averages $8 for 13.1 milliliters/.44 fluid ounces, or 1.23 per milliliter/38.09 per ounce
• Would you buy this product again: yes - definitely

This also is available in regular and waterproof formulas, though the site I purchased from only had the regular formula available in Very Black (and, irony of ironies, waterproof was available in Black or Black-brown, but no Very Black. Oooooookay then...) The per-unit cost was the same as the Lash Blast Volume, between $6 to $9 depending on which site I looked at.

The tubes are bright yellow, and do not look like drunken Weebles. They do taper from the top to the bottom, though, so fall over even more easily than the Lash Blast Volume or Luxe...without the humourous childhood-nostalgia. (It seems as if Cover Girl's marketing department has decided that straight tubes of mascara are "so 1900s".) At least these tubes stack alongside the other items in my vanity-top organizer, though.

While the tubes are the same height as the Luxe and Volume tubes, but you get less product in them - just under half, as it turns out. You pay the same amount for 6.5 milliliters (.21 fluid ounces) instead of 13.1 milliliters (.44 fluid ounces). This puts Lash Blast Length's cost at 38.09 per ounce, or 1.23 per milliliter. This is more costly than either of the other two CG Lash Blast formulas; but at just over $38 per ounce, it's still less than BE's Flawless Definition, which costs $54.50 per ounce.

The applicator is longer, and thinner - more like the Bare Escentuals' Flawless Definition applicator, but without the shorter bristles and extreme tapering at the tip. I was able to get my lashes with one pass, then use the end of the applicator to get the lashes on the ends of my lids. Again, no clumping...and I did see both increased length and definition after just one coat. Two coats gave me a bit more length, but no great increase in volume. Three coats didn't increase the length appreciably more than two coats. I don't know if it's the formula or the application (or perhaps both), but I did not see the under-eye smudging with this one, even after eight hours' wear. It didn't flake off, either, though even the non-waterproof formula did remove with a makeup remover pad. (The advertising says "will come off with soap and water", but since I always need to swipe off the rest of my eye makeup anyway, I just use that.) I even had to go back and hit my lashes again with a q-tip dipped in makeup remover oil, because the super-inexpensive remover-pad that I got at the drugstore cleaned up my eyeshadow just fine but wasn't quite up to the task of completely removing either my liquid eyeliner nor my mascara.

The first six ingredients are the same as those for Lash Blast Volume - and after that, some of the same ingredients show up in different order. Further down the list, there are some ingredients that aren't in the Volume formula at all (nylon-6, ascorbyl palmitate, soybean oil, silica). You're getting less than half of the product in the other two Lash Blast mascaras, but it worked better for me - application, wear, the whole thing.

Lash Blast Luxe

• Manufacturer: Cover Girl
• Availibility: available nearly anyplace that sells Cover Girl
• Color Range: black emerald, black cabernet, black platinum, black royale; available in regular or waterproof formulas
• Cost/Amount: averages $8 for 13.1 milliliters/.44 fluid ounces, or .61 per milliliter/18.18 per ounce
• Would you buy this product again: no

This is the formula I initially had the lowest expectations for, based on my experiences with Cover Girl's Exact EyeLights mascara. I figured if it gave me the black and a little bit of definition, I'd be doing just fine. This review is nice and brief because oh so many of the details were covered when I reviewed Lash Blast Volume.

Like the Volume formula, this comes in a drunken-Weeble tube. It's a bright fuschia rather than orange, so it's another bit of packaging that will be easy to find in a crowded drawer or purse. Price is the same as for the Volume formula - and you get the same amount as Volume, approximately $8 for 13.1 ml (.44 fluid oz). Sadly, you also get the same applicator as Volume. It's less threatening-looking that putting a small morningstar near your eye like L'oreal's Telescopic Explosion mascara...but it's still difficult to work with. The different colors are basically shades of black with subtle tints - so you can wear colored mascara without wearing "colored mascara". Nice enough if you want to enhance your eyecolor a little bit, but really - these aren't very differentiated in color. I chose Black Platinum, thinking that perhaps I might get a tiny bit of silvery highlighting. This was not the case. Still, that wasn't my biggest gripe with this mascara.

I didn't notice as much smudging as I did with Lash Blast Volume...but upon application, I wasn't wowed. It almost looked like I wasn't wearing any mascara. Two coats gave me a little bit of definition, but I wasn't seeing any apparent color highlighting. I also got a little bit of smudge-off under my eyes after about five hours - less than with LB Volume, but still some smudging.

Lash Blast Length performs about as well as Bare Escentuals' Flawless Definition mascara, is available in more colors *and* in a waterproof formula, and costs less than Flawless Definition (a lot less, if you buy from drugstore.com with their "buy one get one half off" price.) I have several mini tubes of BE's Flawless Definition that I got in various kits last summer and fall, but once those run out, I'll be switching to Lash Blast Length.

Now if only the damn tubes wouldn't fall over whenver I look at them sideways...!

Even though Tarte's Lash Hugger mascara is all-natural and the others are not...it's been one of my go-to mascaras as of late, so I added it into the table for comparison's sake.

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