Lashing Out: Mascara X

Author: Rusty

There’s a lot of mascaras out there. Like, seriously, it’s almost stupid how many options you have to smear goop all over your eyelashes. It’s enough to give anyone fits and I can’t tell you how many women I know who have more than four mascaras rolling around in a makeup drawer somewhere, and they’re not really happy with any of them.

How happy you are with any given mascara depends on what you’re looking for - and what I’m looking for is a high quality mascara that will darken my lashes without clumping if I choose to apply more than one layer and leave them in good condition for curling just in case I get a wild hair up my ass and decide to curl my eyelashes.

For this, I use MAC Cosmetic’s Mascara X.


My eyelashes are around a quarter to three quarters of an inch long, but thanks to my naturally light coloring the tips of my eyelashes are completely clear. Mascara X does a great job of coating evenly to the ends of the lashes so I get the full benefit of my lashes without any weird goo coating sticking off the end. It’s also great about not clumping, and I will end the day with my lashes still lovely and black without a lot of flaking off onto my lower eye leaving me with that incredibly attractive raccoon smear that seems to be common to drug store mascaras. When I have curled my lashes with it, Mascara X has worked well with my eyelash curler and, again, doesn't break or flake off while I’m trying to curl my lashes and has just enough cohesion to hold the curl.

Here’s a couple pictures showing the difference between a mascara-ed and unmascara-ed eye. I didn’t use any other product on my eyes, no eyeliner or false lashes and my lashes aren’t curled, so unlike mascara commercials you can trust that what you see is accurate to how the mascara actually looks in real life. I only applied mascara to the upper lashes, since if I apply mascara to my lower lashes without eyeliner it looks like there's a tiny family of spiders trying to escape my eye socket.

Mascara is on left lashes.

Mascara X is pricey and it doesn’t offer a lot in the way of thickening or lengthening if you are in the market for those options. I don’t mind spending $15 on a tube because I tend to keep a tube for a year and then only throw it out because I’m scared of mascara dwelling bacteria rather than because the tube is empty. Mascara X is also not waterproof, but since I rarely wear makeup to the pool or beach this is also less of a concern for me. It’s also the only full sized mascara I regularly buy, the other mascaras I have are trial sizes that I got as samples or that were included in other make-up kits. If in doubt, MAC cosmetics stores and counters are excellent about having tester tubes and disposable applicators available so if you’re near one give it a try!

I’d give Mascara X 7 out of 8 tentacles because it does everything it says it does, and everything I want it to do, but the price and the lack of lengthening or thickening features are going to be turn offs for some.

Rating: 7/8 tentacles