Mary Kay Love Lash Mascara Review

I feel like I’ve been posting a lot of mascara reviews lately and I suppose I have. I seem to have amassed quite a stash of sample size mascaras from subscription boxes and various other means, which on one hand is good because I won’t need to purchase mascara as quickly, but on the other hand is annoying because I have to work my way through several tubes of mystery. All of these mascaras are great for providing me with blog content though, so I will suffer through the occasional raccoon-eye situation if for no other reason than to provide my dear readers with a review.

Today I’ll be reviewing the Mary Kay Love Lash Mascara, which retails for $15 and comes in both black and brown. I attended a Mary Kay party a few months back to support a friend and won this mascara as a little door prize type of gift. When I was younger I loved spending my days flipping through Avon and Mary Kay catalogs, admiring the beautiful colors and knowing nothing of the value of a dollar. Now-a-days when I think of Mary Kay, I tend to associate with it drugstore (even though obviously it’s not retailed there) and overpriced. The brand has mid-range pricing and from the products I’ve tried I don’t see the justification. That being said, I haven’t tried the entire range so I can’t speak for everything.

The Love Lash mascara comes in a black tube with silver writing. The full-size tube is slightly curvier but pretty similar in design – no frills, striaght forward packaging.

The brush has rubber bristles that are tapered at the end and longer towards the wand base. The longer bristles are actually much longer than what I’m used to seeing on rubber bristle brushes, which  really helped get into the lash roots, separating individual lashes and ensuring the whole lash was coated with product. The tapered end helped with coating the inner corner lashes. The inner corner is a trouble area for me but this brush made it quite easy. Though I usually really hate rubber bristle brushes I think the design of this one is incredibly effective.

On the Mary Kay website the following claims are made about the Love Lash mascara:

~Flake resistant
~Smudge resistant
~Clump resistant
~Conditions lashes and helps defend against breakage
~Ophthalmologist-tested and suitable for contact lens wearers
~Water-resistant formula
~Defines, defends and delivers four times the volume while looking naturally flawless, soft and healthy
~Brush separates and coats lashes

Look at those lashes! This mascara absolutely gives a gorgeous effect to the lashes. They look lengthened, defined, separated, and voluminous all at the same time. I really do love this look. This is what I want my lashes to look like on a daily basis. The only issue I’ve had with the Love Lash mascara is something I’ve been having with many as of late – flaking. This stuff flakes like crazy. You can’t wear it on the bottom lash line and even then you have to touch up hourly to wipe away flakes. So disappointing! This mascara would have been perfect if it weren’t for the flakes.

Looking back at the claims:

~Flake resistant ✘ Super flakey
~Smudge resistant ✔ Not smudges, just flakes
~Clump resistant ✔
~Conditions lashes and helps defend against breakage ✔ I can’t say I’ve ever had a lash break in half so I don’t know if this is true or not
~Ophthalmologist-tested and suitable for contact lens wearers ✔ I wear contacts and felt no discomfort
~Water-resistant formula ✘ We’ve had a few windy days that made my eyes watery and this did not survive the tearing up
~Defines, defends and delivers four times the volume while looking naturally flawless, soft and healthy ✔✘ I’m not sure where to stand on this one since a lot of claims are made in this statement. It does define the lashes and make them look naturally flawless. It delivers volume but I wouldn’t say 4 times the volume. Also I’m not sure why my lashes would need defending.
~Brush separates and coats lashes ✔ I touched on this a bit earlier but the brush gets in there deep between the lashes and does a tremendous job with coating and separating.

In conclusion, I was so close to being in love with this mascara. The look is just spot on but unfortunately I cannot tolerate the flakes.