Naked Eye: It Cosmetics’s Superhero Elastic Stretch Volumizing Mascara
The first beauty product I ever bought was mascara. Or rather, the first beauty product my mom ever bought for me (I’m not counting chapstick and lipgloss in this because I didn’t think of those of beauty so much as, you know, necessities). It was Maybelline Great Lash, in that iconic pink and green tube, and I had no idea what it was supposed to do. I just knew that some women wore it as a makeup staple, an everyday something, so I decided to hop onboard, too.
My new staple, my everyday wear-to-work and out to dinner and to the movies and to the grocery store and in my living room in my pajamas mascara is It Cosmetics’ Superhero Elastic Stretch Volumizing Mascara. That’s the long version of the name, its way more tongue-friendly to call it Superhero Mascara and keep it moving. It’s available in one color, and one color only: Super Black (I’m fascinated by the many ways makeup brands describe “black”, but that’s a discussion for another day).
The Superhero Mascara promises the lengthen and thicken lashes. Specifically, it promises to “give your lashes super volume, super length and super elastic stretch in just one coat” per the website. I’m not sold on the “just one coat” bit, but this does make my lashes look incredible in about two coats. Besides doing wonders to separate my lashes, it actually manages to make them look much thicker and much longer.
And the more coats you apply, the greater the effect. I usually keep it to 2–3 coats for an average day, but when I went out I decided to go all out and up it a couple more, and my lashes were unreal. And still very soft. Even after wearing it for a full work day, my lashes remain soft to the touch, never becoming hardened or crunchy. And it doesn’t budge. It does, however, clump. So I spend a few extra seconds smoothing those out so my lashes look more like, you know, lashes and not thorny stems.
It’s $24 which is the most I’ve ever paid for such a small tube of something, but I’m still working on the sample size I was given and managed to get the full size for 20% off at Ulta last week. It comes in a sleek black tube, and the end is a bit wider (it looks kinda weird actually, but I think it’s supposed to be a nod to its Superhero moniker) so I can hold it more comfortably while applying. And its totally black tube, with its spandex-y shine, makes it easy to differentiate from my growing liquid lipstick collection. If I were a superhero, i would totally whip this out for some mid-heroic mascara touch ups just because it would probably match my outfit.
P.S. I’m slowly becoming a fan of It Cosmetics, but I’d like them a lot more if their brand wasn’t so white. It’s clearly marketed for white makeup-users (it only just recently started branching out into darker shades. And by “shades” I mean one shade darker than their currently light and lighter offerings). But since mascara is a relatively shade neutral offering, I’m all about this one.
