Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara Review

I bought this mascara in November, and have been using it a lot since! I bought it on a whim, I stumbled inside the Sephora at Downtown Disney in Anaheim with the intent to buy something. I didn't know what, but something!

Well, I had a slight idea what. I knew that I was running out of my previous favorite foundation, the Bourjois Healthy Mix (which is unfortunately not cruelty free). I also knew that the only mascara I really enjoyed (the infamous Covergirl Clump Crusher) was not only months old, but also not cruelty free. So I was looking for a cruelty free liquid foundation as well as a mascara.

I'm going to be totally honest here and say that I'm pretty sure I only bought this because of the name. That said, once I brought it back to my hotel room and gave it a try, I was very pleased with it. I've been using it since for lash-heavy looks with lots of volume, and now that I've had it for a while I figured I should write a review on it. So here's the review!

For those of you who are wondering, I did buy a foundation as well that I'm quite pleased with. I got Tarte's Amazonian Clay Full Coverage Foundation.

REVIEW

Description from Toofaced.com:

Take home our Better Than Sex mascara and all your desires for lush, incredibly intense lashes will be fulfilled. One application of our collagen-fueled formula and touch of our specially shaped brush will leave you begging for more. One coat and lashes are full, defined and stretched to unbelievable lengths. Two coats and they’re reaching unbelievable heights of drama. Three coats and you’ll believe in magic.

Ingredients list from Toofaced.com:

Water/aqua/eau, Synthetic Beeswax, Paraffin, Glyceryl Stearate, Acacia Senegal Gum, Butylene Glycol, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Wax, Stearic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Polybutene, VP/Eicosene Copolymer, Cera Carnauba/Copernicia Cerifera (Carnauba) Wax/Cire de carnauba, Aminomethyl Propanol, Glycerin, Ethylhexylglycerin, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Disodium EDTA, Polyester-11, PVP, Cellulose, Trimethylpentanediol/Adipic Acid/Glycerin Crosspolymer, Propylene Glycol, Acacia Senegal Gum Extract, Potassium Sorbate, Dextran, Acetyl Hexapeptide-1. May Contain/Peut Contenir/(+/-): Iron Oxides (CI 77499), Black 2 (CI 77266), Ultramarines (CI 77007).

$23.00 for one 0.27fl.oz. tube.

The tube this mascara comes in is made of a slightly shiny metal. It's rather large and feels pretty firm in your hand, which I actually really like. Feels very substantial. The top twists off to reveal your wand and brush, like most mascaras do.

The brush is rather large as well and has a slightly curved shape to it. The very tip is thicker while the end that connects to the wand is thinner. For your lower lashes, I would recommend using the thinner end to get a more precise application, as well as not too much product on your lashes.

One of the downsides to this mascara is that the stopper is not small enough to keep globs of product from sticking to the bristles. As you can see from the photo above, a lot of mascara is stuck around the tip of the wand. When applying the mascara, sometimes this excess leads to clumping, too much mascara on your lashes, and smudging onto your lid. What works for me is removing the wand slowly, scraping the excess mascara off on the inner edge of the stopper. It does feel a bit wasteful since sometimes a bit of the mascara escapes and you have no way to save it. Though you don't need much mascara to make your lashes look good so this stuff will definitely last you a while, excess product or no.

Here are my eyes with bare lashes. If you'd like a tutorial on the eye look, as well as the products I used, I published it yesterday and you can see it here.

And here are my lashes after applying this mascara to the top lashes only. No eyeliner or curling of the lashes, just this mascara alone. I don't know exactly how many coats this is, just that I kept running the wand through to coat all of my lashes sufficiently, and brush out clumps.

According to Too Faced's website, along with the packaging for this product, this mascara offers 1,944% more volume. While I'm still unsure about their math, I will admit that this mascara does add a lot of volume to my lashes, as well as length and curl.

The formula is not too thick or thin, it applies smoothly and has a small window of time before it dries in which you can wipe away the excess. Keeping a clean spoolie handy is a good idea due to the aforementioned clumping/smudging/applying too much issue. Getting the mascara to coat the very roots of my lashes is difficult for me just due to smudging, but if I tightline with eyeliner (or just apply it really carefully), then I can't notice a difference when looking in the mirror.

After the mascara has dried, it stays in place for a very long time. It also won't bleed or transfer, even in hot weather or when the atmosphere is more humid. Just water alone won't do much to this mascara, maybe bleed it a bit if you apply water directly to it, but it does come off easily with my makeup remover of choice, Garden of Wisdom's Cleansing Oil for Normal/Balanced Skin.

CONCLUSION

It's definitely a good mascara. I'd recommend it especially for those who like heavy lashes. Keep in mind that it can be a bit difficult to manipulate because the wand tends to pick up too much product, but it's nothing we makeup addicts can't handle. Overall I really enjoy this mascara, and use it a lot in both every day and dressy makeup looks.