Super Blooper — New CoverGirl The Super Sizer Mascara Is More Ordinary Than Extraordinary

Shopping for mascara within a drugstore’s beauty section can prove to be the most befuddling, frustrating, and aggravating experience ever — after all, there are countless mascaras promising to give lashes 8, 9, and even 16 times more volume or to plump lashes by 200%, or claiming they’ll arrange your lashes into the perfect fanned-out shape, define and curl even the tiniest of hair, and coat them with jet black pigment. Then there are the many different wands — thin and cylindrical with prong-like bristles, equipped with a ball-shaped tip featuring longer bristles, curved to resemble a parenthesis, heart-shaped, bristle-free and comb-like, and more. With so many options and marketing claims (many of them grossly exaggerated), it’s easy to just stick with old faithful (even if it’s not 100% satisfactory) or simply succumb to advertising propaganda and snatch up whatever mascara you’ve seen more frequently in magazines and TV commercials. Luckily, there are always gals like myself willing to try every new mascara on the market and give you the tea on whether or not they actually perform as promised. Today’s mascara: the new CoverGirl The Super Sizer Mascara ($6.85 at mass food and drug retailers).

Packaged in a teal tube with large chartreuse lettering, this mascara is likely to grab your attention immediately as you peruse the cosmetics aisle at your favorite drugstore.  The carton atop which the tube is affixed, meanwhile, claims that the mascara will help you attain up to 400% more corner-to-corner volume. If that makes you raise an eyebrow, then give yourself a pat on the back because you are officially a whip-smart and dutifully skeptical consumer.

What’s unique about this mascara is its wand, which features a rubber-y, slim applicator devoid of traditional bristles, instead featuring spiky plastic tines in lieu of standard fibers. Generally, I prefer this style of wand since bristles can sometimes fray and deliver chaotic-looking lashes that then need to be combed, de-clumped, and separated. If you apply the mascara following the accompanying instructions, you’ll start by lining the wand up with your lash line, so that you can start at the base of your lashes, and then roll the wand as you work your way upwards, twirling the wand as you move from the roots to the tips of your lashes.

Let me be clear: twirling the wand is a pain in the, well, wrist. Considering the buffet of mascara wands at any retailer, I can’t imagine why I’d pick the one requiring the most effort and coordination. There are even vibrating and rotating wands these days that perfectly curve, lengthen, and separate lashes, so why would I opt for a manual model?

The application challenges aside, the mascara does, in fact, accentuate lashes, coating them in a jet black color and making them appear slightly longer but considerably plumper.

Since the proof is in the pudding, check out these photo of my lashes before and after the mascara was applied.

Let’s start with the before shot:

And now, here’s the after shot:

As you can see, my lashes definitely appear thicker — but to claim that the difference amounts to a 400% increase in volume is ludicrous. Still, there’s no denying that you do achieve more voluminous lashes after using this mascara.

That said, twirling the mascara wand is a bit of a hassle, and if you don’t use this technique and, instead, simply glide the wand from root to tip, you won’t get as dramatic a look in the end. Also, the mascara is more prone to clumping than many of its counterparts, so after two coats, you’re practically asking for chaos.

Overall, I’d say the mascara doesn’t really rise above the “acceptable” mark. If you need a fantastic drugstore mascara, I’d recommend the L’Oréal Voluminous Butterfly Intenza, the CoverGirl LashBlast Fusion, or the Maybelline Rocket Volum’Express.