Max Factor 2000 Calorie Mascara | Review

Okay, first up, I'm going to apologise for the crossed-eye collage, having 3 pairs of eyes staring at you is pretty creepy, reminds me of a spider or something...  But, it's a good way to compare, so it'll have to do.

Anyway, I don't often buy a lot of mascaras anymore, I find recommendations unreliable as it depends on each person how their eyelashes are and what they want from a mascara so I tend to stick with my tried and trusted. My favourite one for quite some time was Max Factor's Masterpiece Max but when I decided to buy Max Factor's 2000 Calorie on a whim, I have to say that Masterpiece Max took a backseat as this is my new favourite.

I like my lashes to be fairly volumised, they are quite long but they're not super thick. I don't really like my eyelashes to look 'natural' but I don't want them to look really overdone or clumpy.
I'm normally a big fan of the rubber wand mascara's (not including Benefit's They're Real! - major disappointment) so I was a little dubious of whether or not 2000 Calorie was going to work for me.

I got it home and realised I'd actually picked it up in Black/Brown - rookie mistake. However, all was not lost as you can see from the pictures, it's still a pretty dark colour and doesn't look particularly brown at all.
I curled my lashes as always and then popped on a couple of coats of 2000 Calorie and was really pleased with the results.

The wand is a reasonable size although not too large that I smudged it everywhere, although when you take it out of the tube it does have some excess mascara that you need to wipe off, not a big deal. I found that it coats every single lash with very minimal clumping. If you do find you have too much mascara on your wand and it's been deposited onto your lashes, just keep on brushing and it all evens out nicely.

The formula definitely volumises my lashes and it does lengthen and hold the curl that my curlers have created. It also dries quickly - not so quick that it's drying whilst you're still applying the first coat but once I've finished my bottom lashes, I'm good to go with a second coat. In the picture above, I'm wearing just a light eye shadow with no eyeliner at all, it looks even better with liner, super thick.

There is no flaking or smudging throughout the day at all for me and it's easily removed with my Clarin's Gentle Eye Makeup Remover. I've also found that it's better value for money than Masterpiece Max as you pay £9.99 for 7ml and with 2000 Calorie it's £6.99 for 9ml (prices at Superdrug)  and for some reason, that little bit extra seems to really make a difference with the longevity of the mascara tube for me.

Without a doubt, I will definitely be picking up another when my current one runs out, this time I'll probably pick it up in black, just to see if there's a difference. There's also a waterproof version and a curved wand version, maybe I'll grab one of those in the future too! Max Factor are definitely my favourite brand for mascara, I've not been disappointed with any I've tried yet.

What's your favourite mascara?