New Dior Addict It-Lash Mascara

I came across this new offering from Dior about a month ago on Sephora's website when it was still unavailable for purchase. Instead it was being offered as an exclusive free sample to VIBs who purchased some other Dior mascara, which I think is rather clever marketing. I was immediately intrigued by the sleek packaging, promo images and unusual colour options. The latex gel polymer formula of this mascara promises to become insoluble and long-wearing once it dries while easily removable with warm water. Basically, Dior have gotten on the tubey mascara bandwagon, a formula which individually wraps the lashes in a sort of vinyl coat, rather than actually painting them. At this point I was more excited about a new mascara release than I'd care to admit, because I've been wearing this sort of formula myself for almost a year now and have grown to love just how convenient it is. However, variety for formulas like this is very scarce, so to see a huge brand like Dior, who make some of the best selling mascaras on the market come out with their take on it, really is quite exciting. I saw the display for the Christian Dior summer collection including the new Dior Addict It-Lash mascara pop up at my local department store about a week ago, so it was a matter of finding the time to show up with bare lashes and try it out for myself. As of now I have, and here are some of my rambling thought.

First of all, the actual tube looks rather different than what I'd imagined. The promo images made it look like it would be quite small and compact when in fact it's one of the bigger mascara tubes out there. A lot of people won't care about something like this, but for me personally gigantic mascaras are a pet peeve. I like the packaging to be sleek and take up as little space as possible. Perhaps it's psychological to waste a bunch of plastic making an obnoxious tube so the person who is spending that much money on a mascara feels like they've really gotten something substantial? Also, based on the photographs, I thought the surface would be matte black or even rubberized, to almost echo the latex formula, which to me would have been ultra minimalist and chic. Instead, the plastic is an underwhelming glossy black that will accumulate finger prints and scratches like a champ.

The wand is much bigger than the images would have suggested, but then when you realize the entire mascara in person is bigger, proportionally it makes sense. The brush is synthetic, made up of rows of rubbery spikes that also cover the very tip, which I really like for precision. Despite its unexpectedly larger size, I found the brush to be quite directional and easy to use. I wish the spikes were longer and more tightly packed, because as it is, the brush gives lovely length and separation, kind of, and by kind of I mean it lumps a group of lashes together, brushing gaps in between them, and is therefor quite useless for adding volume.

The formula, at least initially, since all of the testers are very recently opened, is very creamy. It's similar to a very wet formula, except it's thick at the same time. The brush comes out with way, way too much product and even after very thorough wiping off on the mouth of the tube, there's still too much product. You could see that people had been having an issue with this, because all of the tubes were an absolute mess of formula once you unscrewed the wand. I think this may be a necessary sacrifice because of the drying nature of the formula, they make it runnier on purpose because they tend to dry out faster. However, then you face the prospect of hating the first two weeks of using the mascara, loving it for one and hating it again when it becomes too dry to use without a great deal of patience.

Despite my best efforts, the wand applied the formula heavily and somewhat in lumps. I thought I'd be adventurous and incorporate all four colours It-Lash comes in, the permanent black and the three limited edition summer colours. I wore It-Black on the top lashes, It-Purple in the outer corner of my lower lashes, It-Pink on the inner corner of my lower lashes and I attempted to layer It-Blue as a second coat over the black on the outer corner of my top lashes, which didn't take very well meaning perhaps this isn't the best formula to build up once it sets. I thought it would be a fun look to do with an almost gradient effect on the lower lashes. I think it's pretty and outside the box, although my mother said at least on three occasions that she hates the pink and thinks it looks ill. Transitioning the blue and purple might make for a more wearable look, but in my opinion, depending on lighting, they're very similar and the difference would probably not register to the naked eye.

Because the formula is so creamy, some of the different colours transferred between the lower and top lashes. Also, because it applied so thickly, even when it set, some of the excess formula broke off in pieces, which I've purposely not cleaned up. It did wear quite well and I think it will once you've had the mascara for a few weeks and get into the sweet middle of its lifetime when it's just right to use, unfortunately I can't comment on how long that good period may last. After a couple of hours of wear I generously applied some eye drops, which I normally do, because my eyes get dry and tired, to see how well the mascara would hold up to some of its claims. It didn't budge immediately after, however the strands of lashes clumped even more together, so if you're going to cry in this or jump into a fountain you won't end up with panda eyes, but the lashes will look slightly worse for wear. Sorry. A few hours on, I noticed some new flakes had crumbled off, but I don't know if that was because of the eye drops or still the original overly thick application. Most likely both.

Before removing the mascara I splashed some cold water on to see how well It-Lash would withstand it. It did quite well but there was some more minor flaking when I gently rubbed my eyes, so you could for example swim with this mascara, as long as you avoid touching your eye area. I decided to remove the mascara on one eye with warm water and the other with a makeup remover. It is noteworthy that unlike the Kanebo mascara I've used, this doesn't require huge effort to wash off with water, it dissolves very easily. Also unlike the Kanebo, which is impossible to remove with anything BUT warm water, the It-Lash took almost no effort to remove with Bioderma, which is the mildest makeup remover I have. That's saying something because I have trouble removing anything with Bioderma, let alone a long-wearing formula!

I can't say I'm overly impressed by this mascara especially considering how much I wanted to really like it. I had a better time playing with the fun colours than actually applying or wearing the formula. Impulsive me would say get one of the colourful ones for the summer and have fun, but then there are brands that have purples and blues in their lineup all the time, not necessarily in a tubey formula, but waterproof for sure, which would work just as well or better for some impulsive summer creativity.

Would I buy this? Not as my next mascara, no. I've been trying new mascaras of varying levels of satisfaction for over a year and I really want to go back to my favourite, Chanel's Inimitable Intense. I miss it very much, but perhaps it's just been so long I have an embellished memory of how good it was. Either way, that is going to be my next mascara purchase. The one after that however, may actually be Dior Addict It-Lash. Reason being I've now gone through two tubes of Kanebo Sensai's 38C mascara of the same sort of warm water removal formula, and there are aspects of it I really like. I've tried all three mascaras Kanebo make in this formula and although I like the demure, fluttery look I generally get, once it's become dry just after a month (very quickly) it does frustratingly little for my lashes, and although it has its faults, the It-Lash gave more oomph than the Kanebo ever has. So, because this is a formula I definitely want to have at my disposal, I will probably buy a full size It-Black either as the next mascara after the Chanel, or the one after, depending on how much I love using the Inimitable and want to repurchase it.

Anyway, I hope these rambling thoughts were insightful and somewhat useful. Until next time, for now I'm calling it a night!