Eyeko Black Magic Mascara (Curved Brush)

I used to love Eyeko as a schoolgirl - it was a very budget friendly brand with very cute packaging. Like little anime style motifs and cartoonish designs, it was cheesy but adorable. Their "Big Eyes" mascara was around 5 quid with free delivery for a long time, and came in a squeezy tube like this one - meaning it was easier to eke out every last scrap of usable product inside of it. Hey, when your only source of income is pocket money you have to be economical about these things LOL
It wasn't the best product ever as it was thick and quite wet formula-wise, but did give an exaggerated lashy look and dried to a semi-glossy finish and for the price I couldn't complain.

Unfortunately, Eyeko underwent a brand revamp a few years ago, where most of the products aside from eyeliners and mascara were jettisoned entirely, and remaining products received a price hike of 3 times their original value. Apparently it was to try to re-frame it as a luxury brand focused on eye makeup only. Well I wasn't going to pay nearly 20 quid for a mascara that used to be a fiver, it wasn't THAT good. One day I came across this in the clearance section at TK Maxx, so I thought I'd try it out to see if it was any good and if it was better than the old one.

So was it any good? The short answer is no - it's very similar to the old "Big Eyes" mascara, quite thick with a wet formula, and gets everywhere when applying - blink too soon and you get a little horizontal black dot matrix where your eyelashes touch the skin. Don't even get me started on the "mascara shield" free gift AKA guitar plectrum - it is useless.
In its favour is the colour, it's very densely pigmented and very very black, and the curved bush is an improvement over the old one (now seen on their skinny brush mascara) - the curved shape helps splay lashes out and reduce clumping, although not completely as it is so gloopy.

It's a shame, as I had a lot of fondness for this brand and I dislike pretty much everything about the revamp. Sorry Eyeko, but I can't see myself ever buying something from your brand again.

I received a generous sample size of this mascara in a beauty advent calendar and had been curious on finding an alternative to my HG Chanel Le Volume mascara (which I know is probably an unfair starting point for a comparison). Having said that, I did have hopes that a brand which focuses on eyelashes and promises "drama and curl" might be a serious contender.

This is the first time I've used a mascara with a curved brush but it's grown on me after 10 days. I think it does compensate for a formula that I otherwise would have found a bit meh as it takes lots of coats for me to notice that I have mascara on at all and the curved brush helps with application with the corner lashes.

I don't mind a bit of clumping (which is inevitable if I'm applying multiple coats) as I have really thin and short eyelashes: I can see that the product can curl my eyelashes without the use of an eyelash curler and it holds throughout the day, but it is really time consuming to apply so that it has an even effect across all of my eyelashes. There's some slight smudging after around 6 hours' wear which I've been ok with, only because I know how much product I've layered on.

On me, this product is great for a natural effect, but I'll still be reaching for the Chanel Le Volume for effortless drama.

I am shocked by the lower reviews on this product! I have had it for about 2 months now, it’s the best I’ve ever had. Doesn’t smudge, lenghtens and gives good volume to the lashes, and lasts all day without coming off on my under eyes. This is excellent. I remove it easily at night with the black sugar cleanser balm from Skinfood!

I begin to think that I have unrealistic expectations about mascara, but I found this to be an average product. Its not expensive so I guess that's a plus but It doesn't do anything much good for my lashes. My lashes are relatively long and I have a lot of them, and have a natural curl to them. They are just very fine and light (I do tint them). Basically I want a mascara that doesn't smudge or flake, with good pigmentation and no clumping. This does some of that, but not all. But at least its cheaper than some that have done less.

Pro:
Nicely pigmented
Reasonably priced
Holds a curl
Doesn't aggravate my sensitive (to mascara) eyes

Con:
Flakes
Clumps
Not particularly lengthening or volumising (except for clumps) and it claims to give 'drama'

This is probably my favorite mascara of all time. I found that it gave a really impressive amount of length & curl without clumping. Does not smudge on me after I give it a few seconds to set. I also really appreciate the packaging because I feel like it's much better than traditional tubes for getting more product out. I have oily lids and I still found that it lasted without smudges or flakes.

Colour and application good. This darkens and lengthens my lashes - But, by the end of the day it flakes on me.

This mascara makes my lashes look even worse than they are without mascara!!

Pro: waterproof (I have tried it in the swimming pool), stays in place all day, easy to remove with warm water/eye makeup remover.

Con: formula is so sticky: one coat does not do anything but two coats make my lashes stick together and leave me with an unnatural/bad look.
It is as if I only have 3 lashes left.

Really wanted to like this (especially because of the caring ingredients), but it does not work for me.

This was a freebie from a magazine. Gotta love those magazine incentives.

Loved the tube, even loved the brush - which is unusual for me.

I have small almond shaped eyes with shortish floor facing lashes. The only reason I haven't gone down the extension route is because I haven't found a glue that doesn't make my eyelids itch.

After I have curled my lashes, I have found I can use 1 coat of this stuff and the curl will wilt a little. But there is no extra drama at all.
2 coats and yes extra drama, but is now too wet and I can see my lashes unfurl before they dry.

Unfortunately I haven't found a lash primer that keeps the curl, as that would be a great way to use this and other mascara's.

So a fail from me, I will keep using until I find another.

Got this as a free gift from Cult Beauty. I love the brush - now I get the hype about mascara being all about the brush and not the formula. Fornula is still pretty impressive though and it doesn't smudge or run throughout the day. In fact, it has such good staying power that I have trouble getting it off with just eye makeup remover. My only complaint is that it seems like the formula is drying up a little even though I think I have only had it open a month. It is getting a little clumpy..

Edit: definitely has gone really dry really fast. Formula has gotten different in texture and is now sort of clumpy and not gorgeous as it was in the beginning. Not awful or anything but makes me rethink if I will purchase.

This mascara adds an impressive amount of length and volume, but doesn't really do much to thicken lashes. It separates them a bit, but not in a way that looks bad. I like the look, but I've noticed that small bits of product will sometimes clump on the ends of my lashes if I'm not careful. The curved brush also makes it a little tricky to not get mascara on my eyelids for some reason I can't really explain, but I've never had so much trouble with mascara being places it shouldn't be. It's also insanely flaky when washed off. Even after double washing my face and using two different makeup removers, I still had flakes in my lashes and around my eyes and sometimes in my eyes, which is really bad for contact lens wearers like me. I wanted to love this stuff and I'm a fan of the no-waste packaging, but the more I used this, the more I hated it.