Shu Uemura Ultimate Natural Mascara

Greetings Reader:

Little Background:

I have to confess that I'm a little blessed with relatively thick black eye lashes. One of these days, I'm going to have to thank my dad for them. But as with most blessings there can be a down side too -  my eye lashes are stick straight (not so thankful for that, dad). And as an additional fyi, I can't wear false eye lashes because of how straight my eye lashes are. The few times I've attempted to wear false eye lashes for dramatic effect have ended in disaster. Each time I tried it (no matter how much I curled them) I couldn't keep my eye lashes curled to match the false lashes and it looks stupid because it obviously looks like I have two rows of lashes, and not in the beautiful Elizabeth Taylor way - in the very very stupid looking way. Oh, and I should probably add that I haven't tried false lashes since purchasing the Shu Uemura Eye Lash Curler which does an amazing job curling my lashes daily and they keep their curl for a long time.

But I digress - for the majority of my life I didn't feel the need to wear mascara because I didn't think I needed to darken my lashes or make them more defined. But around 22 or so, I decided I'd give mascara a try. What an overwhelming experience! There are a ton of different kinds of mascaras from different companies that all do very different things. And what I was searching for was a natural looking mascara for a mascara newbie - and thus my research began!

I know you're expecting me to say that I found the Shu Uemura Ultimate Natural Mascara and fell in love, but that's not how it went. My first great mascara love was MAC's Lash X Mascara. This was a fantastic mascara for someone (like me) that just wanted my natural lashes to look a little better. I loved it so much that that was my go-to daily mascara for over 5 years. But like most things in the beauty world - this product was not meant to last forever, and was (I believe) discontinued about a year ago.

Shu Uemura Ultimate Natural Mascara:

Thus started my new quest to find another natural looking mascara that I could use on a daily basis, and that's when I stumbled onto the Shu Uemura Ultimate Natural Mascara. As I mentioned yesterday, I researched the Shu Uemura Eye Lash Curler for a while, and when I went on their website I looked through their mascara section and noticed this particular mascara. I read the reviews on this product during that week that I was deciding whether or not I'd purchase the eye lash curler, and figured - "what the hell? It say 'natural' in the product's name."So I bought it. 

I have to say that this is a nice natural looking mascara. I don't think it is as fantastic as everyone claims it is, but it's a nice product. 

The two problems I've had with it are:

1) For the first week or two when I first opened the tube, the mascara is a little watery. Watery mascara leads to eyelash clumping (which I never think looks natural or good) and it takes forever to dry. So, you have to be extra careful and wait for it dry so that you don't smudge the mascara onto your skin and you have to wait for it to dry so you can run a lash comb through it to separate the lashes.

2) After about 3 months maybe even closer to 4, I started to notice little clumps of mascara at the end of my lashes. It's not a lot and a quick brush of the lashes with a lash brush takes care of it, but it's an added step that I wouldn't have expected for this product at such a young age. And maybe I kind of got spoiled with the MAC Lash X Mascara since a tube lasted about 6-to-9 months without any of these issues. The MAC mascara also had a rose smelled to it that would fade over time and help you know when it was time to replenish. 

I've been using this product for as long as I've been using the eye lash curler. And as I said before, the eye lash curler is fantastic and I would strongly recommend anyone reading this blog that is interested in buying the eye lash curler to give it a try. But the mascara is a different story. I think that I have to buy the mascara more often and that I have a shorter prime-use period to use this product. During the months in between the water stage and the dry clump stage, this is a wonderful product and I don't have any issues with it. Which is why I've repurchased it so many times while I test other products for a replacement.  But I can't discount the draw backs either, and since it's $28 for a tube - I expect a little more for my money and that means I want more than 2 months of good mascara use for $28.

I'd be very interested to see if anyone else has had this issue with this product because I haven't read any reviews like this from anyone else. I'd also love to hear anyone's recommendations for natural looking mascaras on the market right now. I am currently testing Lancome's Définicils High Definition Mascara with Lancome's Cils Booster XL Super-Enhancing Mascara Base. This mascara has a little bit more definition than I would like on a daily basis, but it's not too bad. I've only been using it for a few days though. Also, I have to admit that I tried Lancome's Définicils High Definition Mascara a few years ago, and it was so watery that I threw it out after a month. I think I may have gotten a bad batch or something or maybe you have to use a base with this mascara. I don't know the answer honestly. But I'm retrying it right now and I'll probably post my opinion in a month.

I hope this helps. :)