Review: YSL Volume Effet Faux Cils The Curler and Volume Effet Faux Cils Flash Primer
Allow me to preface this by saying that I love YSL Beauty. Their Tatouage Couture Matte Stains are the best liquid lipsticks money can buy, and will shortly be inducted into the Part Time Beauty Hall of Fame. Their All Hours Concealer has been an absolute lifeline for me this year, outperforming even my favourite NARS formulas. And, perhaps most importantly, most of their mascaras are really very good. With all this in mind, I assumed I would love YSL’s Volume Effet Faux Cils The Curler and the accompanying Volume Effet Faux Cils Flash Primer, but unfortunately I have ended up disappointed on both counts.
This duo first came to my attention via a video uploaded by blogger/YouTuber Lizzie Hadfield, aka Shot From The Street. It wasn’t a make-up tutorial as such (after all, Lizzie is predominantly a fashion blogger) however she did apply both products in real-time and, my goodness, her lashes looked divine. A few other bloggers and content creators I follow and trust spoke highly of the products too, and so after a bit of back and forth I headed to my nearest and most frequented YSL counter and handed over the £52 (yes, really) required to purchase both products.
I’ll start with the mascara itself. Volume Effet Faux Cils The Curler is a mascara with a “2-in-1 wand” which is designed to deliver “stunning curl and beautifully defined volume”. At first glance, the curved wand reminded me of that of Maybelline’s formidable Lash Sensational Mascara, only for some reason this one is bright pink. (Also, despite costing just £8.99, Lash Sensational wipes the proverbial floor with many premium mascaras.) I only wish I could speak as highly of this latest YSL formula, but sadly I just couldn’t get it to work for me. I flipped the wand every which way, to no avail. I tried it with eyelash curlers, without eyelash curlers, with the primer, without the primer, to no avail. I even tried layering it with other mascaras, but it didn’t sit well underneath any of them. Overall, I found the formula dry, flaky and difficult to work with, as well as being troublesome to remove. For a £26 mascara from a usually outstanding brand, this was all very disappointing.
Which brings me on to the primer. The only other mascara primer I’ve used is Dior’s, which is excellent, so although there wasn’t much in the way of competition the bar was still set quite high. I tried using YSL’s Flash Primer under The Curler, as recommended, as well as under some of my other favourite mascaras but, again, it didn’t really seem to do anything. If anything, it detracted from what it was supposed to enhance, and it actually seemed to exacerbate the flakiness I mentioned above. If you’re reading this, perhaps you’ve had more success with it, but I for one am not convinced.
I hate to be negative, but I also hate to be dishonest, and we can’t all love every single product we try. And, while I don’t intend on doing many hatchet jobs, I also don’t want Part Time Beauty to consist of nought but gushing reviews. It isn’t real. For every one product I fall in love with, I imagine there must be five or more that failed to make the grade. I would probably only recommend YSL’s Volume Effet Faux Cils The Curler and Flash Primer to those lucky individuals who already have full, fluttery lashes and don’t need a lot of help with them but, to be honest, do those people need to spend £52 on lash-enhancing products? Probably not. Keep it frugal and grab a tube of the aforementioned Lash Sensational instead.
This piece was originally published on Part Time Beauty in 2018.