Australis Killer Curves Mascara Review

It's finally time for me to review this mascara from the Australian-owned brand, Australis. I think, by now, every Australian makeup aficionado knows of Australis, the brand having been around for three decades. I remember their old handwritten logo with the sun next to it, sometimes in rainbow lettering. I had a few of their products including a clear mascara while growing up. These days their logo is a crisp pink text on a black or transparent background. Personally, I find the current a little boring considering how the old logo was really reminiscent of what makes Australia; the sun, the beaches and just being casual. Now, Australis has taken on an edgy, punk-rock style with their packaging.

The quality of their products is quite good for a drugstore brand, even if the shade range for bases are quite narrow, with three to six shades for each type of foundation and concealers that they stock, which is why I've yet to find my foundation shade in their collection. I enjoy their nail polishes and do like the banana powder even if I don't get to use it as often as I should (I keep forgetting to use it).

Today I thought it was time to talk about the mascara after using it for about a month. I don't wear makeup more than a couple of times a week, so I need a decent amount of time to play with something before I give my opinion on it. In my previous posts I kept praising this product without actually realising that there were actually more cons than pros with this mascara, and I just want to kick myself for it.

It is reportedly meant to be a tubing formula, where your lashes are individually coated with polymer particles that shrink and wraps around each lash as it dries. The thing with tubing formulas is that they're meant to be easy to remove, as they only require warm water to wash off. However, I find that this required more force to remove when I was using just water, and I had more success removing it with micellar water or my cleansing milk.

I did like how the formula was creamy enough to easily brush through the lashes without causing any clumps, and the brush itself is exactly what I like to use - perfect little flexible combs instead of a spoolie. It volumises, somewhat lengthens and really makes a huge difference in how my eyes appear, and that is why I really liked it.

However, I think this product doesn't last very long when used while wearing glasses, as humidity can get trapped in between the eyes and lens. The reason why I say this is because this thing flakes onto my cheeks, and sometimes end up in my eyes which have me rubbing it vigorously, causing more flaking. It's awful, to say the least.

Also, I think my eyes doesn't agree with this product as I find that it causes my eyes to sting a little whenever I wear it, and at the end of each day one of my eyes end up feeling a little tender. I didn't figure out what was causing my eyes to sting a little and become tender until I wore it without any other products and I ended up with a stye in my left eye that wasn't visible on the outside, but rather, it was on the inside of the lid. The mascara was giving me styes of varying severity every time I wore it and most times they were too tiny to be noticeable, especially because there were barely any swelling or redness. I'm sitting here one-eyed as I've got a warm cotton pouch filled with barley stuffed behind my glasses to help bring the it down.

Please note that these cons are specific to my situation, as in they're not great for those that wear glasses, and I'm quite likely to be allergic to them, hence the burning eyes and the bloody styes. It's time for me to hunt down another mascara, that's for sure. I apologise for not having any swatch photos for this mascara, but I'd rather avoid getting another stye, thank you very much.

Ugh, I haven't posted anything since last Friday and I know, I suck! Basically, I was stuck in procrastination mode, partially because the weather was horrible so photos weren't as great as I would've liked. Technically, I've missed two post updates, but I'm posting my next one tomorrow night, so that helps?

What other cruelty-free tubing mascaras have you tried and would recommend? I'm open to suggestions! 

Follow