Givenchy Phenomen'Eyes
Review by Cavewoman

My first glimpse of GivenchyPhenomen'eyes mascara was a photo in one of the fashion-beauty magazines that I recently received. When I saw the little stubby wand with the prickly ball at the end, I had to laugh, because it looked like some strange Medieval torture device! But, if you have read any of the many mascara reviews I've written for blogdorfgoodman, you know already that I would try this new mascara, since I'll try any mascara in pursuit of visible, long, thick, pretty lashes. Any mascara gets its true test on my pale, straight, short, sparse lashes, and if a mascara takes more than five minutes to apply to achieve any results at all, I usually just give up on it. Most of the time I just don't even bother to wear mascara anymore. It just takes too long. Hence the drawer full of tested but not loved mascaras in my makeup storage unit. There might be twenty of them, I don't know, nothing other than two Dior mascaras ever sees the light of day, and even those still takes too long to apply to suit me. And so, I set out to find Phenomen'eyes. The day it appeared on the Sephora website, I ordered. The box arrived today, and I ripped into it to find the cute short fat tube inside it's box, tucked into the black Sephora drawstring bag and cradled in layers of white tissue. Lots of packaging for such a little prize!

I opened the box and took out the mascara, which is actually very elegantly packaged in a chubby, short black tube with silver lettering, and the signature G's around the silver cap. I untwisted. I pulled out the wand. I had a good laugh, and then I went to the lighted makeup mirror where I use the magnified side of the mirror to apply mascara. I bought this when I became so farsighted that I couldn't apply makeup without my eyeglasses, and of course I can't apply eye makeup with eyeglasses on. The mirror was a good investment.

But I digress. On to the product.

I started to apply the mascara at the outer part of my eye, and instantly I saw color and length. In less than one minute I saw every lash on my eye beautifully and evenly coated with mascara, bottom lashes too, invisible lashes I did not know I had, all coated and glossy and thickened and lengthened and even curled! The results were so fast and so dramatic that I could not believe my eyes, literally! My thin, teeny lashes toward the inner corner were also visible, it is so easy to maneuver the little mascara-ball into the corners without fear of poking myself in the eye like I did the first time I used Max Factor's Lash Perfection. The formula is glossy and rich, and felt soft on the lashes with no crispy or dry effect at all. There was absolutely not one single clump and I did not have to reach for the lash comb after application. The formula itself seems creamy, not too dry, not too wet. A second coat wasn't even necessary. My lashes looked like I had applied a set of fakes. After hours of wear, with no drooping and absolutely no flaking at all, (and running back to the mirror to make sure the magic hadn't disappeared,) I've already re-ordered. I can't even imagine bothering to re-try any of the abandoned mascaras in the drawer, in fact, I'm tossing them. I have found my HG mascara, and it deserves its name. It's phenomenal!!

Just when you think you've seen it all, just when you think no company can go any further in terms of formula or applicator or brush or container or tube in launching new mascaras, Givenchy re-invents the wheel. Whoever came up with this little prickly-ball applicator idea should be rewarded with a nice villa in Italy or perhaps an island in the Pacific. It's revolutionary, it's interesting, it's clever, it's different, and above all, it works. It's genius!

Disclosure: The product reviewed was purchased by the reviewer.