Max Factor Excess Volume Extreme Impact Mascara

Yup. Yet another mascara purchase. Although I don't normally try to defend my mascara purchases, I must explain one thing. My eyes are partially hooded. When I hit my forties they will become hooded. I've known for many years that in my case, lashes are more important than eyeshadow, so I like to accentuate them more. Wearing false lashes is becoming a more common thing for me. Anyway! Back to the review! 

I bought it from Boots for £9.99. It's currently on offer; it's normal price will be £12.99. It's a double ended mascara and I bought this in the colour Black. 

It's a chunky mascara tube, not elegant or particularly good to look at, but I'm not here to judge this book by its cover.

So I thought I'd start you all off with a picture of my eye. I'm not wearing any makeup at all in these photo's, barring the mascara.

So this is side 1 Extreme Volume. It has a rubber wand with bristles that are good for separation.

After one coat my lashes are defined, but there's no real volume. Side 1 did state extreme volume, so I figured one more coat was necessary.

A second coat. There's a few small issues with fibres, but so far there's still a lack of volume. I decide at this point to stop layering mascara side 1 and switch to 2:

Which looks like the above photo; the wand looks very much like the typical mascara wand. Nothing special. Side 2 is Dark Lacquer, a shiny dark coat to make lashes look super dark and glossy. 

Let's do this! 

After one coat my lashes are definitely darker. Hooray, one side holds up to its promise! 

After two coats, my lashes are starting to look thicker...

After three coats my lashes have stuck together somewhat and are in danger of looking really spidery and clumpy. Not massively attractive. 

And here, zoomed out so you can see both of my eyes. Each eye has two coats of side 1 mascara and three coats of side 2 mascara on the top lashes, and one coat each of side 1 & 2 on the bottom lashes.

My thoughts: I think it's an ok mascara, it doesn't give me the volume I dream of, but my lashes are kind of sparse; people with more lashes than me might have more success at this. I would have liked side 1 to have more volume as it states on the tube, but never mind. Side 2 has a far more pleasing result, considering the brush/wand was "nothing special". 

Would I repurchase?: probably not. Seventeen's 'Super Lash' mascara pretty much does the same thing after 3 coats instead of Max Factor's 5, and it costs (full price vs full price) £5 less. 

Would I recommend?: To people with more lashes, yes, I think you'll get better results with less coats of mascara. To people with sparser lashes like mine, probably not. You'll have to keep layering until your lashes look spidery and clumpy. Or keep a really good lash comb handy...