On the Lash: Majolica Majorca Mascaras

I’d be hard pressed if I was forced choose between my favourite beauty products. One moment it’s blush, the next it’s lip gloss. I can however reveal that today my beauty must-have of the moment is - the mascara. Yes, with a simple wave of that magic (mascara) wand, we too can have glorious fluttery lashes to frame our peepers.

Let’s swot up on a little makeup history.

Should you take a wander down the historical timeline of make-up; you will find that the very first mascara was created all the way back in the 19th Century by a man named Eugene Rimmel! (Yes THAT Rimmel!) Such is the popularity of the mascara that in some corners of the globe, the word ‘rimmel’ means ‘mascara’. These languages include Portuguese, Romanian and Dutch (rimel).

A couple of years later, the year 1913 to be precise, a chemist named T.L Williams formulated a more modern type of mascara for his sister, Mabel (what a nice brother)

This formula, consisting of coal dust and Vaseline, proved to be huge hit with his sister. And so Williams decided to create a mail order company so that he could sell this wonder mascara to the masses. And thus his company, Maybelline, was born.

Back in those days, the mascara was applied by wetting a brush and rubbing it into a cake. How cumbersome! It wasn’t until 1957 that Helena Rubinstein introduced the tube and wand applicators that we know and love today

Mascara Galore

Believe me when I say I’ve tried a lot of mascaras: Shu Uemura, Bourjois, Maybelline, Anna Sui, Dior; from high end to high street. Talk about going on the lash!

But I think my wandering days are over. I’ve finally found my ultimate mascara. It’s by Majolica Majorca, a high street Japanese make up line by Shiseido

Initially I was actually searching for the famed Fiberwig mascara; but a good friend told me to try this brand out whilst I was in Japan. So whilst browsing one of the drug stores down Harajuku, I finally found a Majolica Majorca stand. I must say I wasn’t expecting much since it was a high street brand, but colour me astonished, I’m really impressed with the quality of the products. Not to the mention the extremely pretty swirly packaging which will appeal the girly girl in you.

Unfortunately I cannot read Japanese so I had to guess what some of the products were. I first picked up a mascara-like looking tube that was topped off with a white cap. It had Curl, curl, curl towards the sky written on the front of it. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Surely that’s not the title of the product? It’s far too long.’

Common sense told me that this was probably a lash primer so I bought that, followed by a tube capped in black. This one was had Hope My Lashes Are Full and Smooth printed on the front. I hoped so too and hurried home.

I did a quick search on Google and found out that the two items I had picked up were indeed called Hope My Lashes Are Full and Smooth and Curl, curl, curl towards to the sky.

The Review

I first unscrewed ‘Curl, Curl, curl toward the sky’ and found myself looking at, not a brush, but a comb. I’m not used to applying mascara this way so I really botched up my first application. I’m sure with a bit more practise I would be able to apply it smoothly but on first try it was very clumpy. Then I applied ‘Hope My Lashes Are Full and Smooth’ over it. Again, I would have preferred the ease of a brush to apply this.

I also found that with the combination of both the mascara and primer, it was extremely long wearing. This is positive and a negative. I’ve always been a victim of the panda eyes effect after a late night out, so at least I knew the make up was not going to go anywhere on a night out.

However it was very difficult to remove with just my cleanser. I found myself taking a lash or two out when rubbing vigorously to remove it.

Unfortunately wasn’t too impressed with how I looked in the end. The lashes looked far too fake and spidery. Though perhaps with a bit more practise, I can make it work, she says so optimistically.

Having said all that I DO recommend wearing ‘Hope My Lashes Are Full and Smooth’ on its own without the primer because boy! I really love how smoothly it goes on without any clumping. I have the tiniest eyelashes ever but with this mascara on, they really do look so much fuller and yet so natural looking. Another major plus point is that it is so much easier to remove without wearing the primer.

It really does what it says on the tin and it has now replaced Anna Sui as my no.1 favourite mascara.

On reflection, I think having the Majolica Majorca primer and mascara combination was far too potent for me to handle. Though I won’t be binning the primer; I think it works well as a general primer for less effective mascaras.

Unfortunately Majolica Majorca is exclusive to Japan. So if you want to get your mitts on these mascaras I would suggest having a hunt online. I managed to find it this website that sells this brand. If you know anymore, please let me know!