Covergirl Plumpify blastPro Review #plumpify

I love lashes. Really, I do. As a girl with pale lashes, nothing else quite pulls a look together the way mascara does for me. When I was in high school and college, I went through a HUGE volume phase. Anything promising lush, plump lashes piqued my interest. Now that I've gotten more interested in makeup and the way it can change a face, I like to play around with a variety of lash looks.

I spent Christmas in Washington with my family and boyfriend, and when I got home I had a belated package from influenster waiting for me! (Actually, I had two, but the other items are a subject for another post). One of the boxes was from Covergirl and contained their new mascara, Plumpify blastPro, which I'm going to review here today.




The wand on this mascara is unlike anything I've ever seen. Plumpify uses a spiky silicone wand with two types of "bristles", which I've tried to indicate in the lower left photo. The bristles indicated in (a) are your typical silicone spiky bristles. The bristles indicated in (b) are more like scales, if that make sense-- they're shaped like horizontal lines. These two bristle types alternate in a sort of spiral helix design across the circumference of the brush. The tip of the brush is also covered with spikey silicone bristles, which are extremely helpful in getting those hard to reach lashes in the inner and outer corners.

While the brush is certainly innovative, I think the unusual bristles have a tendency to hold onto extra product more than the typical silicone brush. I tried to capture this in the bottom right photo. If you can tell, there is a LOT of product on the brush-- especially concentrated in and around those flat bristles. The problem with this is that extra product can weigh down the lashes and look clumpy. This is not a problem that is unique to this wand-- in fact, I'd say more mascara wands than not tend to pick up extra product. I would just say that it's extra important to make sure you wipe off as much product as possible from the wand before applying to your lashes.



For reference, these are my bare lashes. They look fairly lackluster here because they're naturally quite pale at the tips, but I'd say I'm lucky in that I have decently long and thick lashes naturally. They're not amazing or anything, but I can get most mascaras to look decent provided the formula is not overly heavy.

Lashes post-mascara. The Covergirl Plumpify blashPro added both volume and length to my lashes, while still leaving them quite defined. This is my favorite type of lash look-- I'd rather sacrifice excessive length or volume for natural looking lashes, but if I can get both, I'm happy!

Right out of the tube, the formula is fairly wet. I can go either way with mascara formulas, but I tend to prefer wet ones as I have less issues with them flaking off throughout the day or looking unnatural after application. This formula was wet enough that I could brush through my lashes several time with the wand to ensure maximum separation, but wasn't so wet that my lashes were weighed down. I also thought the formula did a good job of holding a curl. I've worn this mascara numerous times since these pictures were taken, and I haven't experienced any issues with flaking or smearing.

So, overall I think you can get a very pretty, "plumpified" lash result from this mascara. I do think that while the wand is quite unique, I think the design makes the mascara a bit more difficult to apply than it needs to be. I'm referring again to the tendency of the wand to hold on to excess product, which COULD cause clumping if not wiped off. I also find that the wand itself is quite large, so you need to be very careful while applying so as not to make a mess on your lids. I've found that looking down into a mirror is a pretty safe way of applying the mascara without making a mess. So far, I've found that the cleanest method of coating the lower lashes is using the spiky end of the wand.

And here's the final look. I've added eyeliner to my waterline (Colourpop Workout) and applied a dark shadow to my upper lashline (Wet 'n' Wild Comfort Zone palette). All of the photos in this post are un-edited (with the exception of the watermark) so this is what the product really looks like. I've been pleased with the results of this mascara, but I do think it requires a bit of extra work the make sure the right amount of product is applied to the lashes. I am looking forward to seeing how the mascara applies as the formula dries down, and it this causes less product to catch on the bristles.



This product was provided complimentary for testing purposes from Influester and Covergirl. All opinions stated here are my own.

#VSSportBra: An influenster experience

I signed up with influenster a few months ago after seeing a few posts about it on instagram. For anyone unfamiliar with influenster, a little blurb from their website states that they are: "a community of trendsetters, social media masterminds, and educated consumers who live to give opnions of products and experiences." I really like trying new products (of all types) and giving my opinion on them so the website seemed like a good fit for me! One of the many things that influester does is offer VoxBoxes, which are boxes filled with complimentary products from various brands. In return for receiving a VoxBox, you review the contents of the box on various forms of social media. At some point, I'd like to make a more complete post about my experiences with influenster and VoxBoxes, but seeing as I've only been a member for a short time I'm going to wait until I have a better feel for the system. But keep checking back if you're interested in learning more!

Anyway, I very recently received my first VoxBox! That alone was exciting enough, but this was a pretty special and amazing box, too: I received the #VSSportBra VoxBox from Victoria's Secret. Prior to receiving the box I filled out a survey or two about my fitness habits. I played soccer for about 10 years and I still like to run when I can so getting fitness related products was really motivating to me. The main product featured in the #VSSportBra box was a Victoria's Secret sports bra.

I've purchased regular bras from Victoria's Secret before (they're one of the few major brands that carries my size!), but I've never thought about buying sports bras there. I may have to change that in the future, because I'm really happy with and excited about the bra I received. In addition to feeling very sturdy and well made, it's very comfortable and supportive. There is some underwire (in case that puts people off-- for me, it was a bonus as it made the bra feel more supportive). Also, the band of the bra is adjustable in the back which I thought was a really nice touch. I've worn a few adjustable sports bras in the past but I found they tended to be less supportive overall so I'm looking forward to trying this one out. Also, I love the color of the bra (although I believe other colors are available)-- it's very "me".

They also included a tape measure for measuring your bra size yourself, which is really funny because the day I received this box I was thinking about purchasing a tape measure to figure out my size for another clothing purchase! I love little coincidences like that. I really appreciate the water bottle, too, because I'm always trying to get myself to drink more water but I don't have a reusable water bottle in my new apartment. I noticed that some of the other boxes included socks instead of the water bottle, so there was some variability between boxes (which I think is fun).

I jogged around with the bra for a while to test it out. It was comfortable and most importantly, it kept everything in place. Would I ditch all my other sports bras for this one? I'm not sure. I think I'll need to try it out for a bit longer, but I do think that this bra really maximized both support and comfort in a way that some of my other sports bras don't. I think ladies with a bigger chest may really notice a difference between this bra and those from other brands. The addition of the underwire, plus the adjustable band in the back, make this bra really appealing to me and I think will probably appeal to other people who are concerned about support. I will also say that I think that the bra fits true to size, so if you've purchased bras from Victoria's Secret before, you should use your normal size to purchase this sports bra.

Overall my impression of not only influenster, but the Victoria's Secret sports bra are really positive!

Have you purchased or received a Victoria's Secret sports bra? What did you think?


*I am a #VSSportTester but all of the opinions reported here are truthful and my own.