Review Time: CK One Color Mascara aka some weird mascara made by scientists

Review Time: CK One Color Mascara aka some weird mascara made by scientists

This is by far one of the weirder mascara's I've attempted to review.

Now you know me, I'm a mascara junkie and I like trying them out and I normally have 2 or 3 tubes on my constant rotation so of course when Ulta sent me a birthday email saying, "Hey, February Birthday Customer, come in and get a free full size mascara", I was like- yes.

So when they gave me my CK mascara, I was actually really excited. A lot of primarily fashion brands are starting to expand into the cosmetic market- Michael Kors, Burberry, and Calvin Klein (CK). I've heard a million wonderful things about the Burberry line in particular but it's also pretty expensive so that may not happen until I get a really great job that supports my cosmetic junkie habits. (Or until Burberry sees this and attempts to send me stuff- Hi Burberry! I hope you like my blog!)

Ok, so lets discuss this mascara for a second.

Retail: $18.00 (Ulta)

Color I got: Show (true black)

Colors offered: Show (true black), Confess (soft black), Attract (brown), Trip (violet), Electrify (blue)

Claims: 1) Features a precision curved brush. 2) Shapes, lifts, and amplifies every lash. 3) Keeps lashes supple. 4) Ophthalmologist and dermatologist tested. 5) Safe for contact wearers.

Packaging: The tube itself is actually kind of rubbery on the outside, which I like. It doesn't slide around in my hand when I'm applying (like, assume I have lotion on or something). And the rounded top and bottom actually give it a distinct shape where if I was rooting around for it, I would know it just by feel, which again is something I actually like in a product. 

So here's where I got super confused.

I was looking at the tube and it had a sticker on top that said, "remove to twist". I think I stared at it for like 5 minutes because the sticker wasn't on the part where the top/wand would untwist, it was at the very tip. 

Again, after removing the sticker, I stared at it again. 

"So...twist the top?"

I twisted it back and forth and it moved and I could feel a clicking but nothing really happened. 

So I pulled the whole wand out and then tried it and THEN SCIENCE HAPPENED.

So here's the first wand. Pretty normal, no big deal. It's a curved brush and it's a pretty standard rubber bristle brush.

Then you twist the bottom.

AND THE WHOLE WAND EXPANDS. LIKE WHO EVEN?! The whole brush untwists itself to grow roughly the size of the Benefit BADgal mascara brush but it's thinner. Basically the whole curved brush shape itself is just because it's twisted and shortened. I can't even. Scientists be crazy.

So basically there's 3 mascara wands- the short version is only curved on 2 sides and straight on the others, so you have a normal mascara wand and a curved wand. The long version has the length and skinny-ness on it's side, so you can get a lot done at once, or build up the middle and outer corners on the second layer.

All in all, it's pretty impressive.

If your eye was normal.

My eyes are not only deep set in general, but also smaller than they technically should be. So the bigger wand was sort of difficult when it came to maneuvering (for my personally). For reference when the mascara is fully extended it's the length of my entire eye. Yeah, it's a lot.

Lets talk about the application.

Like I've said before, my lashes are less than ideal. The deep set eyes make it look like my lashes are kind of hidden, but they are also short and blonde.

Also, in these pictures I am wearing liner- but you can still see there's nothing going on in the lash department.

I kinda hate posting these pictures, BUT THEY ARE FOR YOU GUYS.

 So the application itself was a little bit of a learning curve. 

I pretty much just went to town with the large brush and tried to do a good first coat just with that shape.

All in all, not bad. I can see a difference, for sure. I definitely got some crazy volume but not really too much length.

So when I twisted the wand down into it's curved shape and used that for the second coat and to get the outer and inner areas.

(I used the long shape for the bottom lashes. It works, for some reason. I don't know, science.)

So I can definitely tell it made a difference. I mean, really with my blonde lashes anything makes a difference.

I will say this though, the formula is really great. It's damp, but not wet, dry but not mousse-y and crackly. I really liked this.

As for wear through the day, it's pretty solid. I didn't notice any running or panda eyes- which is pretty normal for me so that's saying something about the staying power. I even got a little water on it and it wasn't budging. I actually got a few complements when I was wearing it, so I'm gonna gauge this mascara as a looker.

The removal.

This is where I get a little worried when it comes to this mascara. If you've worn it for awhile, like through the day (or all night because you forgot to wash your face like I did) the removal is a little sketchy.

My face wash removes eye makeup really well and it's very gentle, but I usually give the makeup a head start by using warm water and kind of splashing my face a bit. So usually what I do for mascara is get my fingers wet and then rest them on my eyes to sort of melt the mascara down a bit. 

This mascara doesn't really melt, in fact it turns into a million pieces and flakes off.

I don't even... is this science? I can't imagine a contact wearer being remotely ok with this. I mean, none of the pieces got in my eye and honestly I wouldn't have noticed it had I not seen a couple flakes under my eye after I had cleansed and dried off.

It was sort of crazy, I won't lie.

The first couple times I wore it, it was only for maybe most of the day (9 hours? maybe?) and when I went to remove it was stubborn but it melted ok with just a few flecks. So maybe it was just the really long hours that made it react like that.

So, if you're going to remove this, maybe do the makeup wipe or remover first to give it a hard hitting punch before going in with cleanser. I didn't notice my lashes like, breaking or anything but better safe than sorry.

So here's my final thoughts.

Do I like this mascara? Yes.

Does it live up to it's claims? Pretty much, except I have reservations on that contact lens wearer thing. I would make sure you take your contacts out before washing your face or something. Those lenses are expensive, you don't need them getting ruined from a mascara.

Is it worth the price tag? Kinda, but I also think you can find really great mascaras at the drugstore for 10 dollars less. Paying for this mascara is paying for the packaging, let's be honest. However, 3 mascara wands in one tube is pretty great, especially considering there's a lot of different eye shapes out there. And remember, the formula is actually really great, so even though you're paying $18, you're getting a really nice mascara you will probably love.

Will I buy again? Actually, yeah. I think I might. I usually try to keep a really great mascara on retainer while I try others out so that way if I hate something I'm not totally stuck. And Ulta has a really great rewards system so I can build up points and take 3 or 4 bucks off by the time I would need to repurchase in a couple months.

Is the crazy wand set up worth it or is it all hype? Honestly, for me it's a bit of hype BUT I also have a eye set up that is problematic for pretty much every mascara wand in the universe. The curved brush is pretty great though and I love having the slim, longer version for under my eye- so maybe it's not total hype. It serves a purpose.

So if your birthday is in February and you're an Ulta member, or if you just really want to try out something new, go check out this mascara.

If nothing else, you can use it to show to people and they'll think you're like this amazing person for knowing about cool, weird, science-y makeup.

-SamanthaK