The makeup industry often has weird (OCC Technopagan) or even oddly sexualized names. To name a few? NARS Orgasm and Deep Throat (duh). Urban Decay Rule 34. I could go on.
Too Faced, however, has no bushes to beat around, and no bothers to give. Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara. Bam. Shock value!
Well, aren’t you cocky?
I’m here all week, folks. Anyway, it isn’t a new product, but I’ve noticed a bit more buzz around it lately. I got a deluxe sample tube with my Everything Nice palette and finally decided to crack ‘er open.
The Wand
The Italian-manufactured Better Than Sex features a contoured, kind of hourglass-bristled wand with voluminous bristles. Even the thinner section is pretty full. I’ve mentioned before that my preference is the shorter, stiff plastic bristles, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try or won’t like others. One thing that was immediately obvious, even before swiping it on, was that the wand picked up a TON of product.
I forged ahead, swiping it onto my lashes without dabbing the excess away. As expected, it was too much and went everywhere. I removed it with Pond’s wipe before it dried and started over.
Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara
This time, I removed the wand from the tube and gently closed a tissue around it, pressing once. The tissue was nearly saturated with product, but the wand still had enough to apply. I swiped it on again and had FAR nicer results.
Wear
One coat of Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara provided nice opaque coverage to my lashes, defining them well. The mascara’s formula moderately improved the appearance of the length and volume of my lashes in a single coat. Although my single coat wasn’t crazy intense, this mascara can be built up by applying multiple coats (if you’re into that) to achieve a more dramatic, full lash.
Over the course of the day, it wore well – it didn’t flake or move around on me. When it came time to remove it that evening, the dried product removed easily with a Pond’s wipe.
That said, after about two weeks of normal usage, the consistency became FAR drier. I wound up experiencing flakes if I blinked too hard
Verdict
Too Faced Better Than Sex would be an easy win for me (it’s a one-coat wonder!) if it weren’t for the wand. I find the thinner center and longer ends to be odd – I don’t need long bristles in my inner corner, but they would be effective in the fuller parts of our lashes. I think I’d find a less voluminous wand a little easier to work with (I nearly got it on my lid once) – not that it needs to be my “preferred,” wand, but maybe just not as plush as it is. Finally, given the wand’s, “fluff,” it just picks up entirely too much product, meaning you’ll need to waste product with each application and redip into the tube. And it dries out quickly (I’m not the only one who has had that issue!) Those four things combined will ultimately prevent me from purchasing (at least at full price, anyway) the $23 full sized tube but the deal-breaker was the extra step (wiping off the excess) and the waste.
Unfortunately, given all those factors about its performance, I can’t say I recommend it even if you’re OK with the investment and waste.