mascara that dyes lashes

Can a mascara dye your eyelashes?

Rimmel Lonodn Volume Colourist Mascara with Lash Tint Complex: review

The idea of a mascara that dyes lashes seems too good to be true: but is it? I decided to find out…

mascara that dyes lashesCan a mascara change your life? Well, that’s what this review of Rimmel Volume Colourist mascara aims to find out.

Well, sort of. Like, by “change your life”, I obviously mean, “dye your eyelashes”. And by “we”, I mean “me” – because you’re probably way too smart to see a TV advert for a mascara, and have it ordered by the end of the ad break, because the ad said it would dye your eyelashes (and strongly implied that you’d look like Georgia May Jagger after using it, into the bargain), and if we can’t trust the advertising industry, we might as well just give up on life altogether, right?

No, you definitely wouldn’t do that. That’s why you have me, though, and luckily for you, I WOULD do that. And I DID do it. And when I say I was hoping it would change my life, I’m only exaggerating a little bit, because my pale eyelashes are the bane of my life, seriously. Or, at least they were, until I tried to take some ‘before’ photos for this post, and now my weirdly wrinkled eyelids are the bane of my life. But that’s a problem for another miracle product to fix: for now, here’s the mascara in question:

Rimmel London Volume Colourist Mascara with Lash Tint Complex: reviewIt’s Rimmel London’s Volume Colourist Mascara With Lash Tint Complex, and yet again I find myself impressed and amazed by how concise and to-the-point cosmetic companies are with their product names. Not that I’m in a position to judge ANYONE for being a bit long-winded, mind you…

Anyway, as I said, I saw an advert for this on TV one night, and I ordered it right away, because this is no ordinary mascara, people: this is a mascara THAT ALSO DYES YOUR EYELASHES. Picture me dancing around screaming like a One Direction fan right now: THAT’S how excited I was by this. I, you see, have been dyeing my own eyelashes for years now: I even wrote a tutorial on it and everything – and I hardly ever write tutorials (mostly because, much like Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, I know nothing. About anything.) so that shows you just how comfortable I was with the ol’ eyelash dye.

Seriously, though: it was SO EASY – and so, so necessary, because, like most other redheads, I have lashes so pale they’re almost translucent. Mascara helps, obviously, but eyelash dye helps even more, because it doesn’t wash off (obviously), so you get to experience what it’s like to be a normal person, with lashes that aren’t invisible to the naked eye, and, as it turns out, I quite like that.

So, I’ve been dyeing my eyelashes on the regular for many long years now, and I’ve been using either this to do it. Then last year? Last year they changed their formula: yes, BOTH of them. Suddenly, the simple process I’d used for years, without any issues at all, became a long, tortuous procedure which invariably left me with tears streaming down my face (both from the dye and from sheer frustration), and eyelashes which were almost totally unchanged.

I was gutted – and I wasn’t the only one, because a bit of Googling revealed a LOT of bad reviews from people who’d also used this product for years, and who were now really disappointed by the change. I gave it a few goes, and I tried both brands, but for some reason they’d both changed to the same, complicated, craptastic new formula, and it just didn’t work AT ALL.

Bizarrely, I wasn’t able to find another product to replace it, either, so now I was left with two choices: either allow my lashes to revert to their natural, colourless state, or spend time and money driving to a salon to have a treatment I knew I could easily do at home, for a fraction of the price.

I went with option A: because I’m both cheap AND lazy, and if that’s not a winning combination, well, I don’t know what is.

Enter Rimmel Volume Colourist Mascara: a mascara that dyes lashes – allegedly.

This product makes the extraordinary claim that, in addition to curling, volumising and lengthening your lashes while you’re wearing it, it will also gradually deposit small amounts of dye on them, so after a couple of week’s use, your lashes will look dark and, well, visible, even when you take your mascara off. I didn’t believe this claim for a second, but I WANTED to believe it, and that’s half all the battle for me, so I ordered it immediately, and started to fantasize about the glossy black lashes that would soon be mine.

I’ll be completely honest: I really didn’t care what the mascara looked like on. All I cared about was that it was going to dye my lashes and make me look like Georgia May Jagger, and I figured that if it did that, then even if it turned out to be a really crappy mascara in every other respect, it would still be worth buying, because I could just wear it at home, or layer some other mascara over the top of it or something. (And also because now I’d look like a supermodel, obvs.) I had low expectations, basically, but low expectations aren’t always a bad thing, and in this case they turned out to be a good thing, because I was very pleasantly surprised by the mascara:

Rimmel Volume Colourist Mascara review: a mascara that dyes lashes?

A mascara that dyes lashes?

I mean, it doesn’t give me lashes like a Disney Princess, and that’s a shame, because looking like a Disney Princess is all I’ve ever wanted from life. Well, that and a Smeg fridge. But it’s actually a really great mascara: it’s easy to apply (The brush is exactly the shape I like – not so fat that it’s impossible to use without getting product all over my face, not so thin that you feel like you have to apply half the tube just to get decent coverage), doesn’t clump, doesn’t smudge… For evening-wear, I’d want something with a bit more drama, obviously, but as an everyday mascara, I like it. A lot, actually.

Is it really a mascara that dyes lashes, though?

LOL! Of course it doesn’t dye your eyelashes! Or it didn’t dye mine, rather – I guess it could dye yours, in which case, lucky you – you’ve got a decent mascara AND an eyelash dye in one! As for me, though, I’ve used it every day for the past few weeks (Yes, every single day: I don’t really do the “natural” look…) and there’s been absolutely no change to the colour of my eyelashes at all. None. Nada. Now, bear in mind that my lashes are super-pale, so even the slightest change would be noticeable, and I’m guessing that either I got a dud tube of mascara, or that it really doesn’t make a difference. I’m bitterly disappointed about this, obviously, but also kind of relived, because at least this means I don’t have to publish those weird ‘before’ shots of my creepy eyelids – every cloud, right?

In conclusion?

If you’re looking for a nice, non-clumpy mascara at an affordable price, Rimmel Volume Colourist mascara is your guy. If, on the other hand, you’re looking to dye your eyelashes without, you know, actually dyeing your eyelashes, this is not the droid you’re looking for. On the plus side though, now that someone has come up with this idea and attempted to put it on the market, it’s surely only a matter of time before everyone else tries to copy it, and someone does it better? We can but hope…

Rimmel Volume Colourist Mascara – buy it here

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COMMENTS
  • This made me laugh before 10am which is quite some feat. I’m with you in the redhead with transparent lashes gang and can rec the Julienne kit from Amazon. I discovered this via Sali Hughes & find it as good as a pro tint.

    June 1, 2016
  • As a fair lashed blonde I too was intrigued by this so thanks for testing it out and curses that it didn’t blinking work! Like Nic I’m also using a product from Amazon – Refectocil, after having to give up on on the reformulated crapness of Colorsport. It works the same, if not better, than the old 30-day stuff – I’ve kept the old kit for mixing on but now apply with a disposable spoolie (again amazon) which I find easier.

    June 1, 2016
  • The Other Emma

    REPLY

    I had high hopes for this at the start of your post because I too have a winning combination of disappearing lashes and being unwilling to spend money & time going to a salon to them tinted.

    I’m now off to explore Amazon tinting kits 🙂

    June 1, 2016
  • Jo

    REPLY

    I got all excited then… but now I feel deflated again! Hopefully other companies will work on this idea and redheads around the world can celebrate. In the meantime, I’ll continue to use eyebrow dye on my lashes! (It works JUST like the old Eyelash and Brow dye used to before they changed it). Here’s a link https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004TRKZ5A/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    June 1, 2016
  • Veronica

    REPLY

    I wish that the mascara would have worked out for you. It seems like such a good idea! I’m way too scared to use an eyelash tint kit on myself.

    June 1, 2016
  • Carys

    REPLY

    Someone really needs to develop a and lash tint that brushes on like mascara and, when washed off, leaves gloriously dark, glossy lashes. I’ve used Eyelure and Coloursport dye for years, but I do find it nigh on impossible to get the stuff to stay on my lashes to dye them! Have been caving and getting them done in a local salon, but that ain’t cheap. Such a shame the Rimmel mascara was a bust, the idea is such a good one.

    June 1, 2016
  • Amanda

    REPLY

    Noooooooooo. I SO wanted that mascara-dye to work. Next you’ll tell me that unicorns don’t exist (tra la la la, can’t hear you).

    Now, what about eyebrow dye? Mine are almost transparent, alas….

    June 1, 2016
  • Well I do feel like a silly chook, I just bought this after a little squeal in Priceline as I needed a new mascara and I’m sick of paying people to tint mine. If anything j was more concerned it would be too active and give me hideously irritated eyes. Then I opened my phone on the train and saw this. Oh well, I have a new mascara, I can’t really complain.

    June 2, 2016
  • Are your eyebrows naturally dark/auburn? I haven’t given much thought about tinting my lashes – but I’m on the hunt for a great brow dye kit. I’m also a redhead but my brows are so fair that they’re practically invisible without some kind of powder or pencil!

    June 7, 2016
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