When it comes to beauty products, mascara seems to be one of the most subjective of them all. What may be professed as holy grail for one person could be described as mediocre by another. It makes sense — like the hair on our heads, our eyelashes truly are unique. Thick, thin, short, long, curly and straight...the list goes on. So it's no wonder that we have a plethora of picks for enhancing our lashes.
Recently, Too Faced launched its Damn Girl! 24 Hour Extreme Volume Mascara, $25, and I giddily raced to Sephora to snag a myself a tube. Touted as version 2.0 of the iconic Better Than Sex Mascara, $25 (which is constantly a global bestseller), I knew I needed to try it ASAP. I tested both products, separately and one on each eye, to test the similarities and differences — and to ultimately determine which mascara worked best for me. If you're curious about the new Damn Girl Mascara, read on for a side-by-side comparison to its older sibling, Better Than Sex.
Image via @toofaced
Cover image courtesy of Hannah Savin
First Impressions
When I opened the box, I first noticed the shiny, angular (also) blush-hued tube emblazoned with the words "Damn Girl". While the Better Than Sex (BTS, for short) wand is an impressively large tapered brush, Damn Girl is even bigger. The bristles are of varying sizes to catch lashes and deposit rich, inky pigment. Also, the color of the mascara is a slightly deeper shade of black than BTS.
I should note that I have fairly long, fine lashes with a slight curl. They are very light in color, so they are hard to see without any mascara on. Eager to put these two products to the test, I decided to start with Damn Girl as I was eager to see how it would perform compared to BTS (a fave of mine!).
Image courtesy of Hannah Savin
Damn Girl Mascara
Before applying my makeup, I always start with a face and an eyelid primer because I have fairly oily skin and need the extra mattification to help products stay in place. I typically apply mascara as the last step in my routine. I start at the lashline and wiggle the brush up through the lengths of my lashes for maximum coverage.
Upon first swipe, I was thoroughly impressed: One coat of Damn Girl looked like three coats of traditional mascara. It has a drier, slightly whipped texture, which is excellent for layering. Naturally curious, I had to keep going and apply another two coats to see what it would do. The length, volume and intense color gave the appearance of false lashes. After multiple coats, it starts to clump ever-so-slightly, but because of the dry texture, it looks clean and flirty.
Image courtesy of Hannah Savin
Better Than Sex Mascara
Okay, I won't lie, Better Than Sex has been my favorite mascara up till this point (which is why I was so curious how Damn Girl would compare). The thing I love about BTS is the fact that it, too, has a dryish formula. I even start priming a new tube about two weeks prior to use, by opening it from time to time to help it thicken even more.
It's also incredibly pigmented and lends itself well to layering for perfectly thick, lush, evenly defined lashes. Though it's offered in waterproof, I prefer the classic formula as it holds up to most sticky situations life throws at me.
For the sake of this experiment, I stuck to three coats to top off my makeup. It definitely didn't look as dramatic as Damn Girl, but it's still one of the most impressive mascaras on the market, IMO.
Image courtesy of Hannah Savin
Damn Girl vs. Better Than Sex
After testing Damn Girl for several days, I decided to do a side-by-side comparison of one product on each eye. You can definitely see the difference. The eye with Damn Girl has darker, longer and thicker (though slightly clumpier) lashes.
The one drawback for me was that sometime around noon, the eye with Damn Girl started to smudge underneath the lower lashline. The eye with BTS, however, remained clean underneath.
Though it did appear to transfer a lot, Damn Girl did keep my lashes thick. It's worth noting that when paired with a heavy-duty mattifying powder, the mascara stayed put through a particularly difficult spin class — it remained dark and lush all day long and did not irritate my eyes! Knowing this, I'll use a little extra primer and powder going forward.
Image courtesy of Hannah Savin
