Lancome Courbe Virtuose Mascara Review
Lancome Courbe Virtuose Mascara is Lancome’s recent — and unsuccessful — attempt at a curling mascara.
It’s pretty much a given that curling mascaras barely work…at least not for me. My stubbornly stick-straight lashes refuse to succumb to things like contracting polymers or specially designed brushes. At best (and without the aid of an eyelash curler), my lashes can achieve a slight lift, but little else.
Courbe Viruose’s shi-shi-poo-poo name does not insulate it from condemnation to the pile of curling mascaras that barely lift a lash. Roughly translated into English as “master of curves,” Courbe Virtuose mascara falls far short of its claim to provide an “outstanding eyelash curler effect.”
When used without curling my eyelashes, Courbe Virtuose produced a slight, barely perceptible, lift. Anything half-decent I have to say about this mascara, however, is cancelled out by the fact that this $23 formula tends to smear and smudge.
A fellow makeup moxie recently left a comment declaring her loyalty to Maybelline Great Lash Mascara, so today I’ll take a cue from her and recommend you pass on Lancome Courbe Virtuose and instead go for the Great Lash Mascara ($3), a Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler ($18), and still have enough money left over for a bottle of Vitamin Water and a pack of gum.
Lancome Courbe Virtuose Mascara falls flat and I don’t recommend it.
Has anyone tried Lancome Courbe Virtuose? What do you think of it?
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DISCUSSION:
15 comments so far...
1 Tracy // Dec 13, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I bought this and returned it after one use. It doesn’t curl at all. It was really heavy and actually made my lashes less curly. And it smears everywhere.
2 Jazmin // Dec 13, 2007 at 6:13 pm
Hi Tracy! Thanks for sharing your experience with this mascara!
Glad to know that I wasn’t the only one who had problems with it ; )
3 Aydee // Feb 3, 2008 at 7:06 pm
Lancôme has been one of my favorite mascaras for years. Flextencils was my favorite and with it recently being discontinued, the girls at the makeup counter recommended this one. I was very disappointed. :( It was a little bit like Flextencils, but it didn’t stand up to the test of my day. It clumps my lashes together if I rub my eyes. I also have to nap during lunch (irregular sleeper) and even asleep for 10 minutes, it bunches my lashes together. I took it back to Macy’s and asked them for a refund.
4 Jazmin // Feb 4, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Hi Aydee,
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with this mascara. Sorry to hear that you didn’t have a very good experience with it.
I wish I could help give you an alternative to your fave mascara, but unfortunately I never tried Flextencils.
If you let me know what kind of mascara you’re looking for, I’d be happy to recommend a few that you might like!
5 dcrmom // Feb 22, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Interesting. I love Lancome mascaras. I’m not surprised this doesn’t curl your lashes, though. I don’t think it curls more than my Flextencils does. But I find that it never smears or smudges, and I love how they all separate the lashes and don’t clump. I have tried the Maybelline Great Lash (which generally gets rave reviews) but I’ve never liked it as well.
I guess that’s the thing with makeup — what works for one doesn’t necessarily work for another. :-)
6 Jazmin // Feb 22, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Hi dcrmom, thanks so much for sharing your opinion of this mascara. And while I like Maybelline Great Lash, I do think it’s somewhat over-hyped…though I’d still take it any day over the Lancome Courbe Virtuose ; )
7 Caz // Apr 2, 2008 at 2:05 am
For the lady who liked Flextencils, don’t forget that Loreal is owned by Lancome, so the product lines and products are essentially the same, but Loreal is half the price.
The Loreal “Telescopic” is great - I find it better than Flextencils. It lengths, but not glumpy, gloopy, or so “volumeizing” that it clumps lashes together and looks hideous, and it definitely doesn’t smudge. As with all Lancome mascaras you need to use it for about a week before the brush fully coats with enough mascara - or whatever strange thing about this brand that means the first few days of use of any of their mascaras don’t show you how it will “really” work and look - does anyone understand this mystery?
The “Telescopic” range seems to have a number of different types added, but the one with no “extra features” (like curling, or more volume) is the only one I’ve tried - the others sound like they won’t deliver anything better than I have now, and more likely will be a disappointment, or icky and a waste of money.
The Telescopic is packaged in gold for Australia, don’t know if the packaging in other countries is the same.
BTW - I found this site by searching for “reviews” for the new Lancome mascara, as I’ve been really disappointed with some of their releases over the last few years - especially when it invariably involved them taking my personal favorites off the market. Anyway, the Virtuose has only been in our shops for a couple of days and I happened to be given a sample when I went to by the Cils Booster (which I can’t live without!)
8 Jazmin // Apr 2, 2008 at 8:10 am
Hi Caz! Thanks for the tip on the Telescopic mascara…it’s one that I’ve been meaning to try.
And that’s interesting about the mascara mystery. I guess I’ve experienced that with other mascaras.
Maybe it has something to do with the brush only getting fully coated with mascara after it has been pulled in and out of the tube several times?
So have you tried the Virtuose yet? : )
9 Nikki // Apr 13, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I love this mascara, I haven’t used it for curling. But if you scrape it along the side while pulling it out, it doesnt have as much mascara on the brush and it seperates the lashes very well.
When used with the eyelash curler from ELF.com ($1) it makes my lashes look volumized and not clumpy at all! I love it. I just hate the fact that its $23.
10 Jazmin // Apr 14, 2008 at 7:12 am
Hi Nikki! Thanks so much for sharing your opinion of this mascara…and for the tip!
And wouldn’t it be great if all our fave products were the same price as ELF? ; )
11 Emma // May 11, 2008 at 1:33 am
I looooooovvvveee this Mascara!! I had been searching for a good mascara for ages and I have very long lashes so this mascara works a treat. I usually coat my lashes twice with this product and I get heaps and heaps of compliments on my eyes :D
12 Jazmin // May 13, 2008 at 9:58 pm
lol, hi Emma! I’m glad to hear that this mascara works better for you than it did for me! Keep working those lashes, girl ; )
13 DR // Jan 20, 2009 at 9:33 pm
No wonder Lancome was giving this product away for free today…as part of as part of a class action settlement.
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