I'm going to spoil this post right now and tell you the ending in the third sentence. Are you ready? I LOVE THIS MASCARA. I probably wouldn't have thought to try this mascara if a friend of mine hadn't picked it up for me as a part of my Christmas gift. Not because I would have assumed anything about it, of course, but because it just wouldn't have occurred to me. I've always thought about Annabelle predominantly for lip products and bronzers, but as I try more products from the brand I'm finding myself more and more drawn to the brand as a whole and eager to try more from it. I plan on reviewing more products from Annabelle in the future, but for now let's talk about the mascara. The one that I love. Shall we?

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The Annabelle Expandable is one of those mascaras where you can twist a little knob at the end of the cap and it will retract or expand the brush depending on whether you want length or volume. I have tried a couple of other mascaras like this and I feel like you could really see a more significant difference in the brush on those ones than you can on this one. This one is a more subtle difference, but I actually like that because I feel like that's really all you need. In case you don't know, the idea behind this is that when the bristles are more spread apart, they'll add more length, and when they're closer together they'll add more volume. Because reasons. I can't articulate any further, but it makes sense when you think about it, right? Product to space ratios and whatnot.

The thing that I've been loving about this mascara is that it's A) very black, and B) gives me exactly the fluttery kind of lashes that I want. Even with it retracted for volume, I do find that this mascara adds enough length that my lashes don't look or feel stubby, but then it builds beautiful, natural looking volume. Seriously, every time I apply this mascara I just keep looking in the mirror like... Are those MY lashes? They just look pretty and soft and fluttery and full.

Now, there are a couple of downsides for me with this mascara, but I'm willing to live with them for the effect that they give my lashes. The first downside is that it doesn't hold a curl when I use it on its own, so I do have to go in with a waterproof mascara as my first coat after I curl my lashes so that it'll hold that curl. This isn't really a problem for me, because for the most part most mascaras don't hold a curl on their own. The second downside is that this can flake a little bit if I brush against my eyes. It's not really bad flaking and it brushes away quite easily, but I did feel like that bore mentioning.

If the two issues that I mentioned aren't too concerning for you, I would definitely recommend giving this mascara a try. I think it's pretty fantastic and I've found myself reaching for it almost every day lately!

Thanks for reading!