By Sara Woznicki
I was given a free sample because I'm a Klout influencer. I am under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.
I recently got a free sample of Benefit’s Roller Lash mascara in the mail, and was pretty excited from the moment I opened it. They sent along two small free samples (for friends) and one big tube of mascara (for me), plus a photo frame that I will not be using. The packaging was pretty trendy, mixing light green and pink with a cute puppy getting its hair done. Overall, the entire package set me up to believe this was going to be a successful free sampling.
The first time I tried the mascara was last Saturday before my roommates’ and my reunion rave. When I opened the packaging and went to use the mascara, I was concerned initially about the thinness of the mascara liquid. It looked like black water, and not the thick mascara liquid I’m used to seeing. However, that proved to be a non-issue down the line, and maybe even a positive attribute.
The first benefit of Benefit’s Roller Lash (see what I did there) is the brush itself. It’s got quite the hook to it, which made getting a bit of additional volume to my lashes easy. I think part of my success was the fact that I actually tried too, because I usually just do a quick once-over with my normal brush. The brush definitely maximized my additional efforts too though.
Once the mascara was on, it was unlike my normal mascara because it wasn’t clumpy. I couldn’t initially decide if I liked it or not, because clumpy mascara adds thickness to my lashes, but may not necessarily be in a good way. Roller lash didn’t give me any thickness, but was able to lift and separate my lashes (am I now talking about a bra?) really well.
Since talking about mascara doesn’t do much good, here’s a before and after montage that sort of shows what I’m talking about. Don’t mind the awkward bulging eye shots; it’s the best I could do.
Overall, I would say that Benefit Roller Lash lived up to its name. My lashes look longer and less clunky. The mascara seemed to dry quickly, and stayed on all day (well, in the first case, night). Given the option at a store, my hand would probably reach its way over to Benefit Cosmetic’s Roller Lash.
Another thing I liked about Benefit’s package was their social media integration (this obviously stems from my job in social media). I like when a company lets its users take ownership over a tiny portion of it. And yeah, I took advantage of that and threw up an Instagram with their hashtag #curlfriends (see left).
My takeaway here is: I’ve gotten a few free samples lately (one of which was cat food, because that makes sense for my invisible cat) and this is far and away the only product that compelled me to write a review. This Instagram of myself also compels me to keep my nail polish game more on point if I’m going to cave into the selfie-culture, even though I’m pretty against it.
