So I’ll let you in on a lil’ secret. When these two mascaras launched (at roughly the same time), I thought both of them were going to be a huge disappointment. Although the Diorshow Pump n’ Volume and Lancome Monsieur Big have widely different brushes and bristles, they both gave off the first impression that they were going to be extremely clumpy and difficult to work with. Usually I like longer bristles with not a lot of product in order to get the definition and length I desire for my lashes. So I definitely didn’t have high hopes for either of these.
Let’s start with the Lancome Monsieur Big mascara. I have always loved Lancome Mascaras (Hypnose Doll Lashes and Definicils have always been two of my favorite mascaras) so I definitely wanted to try this one before I immediately wrote it off as being too clumpy. The Lancome Monsieur Big mascara has a huge brush (hence the name, Monsieur Big) that is packed with a ton of soft, wavy bristles. But when I first pulled the brush out of the tube, all I saw was a mess of product loaded on the brush. I thought there would be no way to escape getting clumps on my lashes. But this brush really did surprise me. When I applied it, it looked absolutely beautiful! No clumps to be seen! Instead the product left a gorgeous deep black colour on my lashes and added an amazing amount of length and volume.
But, if we’re comparing the two mascaras, I definitely liked the Dior Diorshow Pump n’ Volume mascara better, which was definitely a surprise to me. I thought this mascara was the most gimmicky thing at first. The concept was a neat idea but I thought it would never work out to be an actual benefit to my lashes. The tube is a squishy rubber that you can squeeze at the base to‘pump’ more product onto the brush. By pumping the product, it apparently softens and warms the formula and fully loads the brush. One pump gives you a light impact, two pumps gives you a medium impact while three pumps gives you the fullest impact. However, I prefer to not pump the mascara at all! I find pumping the tube puts way too much product onto the brush resulting in the most clumpy lashes possible. Maybe once I use this mascara more and there is not as much product in the tube, then pumping will help but for now, the pumping makes the mascara worse, not better. However with that being said, using the mascara without pumping makes my lashes so long and voluminous! It’s definitely become a favorite amongst my extensive mascara history.
