No7 Exquisite Curl Mascara

I was recently contacted to see if I'd like to try out No7's newest mascara, Exquisite Curl... of course I would! No7 say:

No7 Exquisite Curl mascara, for curvy lashes with a sexy flutter. Lashes watch out – the latest mascara offering from No7 will coax them to a more beautifully curved and volumised look, with long lasting curl!

 I am a lover of big lashes - on a daily basis I use Lancome's Drama, and usually whack on a pair of falsies for a night out. The first thing I noticed about the mascara was the curved wand. This is very similar to the wand of the Lancome mascara that I use.

My eyelashes, naturally, are dead straight and quite light - I took a picture to show exactly how they are without mascara...

Barely there, right?! Yowzers for the wrinkles so close up!

Seeing as the mascara claims to curl your lashes up to 90 degrees I decided not to curl my lashes as I normally would. I wanted to see if my lashes curled using only a mascara....

The proof is in the pictures - they most certainly did curl! I think when I use eyelash curlers they curl slightly more than this - but the curling effect is amazing - they have actually lifted - in the 'before' photo you can hardly see my lashes on my lid,  yet here they are sticking up in all their glory!

The downside to the product is that to make it noticeably black you need to use a few coats. I used three coats to get the effect above. The wand, being curled, helps to get into the corners and inner lashes and separated nicely - not too fanned out and not too clumped together; the perfect balance in my book. I managed to apply the mascara right from the root to the tips, although I did get some product on my eyelid when applying, which I had to remove with a cotton bud.

Although I'd agree with No7's statement about the curling action I'm not too sure I'd back the fact that it volumises lashes... I get similar amounts of volume using one coat of my Lancome Drama as I did with 3 coats of this. As a plus, the mascara lasted well all day and I didn't end up with panda eyes - hurrah!

As a high street brand I would highly recommend this mascara, especially if you're after one that curls as this most definitely does what it says on the tin.

Exquisite Curl is available in black or brown and priced at £13 from Boots, but is currently part of a 3 for 2 offer so if you'd like to try it out, get in there quick!