Review: Lancome Hypnose Precious Cells Mascara

I first started using this mascara last year and meant to review it then because I was immediately very impressed with it. I'm such a prat though because I actually have several mascaras to review and took lots of close-ups each day I was wearing them and uploaded them but didn't get the chance to edit them. So now when I look at them, I have no friggin' idea which mascara belongs to which lashes/day! Idiot! Thankfully on this particular day I included a picture of the brush which was enough to ID it, so I'm definitely talking about the correct product here with the right images.

This particular mascara is the Precious Cells formula of Lancome's 'best selling' Hypnose which uses plant cell extracts (from apples rather randomly) to regenerate lash growth, help prevent lash fall-out and generally care and condition lashes whilst volumising. I'm a fan of this idea of cosmetics actually caring for your skin/lashes/lips etc whilst also doing their job as a mascara, lipstick or whatever. Onto the packaging and you know I have a hatred of really big brushes, thankfully this is a slim, straight-ish brush. It doesn't have that tapered end to help with smaller, corner lashes but because the whole brush is relatively small it can reach those areas anyway. I don't find the mascara particularly dry or wet, it's just inbetween, which is good because I don't find it smudges easily or takes forever to dry.

It doesn't take much effort to get the desired look either, which is a good thing.  If I can just take a moment to say that extreme close-ups of the eye area are not flattering! I'm seeing wrinkles, bumps and creases I didn't know I had (along with the rather fetching hole from a coffee table incident as a child)! It's extremely magnified though, so bear that in mind!

This mascara gives me lots of lashes and fluffy ones at that. I find it's very natural looking, possibly the most natural looking mascara I've ever tried and this really impressed me. It's not giving you that false lash effect and isn't huge on drama, but I actually love that. It doesn't clump lashes together in groups, just gives you zillions of fluttery, pretty lashes, which I don't have naturally. Again because the images are so large, you're maybe not seeing that here.  You do still get some volume and length but not a massive amount.

The version I used was a GWP, so the brush is probably slightly smaller than the retail one, although it will still be to scale I would imagine. I found it worked brilliantly on lower lashes too because the brush wasn't too big.  I'm definitely looking to buy a full-size one once all my little GWP's have finished-I like it that much!  I've also become a fan of the regular Hypnose, although I do prefer the Precious Cells.  As for it's caring side (!) I haven't used the mascara loyally for enough consecutive days to really pick up on whether it's nourishing my lashes or not.  When I think back, I haven't had much lash fall-out at all in the last few months, but I couldn't categorically say it's down to this mascara.  Hypnose Precious Cells is available at Lancome counters priced £23.