Item one of three.

I remember the hype when Benefit Cosmetics' They're Real! mascara came out. Every beauty blogger and vlogger raved about it and by now, countless reviews can be seen in the beauty hemisphere. Now, let me add a review to that pile.

The one I have is a deluxe sample (3g) and part of the "If Easy Was a Crime" kit I got last December. I decided to bust this one out first because I wanted to know if this is a good replacement for my Maybelline Cat Eyes mascara. 

The award-winning They're Real! mascara claims to be lengthening, curling, volumizing, lifting, and separating but it's mostly packaged as a lengthening product. It's supposed to be long-wearing and smudge-proof, and apparently it doesn't easily dry out. 

The first thing that fascinated me was the brush wand. How cool-looking is that? The spiked body and head heavily reminds me of those medieval torture devices/weapons! Instead of the usual hair bristles, the wand has a spiky body with a spiky head, all plastic, no hair. I like mascaras with plastic applicators. Those hair bristles never really worked with me haha! I struggled a bit with application, though, mainly because of the wand size. Even if this is a deluxe version, the brush is still bigger and stoutier than most wands. I'm not used to it but it's workable.

Now onto performance and all that jazz. I tried it two ways: on curled lashes and uncurled lashes. 

Curled lashes: I usually curl my lashes before mascara application because my lashes are stick straight. Prepping them are essential! When I applied They're Real! to curled lashes, it straight up weighed my lashes down. So all the curling with my Shu Uemura lash curler was out of the window. However, the curl somehow helped in the volumizing department. The lashes looked fuller and thicker but then again, no curl.

Uncurled lashes: The photo above is the uncurled version. I absolutely did nothing to my lashes but apply They're Real! With my uncurled lashes, I was able to fully see how this mascara truly worked. After application, I noticed a slight curl at the root of the lashes. It's subtle but it's there. Unlike the look on curled lashes, however, this version didn't look as full or as thick. Let's just say that They're Real! on uncurled lashes looks like a better version of bare lashes. Like it's one level up. They're Real! on curled lashes looks like a two coat look on uncurled lashes. 

Overall, the lengthening and separating claims are true, although nothing too astounding. It more like enhanced my lashes. Did it make me look like I'm wearing falsies? No, not really. I am also quite pleased with the lift on the outer corners of the lashes. The lift is present on both curled and uncurled lashes and this lift makes the lashes look low-key fluttery. Lastly, it didn't feel too heavy on the lashes. I wasn't bothered by it because it felt like it wasn't there. Me likey!

As for longevity, I'm happy to report that it is long-wearing. I wore it for almost 10 hours and there's no smudging on the eye area. I didn't wear anything on my face that day so it's just They're Real! and all the oils on my face. It didn't smudge nor bleed, even if I slightly rubbed my eyes throughout those hours. However, I tested it with water. I splashed my face with water and it didn't bleed. Pretty good, right? This time I splashed my face with water then rubbed my eyes. Here's what happened:

So I guess it's waterproof until you go rub-a-dub-dub on your eyes, huh? 

In conclusion, I like it. It's a nice on-the-go mascara to use because it works best on uncurled lashes. Will I choose this over my Maybelline Cat Eyes? Hmm... I'm 80% sure I won't. But for now, I'll be enjoying this mascara that has a "my lashes but better" effect.

Read They're Real! Push-Up Liner review | Read They're Real! Remover review