Chanel Inimitable Intense Mascara : Product Review

Fancy mascara; more often than not, I do not buy mascara anywhere other than the aisles of the drugstore. I have long been an advocate of drugstore mascara, but when I saw that Nordstrom was doing their bi-annual Mascara Madness event, I couldn't help but pick up a few goodies. Quick side note, Mascara Madness is a buy two, get one free event; I picked up three mascaras and will eventually review them all for you! The first up on the chopping block is Chanel's Inimitable Intense, which is housed in a plastic container. Honestly, for a $30 mascara, I expected the packaging to be a bit more luxurious, but we'll get to that later.

The Facts

Price: $30

Amount of Product: .21 fl oz.

Number of Shades: 4

Claim: "This technologically advanced formula builds on the success of the original mascara, delivering dramatic effects with a unique brush. The result is a more intense lash look, with the same easy application. Lashes appear longer, thicker and more curled, yet each lash, even the finest, is still precisely separated – without clumping, spiking or flaking." 

Shade that I used: 10 - Noir

Packaging: Like I said up above, the packaging on this is very plastic and not necessarily in a good way. I own several pieces of Chanel makeup and my biggest complaint about all of them is how cheap the packaging feels. I don't know about you guys, but for me, if I'm spending $30 on mascara or $43 on a blush, I want that packaging to feel luxurious. That doesn't mean heavy, but just better than what you're getting here. I do like that all black tube with the silver detailing though, very classy looking.

I have to add this to the packaging section, because I'm not sure where else this would go, but the area where you pull the applicator out gets very messy, very quickly! I'm one of those people that's kind of psychotic about keeping my makeup clean and presentable looking (this is the only part of my life like this, I'm a very messy person) and it just gets too much excess mascara on it. It drives me insane.

Applicator: This is a plastic brush with short bristles; not your traditional spoolie brush. I tried to snap a photo quickly to show you, but it isn't the best quality, so I apologize. The plastic "bristles" are actually fairly fine, which I enjoy quite a bit.

Color: I feel like this is an odd thing to include, but if you've used numerous mascara brands, then you know that sometimes black doesn't always translate to black. I'm happy to say that the Chanel mascara is a very nice black, but not the blackest mascara that I've ever used. 

Formula: This is a rather dry mascara and it is not waterproof. As far as I know, the Inimitable Intense does not come in waterproof, but the original Inimitable does.

Volume, Length, and Flaking: As I said up above, this is a drier formula, which is typically great for building volume and this mascara is no exception. I have fairly thick lashes on my own, but I can see the mascara grabbing each lash to increase it's diameter (something that more liquid-y formulas don't do as well until you've had them a few weeks). I'm a horrible person to have judge any mascara on it's lengthening abilities since I also have fairly long lashes, but this does extend them nicely. I wouldn't normally thinking of a drier mascara to have great lengthening abilities, but this grips onto the ends of your lashes and coats them nicely.

And now lets get to flaking. I have been wearing this mascara every day for about the past two months and I am fairly certain that I have had it flake on me every single day that I've worn it. It is not, by any means, substantial flaking; it does not get all over my face and it doesn't smudge, but I do see little flakes under my lash line every day.

On the other hand, this mascara is some of the softest mascara I've felt on my lashes in a long time. I had been using Lancôme Hypnôse Star previously and that stuff turns your lashes into little blocks of cement. Chanel's mascara keeps your lashes as soft as I've probably ever felt with a mascara on them (aside from Maybelline Full & Soft); that's a monstrous win in my book.

Does it deliver on its claim? I think it delivers on pretty much everything except for its flaking claims. I just get too many flakies for that to be true, even if they're only small flakes, they're still there. The volume, length, and definition claims check out though.

Final Verdict: You know what, I'm not really going to give you a final verdict. If you like drugstore priced mascara, there's no way that you are going to buy a $30 mascara; you know that and I know that. If you ever get an itch and want to try out an expensive mascara to see what they're like, this is a perfectly acceptable one. If you do buy high end mascaras, then I would recommend this to you. The small flakiness is not enough to deter me from recommending it since it does make your lashes look really nice AND it keeps them very soft; never crunchy.