I have to be honest, I can justify spending a lot of money on a makeup brush or a very decent foundation, but when it comes to mascara I wince at spending anything more than 15 euro on it. I go through them so quickly, leave them in my boyfriend's, in my mam's house, in my own house - I'm constantly having to rush into Boots and pick up a new one because I forgot the one I had just opened 2 weeks ago. Best believe I did ordinary level maths for my leaving cert but also best believe that in makeup maths, that's a lot of mascara and if I were to do that with high end mascaras well... that would just be too esssspensive. Also, I'm gonna say what we're all thinking here and declare that I rarely notice a difference in high or low end mascaras. Budget brands (like Rimmel and Maybelline, my FAVEZZZ if you were wonderin') have such great formulas and uniquely innovative wands that I'm happier with a 12 euro mascara than I am with a €30+ one because I'm saving money but getting good lashes out of it... Lancôme Hypnose Drama, I am looking at you, you overrated little heartbreaker.
Anyway, high end mascara bashing aside, when Benefit released They're Real! a few years ago, I have to admit I was curious. I got myself a deluxe sample from a magazine and loved it so much I bought the full size - guilty! I just loved the wand and the really long lasting formula that, granted, while it was hard to take off at the end of the day, didn't flake off on my face after an hour of wear... I paid €26 euro for that mascara. *cue Kim Kardashian's "Tragic" meme*
Fast forward onto ehm, earlier this week and I finally see the W7 Absolute Lashes mascara in Cara Pharmacy. I thought this thing was a myth - for a solid month or two I'd been seeing a few people on Instagram say they had picked up W7's dupe for They're Real. I stalked my local W7 stockist for ages and my findings were fruitless (or mascara-less) but finally, it is mine. I had other blog posts to do and important essays to write for college but I knew I was gonna give this a good old testing because on packaging alone, they looked pretty damn similar. (I know packaging isn't anything to go by and I'm not gonna talk about it anymore after this but like can we have an aul lol at how shamelessly identical the packaging is? "W no shits given 7" and I laaaaav it) DID I MENTION THIS MASCARA IS €2.50?
So, are they actually a dupe aside from the gunmental packaging? In terms of wands, I would definitely say yes, tis a Real! dupe... terrible joke, please, don't leave me. At a quick glance they're identical, and it's only really when you have them side by side that you can see the bristles on the Benefit wand are ever so sliiiightly longer (very, slightly and I didn't notice that it made a difference in application) and the little medieval torture device at the end (there is probably a scientific name for the little spiky ball but spiky ball is sufficient for me) is a little larger, again with slightly longer bristles. Other than that, though, the wands are the same. Short stubby rubber bristles and said spiky ball on both ends.
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| L-R: They're Real!, Absolute Lashes. |
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| L-R: They're Real!, Absolute Lashes. |
For me it really is the wand that makes a mascara because its what affects the application and impact the most but if you were curious about comparing the formula of the two... They're Real! is extremely wet when you first buy it, and I tend to like it a lot more about 2 weeks later when it starts to dry up a little bit (I can't be the only one on that mascara preference?) but the Absolute Lashes is instantly drier, which means I instantly loved it and got the effect of They're Real (2 weeks later at 26 yoyos) but the minute I opened up the (€2.50) tube. I'm also happy to report that Absolute lashes is slightly easier to remove (although still very long lasting) and NO flaking!
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| Absolute Lashes. (I will say that this formula looks blacker because its a brand new tube!) |
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| They're Real! |
I'm sorry to have to subject you all to nasty eyes mcgee, I promise it isn't an eye infection, just what happens when you don't sleep for 2 days... in which case mascara (and undereye concealer if I'd bothered) are your best friends. Look at me tryna be cute by matching the text to my bloodshot eyes... A for effort, right? Can't say I don't pay attention to the finer details. Also, I couldn't find my eyelash curlers before taking these photos so this is how they look on a bare, crappy lash like mine!
Overall, I don't know HOW anyone with access to W7 could keep buying They're Real after trying it, I just can't really see a difference in application or overall look of my lashes when they're both on. Save yourself the 23 euro and buy yourself yano, food for the week or more makeup... or 10.4 Absolute Lashes mascaras if you freaky like that! Don't forget to follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Bloglovin' for updates and more mini hauls - I generally post about new things on Twitter and Instagram to see if ye wanna know more about them on my blog once I've trailed them for a bit! :)
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