Love Potion No. 3

Diorshow Blackout Mascara, $31.95 CDN

By all rights, potion 3 is a cosmetic. But I'm not going to let that stand in my way!

I'm one of those women who's always searching for the elusive eyelash perfector. In truth, my eyelashes are adequately long, so I am frequently told. I just like to plump them up a little. For drama.

According to the experts, when you plump you can either "thicken" or "volumize" (I know, the market-speak is iffy...) I tried to determine the difference between the two, and the best I can tell you is that volumizing is vaguely better than thickening. Don't ask me why. There was too much pseudo-science involved for me to commit it to memory. As luck would have it, Diorshow does them both.

I have a friend who insists that the best mascara is from drug stores. In her view, you get nothing more from paying $32.00 for mascara than for paying $7.95. In fact, the cheap stuff is more effective, in her opinion.

In my opinion, packaging counts. As does the fantasy encouraged by good marketing. So I'm the idiot who paid big bucks for eyelash volumizer.

But you know what? It's excellent.

No clumping (my peeve bar none), it does thicken (I mean volumize) and the colour is dramatic without making me look like a goth.

Could it be cheaper? Yes. But I just might buy it again.