Product review: Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara part 2

So I’ve been using the new Rimmel Lash Accelerator mascara every day for the last 30 days. How did it go?

The manufacturers claim that 93% of users see a noticeable difference in the length of their eyelashes after a month of daily use, thanks to the ‘serum’ in their mascara.

You might remember from Part 1 of this test that I was wearing the product on only one eye throughout the month, and taking baseline photos etc to prevent the placebo effect from creeping in. I followed the usage instructions exactly, to the letter and I can now say that…

There has been no noticeable lash-growing effect from this mascara.

Now, if anything’s genuinely going to change the non-mascara’d length of your eyelashes, it will be acting on the roots of the lashes. It might make individual hairs grow thicker or longer, or it might prevent them from falling out at the usual end of their growing cycle (leading to a greater number of hairs growing at any one time, and hence a fuller-looking lash line).

Once the lash has grown out beyond the edge of the hair follicle it is metabolically ‘dead’, so to speak – adding any compound to the middle or end of this hair will not help to make it grow longer or thicker. I did make a big effort to get this product onto the roots of the lashes every morning, to give it the best chance possible.

However, if you look at the very few (and far more expensive) clinically-proven lash-growing products on the market, you will see that they are not applied like a mascara, they are applied onto the eyelid in the same place that you’d apply a liquid eyeliner.

So, the most likely options here are:

• A) I’m one of the ‘7%’ of people who don’t respond to this product, according to claims
• B) I somehow used the product incorrectly
• C) The product doesn’t live up to the claims, and essentially doesn’t work

I can’t say exactly which option it is for certain, but that’s only because I represent a sample size of one. I would be VERY keen to hear from other people about their experiences with this product, particularly if they tested it in a controlled way, and with before and after pictures of clean lashes that can be overlapped.

Would I buy this product again? Yes, I would. However, I would only expect it to work as a mascara with an immediate cosmetic lengthening effect, rather than something with long term lash benefits. The immediate effects are very impressive for a product in this price bracket, and it’s especially good value if you find it at the introductory price or as part of a 3-for-the-price-of-2 offer.

What are your experiences of Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara?  I’d be particularly keen to hear from objective beauty bloggers.