ZA Perfect Action Mascara Review

Purchased by me

Hey lovelies,

Once upon a time in my youth I was a prolific purchaser of fashion magazines. I'd pore over the pages, especially the beauty features, and had stacks of glossy mags organised by title. What changed? Well, they're bloody heavy things to constantly move through a string of rental properties, for one! And as I had each of my children, I no longer felt like the target market. I felt frumpy and out of touch with my personal style and the pages of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar weren't exactly brimming with breastfeeding-friendly clothing. These days I'm slowly finding my groove again, but I don't find myself reaching for fashion magazines anymore.
Except, of course, when there are freebies involved. Like ZA Perfect Action mascara, which came free with last month's copy of Cleo. And unlike many magazine freebies, it's not a one-off exclusive that you'll never be able to re-purchase again - it's part of ZA's permanent range. Huzzah!

Perfect Action comes in a clear pink-trimmed box with everything you need to know about application, removal and the like. I was particularly intrigued by the design of the brush, which looked different to the usual without being overly gimmicky.

So, the side of the brush looks very much like your standard mascara wand, resplendent with bristles.

But all is not as it seems! Flip it over and you have a paddle-like thing with sparser bristles. Why the two-facedness? Well, Perfect Action contains long and short black stretchy fibers 'that closely fit the subtle curve of your lashes and make them look defined and long'. Kind of a Younique 3D Fiber Lashes or ModelCo Brush On Lashes (and their many cousins) sort of thing without as many steps. The different sides of the mascara wand are designed to distribute the fibers and comb them through respectively.

No mascara - spy, if you can, the fair downward facing lashes.

You take the paddle side and wiggle it through your lashes...

And then comb out and upwards with the other side.

Tada!

Perfect Action gives my lashes a good lift and holds curl reasonably well (though I did not curl my lashes for these photos). The fibers are far more subtle than the brush-on lashes type, offering a very tiny bit of length when they are positioned right and a touch of volume. I really like the clump-free definition this mascara offers.

ZA calls the formula smudgeproof, which it is, but I did notice a small amount of fiber fallout at the end of the day. We're talking two or three fibers max but this may be a dealbreaker for some. It removes easily with warm water or makeup remover. I find that I have to be careful not to put the paddle side of the brush too close to the roots of my lashes, because if you get the fibers too close to your tightline they will tickle and irritate like crazy. When this happened to me, I very carefully used tweezers to remove the offending fiber and all was well again. Using the side of the brush to comb through close to the roots of your lashes is definitely the way to go.