For most stages in my beauty routine, I'm loyal to one brand. If I mix up my serum and moisturiser too much, I'll break out, and once I find a foundation that gives me glow without looking heavy, I'll stick to it. But when it comes to mascara? I'm pretty happy to test my way through a multitude of new releases. As long as I'm wearing something. And until recently, as long as it's black.
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Hailey Bieber I am not – TBH, I just look a little bit strange without a slick of whatever my mascara-of-choice at the time may be – so even if I'm working from home and wearing nothing else on my face, I'll apply it before I reply to my first email.
Of course, just because I'm happy to mix things up, it doesn't mean I'm impressed by every mascara I try. Since I started working at GLAMOUR almost six years ago, I've tried hundreds – and I've learned two things. One, you'd be surprised at how many rubbish mascaras there are out there (not every formula serves the volume and pigment I like – even if they say they do), and two, some of the best mascaras I've tried are under £15.
For the sake of transparency, the mascara I return to the most is Charlotte Tilbury's Exagger-Eyes mascara, but I like to have one of these budget buys on the back-burner for when it dries up. Maybelline's Sky High Mascara has, for obvious reasons, always been a strong contender, and my colleague Ali loves the L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes mascara. More recently, though, Rimmel's Thrill Seeker Mascara in Cappuccino (yes, a brown mascara) has stolen my heart.
Rimmel Thrill Seeker Mascara at a glance:
- Price: £12.99.
- Colours: Black and Cappuccino.
- Offers: 3 for 2 on selected Rimmel London products right now at Superdrug.
- Brush type: Tapered.
- Claims: To deliver 5x more volume, intense colour pay-off and long-lasting hold.
My honest Rimmel Thrill Seeker Mascara review:
I first saw the Thrill Seeker mascara doing the rounds on TikTok when it launched earlier in the year, and knew I had to try it. “If you want your lashes to transform up to five times more volume, then you will love this,” creator Atifa Aarshad said in her post. "It is an ultra volumising mascara, with an up-to-24-hour wear – and what I love the most is that the formula is smudge-proof, as well as clump and flake free.
“It's incredible,” she said. “You must try.” She didn't need to tell me twice.
First impressions? The packaging is fun – I love the red – and the tapered, soft-bristle wand is exactly what I'd normally go for. It's a similar-looking wand to the one my beloved CT mascara has; I always find I can achieve greater volume and oomph with soft bristles over plastic. A good start.
The colour? I was less convinced. I'd (accidentally) picked up the Cappuccino shade – a deep, chocolate brown – instead of black. The brand first launched with the black Thrill Seeker only, and Cappuccino is a new release. I mentioned at the beginning of my review that I never wear brown mascara. I love drama. I love bold lashes. I love volume. And I always (wrongly) assumed that a black mascara would be the only way to achieve it. More on that later.
After curling my eyelashes with my favourite eyelash curler (it's from Tweezerman, in case you're interested), I began wiggling the wand from root to tip – the best way to apply mascara. I found that the bristles did a great job at grabbing onto – and therefore coating – every single lash. And the fan effect was almost immediate. The formula did feel quite thin in comparison to some admittedly clumpy mascaras I've used in the past, so the first few coats didn't deliver much drama. But, I found this to be a positive – the thin formulation means you can layer coat-after-coat of Thrill Seeker to achieve the desired level of pizzaz. It'd be great for a no-makeup-makeup day.
As you can see in my video, a few coats and I was very quickly able to achieve lifted, curled and fanned-out lashes – and contrary to my first impressions, plenty of drama. I had been wrong about brown mascaras – the warmth of Cappuccino really suited my skin tone, and the more natural pigment made it look less like I was wearing makeup; more like my lashes were just naturally, really good.
New York City and Stockholm-based makeup artist Linda Gradin told me that a mascara like Thrill Seeker Cappuccino can add more dimension and enhance the colour of your eyes, depending on the shade you use. "For a darker eye, a nearly-black or dark brown mascara adds definition, but a classic brown gives a softer impression," she says. “For lighter-coloured eyes, true-to-light brown mascaras are most flattering, as they can bring out gold, green, or grey highlights in your eyes that black can't.” I think I'm a convert.
The GLAMOUR Verdict:
Immediate curl and lift is great, but the real test of a good mascara is how well it stays put. Did it last through a sweaty commute? Through tears shed at my friends' weekend wedding? Through my spin class? My run? Yes. All of the above. I can confidently declare that Thrill Seeker didn't smudge, and kept my lashes looking curled and lifted all day – without flaking off or leaving those annoying little specks on the top of my cheeks.
I'm such a fan of this mascara, and the sub-£13 price point only makes it more worth shouting about. In the market for a new makeup bag hero? Your old favourite might have competition.
