Younique Moonstruck 3D fiber Mascara: The Real Deal or Lies?

Hello beautiful readers!  We're going to tackle a pretty interesting (and picture heavy!) topic today.  Lately, there seems to be an increase in what I would call guerrilla selling tactics concerning a brand called Younique, where individual representatives will often post in groups showing off their products, especially their "3D Fiber Mascara", without much explanation or participation in those groups.  Honestly, I had never cared much for this brand based on the reputation of its sellers.  Well in a wonderful group set up by Pretty Girl Science's Nichole,  we had a few incidents with this brand that left a bad taste in all of our mouths, until one particular seller stepped up and decided to help all of us understand the brand.
Up for the challenge, I decided to accept a sample sent to me by Crystal, the Younique rep, in order to help the rest of my peers see what this mascara is all about.  It came in a small case and the tubes look like this:



The instructions seemed simple enough: Put on a coat of your "favorite mascara", let dry, apply a coat of the "transplant gel", apply flbers, seal with gel, repeat until desired effect...

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Here are the applications outside of the tubes:

Transplant Gel Applicator

The transplant gel has a very strong plastic-like smell.  I would highly recommend avoiding it if you have sensitivities to smell, especially with makeup.  It resembled a very wet mascara to me during application.

Fiber application

The fiber brush is much less like a brush than a stick with fibers wrapped around, similar to a Q-tip. The fibers are very very thin and dry, but during application, it sometimes came off in clump when mixed with the transplant gel, which made the process much more difficult for me.

Fiber

Here are the fibers closer. It definitely had me worried because I didn’t want any of this in my eyes.

Now on to the application process! If you don’t want to go through the picture heavy section, just skip to the bottom for the TL;DR version.

Bare lashes

Bare lashes looking up

As you can see, my bare lashes are nearly non-existent and straight, and it has a hard time holding a curl.

Curled lashes

My lashes become more visible when curled, especially when the curler is warm (which I do by being classy and keeping it in my bra while I do my makeup).

Left: Bare Right: Million Lashes Mascara

Here my right eyelashes have two coats of L’oreal Million Lashes Mascara, while the left eyelashes are still bare.

Left: Bare Right: Million Lashes Mascara

Left: Younique 3D Moonstruck Fiber Mascara Right Million Lashes Mascara

Finally to the 3D Mascara!  The right eyelashes remain the same as above, while the left eyelashes has one coat of transplant gel, one coat of fiber, then another layer of gel.  I did NOT wear mascara under the gel because I wanted to see if there really would be a difference with and without the base mascara.

Another angle of the last picture

Another angle of the last picture. The fiber brush was pretty difficult to use, keeping in mind that it was my first time trying it out. It clumped quite a few lashes together right away, and I was always concerned about it flaking into my eyes during application.  It also did not cling on to my inner lashes, but they are much finer than the rest.

Younique 3D fiber Mascara on both sides, right with the base of Million Lashes Mascara

Here I’ve applied the 3D fiber Mascara on to both sides.  It is very obvious that my right side, which started with a base coat of L’oreal Million Lashes, turned out much less clumpy and better looking than the left side, which only has the transplant gel and fibers.  I believe that having the base mascara help separate the lashes and keep clumping to a minimum.  I also wiped off some of the gel from the transplant gel brush which really helped with the entire process, preventing the fibers from clinging to each other during the process.

Another angle

The right lashes with a mascara base also looks thicker while the left looks thin and spider-leg like. I would recommend the base coat if you have thin lashes like me.

Mascara and eyeliner

I threw on some quick eyeliner and voila! 

Some final thoughts: I think the biggest problem with this mascara is the brush that comes with the gel. It's not great at separating the lashes so clumping tends to be much more likely.  With the base mascara dried, it helps keeps your lashes separate.  I experienced some irritation from the fiber, even when I avoided the roots of my lashes and started the application from the middle length to the end of the lashes. I’m not a big fan of how the fiber stick is set up, making the application longer and more difficult.  There is definitely a learning curve to applying this and takes quite a bit of time. The transplant Gel has a strong smell, but otherwise it’s pretty mediocre but does the job of holding the fibers. I would really suggest giving the gel brush a wipe before applying it to the lashes, so that less product sits on the lashes and cause clumping. Your lashes will probably feel heavy because this involves much more than an average mascara, but I didn’t find it a huge distraction from my day. The mascara is very hard to comb through once it dries, I would suggestion a base coat of a different mascara in order to keep your lashes from clumping too much. If you do decide to comb through it, I would suggest a metal toothed lash comb like this one from Real Techniques.

The removal process is very easy. I used a oil based eye make up remover. It’s not waterproof so it would not be a good idea to wear this in the pool or if you are expecting to sweat/cry profusely.

Overall, the Younique Moonstruck 3D mascara did not WOW me, but it did it’s job.  It has a learning curve so I’m sure I would get better after a few more applications. The mascara is $29 not including shipping and taxes. If you’re interested in fiber mascara and don’t mind the price tag I would give it a try yourself, keeping in mind that it takes a few times to pick it up.  Thanks again to Crystal for the sample. If you are interested in Younique products, you can find Crystal’s page at Www.mybigbeautifullashes.com. Also, If you are interested in how the Younique eyeshadows perform, Nichole over at Pretty Girl Science talks about its performance and texture in this post.

Thanks for reading! What are your thoughts on Younique, as a brand and its products? Comment below to let me know!

~Xoxo Lily

The product featured in this post was sent to me for reviewing purposes. This review is non-biased and truthful.