Arriving with no packaging and instructions, I wasn't sure if the primer was supposed to be left to dry or the mascara was to follow straight away so I tried both. Personally, I found once the primer dried fully it became very stiff and made it difficult for the mascara to glide over the top particularly well so I went with applying the primer and then following straight on with the mascara. This way it covers the lashes much easier, but I am unsure if in doing this if I am diluting the volumising quality of the primer if it was intended to dry first?...
The primer is a luminous white and very thick. There is so much product on the straight shaped wand when you open it, I would wipe off the excess but it still seemed very goopy to apply. The Mascara brush is curved and good to follow the lash line with. The product is an intense jet black colour, it went on smoothly and provided good coverage. Ends of the wand are numbered with a 1 for Primer and 2 for Mascara which helps to identify what end of the product you're aiming to use.
Volume - I found nothing especially XXL about it. The coating of primer followed by mascara seemed similar to simply applying two coats of most mascaras I have ever tried. I found the application of primer and mascara lasted the whole day though, and was easily removed at the end of the day.
Personal preference, but I found the very long wand with pointed rounded ends less user friendly - I like to put my mascara tube down while applying the mascara and found this less easy to do as it could not stand upright on its uneven surface. I also found the wand & unopened tube just a bit too long for me liking while applying the product.
So overall I found the product itself suitable enough, but personally I would not rush to purchase again as the cons of the primer thickness, stiffness once dried, and wand length and shape, outweigh the pros of an intense black mascara which provides good coverage and lasts the day through. It just wasn't the 'XXL volume' I was hoping for in this product,
I was lucky enough to be picked for a trial team for this mascara. The tube is very sleek and quite weighty as far as mascaras go. There is a primer and a mascara at opposite ends of the tube. The primer wand is a fairly standard hourglass shape which I like. The primer itself is white and reasonably thick consistency but it does glide on easily. It separated and defined my lashes really well and definitely picked up all the little fine lashes. I wasn't sure if I was meant to let it dry before putting the mascara on top as there's no instructions but I decided to give it a minute before proceeding. The mascara wand is curved with medium length bristles. The formula is thick rather than wet which I find easier to work with. The curved brush does a good job of grabbing all my lashes. The mascara gives awesome volume with nice defined lashes but I was pleasantly surprised at how much length I got with it too. My lashes looked amazing, thick, long and well defined without a clump in sight. I have tried so many mascaras and this gave some of the best results and easily beat most of the high end volume mascaras I've tried. There is just one wee snag, it runs at the slightest sign of moisture. My eyes can get a bit watery and I often got in the car to go to work in the morning to see I had a small tide mark under my eyes in the rear view mirror. It was easy enough to fix up with a careful swipe or two but something to be mindful of. I found it easy enough to remove at the end of the day, I double cleanse and the oil based cleanser easily took care of it. Overall I really love the mascara, if there was a waterproof version it would be my holy grail.
Tips: I found it was best to make sure the mascara was fully set before carrying on with my morning. I used a handheld fan to dry the mascara fully immediately after application and this prevented the dreaded tide marks.