Happy Friday, everyone! I am back with another mascara review. And this one has been a long time coming. Today, I’ll be reviewing the Rimmel London Kind & Free Mascara. Which was their first major launch after their cruelty free status was announced to the world back in 2022. I know that a lot of my readers do like their cruelty free and vegan beauty products. And I really wanted to put this to the test for you all. So, was this mascara Kind to me? Just keep reading!
RIMMEL LONDON KIND & FREE MASCARA – $22.95 – priceline.com.au
Packaging first, as always. The Kind & Free Mascara is housed in a sleek and simple, sky blue tube. The handle is the same colour as the bottle itself. There is white detail on the bottle. All of the products in the Kind & Free range have this shade of blue for their packaging. So, I like that there is a family of products in Rimmel’s range that is easy to identify as both cruelty free and vegan. The Kind & Free Mascara contains 8.4g of product.
The wand of the Kind & Free Mascara is one that I haven’t used in a very long time. It is a straight wand that narrows slightly towards the tip. The bristles are made from a 100% renewable plant based fiber that swirl up the wand. The bristles themselves are very short and have a good amount of flex to them. The wand is on the slim and petite side, making it a good option for those with smaller or hooded eyes.
While I enjoy the wand quite a bit, I suspected I might be in for a rough time when I felt the formula. It’s very waxy and when I was combing it into my lashes, I could feel it almost tugging at them. It’s also on the drier side, meaning that I have to work quickly to layer it at all. There is Shea Butter in the formula. Which is often used in drugstore mascaras as a lash conditioner. But that’s the only flashy ingredient here.
The big claims for the Kind & Free Mascara is that it’s supposed to both lengthen and volumise the lashes. Now, I’ve tried enough mascaras in my time that if they are advertising both length and volume, you’ll get one or the other. Never both. And in the case of the Kind & Free Mascara, volume does edge out. But not by much.
I did have to build this formula up quite a lot to get any real results from it (the above picture is with three coats). And the best I got out of it was a little bit of lift and some volume. This mascara is definitely for the natural girlies. But it doesn’t do much for me, just on first impressions alone.
But how does it wear throughout the day. Well, it wore ok, but it could have been better. I knew as soon as I added that third coat that I would have transfer on the lower lash. And while it’s not the worst I’ve ever had, it was noticeable by the end of the day. I also had some drooping of the lashes that I noticed. I did expect that due to how heavy the formula felt on the lashes themselves. But the big thing I want to note was how difficult this was to remove. It’s touted as water resistant, but I felt like I had to break out the heavy duty eye makeup remover to get this off. And I was still washing it off my lashes the next morning.
All in all, the Rimmel London Kind & Free Mascara is a pass for me. Rimmel has so many amazing mascaras in their line (here’s two that I personally recommend). So I know that they can do better than this. I actually have their newest Kind & Free Mascara in my stash. So expect that review towards the end of May. But otherwise, you can give this one a skip. Have you tried the Rimmel London Kind & Free Mascara? Let me know in the comments.
Cheers and love
Emily xo