Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes! Mascara - Review

I swear I'm not a crazed Tarte fan. I promise! I've just been getting a lot of their stuff recently, and most of it has been pretty good. Originally, I was just going to swap this mascara, however, though my recent acquisitions, I ended up with 3 tubes. I've sold one, used one, and still have one available.

This mascara retails for $19.00, and is only available in the shade black. It's available at Sephora, Ulta, and Tarte's own website, as well as in kits, like those available on QVC. Tarte's website says:

This is what we call a push-up bra for your lashes™ a 4-in-1 (lengthening, curling, volumizing and conditioning) dermatologist tested mascara that gives dramatic, thick, sexy lashes and is clinically proven to increase lash volume by 424%. 

I like super volumizing mascaras that also give some definition. I guess I love drama, and I don't have enough in my own life, so I need to add some to my lashes. I'm happy with the length of my lashes, however.


Lights, Camera, Lashes! claims to do so much, but it sort of fails at at least one of the claims everyday. It's rather inconsistent, though. One day it seems to clump like mad, the next it defines my lashes perfectly, but they don't appear volumized in the least. Some times my lashes appear longer, and other days they don't appear longer at all. I don't believe I'm changing how I apply the mascara in any way, so I'm a little confused.

The brush is okay. It reminds me of the Lashblast brush, only it had fiber-type bristles rather than rubber ones. I really don't like the spikey rubber bristles - they never seen to work well for my lashes (with one notable exception, Phenomen'Eyes). It's a wide brush that slightly tapers to a rather blunt end. It's nothing magical. Like most mascara wands, it tends to suffer from a massive build up of mascara at the tip.


The tube it's self leaves me confused, because you can find this packaged in two ways, one has a faux-croc-ish looking sheath over what I can only assume is plastic tube. The other way is in a plan, rather expected purple tube with some information on it about the product, a much more normal way to package mascara. I don't believe there's any difference between the two, other than the packaging. I've received the mascara both ways in kits, so I don't know. I think it's to match the way the mascara performs - sometimes great, sometimes not-so-much.


I can't really recommend this mascara, since it doesn't provide consistent results. For less money, you can get a mascara, like many of MAC's, or The Falsies Flared, that provide consistently good results.