Review: Maybelline Illegal Lengths

I spotted Maybelline's new mascara whilst browsing the aisles of Boots the other day and as usual, thought it was a must-buy to review for you all. I believe this mascara is actually a re-formulated re-release of the old Illegal Lengths so for those of you who loved the last one... it's back! I generally love Maybelline mascaras, I think they are amongst the very best on the high street, so as always when they release a new mascara... I snatched it up!

I'm normally more of a 'volume' girl, so I wasn't convinced that I'd love this one quite as much as my Colossal Volum' or The Falsies but I gave it a whirl over the weekend and was generally impressed.


It's a fibre mascara that claims to add up to 4mm length to your lashes. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with fibre mascaras. Some I love, some I find just a pain to work with (usually high street options fall into this category!)


The packaging is a rather unusual curved silver tube. I don't love it but I think it's nice they're taking a step back from the bulkier tubes that house The Falsies and Colossal. The brush is a little on the long side for easy application, I found it a little fiddly to apply, especially on the bottom lashes.

I found this mascara adds significant length to the lashes, but also adds a boost of volume too. The results are really pretty and surprisingly clump-free, however I think something is lacking here... for me personally, this mascara just isn't quite dramatic enough. It's a nice mascara but it's not groundbreaking.

The staying power is good. I find the one downfall of Maybelline mascaras is that they tend to smudge on the bottom lashes after a few hours, but I find Illegal Lengths isn't as prone to this as the Falsies.

Overall I was impressed, but not blown away, by this mascara. It might not be dramatic enough for those who like the doll eyed effect, but if you're a more natural girl, this could be for you! It certainly adds a good amount of length to your lashes and it's undeniably one of the better high street fibre-extension mascaras!


You can pick up Illegal Lengths now, priced at £8.49.