I Bought This
In the earlier years of Never Say Die Beauty (2014 to be exact), I often wrote about my favorite mascara, L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Intenza (reviewed here).
It was primarily a lengthening mascara that also provided volume that was supposed to give the lashes a fanned out look. Because my eyes are downturned, a fanned out lash look makes my eyes look less droopy. The wand with plastic teeth (my fave) had two different sets of curved teeth that made it easier to use on my non-dominant eye without having to change the wand direction. I can’t believe I didn’t take a photo of the wand. At any rate, I loved this mascara and was sorely disappointed when it was discontinued several years ago.
It turns out that I tried L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara first, before the Intenza version was launched. In fact, I even reviewed here. As I mentioned above, what attracted me was the winged out lash look, and the packaging showed the unique-looking wand.
Upon re-reading my initial review, it turns out I wasn’t a fan of the original Voluminous Butterfly Mascara and its interesting wand. What I did like was the Art Deco-inspired tube, lol.
I disliked the clumpy formula and the wand was too difficult to use on my second eye. That’s why I was so excited when L’Oreal launched the Intenza wand.
Fast forward 8 years, and I forgot all about having tried L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara. I had a 40% off coupon from CVS that I wanted to use last week so CVS would continue giving me a new 40% off coupon this week. There was nothing I really needed, and when my eye fell upon L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara, I thought it was new. I had absolutely no memory of having tried it back in 2014. Even with my pretty good memory, 8 years is a long time and a lot of mascaras have come and gone in that time period. So I bought it. I think I ended up paying about $8 for it, so it wasn’t the end of the world.
Well, I guess they haven’t improved the formula or the wand. I had the same complaints with it that I had so long ago:
- leaves my lashes looking spiky
- clumps and makes some of my lashes stick together and hard to separate even with the wand with plastic teeth
- the curved wand is very difficult to use on my second eye.
Also this time, the formula is very difficult to apply to my lashes. It just doesn’t want to adhere to my lashes at all, and it requires me to go back again and again with multiple coats.
Finally, the ultimate annoyance is that because I can no longer see closeup, I mistakenly bought the waterproof formula and I didn’t realize it till I posted the photo of the package a couple of minutes ago. Not surprisingly, it is extremely hard to remove with Bioderma Hydrabio Micellar Water. In fact, it didn’t come off at all, so I guess at least it is an effective waterproof formula, lol. I had to use DHC Cleansing Oil to remove it.
I will end up tossing L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara. For two minutes, I thought about returning it to CVS, but I feel kind of bad doing that since it’s not CVS’ fault. I don’t know, maybe I still will.
At any rate, please don’t buy this mascara. But if, by chance, any of you have tried it and had a different experience or better results, please do let me know!
Well, sometimes things just don’t improve in 8 years! At least you didn’t spend full price on it! I guess that the good news is that it wasn’t a luxury brand mascara that you spent closer to $50.00 on, only to be disappointed!
L’oreal in general makes some great mascaras but not every mascara works for everyone. I reviewed a Maybelline one with raves a few weeks ago that disappointed me to no end.
I had the same problems with this one. Just not a good mascara at all, and I normally like L’Oreal.
I’m glad it wasn’t just me, but sorry you wasted your money on it too. And same here, I usually like L’Oreal products
I actually ❤️ this mascara…I have used it for all 10 years now… I do declump, but I do this with any mascara… it never flakes or leaves me with raccoon eyes…at least I can still buy it on Amazon
I LOVE this mascara. Have been using it since it showed up in stores.
I have never experienced flaking or any of the issues reported.
I love it for its ease of application and especially the curved brush.
Please don’t discontinue.
Recently got the telescope and don’t like. It clumps and the long wand springs back.
Tell me where I can get the Butterfly.
Thanks, B
Bonnie, the entire L’Oreal Butterfly Mascara collection was discontinued several years ago. While it shows up occasionally online, it is too old to buy. I haven’t tried the Telescopic, but I’m wondering if you have tried L’Oréal Voluminous Panorama Mascara? I used to love Voluminous Butterfly with the winged wand, but it was discontinued well over 10 years ago. I haven’t found a good replacement. My favorite over the past few years is Thrive Causemetics Liquid Lash Extensions, a tubing mascara. Hope you find something you love as much as the Butterfly line!
It was not 10 years ago. They carried it a year ago still. Only then was it D/C. Thrive has too many fibers and clumps and flakes. There is no substitute for Butterfly Mascara. Write… Send emails asking for them to bring it back.
“L’Oréal discontinued the specific Voluminous Butterfly Intenza mascara (and the wider Butterfly collection) several years ago . While the brand never announced a strict, public end-of-production date, beauty experts and consumers confirm the product was phased out well over a decade ago.” Although you can still find the Butterfly collection products on Ebay, Poshmark and other third party sites, I would not recommend or buy them because they are certainly expired. Have you tried either L’Oreal’s Panorama or Telescopic yet?? I tried Panorama and it’s a good mascara though not as special as Butterfly Intenza because it doesn’t have that great Intenza wand. I haven’t tried Telescopic yet, but will eventually. However, now I do love Thrive especially Whitney, their gray color mascara. I have no problems with clumping or flaking.
My heart is broken. I love love the Voluminus Butterfly (silver tube) so much. I have long but fine eyelashes that tend to stick together. I can get my lashes basically fanned out and then come back with a volumizing mascara. I did try the telescopic which is pretty good but not as good. I got the panoramic today. We’ll see how well it works.
I know how you feel about the Voluminous Butterfly. For me, it was the best mascara ever, so I definitely feel your pain. I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on the Panoramic. Not my favorite, but acceptable. Do you like any of the Benefit mascaras, Tami? I have pretty good luck with them.