This new £7.99 Rimmel mascara left us stunned and we would genuinely recommend it to anyone

The new Rimmel Scandaleyes Volume On Demand mascara claims to be ‘unclumpable’. Mascaras that claim to give endless volume without clumping are a bit like vegan cheeses that claim to taste as good as the real thing – omnipresent and, largely speaking, destined to disappoint.

So, when presented with a new Rimmel mascara promising to 'build up the volume with the smooth, conditioning formula that will not clump,' the W&H Beauty desk's interest was piqued.

How mascara usually builds volume and length

The fact is, if a formula is designed to bulk lashes up and stay put, it usually does so by covering them in layers of wax and pigment. Once brushed on this coating sets down like a sort of hard-shelled armour and doesn’t respond well newer, softer waxes and pigment being loaded on top. That’s why most of us - given the time - would rather remove our mascara entirely and start again than apply a new coat over old mascara.

How does Rimmel Scandaleyes Volume On Demand Mascara measure up?

With this in mind, I approached Rimmel Scandaleyes Volume On Demand Mascara, £7.99, with a healthy dose of skepticism. This new mascara claims to offer ‘continually buildable volume’ aka a formula that can be applied then reapplied limitlessly throughout the day, even once its dried, without clumping.

According to the blurb, ‘the brush features innovative wavy fibre technology that creates bulk mascara reservoirs, making it possible to build high volume. The undulating fibres give a full lash-grabbing effect, coating and combing lashes without clumping.’

“Uh huh”, I thought, applying my first coat at 7.30am and noting the glossy black formula and hourglass shaped brush’s ability to catch and coat tiny corner lashes, “I’ll be the judge of that.” At 10.15am I layered on coat number two at the office and was surprised to note how flexible my lashes felt as I swiped the fluffy brush through them. Anyone who’s tried a day to night mascara top-up will be familiar wi the crunchy feeling of trying to pull a wand though lashes that have long since dried, usually resulting in gunky residue and fused-together lashes.

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In fairness coat one had given me a bit of length, lift and lovely black colour, but not va-va-voom volume. Coat two was where my lashes really bulked up, so perhaps coat three would be the one to drag me down to clumptown?

Or, perhaps not! At 11.43 I loaded on coat three, and while my lashes cranked up to 11 on the drama scale they remained resolutely separated and soft. Admittedly, on this coat I did get a few little specks on the skin around my eye, which smeared around messily when I tried to wipe it up. But that says more about the folly of trying to apply mascara at a desk using a tiny hand mirror than it does the formula.

Thanks to this unique adaptability, Rimmel Scandaleyes Volume On Demand is one of the few mascaras I could genuinely recommend to everyone as one of the best mascaras you can buy. Whether you like a natural look, prefer to dial it up and down depending on the occasion, or you just want tonnes volume all the time, this mascara’s got you covered – which is rare. It’s also rare for a product that sounds too good to be true to actually deliver the goods – consider my inner beauty cynic suitably stunned. But like any good sceptic, I’m delighted to be proven wrong by a brilliant product that costs less than a tenner.

Perhaps I should revisit that non-dairy ‘cheese’ aisle next time I’m in the supermarket too?