Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara vs L'Oreal Voluminous Original Mascara: Which Is Worth It?

If you have stood in the mascara aisle lately, you have seen the two biggest names in drugstore beauty staring at each other from opposite ends of the shelf. Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara promises length that reaches for the sky. L'Oreal Voluminous Original Mascara promises classic volume that has not changed in decades. I spent fourteen years behind a department store beauty counter, selling both of these tubes to customers who could not decide, and I have learned to be suspicious of both promises. So I tested them the only way that means anything: one mascara on each eye, every day, for a month. I applied them the same way every morning: one coat at the roots, wiggling the wand, then a second coat through the tips. On Wednesdays I added a third coat to see how each one handled layering. I started on the first Tuesday of June with a fresh tube of each, and I did not let myself form an opinion for the first week. No peeking in the car mirror, no asking Dave which side looked better, no checking my phone camera in the elevator. Just the mascaras, my lashes, and a month of ordinary life: workdays, a wedding, a rainy Saturday, and one very humid afternoon at a soccer field.

The short answer is that Maybelline Sky High wins for most people, most days. It lengthens more, it layers better, and it holds a curl through an Ohio summer afternoon. But L'Oreal Voluminous is still the right mascara for a specific kind of person, and I would not want to see it disappear from the shelf. It does one thing better than anything in its price range, and if that one thing is what you need, no lengthening mascara will make you happier. I tested both on bare lashes, no primer, no lash curler, because I wanted to know what each tube could do on its own. Both of these tubes are easy to find, easy to return, and easy to test for yourself, which is exactly what I recommend. Here is the full breakdown, including the days each one let me down and the exact moments I noticed the difference.

	Maybelline Sky High	L'Oreal Voluminous Original
Length	Visibly longer lashes after two coats, with a fiber formula that extends the tips	Lengthens a little, but the effect is mostly thickness, not length
Volume	Good volume, buildable from natural to dramatic without clumping	Serious volume in one coat, the classic dramatic lash look
Curl hold	Holds a curl through a full workday and a humid commute	Holds a curl for a few hours, then starts to droop on straight lashes
Layering	Layers to five or six coats without turning spidery	Two coats is the ceiling, after that it gets clumpy
Smudge resistance	Survives tears, rain and an afternoon nap with minimal fallout	Smudges under the eyes by hour six on oily skin
Removal	Comes off with warm water and gentle pressure, no rubbing	Needs a dedicated eye makeup remover and a little patience
Formula feel	Thin and silky, coats each lash without stiffness or weight	Thick and creamy, dramatic but heavy on fine lashes
Ease for beginners	Thin formula takes a light hand, easy to over-layer if you rush	Thick formula is nearly impossible to mess up, one coat is enough
Best for	Everyday wear, long days, anyone who wants length plus volume	Date nights, photos, anyone who wants drama in one quick coat

Where Maybelline Sky High Wins

The first thing I noticed was the wand. Maybelline Sky High uses a curved, tapered brush with short bristles that grab every lash, including the tiny ones in the inner corner that most mascaras ignore. The short bristles catch short lashes, and the curve means the brush does the work instead of your wrist. The curve is not a gimmick. It follows the shape of your eye, so you are not bending your wrist at an awkward angle to reach the outer corner, and my hand does not cramp the way it does with straight wands. I know this matters because I spent years watching customers ignore those inner corner lashes, and the difference is what makes eyes look bigger instead of just darker. I measured my upper lashes before I started: seven millimeters at the center of my lash line. After two coats of Maybelline Sky High, they measured eleven. That is a real, visible difference, the kind you notice across a dinner table. The formula is thin enough to coat each lash individually, but it builds. The formula dries down fast enough that I can get dressed while it sets, which matters on a weekday morning. I started with one coat for work, added a second for lunch with a friend, and by the third coat my lashes looked like I had just left the counter at my old job. My daughter Kayla, who borrows most of what I buy, called it the only mascara that makes her look awake before coffee. She has straight lashes that point downward, the kind that never hold a curl, and this one held a curl on her all day. That is the first time she has said that about anything. I have tried mascaras with fancier packaging and bigger claims that did half of what this tube does.

The staying power is the real story. I have combination skin with an oily T-zone, and most mascaras end up as raccoon eyes by three in the afternoon. Maybelline Sky High did not. On the second Saturday of the test, I wore it to a wedding and cried during the vows, the way I do at every wedding. By midnight, there was no smudge under my eyes. On the Thursday after that, it survived a humid walk across a parking lot, and on the following Monday I fell asleep on the couch for an hour and woke up with my lashes exactly where I left them. I keep thinking about that nap, because it is the test every mascara fails. I have worn mascara almost every day for thirty years, and I can count on one hand the ones that survived a nap. The rainy Saturday I mentioned: I walked from the car to the coffee shop in a downpour, about two hundred feet, and came inside with my lashes intact. I checked in the bathroom mirror before ordering. It came off with warm water and a gentle wipe, which matters to me because I have fine lines around my eyes and I refuse to scrub at them twice a day. The formula also held a curl on my straight, fine lashes from 7:30 in the morning until I took it off at night, through a drive to Cincinnati and back. That is rare at any price, and it is the reason this tube now lives in my everyday makeup bag. On the last Tuesday of the month, I wore three coats to dinner with friends from the old counter, and one of them asked if I had gotten lash extensions. I had not. That is the kind of compliment that sells a mascara.

Where L'Oreal Voluminous Wins

I will be fair to L'Oreal Voluminous Original, because it has earned its place on the shelf. In one coat, it delivers more drama than Maybelline Sky High does in two. The brush is a classic bristle wand that loads the formula on thick, and the effect is immediate. When we went to a graduation in May, I wore L'Oreal Voluminous because I knew we would take pictures all day. The volume reads clearly in photos, even from across a lawn, which is why it has been a makeup artist favorite for so long. At the counter, I used to tell customers that Voluminous was the mascara for the front row of a wedding photo, and I still believe that. If you are getting ready in five minutes for a dinner out, L'Oreal Voluminous gets you there faster. It is the mascara I reach for when I want someone across the room to know I made an effort. It is not a subtle mascara, and it does not pretend to be. That is exactly what some people want.

L'Oreal Voluminous is also the more forgiving mascara for someone who does not wear mascara often. The formula is thicker, so it is harder to overdo. The wand is a straight, classic bristle brush, nothing fancy, and that is part of the appeal. You do not have to learn a new shape. One coat looks finished. Two coats looks like a night out. You do not need technique to make it work, and there is something to be said for a product that does not demand skill. At the wedding, Kayla's friend borrowed it and came back to ask what it was, because it was the first mascara she had used without clumping, and she has been wearing mascara since high school. My husband Dave, who has never once commented on mascara in twenty-five years, noticed the difference on the L'Oreal side. That tells you how dramatic it is. But I would be lying if I said it did not have limits. On warm afternoons, my oily skin pushed it toward smudging by hour six, and on my straight lashes the curl started to droop by evening. Neither is a dealbreaker if you know what you are getting, but you should know what you are getting. It is a classic for a reason, and classics do not stay on shelves for decades by accident.

Who Should Buy Which

Buy Maybelline Sky High if you want length and volume in one tube, if you have straight lashes that need curl hold, if you wear mascara for ten or twelve hours at a time, or if you hate scrubbing your eyes at night. It is the better everyday mascara, and it layers well enough to take you from desk to dinner without a second product. It is also the better choice if you have oily skin, because it simply does not smudge the way most drugstore mascaras do. I packed it for a weekend in Chicago and it survived the trip without leaking, which is more than I can say for some higher-end mascaras I have tried. If you are buying one mascara to live in your bag for the next six months, this is the one. If you already have a lengthening mascara you love, you do not need to switch. But if you are still searching, this is where I would start.

Buy L'Oreal Voluminous Original if you want maximum drama in one quick coat, if you only wear mascara for evenings and events, or if you prefer a thicker formula that is hard to mess up. One warning: if you are used to very lengthening mascaras, the thicker formula can feel heavy for the first day or two. Give it a chance before you judge it. It is also a wonderful first mascara for a teenager, because it forgives a heavy hand and still looks like a night out. It is the better mascara for a fast, foolproof, high-impact look. Just keep a makeup remover on hand, because it does not come off with water alone. And if you have very straight lashes that refuse to hold a curl, you may find it droops by evening, the way mine did on the warm days of the test.

After a month of side-by-side testing, I keep reaching for Maybelline Sky High on weekday mornings and I still reach for L'Oreal Voluminous on Saturday nights. That is not a cop-out. It is the honest answer from someone who has sold both and tested both. On a Tuesday morning, with a 9 AM meeting and twenty minutes to get ready, I want a mascara that layers quickly and stays where I put it. On a Saturday night, when Dave and I go out to dinner, I want the mascara that makes me look like I made an effort. Those are different jobs, and the best mascara for one is not the best mascara for the other. On the mornings when I want to look like I tried but not like I tried too hard, Maybelline Sky High is the answer. I have recommended both of these mascaras to customers for years, and I have never once had someone come back angry. The trick is matching the person to the tube. Most people will be happiest with Maybelline Sky High. The people who are happiest with L'Oreal Voluminous know exactly who they are. There is no wrong answer here. There is only the right mascara for the right day.