Sultra Hair Palette Color Hair Mascara Swatches and Review

Remember hair mascara? I used to love that stuff when I was a kid. That, and that horrible, powdery, spray-on hair color that always ended up getting all over everything and making a giant mess. I bought so many cans of that spray color every year even though it was messy, smelled horrible and never even looked good. If it was cheap, brightly colored, and temporary, I had to have it. Ah, memories.

Now there's a new, more grown-up version of hair mascara: Sultra Hair Palette. What it is is a brightly colored temporary hair color that has the texture of mascara. You apply directly onto your hair with a mascara wand and the color only stays in until you wash your hair. It currently comes in four colors:

Ultra Pink (70024), Lapis Blue (70025), Capri Coral (70027). and Royal Violet (70028).

Sultra Hair Palette Color Hair Mascara in 70024 Ultra Pink

Sultra Hair Palette Color Hair Mascara in 70025 Lapis Blue

Sultra Hair Palette Color Hair Mascara in 70027 Capri Coral

Sultra Hair Palette Color Hair Mascara in 70028 Royal Violet

Sultra Royal Violet with flash to show the shimmery finish

Ultra Pink and Capri Coral are matte colors, but Lapis Blue and Royal Violet have a bit of shimmer to them. They're not so shimmery that they look sparkly and glittery, but under the right light, they do glimmer a little.

Here's how I apply these:

• Start with clean, dry hair. Make sure you style your hair first, but wait to apply hairspray until after you've applied your color.
• Using the mascara wand applicator, apply to desired areas by combing the wand through the hair. You will need to go over each area several times, on both the front and back of the hair sections if you want fuller, more opaque coverage instead of a sheer wash.
  
• Allow the hair mascara to dry. This takes anywhere from 10-30 minutes depending on how much you've applied. I used a hairdryer on cool to help it dry faster.
• Brush through the hair to remove the matted/separated look and smooth out the color. Brushing is necessary. It helps the color blend into the hair and not look so chunky and stringy.

What I liked:

• The colors actually show up on my dark hair. They look bright and surprisingly opaque (though not 100% full coverage). I'm sure they'd look brighter and better on light hair, but I'm just impressed that they even showed up at all.
  
• The wand is large and covers a good amount of area at once.
  
• The tubes are large- 0.62 oz.
• The colors are bright and pretty.
  
• They are temporary. Good for someone who wants fun colored hair on the weekends but wants it gone by Monday.
• For some reason, Capri Coral smells really, really good. Like freshly baked bread or something. Strange, yes, but you won't see me complaining.
  

What I didn't like:

• The formula takes forever to dry and it's really heavy and sticky.
• Even after the mascara has dried, it still transfers onto your hands, face and hairbrush. Would probably be best not to apply this on any part of your hair that touches your face, and be careful about your hair touching clothes and furniture.
• It runs if it gets wet.
  
• It's overpriced- $24 for a 0.62 ounce tube. For comparison, Sultra's clip-in extensions are only $18 and you can use them forever and ever. Streekers temporary colors are only $12, and this brand from Claire's is only $3.50.
• While it does add a lot of bright color to your hair, it's not convincing. Up close, you can see that it's made of little chalky particles and it looks like hair mascara, not like hair that is actually colored.

I thought they worked well and looked good and I especially liked that these show up well on dark hair. People with lighter hair will not need to use as much product to get the color to show up, and I'm sure they'll also have a brighter-looking result. They do take a long time to dry, but other than that, I was happy with the way they turned out on my hair.

One of the hair trends I've been seeing lately (and one that Sultra recommends) is people coloring only the very ends of the hair with a bright color, like a dip-dye. You can definitely achieve that look with these, but I'd be very careful about what your hair touches if it's longer than shoulder length. Don't wear a white shirt and you should be fine.

Sultra Hair Palette Color Hair Mascara is available at Sephora, $24 each.

(This was sent for review.)