Beauty Gala is launching feature columns that will appear weekly, and Throwdown Showdown is the newest column to appear on our website. Think of it as a front row seat to a beauty face-off! This week: Covergirl Lashblast Fusion versus Physician’s Formula Plump Potion. Both mascaras are brand new releases at the drugstore and claim to plump your lashes to extreme thickness and height. Covergirl Lashblast Fusion is exactly like its extremely popular original version, only with added fibers to the ingredients, which adhere to your lashes for extreme length. Physician’s Formula Plump Potion Mascara claims to make your lashes up to 4x fuller, and 3x longer, for a total 7x plumping effect. Do these mascaras do what they claim? Grab a seat, and let the showdown begin…

• Covergirl Lashblast Fusion comes in a purple tube that looks similar to their other Lashblast mascara tubes. The tube has a bulbous, thick feel to it, with the handle of the wand being a curved edge.
• Physician’s Formula Plump Potion comes in a basic clear mascara tube, with silver lettering that contains the product name on it. The packaging on this mascara is not as thick as Covergirl’s.

Covergirl Lashblast Fusion’s packaging easily stands out against the millions of mascaras out there on the market. It looks sleek, simple, and has a more luxurious feel than your typical drugstore mascara packaging has.

• Covergirl Lashblast Fusion recently launched in April 2010, and retails for $8.99 at drugstores, for 0.44fl oz of product.
• Physician’s Formula Plump Potion is also a new release, and retails for $8.95 at drugstores, for 0.26fl oz of product.

Covergirl Lashblast Fusion provides almost double the amount of product for the same amount of price.

• Lashblast Fusion has a thick, round wand with short, stubby bristles that is completely straight.
• Plump Potion has a normal sized wand with protruding bristles that comes bent at an angle for easier application.

• Lashblast Fusion applied well, however, it did clump a little bit, and definitely is a mascara that needs a mascara spoolie to be run through it while still wet so you do not have spider eyes. The mascara lengthened my lashes greatly with the fibers the mascara contains, to make them look miles long.
• Plump Potion really separated every single lash fantastically, and did not clump at all. This formula also thickened and volumized my lashes a considerable amount. It did the exact same thing as the Covergirl version did, but without the additive fibers for length, and without the clumps, which both may irritate sensitive eyes or contact lens wearers.

As an avid, diehard fan of Covergirl Lashblast mascaras, I was a bit disappointed that this formula applied a bit clumpy and didn’t separate my lashes as well as the original formula does. Physician’s Formula Plump Potion Mascara does the exact same to your lashes: adds volume and length, only with precise, gorgeous separation of your lashes, and without the added fibers in the mascara ingredients.

• Covergirl Lashblast Fusion can be purchased online at Drugstore.com. I personally had a very difficult time finding this mascara in my local drugstores because the product is so new. Click below to purchase.

• Physician’s Formula Plump Potion Mascara can be purchased online at Drugstore.com, and is also a new product that has limited availability in drugstores. Click below to purchase.

Which of these two mascaras do you feel wins the showdown ultimately? Share your thoughts with Beauty Gala!

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[Products were purchased with my own money.]

[ALL PHOTOGRAPHY ON THIS SITE IS TAKEN BY REBECCA KAZIMIR. NO PHOTOGRAPHS ARE TO BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION.]