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What high-end product do you feel you should have skipped instead of buying?
What high-end product do you feel you should have skipped instead of buying? Why?
MAC Brush Sets – just not the same quality as full-sized brushes. For me, this was a hard question, because a lot of the products I’ve come across in the past couple of years that have been really skip-worthy weren’t ones I bought but received to review!
Thanks to Cynthia for today’s question!
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Hmm, BECCA Stick Foundation. Not bad, lots of product, but I like the consistency of MAC Studio Finish Concealer better.
I would talk about it, i think MAC is better too.
Urban Decay All Nighter…I just don’t find myself reaching for it as much. Should have got the travel size! :/
Not to jack the thread, but what does all-lighter feel like on your face anyway? Can your face still breathe? Does it break you out? Does it actually work? Does it prevent creasing or smearing in hot weather at all. I’m thinking of buying it.
i use it. it doesn’t feel like anything to me. i haven’t hit any humid weather with it yet, but i feel like it keeps my foundation/blush lasting longer.
This is hard. I make an effort to only get high-end products that I know I’ll love. Maybe NARS Laguna because it looks really orange on me sometimes.
Shu Uemura mascara basic and that’s just what it is. I could have bought maybelline great lash because all it was was color and my lashes are already dark. The only person this would work for would be someone who has thick, long lashes and just needed the tint.
Bobbi Brown eyeshadow singles. I’m not sure why but I don’t really care for anything I have tried from Bobbi Brown. Maybe I just haven’t tried the right thing yet.
I went to one of their promos and bought everything. I ended up giving it all away. It was nothing special. Lancome was far superior in terms of quality.
The Bare Minerals Foundation. It breaks me out so bad, even if I just wear it for a few hours, so now it just sits in the back of a drawer practically full. I also think that there are better mineral/powder foundations on the market.
I’ve found that Bare Minerals is pretty useless unless you have just about perfect skin — no acne and no under eye circles — but just a touch of unevenness. If you try to build it up, it looks really obvious on the skin. One of my friends rotates through several different foundations, and I can always tell when she’s using Bare Minerals :/
Me too! I tried Bare Minerals, because I was told it works with all skin types. Well, it’s kind of a joke on dry skin like mine :/ It looked cakey and dry, and made my skin feel tight. I feel like it’s so overrated!
Ysl touché eclat, it is crap for darker skin!
Agreed. I have always regretted buying this. I’m an NC45, I don’t know what I was thinking.
Agree. I am nw10. It’s crap on fair skin too! Try the new mac highlighter pen. I found it really good and it comes in a few shades…
Givenchy’s Mister Light is pretty nice on me as an NC15.
Ha! Yeah, I was going to say, I’m pretty sure Touche Eclat is crap on all skin. I’m NC 20/25, and it really does nothing for me. Not to mention, I used it because I felt like I had to ($42 was painful to fork over for something that didn’t work well), and it got MILDEWY within half a year. Awful.
Ditto
Smashbox Photofinish Primer. It seems like I somehow read all the rave reviews about it before I bought it, got it and tried it for a week before I realized how badly it broke me out, then I saw all the reviews that said it broke them out. It turned me off of face primers forever now.
It’s usually the silicone that breaks people out.Korres is silicone free and I believe Tarte is,too.
Ugh, no wonder I’ve been having horrible breakouts lately! Definitely tossing Smashbox Photofinish Primer into the garbage bin. I was actually suspecting my brushes, but now I agree it’s the silicone from the primer. Thanks for the headsup!
That’s a toughy, I am pretty sure I research my high-end makeups thoroughly and so they are rarely a miss I guess I’ll have to say my high-end lipsticks (Armani and Dior) they are GREAT, the miss was just that they are lipsticks, which I have discovered aren’t really for me…I am more of a lipgloss/tinted lip balm/etc. kind of gal. If I’d bought Armani and Dior lipglosses instead I don’t think I’d even have an answer for this question xD
Benefit foundation faker!
Thierry Mugler Eye Khol stick ($35 CAD!)….it’s a good product (nothing really stays on my waterline for long including this one but it’s black and transfer itself to top and bottom waterline) but it leaves a powder (black!) fallout which I find quite annoying – this shouldn’t be happening to an eyeliner!
I wish I would have skipped MAC’s lipstick in Fleshpot. I was looking for a dupe for Brave New Bronze (this was before I knee of your website) and Fleshpot wasn’t it. It’s not flattering on me at all, no matter how many lips glosses I use with it.
MUFE HD foundation. I HATE it. It disappears after a couple hours even with powder, and I don’t like the look it gives to the skin.
pretty much any of my Dior purchases, except Extase and maybe Iconic, which were still both overpriced. Airflash was neat, but not worth the heft price tag [seventy CDN] seeing as i can get a more flawless finish with MUFE hd.. ive spent upwards of 30 dollars on a lip gloss by them, and while it provided a beautiful colour at first, didnt live up to, again, the price tag.. and i find that almost none of their e/s palettes have ever served me as much as id have liked them too.. too chalky!
mac my paradise cheed powder, had high hopes it would be as great as marine life or ripe peach which i adore, but its just orange and patchy on me.
This chanel highlight powder that was Limited Edition two years ago- i never use it because it’s too chunky, and the packaging was kind of clunky. also the shu uemura limited edition sets at christmas… i never used them! i have to start learning that a good review doesnt ensure i’ll use stuff, everyone has different tastes!
YSL mascara, allegedly is a cult favourite…however, it dries out suuuper fast, and I find drugstore mascaras to be on par with most high end ones…albeit their scents;)
I once purchased it, and then later got a sample of it, and while it wasn’t awful, it was just too clumpy for my tastes. The weird thing is, I have a friend who swears by it, and it looks fine on her. I think the YSL brand just hates me, lol. Touche Eclat didn’t work well for me, either. I kept using it, though, and it got mildewy within half a year.
Diorshow mascara – flakes everywhere! Actually I think I’ve been disappointed with every HE product I’ve bought… Dior Addict gloss has no staying power, Clarins Everlasting broke me out etc etc. Everything I use is DS now, with the exception of MAC The Perfect Cheek matte blush which I use to contour (I count MAC as middle even thought the prices are HE where I live). Too bad it was LE as it’s the perfect shade for my fair skin, does anyone have DS dupe suggestions?
Probably my Chanel Ombre Essentielle Soft Touch Eyeshadow in Vert Khaki. It’s still mint-condition five months later. I just don’t reach for it even though the colour is beautiful and since you can’t exchange eyeshadow it just ends up sitting there in my makeup pouch. But it is beautiful enough that I should get *some* wear of it at some point 🙂
LORAC Multiplex 3D lipgloss duo. It was $28 for 2 instead of $22 each. They’re great glosses but I almost never use them. I don’t ever feel like having THAT much shimmer glitter on my lips :/
Benefit High Beam…I just love my MAC CCB in Hush wayy better than that.
benefit erase paste. the coverage is really great but it creases like crazy and the consistancy is not really nice. I like my NYX Concealer a lot more, and it was just a few dollars.
It’s a toss up between Bare Minerals “concealer” (though it doesn’t say “concealer” anywhere on my package but it’s the “Summer Bisque Multi-Tasking Minerals” that is really their only concealer) and MAC’s Studio Sculpt Concealer…the WORST concealer I’ve ever used, high end or low.
I’ve heard so many comments about the inferior quality of MAC brush sets that I’ve never bought one for that very reason.
Bobbi brown eye highlighter pen. Far too yellow and didn’t highlight. Much prefer mac new highlight pen
This won’t be a popular answer (as I’m sure it’s just me) but I wish I’d skipped my Chanel Rouge Allure Laque in Phoenix. I love every other Chanel lipstick formulation, but there’s just something about the combination of intense colour and high-slip that just misses the mark. Why would I want my lipstick to apply like a gloss? You get less precision and control with a doe-foot applicator and the consistency doesn’t last very long – but there’s none of the informality of a gloss. I don’t get it. I didn’t like Dragon when I tried it either and I’m a real red lipstick nut. Everyone else loves them though so guess I’m just weird!
I don’t feel like I should have skipped a high-end product instead of buying it. I don’t have easy access to some brands where I live (and there’s no return policy in my country), so I do a lot of research or I wait for an opportunity to travel to swatch and/or products.
None since I really plan (and think, and rethink) what to buy and what not!
my answers are: mac eyeshadows, mufe HD powder, boscia black mask, benefit sugarbomb, loads of skincare, korres primer, tarina Tarantino primer, diorshow mascara, urban decay single eyeshadows (not because of the quality but because I have every shade repeated in a palette), bare minerals powder foundation, guerlain lipstick (they sold me the wrong shade), I could go on.
there are lots of course but especially I always find myself skipping Chanel,Dior (etc) and most of the Guerlain lipsticks.they usually don’t have the finishes I prefer and the shade range is screaming “boring!!!” to me most of the time.
Stila one-step makeup. Dries my skin out terribly, and has zero staying power on my face!
Mac studio fix foundation, it makes me look orange and i hate it!
Mac fix+ is just a waste of money
I got a Tarte best sellers kit online at Christmastime and I never reach for any of the products. They’re amazing but I just never touch them
I bought the By Terry Concealer in my search for a great concealer…. It was a good product but it didn’t delivered what it was promised!!
I just got a few items from a Brazilian brand that were expensive and every single one didn’t do what they were supposed to.
An eye primer that made my eye worse than it gets without it.
A concealer for dark circles that simply makes your eyes look yellow, no matter how little I use, how I apply it or which concealer I put on top of it.
And a regular concealer that — even being the lightest shade they have (according to the SA) — is too dark for me and looks awful.
Here, stores don’t accept returns of opened items, so I’m stuck with all of it.
NARS lip gloss in Turkish Delight…it does not go with my skintone at all
mac brush sets are pretty pointless, i got the red one from a few years back, the powder brush KEPT shedding so i had to throw it away.
i regret buying random items here and there, like a mac purple pigment, it is beautiful but barely used – i could have bought a neutral one that i could use every day. for me, i’ve learnt that it’s best to buy things i know i’ll use frequently.
In general, most of my high-end lip glosses and lipsticks. I’ve recently started seeing someone, and obviously we smooch all the time… which means my lip products are getting NO love lately. Maybe I’ll try to fix this by wearing them to work more often or something.
Chanel Fuschia Tweed blush…..beeeeeeautiful color, but for some reason I can’t make it work 4 me
Dior Addict lipstick. It’s no better than the MAC Sheen Supreme lipstick. I def returned it & saved my $.
MAC studio fix fluid…made me breakout really badly & was too yellow for me, even though the concealer works great.
Yves Saint Laurent Touche Èclat. I think its a really frivolous purchase. Milani makes a really great dupe that’s $32 less, and I honestly don’t think the YSL one does very much in the highlighting or concealing department. The Milani HD Concealer doesn’t have a highlighting affect, but its a great concealer. Just another example of a dupe being better than the original! Plus your wallet will thank you.
1.Nars foundations, firming and sheer matte. Feels like spreading cake frosting on my face. I guess the good thing is that as it settles into fine lines later in the day, I can push it back into place like putty, as it never seems to set!
2. Smashbox primer. It’s just silicone without much mattifying properties – I think it actually makes my makeup slide off more quickly
3. Mac and Lancome lipsticks – drying and really no better than drugstore imo.
I’ve had many instances of buyers remorse. Two off the top of my head are Fresh Lip Balm and the Clarisonic. The Fresh Balm was a total waste of money, it’s moisturizing while it’s on my lips but once it’s off, my lips were almost dry.
The Clarisonic has done nothing for my skin. I am extremely acne prone and even with the delicate brush head it aggravated my skin. I’ve had it for around 4 years now and try it again every few months hoping for the best. Still no dice. My skin reacts so much better to chemical exfoliants like glycolic and salicylic acids.
I bought several chanel rouge cocos online because the first one I got was so great (Paris) but the shades I picked were too frosty. I never use them and hate the frosty finish, it looks cheap. :/ $120 plus tax down the drain!
Wow, Paris Rouge Coco is great, it’s in my wishlist now!
Another vote for Bare Minerals foundation. I didn’t break out per se, but it made my face feel like it was on fire and it itched so so bad. I wore it to work once day and by the time I got home and could wash, I had scratched sections of my face raw.
Oh man, that stuff EXPLODED my face! Luckily, I had gotten a free mini from Sephora and didn’t actually buy a full size.
Sounds like you had a reaction to the Bismuth Oxychloride.
mac cream foundation, I have oily skin and it was the wrong shade
I don’t believe in the power of high end mascaras since I can get a great drugstore mascara which works just as well. I was also sucked into that whole Bare Minerals craze, while it did offer okay coverage working with loose powders was something I did not enjoy.
Urban Decay’s glitter liner…my contacts hate it! Also, and more importantly Make Up Forevers individual flash colors cream shadows (discontinued) They were so expensive and they crease terribly!
Mac complete comfort cream, Bobbi brown enriched vitamins face base
MAC paint pots: they creased on me.
MAC studio finish concealer: hate the consistency. It’s so hard to put it on.
Benefit Badgal lash mascara: nearly no product comes when I get the wand out.
Laura Mercier Oil free Primer. Does nothing for oil control. I’ve hear goof thing about her other primer simply labeled “foundation.” I’m trying that next.
Chanel eyeshadows (Plein Soleil, Ombres Perlées and Keisha Beige) and JC Tea rose blush. I have the euro version and they are baked. I do not like de color payoff, I use way much my Guerlain and Dior eyeshadows.
I would have to say the MAC travel brush set. I made the mistake twice and I am out of 100 bucks that could have gotten me three good makeup brushes. Never again. I don’t know why they keep releasing those brushes. Either improve the quality or stop releasing them.
After reading some of the responses, I just remember a couple of items. One is the MAC Studio Fix foundation. I tried so many times make it work but it breaks me out something serious. Shiseido sunscreen. It also breaks me out and their cleansing oil. Origins Cleansing Oil breaks me out. I now use this to clean my brushes when I have a resistant foundation that can’t come out with brush shampoo and water. NARS Laguna bronzer. I should have gotten Casino. Clinique foundation. If I can find the receipt I would return it.
I ended up throwing away the bare escentuals mineral concealer. It oxidized on my skin like no other… I think Bare Minerals looks so unnatural in general, I’ll never really understand the appeal.
Also lesson learned on Hourglass foundation: Just because it’s the most expensive product in the store does NOT mean it works better. I much prefer Lancome’s tent idole.
NARS Multiple Orgasm… it doesn’t show up!!! I just see loads of sparkle in my cheeks, but no color. A total waste of money, especially when NARS is difficult to get where I live.
It shows up on me, but the glitter is one hot mess! I had glitter in my eyelashes, on my lips, on my clothes, in my hair…love the color but I’ve only worn it twice because of the mess. I love soft shimmer but HATE glitter!
I have a Smashbox eyeshadow palette/quad that just isn’t colors for me. And they don’t seem to go together all that well, either, which makes it hard for me to use them at all.
Bare Essentials Rockstar Eye set. It seemed like a good idea at the moment to buy but I never reach for those colors.
nars orgasm blush…waaayyy too glittery for me
I feel I should have skipped Chanel mimosa nail polish bc the wear of it is NOT AT ALL WHAT IT SHOULD BE FOR the cost!
Bare Minerals. I bought the starter kit for 65 dollars and it did nothing. I am not a foundation wearer , but this still turned me off. I promptly took it back
MUFE HD translucent powder, absolutely terrible, I’ve used several different brushes and the amount of it that I use and it always leaves me with a white cast on my face. Sometimes I use it to set my under eye concealer, anything else, no me gusta!
I returned mine for the exact same reason!
Ditto on the Benefit ‘foundation faker’ – it made me so orange my own housemate didn’t recognise me! I hated the elf studio tinted moisturiser at first, but now I’m my summer colour it is love – would be perfect for peeps with combination skin.
hmm probably MUFE Mat Velvet +. It was the first real liquid foundation i ever bought, so i dont know why i bought such an expensive one in the first place, but it dries really quickly and is hard to blend. It also looks pretty unnatural on the skin (i dont like being able to clearly see that someone is wearing a ton of foundation). I have fair skin and i perfectly match almost every brand’s lightest shade of skin products, but when i got this foundation in the lightest shade it made my skin look so monotone-fair that i looked like a ghost. Now a use a good coverage tinted moisturizer (THE BALM tm!) which is not my color but it looks really good! i still look light but more tan than before and it sooo natural. Wish i found that first 🙁
Oh geesh. Urban Decay mineral powder foundation and razor sharp powder. All the individual UD shadows I bought (I’m so over glitter, and MAC shadows are so much cheaper in the pans. Plus I get a lot of the same colors in their palettes). Two Stila e/s palettes. I thing I’ve used each of them twice. The shadows just aren’t pigmented enough.
Chanel shimmering touch gel have been sitting in my drawer for 5 years now.
definitely NARS sheer matte foundation. it just doesnt work for me AT ALL. ugh glad i got it with a sephora coupon though. also, MAC myth. only got it b/c everyone was going crazy over it but it made me look like a zombie, AND i just dont use lipsticks whatsoever. peer pressure? haha
For one, Urban Decay Book of Shadows III (not really that HE but was relatively expensive), I don’t know what I was thinking.. The colors are fun but I just can’t spend 45 minutes trying to prevent and/or remove glitter fallout from my entire face/body! Plus it is such a huge palette it takes up half of a drawer in my bathroom!
Another bad purchase by me would be the Urban Decay 24/7 Anniversary Eye Pencil Set. I loved all the colors at first but then I realized I really only wear browns/purples for eye liner if I wear it at all.
The Tarte matte lip stain and the UD lip stain. They did not stain.
Oh! Thanks for remindming me…I spent $20 on the Benetint/Clear gloss double ended thing and Benetint barely even tinted my lips! Huge waste of money, I haven’t even touched it since…
MAC Gone Romancin’ dazzleglass creme from the tartan tale collection. I’ve only used it once and feel like I gave in cuz it was LE….
I got these brazilian peel things at sephora a long time ago…before you could buy them separately and i spent about 80 dollars on them…idk i just didnt feel like it really did anything.
i regret purchasing chanel’s mat lumier foundation. it was okay but it turned white on my face and i couldn’t return it! then i found my hg foundation which happens to be revlon colorstay.
DiorShow Iconic Extreme Waterproof Mascara – flaked AND smudged.
NARS Mekong single eyeshadow – I love the colour but it’s so dark I find it difficult to use other than a liner shade so I’m never going to finish it!
Urban Decay’s Pore Perfection primer. Noticed absolutely no result except for making my face greasy (though not visibly, thankfully) and actually causing my foundation to seem to just vanish within an hour or two. Got it with a Sephora gift card last year for my birthday in June, still have over 3/4 of it left. Will only use it if my face is unbelievably dry, and even then I’m reluctant to risk it.
Lancome Hypnose Drama – kept melting onto my contact lenses!
Benefit “creaseless” cream eye shadows – crease like crazy!
Bare Escentuals makeup – my skin had a bad reaction to it – broke me out and just looked terrible
BOBBI BROWN CORRECTOR AND BOBBI BROWN CONCEALER KIT
Biggest waste of money EVER, it only last on me 1 hour !!!! after an hour i look even worst , i looked as if i have holes under my eyes !! and the horrible thing is that i live in australia and my dad sent it from US, so i cant return them!
1-Smashbox photo finish primer!! I hate this primer with a passion Lol.
2-All the bright MAC eyeshadows that i own, they get no love from me since i’m more of a neutral girl.
3-Urban Decay all nighter- did absolutely nothing for me.
Stila one-step correct primer. It doesn’t do any color correcting at all! I should have known better before I purchased it though…how can all those colors mixed together do anything? THEY DON’T!
The MAC Superglass …
I used to love it the first time I used it but then I realize it’s just a chunky glitter lipgloss that fall outs all over my face once it’s absorbed or dryed by my lips…. I hate it and could buy something better with that money …
Benefit Erase paste!! Creases like crazy!!
Also, Bourjois products are a big disappointment to me. I bought the mascara Coup de Theatre and frankly, I should stick with drugstore products that do the same effect for much cheaper. I also have a gloss that I never use and a blush that is frankly too hard, almost unusable.
my lancome pallet I dont like lancome very much but i thought id give them a shot so i tried an e/s pallet but it wasnt worth the price imo and 10 dollars more and it would have been a dior pallet
LaMer eye cream. Soooo not worth the $$$$ especially since I found Kiehls.
Most high-end mascaras! This is a personal preference though, but enlighten me, why would I spend a lot of money for something that should be replaced every 3 months? Who’s with me?
Also, no matter how much I love Urban Decay eye shadow, I refuse to buy their single eyeshadow. Why do I want to buy their singles while their more valuable set/palette provide many color selection with the exact same shade & quality with their singles? (even though I wish they didn’t put MCRA in EVERY SINGLE PALLETE, ugh!)
Nars Orgasm and Benefit’s Moonbeam. They were ok products but not what I had expected.
mac’s stereo rose; mac’s fix plus (I am using thermal water now and it’s much better); mac’s studiotech foundation; MUFE’s Mat velvet plus foundation
MAC is midrange but I purchased Marine Life and never use it, I just love my NARS and MAC mineralize blushes way better to reach for it. Also MSF in Petticoat, chunky red glitter is not a good look.
Most recently, (I’ve wasted a LOT of money on high-end stuff I hate) it would have to be the Smashbox Softshadow Palette. I knew they were supposed to be “soft” shades, but what you see is not what you get. Out of the 9 shadows, I use one and it’s the base color “Vanilla”. They just disappear on my eyes! This is for someone who wants to look like they have on no shadow at all!
MAC lipstick in Ramblin’ Rose. I don’t know what I was thinking! It’s just too frosty for my taste. That was a lesson in trying things on in-store.