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What was the last beauty product you regret buying?
Tarte Buried Treasure palette – so bad!
— Christine
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Probably UD Moondust, even though it was on sale. And Modern Renaissance. Both very pretty, but I doubt I will be using them very much and my palette storage is bursting at the seams.
CP Yin to Your Yang. Think mine was a one-off. Mine was quite worse than yours, and kind of Subculture-y. It’s the only real dud of the year, though.
Colourpop Highlighter in Freak Like Me. Too glittery for my taste.
Thanks to checking for reviews here first, I can honestly say I don’t remember. I don’t have any duds in my collection. ?
Wait, scratch that – I just saw an ad for Tatcha something or other and it reminded me. I bought their toner water or magic rice water or whatever it is and that did absolutely nothing for me.
There’s not too much makeup I regret buying because I do a lot of research on the item! Your blog is an excellent resource as well as numerous YouTube channels! But the one item that is subpar and didn’t live up to my expectations was the Bare Minerals Invisible Glow highlighter! The name says it all! Invisible!! It’s suppose to give an illuminating appearance to the skin but it doesn’t work! I really have to pile it on to even notice it! It swatched well on my skin when I tested at Ulta. This is why I don’t necessarily trust swatches. Need to see how they perform!
Velour lashes sinful.. too much! I look like an old ugly drag queen.
Too Faced Peach My Cheeks Melting Powder Blush in Peach Berry.
Too Faced peach glow kit. There is hardly any pigment.
The new Huda foundation and primer. First application using them together was absurdly difficult. there’s no slip in the primer and the foundation sets very quickly. The foundation literally emphasized every single line I have and looked like it created new ones! I tried it again over the Smashbox primer and while the application was much better, within about 3 hours, the foundation was beginning to settle in my fine lines. It wore better than with the Huda primer but really just not a good look. I would suggest that if you have any lines at all, avoid this foundation.
One of Too Faced’s holiday sets from last year, and it was SO bad that it gave me the kick in the pants I needed to be more careful and less of an impulse buyer. Now I can truthfully say that most palettes look like re-runs to me, and are things I don’t need or want.
Thanks to Temptalia, it’s been awhile since I have made a regrettable purchase. Probably Tom Ford Honeymoon eyeshadow quad — it’s how I learned that shimmery shadows are not best on me. A fine if expensive product, but just not for me. I gifted it to a friend who was delighted to have it.
I agree!
Yet there is the quad from MAC Kabuki Magic that, despite the bad review (which I agree with!) I still don’t regret buying.
Glitter, even though a pain in the butt, is always a good idea. It makes me happy when I see it and use it, that a bit of fallout is, seriously, the last of my concerns 🙂
Barbs
I got on a kick that I needed blue lipstick.
I went to the drugstore and bought NYX Liquid Suede in Jet. The color was nice, but I didn’t like the texture. So I went to MAC and bought MAC Matte Royal. After getting it home and trying it on, I decided it was too dark and would not read as blue in evening lighting.
I went back to MAC to speak with a MUA, who proceeded to smoothly talk me into buying MAC Dreampot to mix together with Matte Royal. The two shades did create a really pretty mid-tone blue, so I’ll give her that.
But in the end, I just don’t have the right skin tone to carry off blue lipstick. So I wasted money on three blue lipsticks.
I love this story. I did something similar when I was on a gray-toned smoky eye kick. I finally de-cluttered all the duplicates (there was a lot!) when I realized that my dissatisfaction didn’t come from the color scheme but rather I prefer the look to be shimmery. And that flimsy packaging (drugstore) drove me nuts.
Same problem here with blue lipstick, Seraphine. I bought CP So Wavy around a year and a half ago. It just does not look right with my olive undertones at all. Then again, true cool blues are hard for me to wear, period. Even in a top or a dress.
Ooh, So Wavy is so pretty! I can pull off purple lipstick, such as MAC Men Love Mystery or Heroine, which I own and love, but when the shade has too much blue in it, it looks terrible on me. Same with greige lipsticks. I bought CP Mess Around awhile back and it makes me look like a corpse.
It’s been awhile ago, but it was the first thing that came to mind. I bought the Meteorites in Dore (dark), and should have exchanged it for Clair (medium). Since then, I haven’t purchased the Claire because I have a Dior Nude powder that I really love (now discontinued) and it gives a similar effect as Clair. I got 3 samples of Clair from Sephora 2-3 years ago (maybe 18 pearls total) and added them to the Dore. It’s better, but still so-so. Maybe I’ll separate out some of the darker pearls. Who knows? Just wishing I had returned the darn Dore for the Clair. What was I thinking? Oh, I bought it in the summer, lol, and I don’t like bronzer. I’ve regretted it since the first fall after I bought it. (On principle, because of the $$$.)
UD 24/7 eyeliner. They last on seemingly everyone else but me. I bought several, but thankfully they were on sale at Macy’s for $10. I’ll use them up when I know I won’t be out long, but I won’t be buying ever again.
They don’t last on me, either. I bought a few of them several years ago, but I never use them because they just don’t last more than a couple hours at the most.
They don’t last on me either, but I have yet to find a pencil eyeliner that lasts (on the top waterline) on me.
Buried Treasure palette too cause I bought it before I read Christine’s post ??♀️
A lipstick in the Fenty Beauty collection. It was super tiny and really not what I expected – frosty rather than glittery. I returned it the same day I received my order!
Oh and also a liquid eyeshadow and metallic eyeliner from Wet n Wild Midnight Mermaid collection. I should have known better, but both are unwearable. The liquid shadow is atrocious, impossible to diffuse and causing major fallout, super patchy even over a black base. The eyeliner dried out and became thick and goopy within a week. I also got a liquid lipstick from that collection, and while the applicator makes it hard to create clean edges, the lipstick itself is pretty (a dark teal, I’ll never wear but it’s beautiful, lol!). The only item from this collection I think is really a hit is the highlighter.
Becca Soft Light Blurring Powder, way too peach/orange and not suitable for a finishing powder which is what I purchased it for.
Forgot about my Charlotte Tilbury Vintage Vamp e/s palette. Expensive shadows for a muddy mess when blended.
Same here! It’s been sitting in my drawer ever since I got it because it just doesn’t work for me.
Such a disappointment 🙁
I purchased the Fenty blotting paper, when I looked at it I just thought it was too much for just being blotting paper, lol! So I returned it without even opening it.
I also regret getting another foundation (Tarte’s Amazonian Clay) right after I had bought Fenty. I don’t know why I got it since I’ve been liking Fenty. However I do feel like I need to “prep my skin” so much for the Fenty, I can only wear it when I have time.
Also, I purchased another concealer (the Urban Decay one) and I have so many that I don’t use regularly…
Too Faced Matte Chocolate Chip Eyeshadow Palette purchased last year in December. Half of the shades were so dry that they were impossible to blend. But the scent though… I was getting watery eyes in a matter of seconds; it was impossible to keep the eyeshadows on the lids.
No regrettable beauty purchase this year though (so far). I bought way less beauty products but I chose very carefully.
That is, without question, the second worst palette I’ve ever purchased. The absolute worst was the white chocolate version. It was atrocious in every way.
Not sure if it’s the most recent, but it’s the most memorable. This summer, I bought the Nars x Charlotte Gainsbourg hydrating skin tint, and three things went wrong pretty much at once: 1. It didn’t look all that great on me, 2. I stopped wearing foundation altogether, and 3. Nars lost its cruelty free status. I waited too long and couldn’t return it (I wanted to make it work), so now I’m stuck with this base product that I don’t use and don’t really like, from a brand I don’t support. I’m much less impulsive now though.
Because I already have a great skincare regimen for my sensitive, oilier, trouble ladden skin: what the *what* was I thinking of getting that huge Sephora Skin Wonderland box??? So far, I’ve only used the Foreo Play, FAB Coconut Skin Smoothie Priming Moiturizer and will, of course, use the Ole Henrikson Truth Serum. Working up my nerve to try some of the rest, but telling myself that this was a stupid purchase!
Oh! I forgot: KVD K-Dub ELL. Beautiful color, but NOT on me, though! Yikes, it makes my skin have a sick looking greenish cast…butt ugly! ?
I regret an entire category, not any one product in particular. The category I now regret is frosted or satin eye shadows. Yep, the entire category.
The regret is due to my co-worker Trish. She wears lots of satins and shimmers. She is my age minus one. Every day I look at her and all I can see are the crinkles and wrinkles that are exacerbated and highlighted by that type of shadow. It does not enhance. All it does it look fake-y and wrinkly. (She applies nicely, for the record.)
I came home from work a few weeks ago wearing my Tom Ford Nude Dip. It’s lovely, no doubt. But in the mirror the effect was the same as my friend Trish. Oh no, no, no — no good.
To each her own. Satin and shimmer it OUT, all day long if that is your ride. But for me in my late 50s, that crinkly look is not what I’m after. Sadly, the satin, shimmer trend is OUT for me — or at least relegated to only a brightening in the center. Mattes are much, much MUCH for forgiving, enhancing, and youthful.
I am learning how to use mattes better, and how to appreciate what they do for me. It’s not easy, but for what I’m after in the eye makeup game, my age has dictated this change. Sigh.
I’m with you all the way on the Buried Treasure palette. It looks nothing like the promo photos, and the colors are just a glittery mess. I’ve never returned anything so quickly!
Marc Jacobs Edgitorial palette….I regretted it so much that I returned it.
A couple of duds – the Bourjois Healthy Mix foundation in light vanila – too neutral a base, but still wearable.
Generally I don’t have eyeshadow failures anymore, since I have been following this blog, but I did buy a Dior Navy Design quint a long time ago and that was really poor.
The Tarte Pro palette. I’m quite fair so all I can get out of it is smoky looks. It’s a bit much for everyday wear and it takes me a long time to apply since I’m really slow ans precise when doing bold looks. The formula and wear are great quality but it’s not the best for me.
It does not happen often, so I actually struggled with the answer, but I could easily live without Holy, Holy paint from MAC and Copycat Lip lip top coat from UD. Kinda regret I caved in.
KVD Requiem. I have admired & swatched it for so long. I tried it on in Sephora a few times & took pics. I loved it. It looks like such a pretty, pinkish, lavender nude. I finally bought it. I put it on to wear out & it looked totally different. It was way too pale for me & I am very fair. It must be different lighting or something. I think I will return it. I may be having the same issue with UD Solstice. It is one of the most beautiful, unique shadows I’ve ever seen. I have been reading about it & swatching in stores for years. I finally bought it, & it looks so strange on me. Usually reddish shades look good on me. Maybe it is the green, or maybe there is too much glitter in it for me. The glitter also gets all over my face. I will play with them both more before deciding.
The KvD Rock Candy mini lipstick collection. Most were cool toned, as I am, so I assumed they’d look great on me. Alas, no. The lipsticks looked like they were wearing me instead of the other way round; some had a clownish effect and others looked like I was one of the Walking Dead. I tried blending shades together in an effort to make them work, but no such luck. No more impulse buys for me, then.