If it’s a new, more innovative product, then I’ll give it a few tries per the brand’s instructions. If it’s a color or type of formula I know can be tricky, I’ll try it a few times. If it’s a pretty standard product (like a copper eyeshadow), then little to none – I’ll try it damp but with 1,000 dupes, I wouldn’t want to MAKE it work.
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I’ll give things a few tries before calling it. Sadly, I don’t have time in the mornings during my routine to take the extra steps to make a difficult product work.
Not too much. If it’s a product that, in theory, I should really like, I’ll give it a week, as I did with the Marc Jacobs Edgitorial palette but then if it’s still a lot of work for less than worthwhile results, back it goes or I pass it on to my daughter if it’s something she wants/likes.
This is highly mood related for me. Sometimes i’ll Tim Gunn a product in every conceivable way. Other times, i’ll give it away pretty quickly. Sometimes the process is driven by wanting to learn: e.g. used a beauty blender for a few days. Seldom averse to finding out which products play well with the daily necessities. And, yeah, it could be flow chart time again. Which of the layers gave that concealer a bad finish? Which concealer combo is best for not running mascara? Endless questions and curiosity. But some days it is hard to believe that I can turn m/u into some kind of cognitive/behavioral model.
I’ll give it a few tries, with and without primers, and using different application techniques. I might look up videos for tips. But after a few attempts, I’ll give up. But I might come back to it a few months later and try it again just to make sure.
I’m not willing to put much work in, if something is too hard to use I’ll just not use it. For instance, I love Revlon HD lipgloss in Rose Quartz, the color is perfect on me. But the brush applicator gets messy and because of that, I find I just don’t pick it up much.
For special occasions, I’ll be willing to put more work in, but not daily basis.
If I absolutely love the color /shade, then I may just try till the cows come home! Usually, however, if after trying several times using different methods of application (if feasible) , and it still doesn’t work, it gets returned. If I cannot return it, then it somehow lands in my makeup “graveyard” drawer.
Depends on the product but overall I give something a few tries in a two week period and if it doesn’t work it goes back to where it came from.
It probably isn’t the best practice but I tend to give HE brands that I have paid a premium for more , chances to work. I will try different base, primer, brush, etc. If I didn’t pay anything for the product and have other products that work better or are less finicky then hardly any. It is just easier for me to drop the $5 e/s into the garbage, give away bin or share with others. I don’t really return much if any makeup and so if I have paid $50 for that e/s then I am going to try and make it work.
I think if I have a lot of dupes then I shouldn’t have purchased the product anyway but that is just me.
It really depends on the product: if it’s an inexpensive lipstick, I will try it a few times and then toss.
If it’s a foundation, I will give it a week or two, rest it, then try again and toss (Rimmel’s Fresher face foundation is an example of this)
As per eye brow pencils, mascaras – I do put a bit of work into it to make them at least passable.
Eyeshadow palettes – 99.9% of the time only buy what’s been recommended here and has achieved a B+ or more rating, so I don’t generally have any problems ‘making’ them work. A few eyeshadows I have tossed in the recent past as a result of impulse buying some years ago. It doesn’t happen now.