What was the last purchase you regret? Why?
Smith & Cult cream blushes… they were awful.
— Christine
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Bought one of the smaller Pat McGrath palettes because I really liked the first one I got, but this one I thought the colors were nothing special. I probably won’t ever wear it because I have a lot of palettes I like better.
Me, too! I was terribly underwhelmed by the Platinum Bronze palette. Never pick it up….
Which one did you get? I got the Sublime Bronze Temptation not too long ago, haven’t used it yet.
Not gonna lie, it’s been a very long time since i was disappointed because i’ve stopped buying makeup a lot. I prefer to finish it and then buy it. The nars liquid highlighter was really a dud to me.
For me, it would be spending $100 on 5 Pat McGrath eyeshadows, only because I didn’t need them and I was only stress shopping after a bad week at work. Plus, I’m trying not to wear eyeshadow right now because my eyelids are recovering from some eczema. So I can’t even use them for a while!
Viseart Cashmere Theory – stealth glitter bombs in the shimmer shades. Even when applied with fingertips. So disappointing and plan to return.
So good to know. I was looking at that during the recent Sephora sale.
At Marshall’s, I picked up a bottle of Frederic Fekkai hair stuff that sounded like it would give a gorgeous tropical scent and lots of shine to my hair. It did neither. I’m glad I paid very little for it. Makeup wise, probably the Marc Jacobs Edgitorial palette which I returned as it was just too pricey to keep when it was such a dud.
Róen 52° palette.
I kicked myself for falling for the hype, but every review of the palette was incredibly vague, so my findings were a surprise.
Three of the shades had the same chunky silver glitter, and you couldn’t tell the base colours apart on the eye. The glitter fall-down was awful too. The glitter looked so flat and inelegant on the eye that I was left scratching my head as to why everyone has raved about the palettes.
Returned.
Thanks so much for sharing I have been holding off buying the palettes because I’m broke hahaha, but have also been so tempted by them
Good to know! That brand seems to be new.
I was eye balling that one. Thanks for saving me some wasted time!
VDL Lumilayer Primer. I never use it. I thought I would wear it on its own, but after putting on sunscreen I don’t want another liquid layer on top of it. When I don’t go outside and don’t wear sunscreen, I don’t end up wearing it because I forget to. I don’t think it does that much, to be honest. It doesn’t prevent the oil on my face from eating off my makeup, and it doesn’t really smooth out my skin texture either. Maybe it would work better on someone who has drier skin, but for me it’s expensive scented moisturizer.
Urban Decay Born To Run palette; this isn’t so much a “regret” as it is an “I could have done without it” purchase.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s absolutely gorgeous, and the quality is there. However, it’s very similar to the BeBella Pro Basic Beau’s palette, I tend to only use the left side of the palette, and the specific shades that made me purchase it can be found in the UD Troublemaker palette. Because of how I personally store my palettes, the two aforementioned palettes tend to just be more convenient.
As for actual “regrets”, I’d have to say all my Too Faced 9-pan palettes from several years ago. At the time, I had a job in a bank, so they did “work” for me, but I ended up leaving shortly after, and I realized I needed more “impact” with my shadows. Again, they weren’t “bad” products, but I should probably declutter them at this point. I did depot them, thinking I’d reach for them more, but to be completely honest, I don’t even know exactly where they are…
Ace Beauté Oceanic Palette. Man, this one makes me want to cry. I bought it thinking that this was the perfect answer to my wanting either J*’s Blue Blood palette or any number of blue and green themed palettes floating around. Well, it is pigmented, I’ll give it that! The only catch is that it it can get stuck in an area and not blend out very nicely or easily. Because the colors themselves are so beautiful, I’m going to keep trying to work with it by bringing in lighter greens, aquas and possibly even MAC Copperplate to use as transition shades UNDERNEATH the mid-tone Oceanic shades to get a much smoother seamless fade instead of a harsh edge.
Other than that, even worse was the 2 pieces of Ulta’s Frida Kahlo collection. Sooo bad and unredeemable! Unlike Oceanic, I’m not sure these will serve as anything else but mementos.
I wanted to try the Ace Beaute one so bad, but I couldn’t find very much information on it at all. I have Blue Blood and it’s okay, but I like Menagerie’s Whalesong better. I guess it depends on what you want in a blue palette. Lots of blues and a couple teal? Probably Blue Blood. Easier to use? Whalesong. If you don’t like bulky packaging I would not recommend Blue Blood. It’s so hard to store.
The softer shades in Menagerie Whalesong probably would have worked better in application for me. The only reason I didn’t get it instead was that the lighter blues are truly BLUE, no matte aquas or enough teal in them. Barnacle is a beautiful deep dusty teal, though!
UPDATE: the lighter mint matte in Huda Emerald worked fabulously at being a perfect base transition shade underneath the vivid turquoise matte in Oceanic Palette! Now, does this mean that Ace Beauté Oceanic Palette is something if rave about or recommend? No, probably not unless one is willing to work with it and pull in lighter transition shades if necessary. But thankfully, at least it is workable!
I’m glad you got it workable. I’m so sorry it was giving you problems.
The ELF Poreless Putty Primer (waxy) and an Essence liquid eyeliner (started “skipping” within 5 uses). Less than $10 lost, but I’ve learned it’s better to wait for 50% off deals on Benefit Porefessional and Stila’s Stay All Day liquid liner.
Otherwise it was the Bite Beauty Longwear Lip Stain in Orange Fizz. I felt disappointed each time it faded from bright orange (love) to bright fuchsia (pass).
I think it would have to be the RCMA Kehoe foundation palette. Since my neutral skin can look cool or warm depending on the day and time of year, and it was on sale, I figured I could mix it in to my zinc oxide based sunscreens and get a little skin tone even-ing as well. But the combination was too thick, my skin looked better with just the sunscreen, and it was a pain to clean off at end of day.
Charlotte Tilbury’s Flawless Filter. It wasn’t really a regret so much as it turned out to be superfluous. I’m not quite sure why I yielded to the impulse to try it because my normal foundations are for dry skin and already have a luminous satin finish. I guess I was just curious as to why so many people regraded it as a HG product. I passed it on to my twenty-something niece who uses it as a subtle highlighter. Her normal foundation is one of those long-wear matte things so the bit of extra glow on her lovely cheekbones is quite attractive.
I had the same opinion on the powder. But I kind of actually regret it… not that bad… but it’s far from ‘basic’ quality… HG status is far from my experience. But different people have different needs and preferences.
In looking back over my years of buying makeup real regrets have been few and at least for the past ten years I can name them all.
1. Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Mascara: smears, flakes and doesn’t do anything special
2. Charlotte Tilbury Vintage Vamp e/s palette: blends into a murky mess. I have tried different brushes, barely blending, not blending, blending out with different shadows, nothing works. For the price it’s a real dud.
3. Tom Ford Honeymoon Eye Quad: See CT above
4. Charlotte Tilbury Eyes to Mesmerize in both Marie Antoinette and Rose Gold:They are nothing special. I don’t have any trouble with eye shadows creasing and these crease within a couple of hours. The colours are nothing to write home about and if I want shimmer on my lids, and I do, there are much better options, even at the drug store.
Deborah, you just reminded me that I have another regretful purchase: CT Cat Eyes To Hypnotize in Silver Leopard. Crease city! Such a beautiful shade, though. Unfortunately, it doesn’t hold up on my lids for more than a few hours before I see it dissolving in my crease. Eeeww yucky! ?
I just looked at it Nancy and it is a beautiful shade. It is more of a grey silver rather than a tinsle like silver. I like the shade a lot but I steer pretty clear of CT except for lipsticks, lip liners and Filmstar Bronze and Glow. Just not a big fan and honestly, it is petty I know, but I hate that “Darlings” every time she writes something or says anything. It just sounds so phony to me. Wouldn’t stop me from buying something if it was decent quality, though.
It’s my most recent regret, but I don’t know how long ago I purchased it: A peel that I ran across a week or so ago when I was cleaning and organizing my cupboard. I had never used it (and had apparently lost track of it); when I reviewed the label to see what I needed to do to start using it, I noticed the ingredients list included menthol. Not sure how I didn’t notice that before I bought it. Who though it was a good idea to put a known irritant in a product that already has a high potential for irritation? No idea what I paid for it, but I threw it away without ever opening the bottle.
I’m sorry to say that I regret my purchase of the Natasha Denona Lila Palette. I know, I know, people LOVE this palette, but it’s just way out of my comfort zone. I have tried and tried to make it work, but it’s just too bright and glittery for my taste and aging eyes. Also, one of the shades causes a little burning when used with a damp brush. Any suggestions on using this palette without looking clownish? I have green eyes, so it should work for me….
Hi Priscilla,
Don’t know how much you’d be willing to fuss w/application, but here are a few things I do to make brighter shadows work for me:
– use as eyeliner w/ stiff, thin eyeliner brush, either dampened w/ water, duraline, or as is. Can also do just part of the line in a bright ( I do it over my iris) or as a bottom liner a la Christine)
– layer it over a neutral shadow, usually darker, to soften the color
– use a dab at center of lid w/ neutral or darker shades on either side, as you might use a shimmer for a halo effect
– as a blush, or mixed w/ blush/highlighter you already have
Hope that helps make it salvageable!
None very recently, since I have started to be more mindful of my shopping habits – the last one was probably NARS All Day Luminous foundation six months ago, it was much too luminous and the shade was wrong for me so I passed it on very quickly.
Both Marc Jacobs:
The blush looked like a horrid chalky powder on me. It didn’t adhere to my skin at all and just looked awful
The eyeliners were another horrid disappointment. Didn’t last more than an hour.
Thankfully I could return them both, and I did!
Which blush was that? I just bought a Marc Jacobs Air Blush, haven’t tried it yet. ?
Oh god, the eyeliners of Marc Jacobs! totally horrible (except for a couple in the glitter range). Irritating, and as you say, max, an hour. And I have a bunch of them and they make me cry.
My Naked Heat palette. First item I’ve bought from UD. No pigmentation. Chalky. Worst U$80 spent in anything (Brazil).
UD Born to Run palette.
I know screeds of other people LOVED it but it just does absolutely nothing for me. I’ve tried several times and I don’t know if it’s just me lacking in inspiration or creativity but it just leaves me cold each time. 🙁
I bought a few lipsticks thinking I’d try colors outside of my comfort zone, change things up a bit – a pale neutral, a bright matte pink and a grey-leaning brown. The quality is fine, the colors are just not for me. I reasoned at the time that if I had a matching eye look, I would wear them. Nope. Even with the matching eye looks, I don’t like the lipsticks on me.
A few years ago I went apey with Nordstrom’s Mascara Madness sale. I wanted to try all sorts of mascaras from luxe brands, so I bought quite a bit. Trying to get through all of them before the expiration date was stressful and took some of the joy out of exploring new brands. After working through all of them, I still like MAC Haute & Naughty best.
Chanel Le Teint Ultra Tenue Compact Foundation
Barely has any coverage, tends to look cakey when applied, can be patchy and difficult to blend out, and does not wear well—after my skin oils up, it looks like an unflattering, shiny beige layer on top of my skin (esp. my nose) and transfers/smudges/wears off if I touch it. Also, the compact doesn’t open all the way up, which is inconvenient because I’m myopic.
End of rant LOL. I’d be interested in hearing others’ experiences with this powder foundation.
I think I regret the Mac Love lipstick in My Little Secret. It feels lovely on, but it’s clownish and unsophisticated.
Revlon’s Cherries in the Snow lipstick. For some reason, I’d never had this classic in my collection, so I bought it on a National Lipstick Day sale. It’s not the beautiful, bright reddish fuchsia that it turns on everyone else. On me, its a raspberry shade. It’s pretty, but not what I was expecting or hoping for. At least it was cheap!
I know I already left a comment on your other post about Revlon’s cherries in the snow. I also had the same terrible experience when I bought Revlon fire and ice because I read it was so iconic. It also didn’t work on me, it was a very bright orange which yellowed my teeth!
What rotten luck! I don’t think I’ve ever tried Fire and Ice.
Yes, those blushes were awful. What a waste of money for you Christine.
My latest regret is the Bite Beauty lipstick in Maple – on Christine it looked more of a chilli shade, which is what I was after. On me it looks a dark berry red….not happy.