What brands do you find least reliable in quality?
Too Faced and Urban Decay were the first brands that came to mind!
— Christine
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Too Faced and Stila. Both were brands I used to love but TooFaced lately looks like it’s aimed at pre-teen girls just venturing into makeup. Stila used to have such wonderful products but so many of them have been discontinued entirely with nothing even similar to replace them and their newer products seem very shiny (and this is coming from someone who loves sheen and shimmer) and lacking sophistication. But, to be honest, every single brand seems to have spectacular loser products along with spectacular winners (I couldn’t really answer the earlier question about most reliable brands for this very reason – some of the brands I love and drool over the most have some dismal releases as well; it’s one of the reasons the reviews here are such a meaningful guide for me).
Too faced and Stila were the ones that came to mind for me as well.
UD, Mac, MUFE, Colorpop and MUG, Bobbi Brown just to name a few.
I love Natasha Denona, but she can be very hit or miss too, it’s especially devastating at the high price point.
Melt – I love the brand overall but their palettes are so hit or miss. I don’t know why they keep tweaking the eye shadow formulas!
UD for the past 3-4 years, Too Faced forever, Tarte can be terribly inconsistent, too. Past year or so, ColourPop.
Too Faced and Maybelline. They have some good quality products, but they also have ones that disappoint terribly. Also, the worse part is that they are inconsistent for the same product; buy it once, it’s amazing, repurchase a couple of months after… absolute crap.
Urban Decay has an honorable mention here. Some years ago everything I would try from them was great quality. About 4 years ago something went downhill.
Too Faced is definitely my vote for least reliable. They remind me of the rhyme about the little girl with the little curl right in the middle of her forehead. When they’re good, they’re very, very good! But when they’re bad, they’re horrid.
Urban Decay used to be good, and I still like their 24/7 liners, the Naked 2 and 3 palettes, and their all-nighter primer. Their newer eyeshadow formula is more prone to causing irritation, which angers me for all kinds of reasons.
Clinique for me used to be reliably good (for color cosmetics); their Stay Matte foundation was my HG for many many years. They’re now reliably bad; the only makeup they haven’t tweaked and ruined are the Quickliners, and they don’t carry as many of the colors in those as they used to.
Most reliable IME is MAC. They have the most consistent formulas, cause the fewest allergies, and I can find something I like in every category from them.
For continuous misses, I would have to see ColourPop (if they’re not producing patchy mattes, they’re doing PET glitter) and Urban Decay.
All brands can produce a dud or two, but a few brands have improved over the past year or so (DIor comes to mind).
It’s really why we love this blog so, so much and because reading your reviews Christine, helps us to sort the chaff from the wheat…..Thank you so much.
NARS, NARS, and NARS. The most disappointing part is that you pay so much for rubbish packaging and poor performing products. I honestly wasn’t surprised when I saw the reviews on their recent holiday collection.
Everything from their pot concealer, afterglow balm, lipsticks (audacious and their regular line), matte skin tint, and blushes have been complete fails for me.
Melt came to mind first; they’re inconsistent not just from release to release, but from batch to batch. Also Stila, Urban Decay, Too Faced, Tarte, MAC, MUFE, and Huda Beauty.
You hit the nail on the head for me!
Among the brands in my collection: Nabla, Natasha Denona, Suqqu
colourpop