What was the last hyped-up product you were unimpressed with?

Bite Beauty Power Move Lipstick was a disappointment in general but also personally since the Amuse Bouche formula was a favorite.

— Christine

31 Comments

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Mariella Avatar

I’ve anticipated eagerly BITE bringing back traditional lipsticks so I’ve also shared that disappointment (though I don’t know if “overly hyped” applies for me as much as “overly anticipated”). For me, it’s probably those Hourglass “Curator” (is this now another word for “pretentious”?) eye shadow singles. The price is outrageous and a lot of the reviews I’ve read are very much of the “The Emperor has no clothes” variety, though some people do love them and feel they’ve found their ultimate “one and done/never need another eyeshadow for the rest of my life” product.

Erica Avatar

Quite honestly I think those curator thing from Hourglass was just the epitome of outrage marketing. Like they came out with them to get people upset, intrigued and talking about HG again. Stans will insist a mediocre product is good and the price is worth it just so they can feel exclusive. Others will rant and rave. But other people will look to buy other HG stuff bc they are reminded of them again. And HG will keep them around for a bit and quietly take them away. That’s my hot take but it’s Covid and I have a lot of time to think about such a ridiculous concept 😉🤣

Mariella Avatar

I’ve had a serious bee in my bonnet about Hourglass for a good 5 years or more, so their shoddy faux exclusivity (really just customer rip-off tactics) don’t affect me except to reaffirm my dislike of the company. I’d love it if others would “wise up” because customers deserve to be treated better.

Z Avatar

I was all “no way” until getting to the end of your post and you’ve swayed me, madam. I 100% buy that as their marketing tactic.

Erica Avatar

I’m trying to figure out long term how does this release work for HG? I mean $161 plus tax for 5 grams of eyeshadow, a cheap tin compact and boring neutrals? I mean people will spend $$ on luxury but you have to give them something that makes it worth it. Gorgeous packaging? High quality shadows? Unique shades and textures? It just doesn’t add up. They sell a premade palette and give you ~7 g of eyeshadow for $58. Their 6 pan face palette gives ~ 11 grams and only costs $80. So wait, you want someone to pay nearly double what they charge for a face palette for half the amount of product? And for this to make sense for HG, you have to keep getting your customers buying eyeshadow so who would do that at these prices? Oh got it, your long term plan isn’t to get people buying your eyeshadow. You just wanted to get their attention. Bad attention is still attention and who cares as long as people are buying HG again. They employ some really shady business practices which def makes me question purchasing them!

Stephanie Avatar

Quite frankly, any Charlottes Tilbury colour product I’ve tried. The face palette I bought was unpigmented and uninspired. I sold the one I had purchased. I’ve only tried samples of the lipsticks but any one I’ve tried (several, I’m stubborn) pulled grey on me. I will say I like the powder I purchased.

Erica Avatar

Anything Charlotte Tilbury except the Hollywood Flawless Filter esp her eyeshadow, blush and lipstick. It’s so hyped and it’s so mediocre and the packaging is tacky and cheap af. I don’t hate it but it’s more like wah wah . Puzzling as to why it’s so hyped and not criticized more lol

Erica Avatar

Yes of course makeup is subjective. And I do like what I have from Charlotte Tilbury. But it seems people act like CT stans and that CT is ride or die for them and idk given such hype, I want a bit more. Everything is just ok to me. Nothing from her makes her a top tier, top 5 brand for me. And esp since she continuously just released the same color stories over and over lol

Helene Avatar

I actually agree. I think I’ve picked my favourites out of her brand, everyday eyeshadows and lipsticks that sits well on my lips. One of my goes-with-everything lipsticks is het MI Kiss, formerly known as Bond Girl. I even ordered a back up as mine is almost used up.
I think she rides a lot on Hollywood, moviestars and models and ass they look good so do we.
I should add, just because it was such a major fail for me. My worst powder brush ever is from CT, scratchy and it shreds.

Lucie Avatar

Ditto on the Bite. This isn’t even me being a spoilsport about it not being Amuse Bouche. Bite, across the board, was almost universally A-level with some B products. It was very rare they had a dud in the bunch and the few they had tended to be in more experimental or limited products rather than their core line. They were consistently excellent and I often took a chance on things from them that I wasn’t 100% sure of because I knew no matter what the quality and performance would be excellent. If this new formula had been as consistently excellent as all of their previous bullet lipsticks, I would have been ecstatic even though it isn’t exactly what I wanted. But not only is nothing in their new line exceptional (despite the wait and apparently three years of work), it’s also inconsistent across the line. This just isn’t the kind of formula that really works in all shade ranges and at least MAC has some better performers for $7.00 less.

Also, the UD Prince collection. Hyped in general although I think people who have followed UD for awhile knew not to get their hopes up.

Celesta Avatar

I, admittedly, am a spoilsport about the new Bite lipsticks 😂😂😂
Bite had SUCH a good formula. And the formula before that, the Luminous Cremes, were heavenly. I don’t know what happened, but it happened in the wrong direction and I’m sort of bitter about it, lol. They were my favorite lipstick brand. But I am finding some consolation in Revlon lipsticks… and those are much less expensive, too.

Brian Avatar

Auric Glow Lust. I don’t like the texture and I think the dewiness is very underwhelming. I have several comparable products that I prefer so much more, the Becca Dewing Skin Tint, the CT Flawless Filter, Glossier Future Dew, MAC strobe cream, Milani Soft Focus Glow, I even have an elf glowy moisturizer I prefer. The Glow Lust just feels thick and gross on my skin and doesn’t give me an effect that is worth how awful my skin feels when its on.

Lune Avatar

The old Fenty mattemoiselles. They reviewed as hit or miss here, but Youtubers talked them up like they were all so moisturizing and wore so well that I gave them a chance. I don’t know why I expected more from mattes in unusual colors, but they are so much drier and wear way less gracefully than my creams. For clearance bin prices, though, I’m not unhappy. They are super cute for experimenting and wear just fine when mixed with cream lipstick.

Ana Maria Avatar

I rarely try new products nowadays, so it’s hard to be disappointed. 😅

But honestly I can’t get over how unimpressed I was with the Charlotte Tilbury products I tried. The biggest one was the powder, I still cringe when people praise it and show how they hit pan on their n-th one.

Not makeup related, but I’m also unimpressed by Briogeo and Olaplex. They are so hyped, but they did nothing for my hair. The Briogeo hair mask was worse than most drugstore conditioners… and my hair doesn’t even need that much conditioning; I can’t see someone with drier hair actually finding it enough.

Erica Avatar

Unpopular opinion but I think Colourpop has degraded in quality esp since they took this fast fashion approach. The quality when they first started making pressed eyeshadow was great. Yes Please was so good. But everything I’ve tried from them since had been underwhelming and I’ve decluttered. People rave about Going Coconuts and say it’s their fav palette but I was so disappointed. The quality was not there. The shimmers are terrible and the rest just ok. I gave it away. Really wish they’d slow down their releases and go back to better quality. Just not there at the moment imo

Rebekah Avatar

NARS Soft Matte foundation. Every oily skinned reviewer I follow seemed to love it. It looked so cakey and awful on me, no matter what I did. I had to return it.

Helene Avatar

These days most PMG stuff. Sorry, I know so many love her products. I just find that there are brands like SG and Clionadh who makes eyeshadows that work much better for me. Her matte lipstick are awful on my lips, I don’t know why but they dry my lips out worse than MAC Ruby Woo, that won the price for most drying lipstick for me before I tried PMG.
Otherwise I don’t know what is hyped up these days as I don’t follow influencers at all.

Genevieve Avatar

I wasn’t a great fan of the original Bite Beauty Amuse Bouche lipsticks as I thought they tugged on my lips when applying, but the new ones are a huge disappointment.
Another big disappointment has been the latest offerings, in eyeshadows, from UD – Wild West? just woeful.
CP’s latest have just been rehashes of all the pink and ditsy shades that they have released in the past.

Jane Avatar

PMG Mothership I Subliminal. It took me quite some time to learn how to appreciate it. It’s a lovely color scheme, but when I stumbled upon a Kiko dupe for the Blitz Blue that works so much better, well, I was let down. I do very much like the palette though and am glad I have it, but for the cost I was disappointed with the performance of the special shades and appreciated the mattes and box more.

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