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I’m more interested in seeing what brands you’ve just lost interest in over time vs. boycotting as a response here, but feel free to share either, of course. I have to be a bit choosier with what products I purchase from this year based on last year’s revenue, so I’ll likely reduce or eliminate some brands like REFY, Smashbox, Estee Lauder, etc. that are not as popular with readers as other brands.
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Definitely! Just this past year, I’ve dropped several more brands from my ever-expanding list of brands with which I am done: Jeffree Star, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Coloured Raine, Ofra, Dose of Colors. At this point, it’s easier to list the brands I still support.
Yes! This!
I keep WANTING to love Urban Decay but haven’t purchased a new product from them in a while. I always anticipate your reviews on them though.
I don’t see myself purchasing from Too Faced much, I feel like I’ve aged out of their demographic. Smashbox, Nars, Stilla, and Anastasia don’t hold the interest they used to for me either.
I am much more excited to see your high quality swatches of indie products or less popular products. I can usually find other sources for the mainstream Sephora brands, or whatever the hottest new product is, but high quality photos of Sydney Grace or Terra Moons are more difficult to come by.
I agree about Too Faced. They were my entry into prestige makeup, but I don’t even pay attention to their releases anymore.
I agree with everything you said, except I just started using the Nars concealer and I love it. I am so very late to that party it’s almost over, lol.
Gucci smells too strongly, UD is boring, I’m allergic to MAC.
I so agree about Gucci and UD!
Tom Ford, too expensive and not innovative enough.
MAC.
I was a MAC lover for years.
I feel they’ve gotten stale. There are so many other brands that offer exciting products.
I’m stepping away from Pat McGrath Labs because of their absolutely appalling customer service. Products not being shipped, no response from customer service etc
Hi Christine, I hope you don’t eliminate any brands as whole from your reviews, but rather focus instead on releases that look more promsing. For instance, Estee Lauder does some pretty lipsticks, and it would be a shame to miss out on your reviews of them. But maybe we can forgo reviews of their eyeshadow–unless of course they come out with something that seems particularly innovative.
On a tangentially related note, you must have heard the news that MAC is discontinuing their Back-to-MAC program. Why aren’t bloggers, influencers, and, for that matter, regular customers kicking and screaming about its cancellation? The program has been a significant role in my make-up purchases over the past years, and I have to believe that that must be the case for others as well. Maybe you can dedicate a post to it? Save Back-to-MAC!
Some brands are being eliminated entirely, and I will be scaling back on releases in general as I cannot afford to review at the scale I was in past years – I have to make major changes to sustain the site going forward. Sorry that I am unable to keep things the same!
Unless they make a very SERIOUS commitment to improving their quality, I’m sad to say, Urban Decay has pretty much lost my interest.
Also, I’m beginning to find ColourPop to be slipping lately. That along with their redundancy of shades (heck, they dupe THEMSELVES so much recently that it’s become a joke!), has my interest fading fast.
I’m not boycotting ColourPop, but I’ve gone from checking their new releases with interest to checking their inventory when they have an appealing sale (free shipping for a small order or a site-wide discount for a large order).
The repetition of their releases means that I no longer have a fear of missing out on a unique product. When I place an order twice a year, I end up filling boring little gaps in my collection: no more, no less. 🙂
I don’t care about Tom Ford personally. I also don’t need to see every Colourpop launch, especially the ones that are geared towards teens/tweens. I kind of like to see Urban Decay eyeshadows out of morbid curiosity though, lol.
Lol, I totally agree on the UD releases, I always have to see the swatches to confirm they still suck, deep down I think I’m secretly hoping something will have changed and it will be amazing:)
Maybe one day we’ll be surprised!
I’m moving away from all “clean” makeup. I know this is against the trend, but after having multiple products go bad in less than a year, I’m over it. I want preservatives in my makeup so I don’t have to worry about contamination. So off the top of my head: no Tower 28, Saie, and I only allow Kosas and Merit for their lip oils.
Totally agree about cosmetics and an effective preservative system! Who wants makeup with a short shelf-life that might harbor bacteria and fungi? Clean = dirty.
I’ve definitely moved away from CP’s endless eyeshadow palettes that are a dupe for the very many they have put out before. Still love their lipsticks though.
I can understand why you’ve moved away from the brands you mentioned above – EL was such an epic fail and they are still charging prices like they are the bees’ knees.
Urban Decay, Too Faced, Tarte, ABH even – are not just putting out the quality anymore.
Colourpop reviews aren’t interesting to me personally and there are a lot of them posted to the site. I stopped buying Colorpop products many years ago. The constant releases and recycling similar colors (when compared to their older releases) turned me off the brand. I also like more durable packaging and a lot of my Colourpop plastic palettes broke around the hinges. The eyeliners dried out quickly for me too. I agree their formulas and price point can be good, but I became less and less impressed over the years. Many of the mid-range brands such as MAC, Urban Decay, Too Faced, Estee Lauder, Tarte, etc. don’t excite me either.
I love seeing your indie and higher end luxury reviews because those can be hard to come by outside of Insta and TikTok. I think reviewing cosmetic brands from Asia would be neat!
ColourPop reviews generate more traffic than just about any other brand, so while I get that some readers aren’t into the brand if you look at comments alone, the majority of readers are very casual and come from search and do not leave comments, but traffic generated says that ColourPop is still a very popular brand.
I’m really in the place where I have to scale back and reduce or adjust to more affordable price points because I don’t have the budget to support what I have been reviewing. I’m very sorry!
Christine, what brands generate the most traffic?
ColourPop, MAC, and Chanel are usually the top three.
I’ve moved away from Urban Decay, Anastasia, Too Faced, Tarte, Huda… I’m deep diving into indie brands like Melt and Rituel de Fille instead. Much more interesting.
Tom Ford, boring and quality doesn’t justify the price. I’m more selective when purchasing Natasha Denona. Nothing against her quality I just found that I don’t love her newer palettes as much as I love the older ones.
Concur on ND’s newer palettes not inspiring me as much.
NARS and Urban Decay because they discontinue too often. I’ll add MAC for the same reason. It’s not fun to return to buy a favorite and it’s gone forever. I can see myself quickly becoming a Laura Mercier only buyer. Small and boring brand but few discontinues.
basically any brand you’ve done an ed opinion on a controversy is off my list. i’m also trying harder to stick more clean beauty brands that show more care towards their packaging
I buy only indie brands. Nothing high end and I find the quality better on almost everything.
Interesting question!
I am more over certain products vs brands and really just want to buy good products that i love. I really get annoyed w brands that have bad customer service when it comes to their ingredients. I have celiac disease and only use lip products i can vet out as gluten free and try to ensure other products are free of gluten as well that i use on my face. Some brands are terrible at answering ingredient questions. Telling me to show the list to my doctor. Its like NO. U make it u r responsible to understand whats in it. Like my doctor knows about cosmetic ingredients! Some of the worst have been estee lauder brands. Most recently la mer. My wallet doesnt need ur creams anyway. :).
I’m moving away from brands with a fast fashion model. The way that business model works is making me increasingly uncomfortable due to issues of waste, unethical conditions for workers and over consumption. I don’t know where this will lead me in 2023, but it’s early days.
Glossier, a lot of my core products were from the brand but they’ve been reformulating to pander to the “clean” paranoia and also changing a lot of products to vegan formulas. A lot of their stuff I can replace, but the balms is what kept them on my radar because the formula was perfect, but they went and pulled a Bite-maneuver and now it’s lanolin free. There are a million and a half balms out there that are lanolin free, yes I know about Lanolips but I preferred the bdc formula.
I’m staying away from brands that do animal testing (Nars, Clinique, Estee Lauder). There are just so many options to support that don’t do animal testing/sell in China. There are so many brands with a positive focus that are a better alternative. I’m interested in Hourglass, Charlotte Tilbury, Rare Beauty, and Tower 28.
KVD, although I actually like these products, I cannot in good conscience support an Anti vaxxer in the midst of a pandemic.
Yes!
I’ve lost interest in Too Faced unless they do an interesting palette like the first Pumpkin Spice or the unicorn one from a few years back. I’m disappointed in Urban Decay e/s but still want to see reviews in case they suddenly resurrect the quality! I’m most interested in PMG, Danessa Myricks, and indie brands.
Ditto on Too Faced and UD.
Tarte. Every time I look at their site I feel more shut out. They had FABULOUS lipstick and lip tints, but they discontinued them. They made my Ride or Die concealer (Sea Hydrocealer); but they discontinued that also. Their Amazonian Clay blushes are great but need a shade refresh. Shape Tape’s success brought a lot of people and goodwill to that brand, but they have squandered that universal appeal by narrowing their demographic so tightly that they’re ONLY focusing on the latest product for the TikTokTeens, and letting everything else flounder.
Urban Decay used to have the soul of an indie brand, but they’ve gotten so boring and staid I don’t even look at their stuff anymore. Plus, I’m sick of their product naming strategy. (Same can be said for NARS naming strategy- not edgy, not cute; cringeworthy, yes.)
Anastasia Beverly Hills. Not purchasing anything until she proves she’s not what she has shown herself to be: a Putin backer. (Sorry, that’s a boycott…)
Charlotte Tilbury. Is it just me, or does every release look the same as the last? (Save this new bright red affair).
MAC. They need to get their overall quality back on track. (Hey, that rhymes!)
Been trying to avoid CPop for the Harry Potter nonsense but unfortunately the price point and variety are both quite fitting for my lifestyle so I do sometimes fall short of my goal to leave them out. Estee’s target demo doesn’t fit me and what releases I do see from them seem very catered to things that are less formula variable (color makeup) and more skin type variable (base makeup and skincare); they’ve never been high on my list but I don’t feel like I’m missing out by not tracking them.
Overall no changes to brands I ignore or am not interested in; if anything I’m more keen on looking to see what brands will do to innovate (formulation wise) and expansions of color ranges (both for color and base makeup). As someone whose field of study is the “green” industry, I’m unfortunately a bit jaded about greenwashing and “clean” claims, so that rarely sways me. Let the false narrative of natural = clean die, please.
I’ve already moved away completely from so many in the past few years for various reasons.
This year, I see myself moving further away or even completely away from Too Faced, Urban Decay, Juvia’s Place, and MAC. Maybe Glam Lite: Their quality still appears to be good, but all the IP collabs aren’t doing it for me.
Chanel is probably my single most used brand on the day-to-day, but over the past year, they have been lacking direction and the latest collections have not enchanted me even though there have been good individual products released in these launches (such as the lip lacque 88 Rose Mystere even though the holiday collection otherwise did not interest me at all).
I believe they now have a new creative leadership trio and I am anxiously anticipating their spring collection: will it excite me or be just blah? How the spring collection turns out to be, is likely to have an impact on whether they can hold my interest for the rest of the year. The lipstick collection release in January makes me fear the worst: too many pinks for my taste, this collection could just as well have been dated 2010 instead of 2023.
All of the above will first and foremost impact my buying habits, but my blog reading habits will not change that quickly: out of deep-seated love for the brand, I am certain to follow the brand and read your Chanel posts for years to come.
I’m a Chanel loyalist, too, and if I read their press release correctly, we won’t see collections from the new creative trio until January 2024. I’m holding back on buying much this year with the hope that they’ll come out with some interesting things next year.
Thanks for letting us know that you will have to be choosier with the products you review and why. Although it’s unfortunate that the resources are limited, you have been a great reference over the years and I hope that your wise choices now will ensure that Temptalia remains viable for years to come. I don’t tend to comment much, but I have long been thankful to have your website as a resource. Thanks for the great work!
Don’t know how I missed Refy here, but never heard of them, so you’re making a wise decision there! 😉
Due to low funds as I begin a business (and the truth that I need no more makeup except replacing staples), I’m only looking like a window shopper at PML, Natasha Denona, and still dreaming of trying your fav Le Mer foundation.
Even I had the money, I doubt I’d go the Tod Ford, Dior or other high-end quad route, as they really don’t attract me much (never have even though I have one or two Doir eye shadow and brush products). I prefer Surratt (blush) and maybe trying Victoria Beckham’s eye shadows, quads or Danessa Myricks . (oops, loosing focus on what I’d let go, not pick up!! LOL!