Are there types of packaging that frustrate you? Why? Do you purchase anyway?
I wish more moisturizers came in air-pump packaging or just pump packaging general, though I still buy them.
Thanks to CeeBee for today’s question!
Got a question idea? Submit yours here.
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
MAC’s Wonder Women Lipglass!! the squirting issue!! I still purchase it coz its a cool collection and the color rawks!
The MUFE HD Blush pumps way too much out. Great concept to use a pump as it is more hygenic but bad construction.
I always find that if you push it from the back of the pump, you can actually control how much comes out instead of pushing right at the front of the pump. I have yet to have any issues with it when I dispense the product this way 🙂
NARS!!! I love their products but thumbs down for the rubber surface on their packaging. :X
I’m the opposite on moisturizer packaging; I wish more of them came in squeeze tubes. =) I love just being able to throw them in a bag and go.
One frustration of mine is when expensive products come in not-so-durable cases. For example, the Too Faced Palettes are around 35-40 dollars and the package -looks- cute… but ultimately it’s made of cardboard. Not to mention that have some serious quality control issues with some of the little metal pots being glued in all crooked. I know you can return it, but it annoys me that they apparently didn’t care to fix the QC issue after spotting it in their first palettes of that design.
It would also be nice if Benefit cheek color boxes were made out of plastic just like their Hello Flawless foundation. My Bella Bamba is pretty, but I worry it’s going to get damaged.
I hate products that come with pumps. They always squirt too much out or get clogged and product is always wasted.
The old genie bottle Urban Decay Primer Potion! I sliced it open, scooped out the rest and had enough for another 2 months. I grabbed the squeeze tube version as soon as it came out!
I’m irked by anything with a doefoot applicator. I hate having to demolish the tube to whatever the applicator can’t reach. GRRRGGH@&#^%!!!
I don’t like moisturizers in jars. Also, may I take a moment to complain about the swords at the end of UD lipsticks? Whoever came up with those was PLOTTING to poke holes in all my jeans pockets. =[
Oh man, the swords on UD lipsticks. First they stab you in the hand while rummaging through your purse, then the sword breaks off and you have to claw the lipstick open. What a hassle.
I hate those swords! I dropped my lipstick once, the first day I had it, and now I have to pry the thing open with a safety pin to use it.
I thought I was the only that this happened to! UD some of the best lipsticks I have found but I swear that dagger is trying to kill me everytime i reach for it in my purse! Who would even think of something like that?
any kinds of liquid foundation without a pump… and no, i do not buy them, too much of a pain…
Right now MAC’s Pro Longwear concealer is the only thing that really frustrates me… it has a pump but pumps out way too much so there’s a ton of waste, and you can’t unscrew the thing to just take some from the bottle. It’s a pretty good concealer but if they don’t change the packaging I probably won’t buy it again.
Salome, if you ask at the MAC counter, they’ll give you an empty sample jar. I pump the concealer into the sample jar and use a 224 brush to apply it. The concealer will be fine for up to a week (even longer, really) in that little jar and nothing goes to waste! Not a perfect solution to a badly designed pump but it does work and the MAC ladies where I shop are now recommending this to customers frustrated by that pump!
Hi Mariella, I did what you suggested with my concealer a while ago. I don’t know if this is supposed to happen, but when I pump it out of the original container into a sample container, the product oxidizes like crazy! Would you say it is because of the container or because of the product? Thanks 🙂
Sorry, this should have been addressed to “Steph” (Salome’s post was what I was seeing on screen when I went to post my comment). Sorry, Steph!
Any bottled foundations that come without a pump! Recently I’ve bought Bobbi Brown’s Moisture Rich foundation and it’s so messy to use without a pump.
I´m with you! I hate jar packaging for moisturizers!
the Benefit boxes, and Estee Lauders heavy glass bottle for their double wear foundation, i must have bought 20 bottles in the past and i get angry everytime, it weighs a ton and you cant cut it open like you could a tube and i really need to as at £25.00 its too expensive to leave a scrap of it unused it the bottle. grrrrr. Estee Lauder please change the bottle, even if it was still glass they could make it a pump top so you dont pour too much out everytime.
I hate glass packaging. It’s frustrating to see that amount of product go to waste.
It has to be Urban Decay Primer Potion. It is such a great product but in order to get anywhere near all the product that you’re paying for, you have to resort to surgery, carpentry, tools and prying apart which is just ridiculous. If Too Faced can get a tube to work, why can’t UD?
MAC Wonder Woman. I didn’t purchase anything from the collection cos of the lame packaging.
UGH! Jar packaging!! That stuff is the devil. It makes things unsanitary, and if any of the ingredients are sensitive to light and/or air, continuously exposing them to these elements will greatly reduce their potency and potential abilities. For example, anti-wrinkle creams… I mean yeah, jar packaging may look nice, but the cream themselves will be less and less effective with each opening. Not cool at all.
Any foundation in a bottle with just a hole in the top. I try to avoid foundations that don’t have a pump or a squeezy tube.
Strangely, almost all “drugstore” foundations here in the UK have a pump or tube. Revlon Colourstay in the major exception. It’s high-end foundations that don’t have pumps!
The MAC Prep + Prime Face Protect SPF 50 because the plastic tube is so tough and hard to squeeze out. I’m sure there are others but I’m drawing a blank here at the moment! LOL
Oh yeah people quite a few posts ago complained about the packaging for the MAC Pro Longwear Concealer and yeah, I say that it should be in a plastic bottle and not a glass one as some people here said it broke on the floor, and people complained about the pump giving you barely anything, or too much, but for me thank goodness its pump hasn’t been too bad.
I hate it when moisturizers and foundations are in these bottles where you have to tip it over to get the product – like the NARS Sheer Glow/Sheer Matte – I have to buy the pump separately.
I also dislike the tub packaging of moisturizers where you dip your fingers to get the product, even if you use a spatula it’s still non hygienic.
I also don’t like makeup palettes where cream and powder formulas are combined. It’s really messy when powders get stuck on the creams
packaging that doesn’t show you what’s on the inside, like NARS and lipsticks. I wish NARS did what the ELF Studio line did, and I was all lipsticks had that little block of colour on the bottom like the NYX Round lipsticks.
The mac blush compacts.. Freakin tops pop off!!
I don’t like metallic tubes. Mac paints are notorious for spilling. You lose so much product out of an already small amount. I would keep repurchasing because it works and just transfer the spills into a different container…
Jar packaging, jar packaging, jar packaging. Glosses in pots. Ugh!
While I love the convenience of pumps, I hate that sometimes the pumps get stuck and when you give it a hard press the product basically explodes out and gets all over everything. I’m also not too fond of things with wands because it’s not the most sanitary. It can’t be helped with mascara, but I wish more lipglosses came in a squeeze tube.
Oh yeah! The kind of packaging that keeps half the product inside but won’t let you reach it, like UD eye primer potion!! Or the tubes that won’t deliver product but repaint your bathroom completely if you squeeze harder…
I agree with moisturizers needing pumps, I still need it so I’ll buy it regardless, but surely there is something less than hygienic about jars
YES!!! Firstly, the hair triggers on MAC Pro Longwear. I know there are ways around it but MAC should look into some new packaging. Also I wish my eye makeup remover had a pump lid like my Clinique toner. It’s so easy to dispense! It has one of those lids where it has holes and you push it down and it dispenses the perfect amount of product. <3
Foundations without pumps or squeeze tubes. I hate when you have to dump it on your hand and get WAY to much!
I hate the foundations that come in glass bottles with huge openings! It just doesn’t make sense and so many companies do this.
Philosophy 3-in-1’s…wish they ALL came with a pump, or a better delivery system. You should see me in the shower with the big bottle. I look like an SNL skit!
I really think that the fluidline/paint pot glass pots can’t actually close all the way because they dry up so darn fast!
my painterly is the only one out of three paint pots and two fluidlines to do this and it irks me so bad! why would only ONE of these products do this?? so bizarre and it really perturbs me!!
I prefer pump packaging for everything liquid. The one issue I have is with is mac pro longwear concealer. Pumps to much out. >__<
Plastic clamshell packaging. GIANT containers for a small amount of product; they’re misleading and waste space for travel. I also don’t like opaque packaging for liquid/lotions/creams because it’s difficult to know when you need to buy more.
UDPP drives me nuts. Even with the new wand shape I feel like I can’t I’m not getting all the product!
nars nars nars! dirt magnets! 🙁
urban decay packaging in general makes me mad…such a waste of product for the primer…and the palettes…they make me feel like im 12 wearing fake make up. I also dislike the glass in the paint pots…
I wish more drugstore foundations (and some higher-end ones) came with a pump. I think the only one that does is Revlon Photoready.
I’m really starting to think that I’m the only person in the world who hates sifter lids.
My luck with them has either been that the holes are too small, and nothing comes out (and me having to pry the drat thing off, usually making a mess), or the holes are too big and there’s no point to having one in there.
You’re definitely not alone! I think I just blocked them out of my consciousness, I hate them so much. =p
yesssss sifter lids make me so mad. i hate it when the tump over and product goes everywhere when the lid opens. or when you shake it a little to get some product out and a ton comes flying out. bahh.
I agree! To alleviate the problem of holes that are too big or lids with too many holes, I tape off half (or more) of the holes to prevent too much of the product coming out.
I don’t like anything flip top. They never flip nice, so I have to pry it open with my nails and inevitably chip off my polish. A product that comes to mind is my FAB face cleanser. Loooove the product, but I chip a nail on it every time I use it (which is once or twice a day)
I basically hate everything but squeeze tubes, jars and air pump packaging (that actually dispenses a reasonable amount) 😛 I like to know I’ve weaseled every last screed of product out of the container!
hate MAC e/s packaging. the plastic lid comes off after a few times .
I wish Revlon Colorstay foundation came with a pump! I feel like I’m wasting so much of it plus it makes a huge mess. I still buy because I love everything else about it (color, coverage, SPF = perfect!) but PLEASE make it with a pump soon, Revlon!
I hate anything that makes you demolish the packaging just to get your money’s worth of product. I also hate pumps that dispense way too much product or just jam.
I actually don’t dislike jar packaging, except when the opening is so tiny that I can’t get my finger in. I don’t see the hygiene issue – if my hands are going into skincare or makeup products they are going to be as clean as possible anyways.
I hate when palettes have both powder and cream products in them, the creams/glosses always end up unusable after the first few uses, such a waste.
Also serum bottles you can’t see through, i understand some serums are light sensitive but could they even put a little see through line down the back or something just so i can see when I need to start saving for my next bottle.
I hate it when you struggle so hard to open a pressed powder that it snaps back and you drop it or stick your finger right into it. The cheaper eyeshadows like NYC are especially bad.
Oh, and loose powders that dont have a screen or something over them. I always feel like I waste so much of my MAC pigments this way
I really dislike the new packaging for Bare Minerals products. You can hardly get the product out. I know it’s supposed to help with the product spilling out, but it seems like it’s designed to keep the product in there forever. There’s always product left in the bottom of the jar, but it never seems to want to come out.
The wonder woman lip glasses (really wanted Emancipation by that extra large lip wand turned me off), UDPP’s genie bottle, and that my mac paint pots never seem to close tightly and end up dried out.
Funnily enough I don’t really like the pump packaging. There’s always loads left at the end that you cannot get to. So frustrating…
Oooh, lets see…
Square jars. I don’t know why but I prefer round! That L’Oreal Mousse Foundation jar is SO huge and awkward looking and I’m pretty sure it has only about 20mL (but I could be wrong)…
Pumps that DON’T work – they stick, block, gunge up, dispense too much or not enough – I find that more annoying than not having a pump in the first place.
Lip glosses with fiber brushes – I always try and be careful not to splay the bristles out but once they’re bent there is no going back – I always find they apply rather gloopily as well.
Compact hinges that are too loose so the lid flops around.
Flimsy plastic pencil caps that are too loose and slide off.
Compact mirrors that are too small or have a warp in them – so annoying! I carry a separate mirror because it bugs me so much!
lipglosses in tube Mac always squease out so much and iam dont even sqeaceing it..
Christine, is it because of hygenic reasons that you like pumps? I actually don’t like pumps becuase some pumps are hard to control portions, and i sometimes end up asting product. I much rather use jars.
On that note, I hate the jars that freakin’ heavy! I freak oout every time I accidentally drop the jar afraid of denting my floor. I’m such a klutz!
I prefer pumps for hygienic reasons but also because I like knowing that I need X pumps of whatever product and can be consistent about it!
omg, so many… UDPPs tube, mac paint pots and fluidlines (i feel like the lid should be air tight), foundations and moisturizers that come in a jar with no pump, and actually the Urban Decay Palettes… I just butchered and depotted my naked palette into a unii palette, because the UD palette way getting really ugly
oh and lipglosses that come with doe foot applicators! brush please!
Tokidoki Cromatico Eyeshadows. So much packaging, so little product!
This is not so much a makeup product, but the new mirrors that come with Sephora gift cards are SO hard to open! I make my friends do it for me because it ruins my nail polish haha!
Moisturizers in jars and pumps that pump out WAY too much at one time no matter how you work it.
Body washes in those recycled plastic containers that are too thin to hold, always denting up and just slip out my hands!
I hate it when things come in hard to open {sticky} compacts. Unless I want to break a nail I have to open them with tweezers
Easy…the lip gloss pens that make you click the end of the pen 467 times before you can see product coming out, at which point it ALL comes out. Then the extra goop stays in the brush and gets all tacky, so you get a gummy goo-ball next time you reach for it. Stila lip glaze, the Cherry Crush stain, and a Flirt lip gloss I bought on a whim…EVIL. I know you’re supposed to click slowly, and I’ve been very patient, but it’s never not a mess.
The older Chanel Glossimers and Dior Addict glosses were really good at leaking in my bag, but lately we’ve been cool. My precious “A Rush of Raspberries” must always be upright!
Agreed.
And I also don’t like squeezy tube lip glosses – difficult to apply neatly, you always squeeze out more than you need (and have to wipe your finger on something), and then they leak in your bag!
Doe-foot lip glosses FTW!
Sifter jars drive me crazy. I can’t even take it to the gym without way too much product coming out, let alone travel with it (and for something expensive like MUFE HD finishing powder… no way am I waisting any of it)
I also hate lipglosses that come in jars. Needing to get my finger sticky in order to use it kinda turns me off the product.
*Mac’s products cost enough to have mirrors,especially msf and blush.
*Cargo tins pop open and have no mirrors and cost enough to have them
*Cardboard cheap benefit boxes are horrible for purses
*Big clunky packaging like the new Covergirl powders and Lise Watier
*Rubber packaging like Nars,gets dirty and feels cheap
1. SHRINK WRAP!!!!!!!! Especially around pencils. URG!!!!! They always manage to ruin my manicure. It. Drives. Me. MAD!!!!
2. UDPP.
3. Screw Caps that are twisted too tight. I’m guaranteed to make a mess.
4. Clicky pens that take forever for the product to come to the surface (or never come out period).
But the shrink wrap is the most annoying. HATE shrink wrap.
I hate most of drugstore packaging cause they out stickers of the prices on the product and the sticker hardly comes off on top of the product.
I dont like lipglosses where you have to squeeze to get the product.
I hate foundations w/o pump & moisturizer in a jar! Please, if those companies won’t provide a pump, at least sell your foundation/moisturizer in a squeeze bottle! We don’t have to buy separate pump, you know…!