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Have you ever done a look that's just failed in every way?

Have you ever done a look that’s just failed in every way? Share your duds!

I remember my first time using pink eyeshadow (I think it was MAC Sushi Flower, for the most part), and both my parents asked if I had been crying!

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Janet Avatar

Haha, I fail at using pink eyeshadow as well. But, I’d have to say my biggest fail was… attempting a frosty blue smoky eye. 80’s revival, anyone?

Nicole Avatar

Oh man. I’m embarrassed just thinking about it. When I was 19, I was getting more into makeup because I was working in a law office for the summer. I remember once wearing a bright purple eyeshadow all over my lids, but I had NO CONCEPT of blending at all then! I didn’t even own makeup brushes at that point, just sponge tips! It makes me cringe thinking of that today. I’m much more a neutral girl now. LOL.

Christine Avatar

The first time I tried doing a sunset look was a mess! I over blended and all the colors ended up muddy. Then I proceeded to screw up while applying my eyeliner. It wasn’t a good look.

Suzanne Avatar

Even with something like the Mac Penultimate? I have one by an Indian brand – Lakme and it makes the cat-eye so so easy. If your tips are askew here’s how you can do it: line your eyes until the outer corners. Draw one dot where you want the wing to end and draw another dot for where you want the tip of the other eye to end. Don’t connect them just yet – check whether both dots are aligned. If they’re a bit off, it’s easier to wipe off a dot than a whole turned-up tip and start again. Fill them in only when you’re convinced you’ve got it right. 🙂

Michelle Avatar

Yes I tried MAC’s Penultimate liner as well and it still was crooked.

I’m definitely gonna give the “connect the dots” method a try. Thanks for the tip!

Lizziey Avatar

Oh yes. SO many times. I have about 30 MAC pigments, and a 120 palette, and I can never figure out which colors won’t make me look like Crayola puked on me. 🙁

Chanel Avatar

One big makeup fail that I had was the first time I tried to rock a blue eyeshadow. I tried to do a smoky eye with black in the corners and crease. It looked like I just got knocked out by Mike Tyson.

Anjali Avatar

Ha – I have Sushi Flower & I cannot make that color work for the life of me. It is a nightmare to blend as well. Looks beautiful in the pan, but impossible. I’ve since taken it out of my palette. Boo…$11 wasted.

Hannah Avatar

I recently just did a pink look with cranberry blended in the crease. Which didn’t look too awful until I put some under my lower lash line. I looked like I had a disease. Bad news.

tg Avatar

Back when my m/u addiction first began, I played with colors with no fear and was always doing looks, some successful and some complete failures. Now I get gun shy. I play it safe and use bright colors only as liner and rarely do a look with shadow that requires more than two easily blended shades. It’s like I’m frozen with fear at messing up and having to wash it off, thus irritating my eyes and making them wrinkly. Plus I don’t have a lot of lid space to work in, so most tutorials won’t help me and it frustrates me to no end. I begin obsessing about it, wondering if there’s plastic surgery to give me space between my brows and eye so I don’t look like a neanderthal, etc., etc.

Whew, wrote a book here. I think I’d just like to pickle all my cosmetics and display them like trophies. They’d be better served that way. 😉

Heather C. Avatar

YES!! I’m so used to using bright colors, the first (and a couple times after) I tried doing neutral looks I ended up looking I like I was extremely sleep deprived. I’ve learned that packing on browns is not a good look for me. lol

Bettina Avatar

I used post haste on the outer corners of my eyes once for a look and my dad asked me what’s wrong with your eye? and my mom turned and said is that pink eye?

Miss Silver Avatar

Hm… I did try yellow and blue eyeshadow from my 120 palette for a look. My boyfriend said “you better not be leaving the house like that.” Eek! Scrubbed my face clean after that.

Rosanna Avatar

According to fall makeup trends reported by Allure, Chocolate eyeshadow haloed by light/medium Pink eyeshadow are in.

Fail. Every time I try this look, I end up muddying the pink – not to mention the colour combo looks slightly weird. I’ll keep trying because I haven’t tried everything just yet but it isn’t as easy as I thought it would be!

I remember in 10th grade, I wore MAC Hepcat eyeshadow all over the lid and faded up into my crease (I’m an asian monolid) to school and my friends said I looked like an Asian Goth >_> NEVER AGAIN. MAC Hepcat is beautiful but it’s bit of a bruisy colour on me- I know how to work it now though!

Samantha Avatar

Oh yes! When I first *really* got into makeup.. like more than eyeliner, mascara & lipgloss. I bought MAC’s ‘bang on blue’.. whenever that came out, 3.5 years ago-ish I believe. And I was so excited to wear it, it was my first bright colored eyeshadow from mac.. well I wore that alone, just all over my lids. It looked awful but I didn’t realize it at the time, lucky for me though, it was a friends birthday and there’s a few pictures of me from that day. I looked like Mimi from the drew carry show.

Blue eyeshadows really don’t suit me very well, but I tried to make them for a long time.

Fiona Avatar

When I first started with makeup, I would never use eyeliner or mascara, just eyeshadow I had no one to teach me (my mom was never much of a makeup person, in fact, now I teach her!) and so I would just pile on bright makeup, and then wonder why it didn’t look so good. Thank God I never actually did it with pink eyeshadow, I probably would have looked awful! Pink is a really hard color to work with unless you know what you’re doing.

Melanie Avatar

Yes…one day I wore Prized and Burmese Beauty from the Burmese Beauty Quad, and my eyes looked so red, as if I’ve been crying all night 🙂 I guess, Burmese Beauty is just not an eyeshadow for me 🙂

Erica Avatar

Probably the first time I put makeup on my eyes? I caked on some really thick foundation and put a whole lot of brown eyeshadows on my lids. There was no mascara; maybe just a wee bit eyeliner. Terrible!

Mar Avatar

Absolutely!
When I was about fourteen, I bought a dark purple lipstick. Really dark, like black. Everytime I wore it, people called me ‘Corpse’ and asked if I died because I looked so pale LOL.
Not a big succes, obviously!

Marinella Avatar

My first amazing Dior eyeshadow palette was a didaster, back then I thought the product was really bad cause I couldn’t keep it on…well, at that time I wasn’t that good with make up at all, no clue on how to apply eyeshadow! My bad, definitely, I wasn’t using any base for my eyes! That palette was used again after a little experience and is on of the most beautiful palette I have in my stash…

Jenna Avatar

I seem to never learn. But when I use a paintpot as a base.. and use a pigment from beauty from the earth wet. It always looks SO wrong. haha.

Nilufar Avatar

LOL! Ive had days like that. One day i was wearing loads of makeup and everyone at work was telling me how beautiful my skin was. and then the next day i wore hardly any makeup and everyone at work was asking me how come i was wearing so much makeup!

Kathy Avatar

For me, it’s any look that involves black eyeliner. I know it sounds strange, but I don’t feel like I can pull off black eyeliner at all! It looks awful on me!

Katie Avatar

I feel like when I do my makeup as usual, it always comes out just the way I like it but when I’m trying hard to make it perfect (like for a special event or something), disaster strikes (for example, I’ll get spider eyes and blink too hard, then all my mascara is everywhere but my eyes!). I work a lot better when I’m not trying so hard.

Amber Avatar

Yes!!! When I had first gotten my coastal scents 88 pallete I tried a green look. WOW I went way to heavy it was awful. Thank goodness it was at night and only the man saw me.

Lauren Avatar

This weekend I used Mac Woodwinked eye shadow all over the lid with a brown base. I should have stopped there. I had to add the new Chanel taupey brown colour into the crease. Maybe I could have stopped there. I kept going. I added a brown gel liner wing that for whatever reason kept growing and growing to a thick line. I then began to wipe and blend, and blend and blend. Finally satisfied with the result and running out of time, I went out for the night. Once I saw the first picture I knew it was all a big mistake. My eye makeup made me look like an angry terra cotta warrior and my lips were so pale that I looked like I had the flu. Anyone who said that Chanel eye shadows “blends like a dream” obviously has some sort of magic touch that I lack. I looked like I had been punched in the face. I should also say that I am very fair with golden blonde hair and grey eyes. My face make up was BE Matte and I did not put enough blush on either. I just looked sickly. Lol.

erieli Avatar

hm yeah! its so frustrating! it happens to me from time to time, either im in a bad mood or not inspired at all. i usually take it all off and neglect those items that made me look like a clown! cus i had nothing to do with that mess. lol

Leah Uridge Avatar

My first year of wearing makeup, I would always wear black matte shadow all over and thickly line my eyes. I looked like a demon. I’m 17 now and I prefer more neutrals.

Tiffany C. Avatar

i have to be careful when i use sushi flower or it’ll look like i have pink eye, LOL!!! I can’t use it too close to my inner corner or on the bottom lash line. I’ve been using it in the crease and outer 1/3 of my eye with Going Bananas on the entire lid. The sushi flower looks pink in the crease but on the outer 1/3 it takes on a pretty light orange colors since it’s on top of Going Bananas. Sushi Flower was my very first MAC eyeshadow which i got 4 years ago!!

Vanessa Avatar

This question just made me laugh out loud at work! The first time I ever tried to do a smokey eye with gray, black, and white was a disaster!!! I looked like i was going for a goth halloween look (I definitely wasnt) 🙂

Rachel Avatar

pink eye shadow definitely.They made my eyes puffy and my friends asked if I had been crying. I think the eyeshadow I used was from Clinique, for the record, and I was even happy coz this one is not lasting at all so I basically get it removed easily WITH WATER during class break.

Lisanne Avatar

Oh yes, many! I experiment a lot with colors, especially from my 88 palette. But they don’t always work out the way I want them too. Although I had more failures in the beginning. These days I usually know how to make it work 🙂

knownever Avatar

Unfortunately, the first look I did with She Who Dares fell pretty flat. too bad i realized that after getting home from the bar rather than noticing when I first did it. it seems to always happen that way that you think something looks great and then realize ugh!

JD Avatar

This happened to me yesterday! I couldn’t find my Amber Lights e/s so I tried to duplicate it with a couple of other colours…it was horrendous. I applied my eyeliner too thick and was in a hurry to get to work so I just left it all on and avoided mirrors…

Christine shen Avatar

I fail at using white eyeliner in the water line, I thought it was suppose to make your eyes look more awake and wide, but instead it makes my eyes even smaller.

Thincspot Avatar

One Christmas I wore MAC Cranberry on the outer v of my eye and some frosty white color on the lid (to dress in “the season”). Every picture from that night looks like my eyes were bruised and in pain. WORST look I’ve ever done.

Lauryn Avatar

LOL! I JUST had this happen to me! I had gotten some new colors and really REALLY wanted to do a green/yellow cut crease look. I used FICTION to cut the crease, spring up, chrome yellow and something else, i can’t remember the name, but NO WAY did this look good-AT ALL. FICTION would NOT blend, Chrome yellow looked TERRIBLE with SPRING UP. Oy..horrible.

Alisha in WI Avatar

Yes, it was a smokey eye that was too smokey or something. Then I used a clear gloss and that was a bad idea. Just bad, looked like I was punched in the face. For whatever reason, I have no problems with pink although I don’t own Sushi Flower.

Mia Avatar

Similar story, I used Swish eyeshadow on the lid and Pink Freeze in the corner of the eye, mascara but not a lash curler, no eyeliner…my eyes looked so small, people told me that I looked really sick. :/

Bettynova Avatar

Mar and Lauren I almost died laughin readin your comments girls.
😀

My big fail was well is when I wear green eyeshadow. I look like some zombie movie reject.
Also no neutral lips for me.

Serena Avatar

When i was young i was into strange looks, badly blended [no brushes at all] and with too much eyeliner!
My back then favourites? Black eyeliner and lots of dramatic RED eyeshadow on my lower waterline OR a mix of grey and purple with black eyeliner too.
AND black lipstick.

I kind of re-do them sometimes right now, with with a nude lip and very toned down!

Alicia Avatar

I bought Mac’s Love Lace eyeshadow last winter, hoping to pull off a pretty navy blue winter look. I actually looked like I had 2 black eyes! Dark blue just did not work for me!

Yelena Tischenko Avatar

black eyeshadow to create a smokey eye! ahh everytime i tried it its just a fail all around. haha it looks like I literally had a black eye. terrible terrible 🙁

Angel ♥ Dazzle Me Avatar

Hmmm… tried black lipstick (that was a no) and then in high school tried to do the chola thing with the dark liner and lighter lips (that was also a no…)…

Charlene Avatar

I have been trying to do a red, purple, blue look and for the life of me I cant do it. But I am going to keep trying LOL
Also every Halloween I try orange and black and it looks HORRIBLE on me. I just cant get it right. But I am going to keep trying that too.

margo Avatar

PIGMENTS. ALWAYS APPLY THEM WITH A HEAVY HAND AND LOOK LIKE A CIRCUS CLOWN OR A LADY OF THE NIGHT AND AT AN OLDER AGE THAT IS REALLY HORRID……………………..

CeeBee Avatar

Copper and medium blue e/s combo. With black liner, no blush and I couldn’t figure out what lipstick looked OK with it (answer: none) so went with a glossy nude and pretty much looked like I’d escaped from a zombie mental asylum…

Brenda Avatar

yep…before a party I was trying to use a face chart from MAC. I didn’t have the right products and was winging it for dupes. It came out such a muddy mess!!! I had to wash my face and go with my own look and all ended well.

Gia Avatar

I have to say i’m my own worst enemy. I will HATE something I do and think I messed it up only to go out and get so many compliments. For instance when my dad got remarried I did a smokey eye with hints of pink in it. and I was a nervous wreck on how it turned out but in pics,(even the prof. photographers) it looked great!

However the one big mistake was my friend and I went on a quick shopping trip so I added some light purple eyeliner for a fun lil quick thing. Turns out the light purple looks red under the lights and turned me into a red eye victim… badd

dallasbrowneeyes Avatar

When I first started wearing mascara in 6th grade, I would always rub my eyes by midday and have huge black circles under my eyes!! Yuk!!!

Kalee Avatar

yea, sometimes that happens. im a hairdresser and the salon i work at doesnt have a makeup rule. i can do whatever crazy colors i want (tastefully, though, not drag-queenish) so if i want to use bright colors and do something i havent tried before, i will practice at night, just in case.
– the pink eyeshadow problem is a big one for me, i have to make sure i dont go overboard with it, also any purples that are too red based dont work well if im not careful.
– the red lips dont work for me, not because i cant find a good red, but unfortunately because i smoke throughout the day and sip my coffee, so it fades quick and thats sooo noticeable with red and touch-ups are a biiiiiiitch!!

Christy Avatar

I bought a light orange lipgloss because it was a hot color that season and it looked horrible with my NC20 skin.
Cat eyes and liquid liner looks horrible on me too it’s always a disaster.

Tina Avatar

I usually fail at pink too, but Phyrra has a beautiful look with Fyrinnae’s Rapunzel Had Extensions and a pink color in the corner that looks good on me. The first time I put on Aromaleigh’s elemental lustres, they looked horrid on me. I tried to put on 5 different colors and be like the makeup bloggers, and I didn’t blend them properly. The look was horrid.

hannah:) Avatar

Hi temptalia- I’ve had so many of those days because i get frustrated lol. i can never think of a good look. how do you come up with so many original ideas?
xo, hannah

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