Is there a product or formula you keep buying even though it doesn't work for you?
Is there a product or formula you keep buying even though it doesn’t work for you? Share!
Dior eyeshadow palettes.
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No! I am way too fond of trying new things and there are way too many fish in the cosmetics sea for me to do this!
Uh no. If it doesn’t work, I stop buying it. Too many other options out there!
Well I gave NARS products more tries than I probably should have, people are always raving about the brand and the products get mostly decent reviews, but with the exception of Albatross I’ve ended up returning everything.
Other than that no if something doesn’t work or irritates me I avoid it in the future.
I feel the same!!
Haha! I could have answered that one FOR you! Everytime I see a review for one of those things I go, “No! Stop doing this to yourself!” LOL But secretly I also love to read them haha xo
MAC Retro Matte! it’s not look good on me after two or three hours when I wear this retro matte lipsticks,dry my lips like no tomorrow but dang! I just love the finished and keep buying them while thinking “somedays it will work out for you,darling” LOL
Light nude, lt. pinky or peachy nude lipsticks! As n MAC Blankety and Pure Zen or Maybelline Blushing Bud. It’s not that I cannot wear them, but that I must doctor them up with darker lip liner and lipgloss or else it looks seriously weird and like I died or something! I don’t know why I keep buying them when I have a few perfect nude shades that are skintone appropriate, like MAC Marque and Spirit or Nyx Eurotrash…
Yes, Maybelline Color Tattoo cream eyeshadows. I know a lot of people love them but they don’t work so well for me. I find them hard to blend, dry and often uneven, although some of the LE colors have completely different textures. I probably own at least half a dozen by now, and not a single one wowed me. I actually forced myself NOT to buy the spring LE shades because once again, I was tempted…
BB creams!
Somehow MAC prolongwear concealer doesn’t work for me but I keep buying it since it looks good in pictures and lasts all day long without creasing. Although I would prefer something better than that.
Nope. I’ll try everything once but if it doesn’t work I’m not buying it again.
I’m the same. When a beauty product I don’t want doesn’t work, I just feel so betrayed. And I never want to have to go through that again.
Christine, do you think you’d keep buying them if you didn’t have this blog? I guess for me, it’s probably MAC’s Luster finish eyeshadows. I don’t have all that many of them but still, I do buy them because they look so pretty in the pan but are a pain to work with and the “pan beauty” doesn’t transfer to the eyes so they require more work to get the shadows to look as nice as I think they’re going to look.
Okay, this is annoying. MAC’s website was never great (product colours were often way off and the print was often very hard to read and things like brushes didn’t show up well – black on black? Who thought THAT would be a good idea?). But I HATE the newly revamped site. I can’t for the life of me see how you can search shadows or anything “by finish”, which used to be not just possible but also pretty easy. Am I missing something, folks? Does anyone know how to search blushes, shadows, lip products, etc. “by finish”? Am I missing something or is this no longer possible. If it’s not, what a royal pain!
I think this is a current complaint I’ve heard a few times re: finish.
I went over there to check to see just which shadows I have that are Lustre (I know Caviar Dreams is but it was LE so wouldn’t be there and I know Tempting and I think Greensmoke is but I wanted to check others, only to find they don’t seem to offer that option any more). This is SUPER annoying, especially for things like lipstick (I’m sure we all have finishes we love or don’t like) and blushes and, actually, just about EVERYTHING. What the heck is wrong with them – redo a site and make it even uglier, harder to navigate (maybe it’s just me needing time to adjust) but also a whole lot less helpful/useful.
That was pretty much the best feature about the old site, that you could search by finish! I’m so mad they got rid of it.
the new site is awful!
Ha – so it’s not just me! I wonder what the heck they were thinking. It’s like they got some amateur working out of his garage – “I’ll do your website for less than $100” – to redesign it. I need to “contact them” to complain. Maybe we all should.
I have many issues with the new website and contacted them the day of the launch. That same day they offered the $10 off promo code. I stated in my message that I would not be using the $10 off as the website was not easy to navigate or have a professional look. And even as an avid MAC user, I have not used the promo code despite their desperate marketing ploys. It seems that the company has suddenly become unprofessional. I have been wearing MAC for 12 years and have never known them to have a sale. Their marketing is starting to seem like Origins. I see nothing wrong with a promo or new website, but they failed with their attempt. Very much so. I might be headed over to brands that are accessed easier or are just better in many respects (such as MUFE, Nars, Charlotte Tilbury, and Hourglass).
I got that email for the $10 discount and was gobsmacked. My first thought was “MAC must be hurting for business” because they NEVER, NEVER have any sort of buyer incentive (except B2M) – no GWP offers, no “get a free lipstick with every purchase over $50” and certainly no discount prices on their “good-byes” items. If we here are hating the site, I guess there must be tens of thousands out in the wider world also hating it and letting them know. I sure hope they’ll change it and bring back that feature. I can live with the general ugliness of the site if they bring back the “search by finish” option.
Maybe, but I would start returning products I didn’t like more often if I wasn’t a blogger!
I bought a Maybelline creamy matte lipstick and since have bought a few other types of their lipstick – only to find the others aren’t at all the same as the mattes! But I keep trying because, I think, they are cheap.
Rose gold, copper, and other warmly pink toned eyeshadow. So pretty! And those colors work on my lips and cheeks! Why not on eyes? Cry cry.
– L’oreal nail polishes- just doesn’t want to stay on my nails ever. No matter what I do, so I just gave a whole bunch away to my sister recently. But… I know I’ll end up buying another one soon. 😛 I just really like their color selection and the bottle shape.
EOS lip balms. They work for the first 10 minutes and then nothin’. I think they make my lips drier :/
I do this too for some odd reason. I think I’m a sucker for the cute packaging.
I bought the red one and the smell made me so nauseous and did absolutely nothing for my lips anyway. I never throw away things that don’t work for me. I just hoard them thinking one day I will wish I didn’t throw it away. But that product was the only exception. Threw it away and haven’t looked back since haha.
YES. I like the flavors and the shape is great for purses, but they dry me out!
Their shape is amazing for finding in the bottom of a bag! but sadly, it’s the packaging that is their only strength 🙁 And I fell for it LOL!
They don’t work for me either, I always wondered why people seem to love them so much!
Heck no. If it doesn’t work I’ll usually throw it away rather than finish it, and I definitely won’t buy it again. There’s too much else out there to try!
I’m with you, Dior Eyeshadows. It’s that I want them to work so badly–they look so pretty in the palette, they’re Dior! But no, and I won’t learn.
BB and CC creams. They never work for me, but I’m always up for trying the next new one. I really need stop.
No way! Years ago I bought a Too Faced eye shadow palette that was awful and haven’t purchased a single item from them since.
Maybe nail polish, pastel formulas and some Essie polishes are streaky and hard to work with.
liquid lipsticks! (I haven’t bought the same brand more than once, but the same product) I keep wanting to like them because they’re so in right now, but I’ve always had issues with dry lips. I could slather on as much lipbalm as I wanted before I put them on, but in about an hour, I have the Sahara desert of crust on my mouth. I’ve learned to like glossier finishes lol
Oh yes liquid lipsticks. I know better. But I still bought one just last week. Sephora in 01 Always Red. So pretty and velvety. I’m just not sure who I bought it for as I can’t actually wear it.
Gel liners; it’s not so much they don’t “work” for me, but I simply prefer liquid or cake liners. I end up using them for my brows, though. Also, “colored” liners. I only end up using black, so I have a bunch of liners I don’t end up using…
Oh, and Too Faced eyeshadow palettes! I have 5-6 pf the older 9-pan palettes, and I just never use them. Again, it’s not that they don’t “work”, or aren’t perfectly fine products, but there are simply others I prefer. However, after the Natural Matter palette, I did finally give up, LOL!
Hi Xamyx, what is your favourite brand of cake liners? How are they activated, with water? I’ve always been interested in trying them out. Thank you for your help!
Liquid/gel eyeliner. I can’t figure how to apply it properly, I never have time for it, yet I keep buying it because I hope one day I’ll be able to create the perfect winged eyeliner.
I buy a lot of bright lipsticks because they look pretty on other people. But I always feel like I look so unnatural with them on.
I am apparently obsessed with pencil eyeliners. I must have 40 of them! I keep on buying them even though my hooded droopy aging eyelids just cannot take eyeliner anymore I go on hoping that the perfect one will work for me somehow…gads!
try smudging them out with a small brush. use them as eyeshadow bases that way or set the liner with shadow. I guess two variations on the same thing.
Too faced eyeshadow palettes
No, I wouldn’t keep buying something that didn’t work for me. Why be a glutton for punishment when there are so many great options available? Sometimes, especially at a place like Sephora, an SA can be pushy, but I’ve learned to draw the the line and politely–but firmly–tell the SA I don’t like a particular brand or product and that I don’t want to waste my time looking at it.
Foundations without trying a sample first. I’m far from counters so I order lots of stuff online. I need to try more foundations before I buy, because I have a drawer full! I have some good colour matches & finishes I like, I just shouldn’t have so many at once 🙂 but I love different bases!
I hate to admit it but MAC Lustre l/s for the most part. Some are so pretty in theory but the texture seems to really play up any dryness or unevenness in my lips and obviously it’s been established that the wear time is not stellar. I don’t have many but the three I have are two or three too many. The one I have that I never wear but inspires me to keep trying them is Lovelorn–really nice light bubblegum shade, good texture. I got Flamingo as a B2M l/s and really regret it. Super cute color but I hate the application of it.
Also nude lipsticks. I need medium darkness on up, lips easily wash me out.
Not once I’ve decided it doesn’t work for me. Sometimes I will try a few shades or finishes of a formula before ruling it out. There isn’t a particular product I keep buying even though it doesn’t work.
MAC Studio Fix. I just can’t help myself keep trying.
Nope! I may keep test-swatching though, just to see if they get better. Related note: I’m also better at returning things that underperform in the first place if I can’t test them first but really want to try them.
No, if I get disappointed by a formula, I rarely buy it again. If I get one bad one, like a lipstick or gloss, I may buy another color, because we know how small formula differences can happen between shades but if I get 2 duds, I’m done. I just had this happen with Revlon Moisture Stains.
i hate to say this, but Clinique mascaras have never worked on me. but i just keep using those little suckers that come in the GWP’s.
No I don’t – if it doesn’t work I will not use it again.
L’Oreal True Match Lumi foundation. But in my defense, I’ve only bought it twice (the first shade I bought was too dark) and never gotten through a whole bottle. It cakes up really badly when I try to build it up to a more medium coverage. But I didn’t keep going back forever. I’ve accepted that my skin has champagne tastes and needs mid-to-high end foundation. (Poor wallet…)
I’m generally really good about doing tons of research before buying something so I rarely get dud formulas, and I will not hesitate to return something that has an unflattering shade (usually the case). I’m pretty sure the Sephora returns department knows me by name now!
Also, kind of true but kind of not: ABH Tinted Brow Gel. I bought it, didn’t know how to use it, hated it, returned it. A few months later, same thing. I wanted something quick and easy to “color correct” my brows (ashy light brown while my hair is dyed dark auburn) but I didn’t know how to use tinted brow gel and was accidentally smearing it everywhere. I actually showed the tube to my roommate and said “if you see me trying to buy this again, stop me!” I bought it a third time because I’m a glutton for punishment, used it correctly, and now I love it!
Liquid lipsticks. I keep hoping the next formula introduced is going to be the ONE, so I keep trying. They just don’t flatter my lips. I really don’t even mind having to reapply regular lipstick, which looks so much better on me. I don’t know why I am on this quest!
Dior eyeshadow palettes… I have extremely hooded eyes and multicolour numbers don’t work on me. Also, for some crazy reason, all the Dior shades look greyish on me, not a look I prefer everyday. Years ago, I got carried away with all the haze on the net and bought six palettes, but I hardly ever use them.
For me, it used to be Dior palettes (they’re SO beautiful!) and glittery eyeshadow. Now, I don’t even swatch Dior’s palettes and I’ve learned that a little shimmer is okay (in the right places) but glitter is a no-no no matter how pretty it is (except during the holidays when you can be easily forgiven for looking like a decoration)!
Benefit….. I’m sorry it just that the product are ok, but I expect MORE from them. They altogether have one note to me; in that you can only used their blush full on to see them on the skin. Otherwise you can’t build up the intensity of the shades or you end up sheering them out to nothing on the skin.
Also, I keep trying their cream shadow, but they all disappear on me EVERY time within 4 fours. I look in the mirror and I’m like… “I know I had eyeshadow on!!!!” O__o
LIQUID LIPSTICKS! I keep buying different brands thinking one day I’ll find one that doesn’t dry out and crumble off of my lips. I have tried different brands, with and without a lip primer, and with and without lip liners and I just can’t get it to work!! I have better luck with regular matte lipsticks.
Lighter lip shades, but there’s got to be another that will work! So I’ll keep trying! Other than that, I’m very tempted by drugstore displays & have learned to stop but I still grab something occasionally.. 😉 But if a particular brand or formula is a no, than no I will not keep buying the same one. Too much out there, too much in my stash, not enough money to waste!
Not anymore, but in the past, I’ve bought and returned 3 Urban Decay eyeshadow palettes after reading countless raving reviews about them. Everyone seems to love them, but they just aren’t that pigmented or long-lasting for me even with primer. I tried to force myself to love them, hoping they’d grow on me but they never did. Every time they come out with a new Naked palette, I’m tempted to buy and try it out, but then I remember my horrible experiences and opt to save my money.
No, there is not and most likely will not be. My goal in makeup is to try as many products as I possibly can and find those that suite me, my skin type and coloring perfectly :), so if I don’t like smth, I will either give it away or (if it is expensive or hard to get) finish it and forget about it.