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Temptalia Asks You - What do you do when a product doesn't work for you?
What do you do when a product doesn’t work for you? Return it? Find a way to make it work? Give it away?
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I either give it away or throw it away. Unfortunately for us in Australia… we can’t return makeup 🙁 We need a Sephora!
Oh unless its a brush. I bought a blush brush that was scratchy and coarse…. now i use it to clean my epilator lol
i give to someone else…
It depends on what product, I either give it away, or find some way to make it work.
Skin Care- I usually give it to my sisters or mother.
Make up- If I can find some way to make it work I will keep it, if not, one of my sisters get it.
For example: A too dark foundation (esp liquid) can be lightened up if you mix it with a bit of a lighter concealer. Eye shadows that don’t have colour payoff can be saved with using a cream colour base. Too bright/dark blushers can be made pretty and wearable with using the right brush and application.
either give it away to friends, or put it up for swap on MUA 🙂
Well the last months I luckily bought colors that suite me. I try to sell porducts I don’t use or give it for a latte oder a coctail to a friend. And I know younger girls like make-up too so they are lucky and proud to own MAC at the age of 11.
Dang! My comment disappeared when I clicked post.
It depends on the product, I either give it away or make it work.
For skincare, I will give it away, like my siblings or mother.
For make up, I will make it work, or give to my sisters.
Examples of how to make stuff work:
Liquid foundation which is a shade too dark – I use a lighter concealer, mix a little into the foundation to adjust the shade.
Blushers which are too dark/bright – Use the correct brush and lighter application to make it wearable.
Eye Shadows which fall out, terrible colour payoff- use a matching/similar cream colour base.
I either try to make it work or sell it on lol
perfumes – give away
if i start to dislike a mac shadow or lippie – B2M
cremes – throw them away
Sometimes, i give it away.
To me, returning things is such a PITA! Having to drive back, wait in line, to see if they will refund it. Depending how much it costs.
If it is more than 20 bucks, i usually will return it, but less than that, i wont take the time, its a waste to me. lol
I definitely return it if it does not work. Usually there is something else on my “want” list I can exchange it for. I’m pretty loyal to my SA’s, so they don’t mind because they know I will continue to purchase regularly from them.
I usually give it to friends or bring it back. MAC is tough since the FS store is 30 mins away and the closest counter is 45 mins away.
I return or exchange any and all items that don’t work for me. I try my best to test and swatch before buying. And research blogs like this online. Unfortunately I have no access to a brick and mortar Sephora or Ulta so testing many items is simply not possible. And locally, we don’t have counters for many lines. We are lucky to have MAC, Laura Mercier, Bobbi Brown, Chanel, Dior and Benefit(along with all the usual suspects like Clinque, Lauder, etc). So if there is a counter, I test, test and test again before buying. But even then I still make errors when I see things in natural light or wear for an entire day. For mail order stuff I make a lot of errors and I’m sorry to say, end up returning about half of what I buy from Sephora.
I give them away to friends.
If it’s something I bought and dislike right away, I’d return it, but this rarely happens. Usually it’s something I use, then forget about for a long time, and then go to use it again and find out my taste has changed.
I do all three! I rarely return things but when I do I exchange.
I can generally make something work for me.
It goes in a box and I forget about it. :s
About 80% of the time I return it, and the other 20% I probably give it away. Most of our department stores have return policies on cosmetics, so it isn’t a problem. Also I spend alot of $ in those places & most of the MA’s know me as a good, repeat customer.
Woot, what a great question.
Honestly, I never returned any makeup ever since my infatuation with makeup began. I don’t know why. Maybe because I live in Canada or something. I don’t feel like it since I did buy most of my makeup in drugstores, so no biggie.
If some did not suit me, I would throw it away or in other cases, I got more than one of it, I will give away. I don’t know how to swap or the rules to swapping. It’s too confusing. XS
Makeupalley is great for keeping my beauty product arsenal trim!
Depends on the product. Some stuff I just give to friends, if its a MAC thing I can b2m I will empty it. Face washes I usually keep & just use them sometimes. I never throw things away though I try finding uses.
I try to make them work for me by mixing with other products I have. I don’t believe in swapping or giving away beauty products/make-up for sanitary reasons, so, if all else fails, I throw it away.
I am pretty creative though!
In the UK you can’t return cosmetics, even if you’re allergic to them. I usually throw them away if they’re bad – if it’s just that I don’t like the colour I’ll give them to my sister.
I rarely return things, but if I hated it right away I would take it back. More often than not, they just end up living in my drawers forgotten until I rediscover them or a friend does and wants it. Depending on what it is, I might give it to my mom but she doesn’t wear a lot of makeup. I try not to throw things away, someone will have a use for it! Then of course there are things like mascara which I don’t give away for sanitary reasons, will often keep ones I don’t like for when I’m running out the door to the corner store or something.
You can’t return most cosmetics here, which is understandable. When it comes to MAC, it’s been rare I disliked something I’ve purchased but I don’t have a MAC store anywhere near me. So I can’t be bothered returning things and I just end up keeping them and not using them.
Shipping is outrageous here (to ship to the US) so it makes no sense for me to try and sell it… I shipped a pigment one time and it was $6 for just that in a bubble mailer. To get my money’s worth, I’d be charging that shipping cost and no one would want to buy anything I was selling! Hah.
So usually, I try to make things work–I try to use it in a way I didn’t intend when I bought it. I try mixing it with something, adding something on top, what have you. And if that doesn’t work, it just sits collecting dust in my make-up collection, sadly. I don’t know anyone else into make-up in my city, so I can’t give it away either. Woe is me! I feel bad throwing things out so I usually never do unless the product is bad/expired/etc.
It depends how much I spend for it. Usually though if I’m spending a good amount of money and want something new then I go to the makeup counter and see what they’d recommend and what I can try out. If I’m thinking of trying something new, I head to the drugstore first so if the color doesn’t work I don’t feel too bad about it. If it does work I will go ahead and get a better brand.
I usually return or exchange it because there is always something on my want list. Otherwise, I gather and take them to India with me to give away when I go visit my relatives. Everyone there loves makeup and quality makeup is super expensive there so they appreciate everything and anything.
I don’t like to return, give away, or sell anything LOL So I just keep it to say that I have it and sometimes I can manage to use it. It may be in combination with something else, or I just use it for something else completely.
I just try to give it to my sister, she’s fourteen and will wear anything once.
Even if she doesn’t like it, usually one of our friends will. Even mascara, I know it’s bad to share but since none of us have pink eye we basically do alright.
If a colour dosen’t suit me it usually suits her, so yup, goes straight to her! =]
return it. almost always. i’m on a tight student budget and with all of my debt i don’t have the money to keep something i hate and will never use. it is pretty rare, especially since i found out that they get thrown out, now i am very careful.