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What beauty/makeup products do you refuse to buy online?


What beauty/makeup products do you refuse to buy online? Why?

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I really, really hate the idea of buying any products from a brand I’ve never tried or seen in-store before. I also hate buying foundation online!

62 Comments

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Claudine Avatar

I refuse to take a risk with buying new foundation online. I have a hard time already matching foundation at stores that its most likely gonna be wrong if I get it online. Everything else is fair game.

Sophie Avatar

I agree with the foundation and concealer, I can never buy that online. I don’t like buying primers or lotions either because I like to make sure they feel okay on my skin, not to heavy or greasy. I also don’t like to buy MAC brushes online because they’re all a little different and I like to pick out exactly the one I want.

Nic Avatar

I don’t like buying foundation online, but I don’t have much of a choice. My local makeup shopping options are pretty much limited to Macy’s and Ulta. Between the two of them, that’s a lot of brands, but I have extremely pale skin, so I can easily fail to find a good match there. I read a lot of reviews before buying a new foundation online, though, so it’s not too bad.

Traci Avatar

This isn’t makeup related, but I hate buying clothes online. I bought MAC foundations online, but I had a general idea of the shade I needed, so they worked out great actually. And I also just bought a 100% pure tinted moisturizer online and I have never tried any of their products before. I just don’t mind returning products.

karen Avatar

Definitely foundation, I have a hard enough time even when I see it in person. I would also never buy perfume online if I didn’t know how it smelled beforehand.

Roya Avatar

I took a big risk awhile back and bought a MAC foundation based on the swatches,and it was perfect match.Also tried philosophy flirty girl lip gloss and I was very happy with the risk I took.Its beautiful.

www.makeupandmirrors.blogspot.com Avatar

Moisturiser.

I use the one brand and shade of foundation and powder all the time, so I don’t mind purchasing that online now as I know my match.

KT Avatar

Foundation. Blushes, eyeshadows, and other color products are pretty much one-size fits all. Foundation, even 1 shade off, can go horribly wrong.

Mora Avatar

i would never buy a new foundation online.
but i would buy it, if i had it before and just run out of it. then i know that it matches.

i would buy lipsticks, eyeshadows, liner and all that colored stuff online. i don’t matter, it its not really the same color. i like all the colors. *LOL*

Catherine Avatar

Honestly, I don’t like buying anything online if I haven’t had a chance to swatch or try it out first. I have pretty sensitive skin and lips so I think that’s a major contributor. I try to do as much shopping as possible in-store (better for the environment that way too, especially since I walk!). The only time I’ll order something online is if I’ve read RAVE reviews and can’t get it anywhere near me. I don’t think there’s any product I wouldn’t buy online, but I’d definitely do my research first.

Kathy Avatar

Foundation and concealers are a big no-no when it comes to online orders (in my opinion). I can also be a little apprehensive about ordering blushes online sometimes.

Dawn Avatar

I agree – you really need to see foundation and concealer and be able to test them to find the right shade. You can waste far too much money buying the wrong shade online. You can’t go by colour swatches, and especially those on the MAC site which seem way out on everything.

Kim L Avatar

Foundation – definitely. Other makeup – unless I know the texture already I would hesitate to buy/use it. I might give it away unless I tested it in a store

nicci Avatar

Foundation, perfume, and products especially skin care products I have never tried before, and some lipsticks because some brands the colors are way off (Chanel is guilty of this!)

Amaranthine Avatar

It’s the same for me, i used to buy foundations only if i tested, no matter how many positive reviews i can read online, we have very different skin tones and expectations using face products.
I also prefer try blushes and highligth (like nars albatross…) in a regular shop, but when i’m in my hometown in Italy i can’t find many brands (nars, stila, urban decay, illamasqua and much more) at beauty stores or Sephora, so im bound to give a try, after looking for swatches, reviews and photos online.

Jordan Avatar

I hate buying nail polish and foundation online. Its hard to tell the actual color and tone of it so I don’t want to get the wrong shade and waste money

Lauren Avatar

I don’t buy any cosmetics online. I feel like it’s way too easy to get out of control and buy the entire website. I prefer being in person and giving the rational side of my psyche a fighting chance. lol

Reiji Avatar

I won’t buy things that are very skintone-dependent online unless I already know what color I need. That means no foundation, concealer, lipstick, lipliner, or even eyeshadows sometimes.

Tessa Avatar

Yep, would never buy a new foundation online. I stick to brands I know and stuff I know that I want – like when I can’t be bothered to go to the shops to replace something.

Katherine Avatar

I would buy anything online that is simply a replacement of something I already have – there are no unknowns. But other than that, I don’t think I’d buy anything online that I’d never tried before. I like to swatch. Especially not foundation – I’m so pale, not many foundations are light enough for my skin tone.

Shadowy Lady Avatar

def foundations especially from a brand I haven’t tried before and don’t know my match. Right now I wanna buy Stila’s Illuminating foundation for ACW but can’t coz I don’t know the match for NW25 (and couldn’t find it in your foundation spreadsheet).

nikki Avatar

i don’t like to buy any makeup online unless its a repurchase or something i’ve been swatching/seeing in store a lot. i still do it every once in awhile, but very rarely

Christy Avatar

Foundation and color cosmetics I have yet to swatch or haven’t seen pictures of swatches of. eg. Eye shadow, lipstick, lipgloss. Tones and shades vary so much, it’s hard to say if something will work.

Ashley Avatar

I would never buy concealers, foundations, or lipstick online (I never have any luck with these)… unless I know what these look like in person.

Ana Krum Avatar

Unfortunately, I live in Brazil, so if I don’t wanna pay outrageous taxes for my makeup (e.g., MAC lipsticks here are US$ 39.50) I have to buy everything online, including foundation, fragance and skincare.

Dini Avatar

Foundation is the worst, but I hate buying anything I haven’t seen or swatched in person online. Sometimes colors look great in a photo online, but have a completely different feel and effect on my own face. Those purchases typically end in disappointment, whether they were 5$ or 50$.

Ashley Avatar

Everything. I see no point in purchasing something online because there is a high chance I won’t like it (I always have a hard time finding products my face agrees with), and it would be too big of a hassle to bother returning items. As for cosmetics, I have to see the colour and the consistency in person. It may look gorgeous online, but could end up being a dud when I see it with my own eyes.

I guess if I was using a product for a decent amount of time, long enough to know I’d like to repurchase, and was no longer able to purchase it from a physical location, then I’d go ahead and buy online. But buying a product for the first time online? Hell no!

make_up_maven Avatar

I have no choice, I have to buy everything online as I live in a rural area. The closest Ulta/Macys/MAC is 2.5 hours away.
Thank god for UPS and liberal return policies! LOL

Mirna Avatar

I refuse to buy any foundations online that I have not tried before. I think that is a pretty obvious one. There is no guarantee of matching my skin tone to the picture on the computer!

Katie Avatar

I bought Laura Mercier’s moisturizing foundation online and that was such a bad idea. The color is way too dark for my skin (I got an online phone counseling with a Laura Mercier Rep.) and it feels so heavy on my skin. So, I wasted $42 on a foundation I never use. Boo.

Christina Avatar

I refuse to buy anything I haven’t already physically tried in a store. Once I made a pretty big order from Sephora for my birthday and it was quite disastrous.. so, never again, LOL!

Jess Avatar

I Love shopping online,I can pretty much buy anything! so far
I haven’t been disappointed with anything I’ve purchased. The
Only things I can’t buy online would have to be foundation and
Perfumes since I can be very sensitive to certain scents.

Holly Avatar

Foundation and concealer.
Acutally, anything where I have to pick one specific colour and haven’t already seen them first hand… so that includes single eye shadows or blush because the colour shown online is rarely the actual colour of the product.

Thincspot Avatar

No way to foundation and concealer and lipstick. Anything that needs a skin match up (which changes form season to season for me) has to be bought in person.

Emm Avatar

Foundation if not a repeat purchase. Otherwise I usually got to beauty blogs, like this, or youtube and see if I can find a review/swatch just to make sure.

Eileen Avatar

My cardinal rule is to never buy any product on line that I have not seen and tested in person. That being said, rules are made to be broken. I succumbed to Edward Bess and purchased his eye shadow in Mystery. It definitely lived up to all the hype.

Mindy Avatar

I was going to say foundation but I may have found a solution to that, little samples 😀 If I can’t find my match in any of those, then I’ll give up lol. I won’t buy mascara’s either. I have to see the brush in my hands first to gauge it’s awesomeness 🙂

Bridgette Avatar

Foundation, powder, eyeshadows, and pretty much almost anything! Unless its a color that I am familiar with like buying my MAC foundation online knowing what my shade is already.

Silvia Avatar

I don’t like to buy products online, that I can not test anywhere.
More explicitly that means for me the Mac collections like riveting, mac lillyland and art supplies. I would have loved to get some products but without any chance of swatching no way! Mac started with this stupid policy of saling some collections online only in Germany and I guess some other eurpean countries aswell. This is very frustrating for me as a customer. And I guess not a profit situation for the company in the long run.

Alison Avatar

I probably wouldn’t buy anything online that I haven’t tried in store, especially things that come in various shades… If it was just a black mascara and had gotten good reviews I would buy it.

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