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What brand did you use to dislike but now love?
What brand did you use to dislike but now love? Share!
I think I’ve come around to brands like Estee Lauder, Clinique, and Bobbi Brown – not so much that I hated them, but that I didn’t GET them as someone who was so devoted to bright eyeshadow at 20. Now, I definitely understand why brands like that exist, and I also get that you can love your bright eyeshadows from one brand and appreciate the subtler finishes that Estee Lauder and Clinique might have to offer or all the neutral mattes that are staples in the Bobbi Brown line.
Thanks to Ale for today’s question! Do you have a question idea? Submit yours here.
I used to not like the Sephora Collection stuff, but in the past few years they’ve done a lot of reformulations, launched new products, and gotten rid of underperformers. Now they’re one of my top brands to buy from.
I agree! Sephora brand has totally stepped up their game and has hundreds of products!
Gosh, yes – I forgot entirely about Sephora’s own brand. In the past 5 or so years, they have really become amazing and their prices are pretty hard to beat too.
Same! I remember getting some lip glosses years back as a beauty insider gift and they honestly put me off Sephora Collection for a couple years. They just seemed like dollar store throw away stuff. Some time last year I tried their bullet style lipsticks and thought that they were great quality and colors, and their liquid lipsticks seem to be comparable to the others on the market. I feel like Sephora Collection is competitive with the other high end products in the store now.
Clinique… perhaps it means I’m maturing, haha.
It’s the other way around for me.
Yeah, basically ditto. And Anastasia Beverly Hills because it sounds like it’s trying to be all vogue or something, but it deserves that for its invaluable brow pencils, so we’re cool now.
Lol, I’m kind of the opposite of you (although I don’t think I’ll ever come around to Bobbi or Clinique). I used to be less than impressed with MAC and MUFE (or as I used to call Makeup For Never) because the stage drama looked ridiculous. I’ve come to appreciate those lines, especially with lippies. Laura Mercier was always a line that put me to sleep. However I’ve since fallen in love with their concealer pot and caviar sticks.
I’ve always liked super loud makeup so MAC and MUFE were some of the first brands to jump out at me. I have to ask though, if you don’t like the super “safe” brands and it took you a minute to warm up to the more theatrical ones, what were the first brands you really liked? Maybe UD, or really high end stuff like Chanel?
neutrogena is definitely getting better in my opinion
Probaby Dior. Years and years ago, I used to use an eye cream of their faithfully but that was all and the rest of the line seemed “dowdy” somehow. But in recent years, I’ve come ’round to some of theire products (mostly LE or now discontinued, unfortunately). Oh, and Shiseido – it’s only in the past couple of years that I’ve even tried anything at all from Shiseido and the things I’ve tried, I really like.
I’ve become a convert to Josie Maran and It Cosmetics!
I definitely used to think of Estee Lauder as “old lady” stuff. But their Advanced night repair complex and a sample of a face mask brought me back around to them. Also, Clinique, Laura Mercier, and, Mac. I had pretty reactive acne when I was younger and I guess I blamed my ignorance of reading ingredients on the cosmetics.
Hey Christine, I am not sure if you have seen and you ma wan t to pass the word along: Nordstrom online seems to be price matching in some skincare and maybe cosmetics. I was looking for the jumbos size of Lauder Advanced night Repair complex which sold out the firs day of the Sephora sale and they are offering it at 10%off along with quite a few other Lauder products – all which seem to be on Sephora’s site. 🙂
Yep! It seems like they’re kind of price matching against the Sephora sale, but only the 10% part 🙁
I was looking for availability/reviews/ingredients for a few products even before the Sephora sale, and there wew a few items for up to 30% off (or more), including brand new products like the Bobbi Brown serum foundation.
When I was in middle and high school all I would buy was clinique skin care and then makeup, so for years I saw it as a kiddie brand. I only decided to buy clinique again after seeing your review on their cheek pop blushes, which are pretty awesome.
Estee Lauder and Urban Decay.
I never used to think much of Estée Lauder but they’ve really upped their game and I love them now!
I’m the opposite! I was a big fan some 20+ years ago, but I haven’t even bothered after buying some subpar shadows a few years back… I don’t think EL is “bad”, but they’re nothing like they were.
I used to hate Rimmel London and Max Factor, now I love both! I feel like they are the kind of hit-or-miss brands where you have to hunt and find the hidden gems, but they are in there! and they are awesome! 🙂
Face Finity from MF is a less expensive Chanels Le Blanc.
nars. i used to think it’s overpriced. i still do. but i get the eyeshadow appeal. specifically the single es appeal. i credit coconut grove for that. that shit is the bomb! the pigment on that is out of the world. i literally have to concentrate to make sure i dont dip my brush too hard in it.
you like brown es and don’t have coconut grove, doesn’t count. doesn’t count. i know the color is not unique, but the pigment!
It’s never been so much that I “disliked” any particular brand, but I still can’t justify paying top-dollar for so-called “luxury” brands that use the same cheap ingredients as DS & mid-range brands… Unless the product itself is a complete standout, I can’t be bothered to even try it. So unless Tom Ford, Chanel, Dior, and the rest come up with something completely unique (the last time that happened was Chanel Notorious), I can’t be bothered to try the brand, so that just leaves me indifferent.
As for a brands “color range”, that has no effect on me, and never has. Although I’ve always favored dark dramatic looks from a personal standpoint, I’ve also always accepted others feel differently, and I may be in a position where a more subdued, “natural” look is required, and always kept an arsenal of products. That said, I’m not often compelled to spend much on the “basics”, unless it’s a good bargain, such as larger palettes.
Same for me tbh. I have also come to appreciate drugstore brands although I used to think of them as just cheap. Now I love them! Lol.
Elizabeth Arden because of the old lady image, but now I am obsessed over their foundations and matte lipsticks.
There aren’t many brands I’ve disliked, but more not interested in. Anyway, I’d say Clarins is the most recent brand, and I was never overly bothered about Maybelline but that’s definitely changed over the last year, I love them now!
I’d have to say Clarins, although it wasn’t a dislike so much as an avoid. Their whole brand is built on “the power of plants” and I’m allergic to a lot of plants! But I tried and loved the Rouge Eclat and Joli Rouge lipsticks a couple of years ago, and have continued to explore. I use some of their skincare and other makeup now and I adore the Instant Light concealer!
MAC, though I never actually hated it. I used it in my late teens and early twenties, but then as I got older, I looked at it as more a young girl brand, which I now realize was very incorrect. Last year I was getting very frustrated when I traveled because I was taking a ridiculous number of palettes/single/duo eyeshadows and blushes with me in a large VB bag (meant for toiletries, not makeup) because I couldn’t fit all my items in a regular makeup bag! Then I found that at MAC you could pick and choose eyeshadows to build palettes at a pretty reasonable price ($10 per refill isn’t bad in my opinion.) I’ve slowly built a palette I love of eyeshadows and blushes I’ll be able to take with me the next time I travel, so now my makeup bag will weigh only ten pounds instead of thirty! LOL
Now I only wish they’d make a plastic travel bottle of my beloved Guerlain Lingerie De Peau…..
For me brands feeling accessible to me has been a bigger deal than vibing with the style of a brand or not. Like, I find myself considering higher end products than I did as a teen or college student. I used to read about all the NARS blushes and I wanted them, but they felt out of reach. It seems a little bit silly because I was buying a lot from MAC on the rare occasions I could afford it, so it wasn’t that I couldn’t save up and get myself that fancy NARS blush. I felt part intimidated and part defiant–like, “It can’t possibly be worth $32! I could have two MAC lipsticks for that price! I could have another red AND a nude!” lol. I still do that with products that feel out of my price range like Tom Ford, but I’m gradually opening up to high end products. I buy a fair amount of NARS, though it still feels like a big deal and a splurge, and I have a Dior and a YSL lipstick.
On the other hand, I go back and forth on drugstore products. I think some of them absolutely hold their own against expensive products if you only consider the makeup itself (Revlon and Wet n Wild lipsticks come immediately to mind, Rimmel can be great too) but the packaging is usually much lower quality so the objects them selves get beat up looking and they don’t have the same feeling of luxury to use even when they’re new.
Chanel. Every eyeshadow or palette I’ve ever owned or tried from Chanel has left me underwhelmed. I gave all of my Chanel palettes to my teenage daughters so I wouldn’t have that constant, sad reminder of the money I’d wasted. If Chanel came out with a palette that had better pigmentation and a variety of finishes, I’d be tempted to give them another chance.
These days, I’ve developed an appreciation for Lancome. I am perplexed by how little attention the brand receives online when some of their cosmetics are beautiful. This past December, I went out on a limb and purchased three pressed shadows and one cream shadow (Rouge Cabaret, it’s gorgeous!) and I was amazed by how wonderful the formula is. I’m still wondering why this brand is overlooked by beauty bloggers.
Wet’n’Wild! I dismissed them for years as a really crappy brand for 12-year-olds, but some of their shadows and lipsticks are amazing.
It is not so much that I disliked brands, but I never used them. Now I buy my products from a wide range of cosmetic brands. I have eye shadow palettes from UD, Tarina Tarantino, bareMinerals, EL and Guerlain. I have looked at specific products from various drugstore ranges too – lippies from Maybelline, foundation from Rimmel, Mascaras from lots of them. I think that is the key – not the brand, but the performance of an individual product.
I wasn’t particularly fond of Loreal lipsticks or the brand in general. In the past few years, I’ve come to really like their Telescopic and Voluminous mascara formulas and the Infallible eye products including the eye pencils and eyeshadows. I still dislike the lipsticks (ha,ha).
Fashion Fair, I dislike the foundations and concealers, but everything else have improved.
I used to think of Estée Lauder and Lancôme as “mom” brands. My childhood best friend and I would go makeup shopping with his mom and those were her go-to brands. But things have changed. I married him, she’s now my mother-in-law, and I buy makup from those brands now too!
It’s not a as dramatic as hate/love, but I used to dislike Neutrogena, but now actually do like a few of their things. My feelings about makeup lines in general have been pretty moderate, with the exception of the extreme dislike I’ve developed for MAC.
I’ve never been a fan of Clinique other than black honey but their cheek pops and new shadow palettes are nice!
I totally agree. As I age, I understand the importance of these brands and how they serve the everyday woman.
My feelings about Clinique have changed. Now that I’m in my mid-30s, I prefer their textures to the more pigmented, glittery textures of brands like MAC and NARS. Also, now that I have less disposable income, I feel guilty paying $30+ for a lipstick, so Clinique has the best value for me. I have also started to like the nude aesthetic of Bobbi Brown, which I used to think of as a brand for more mature women, but I can’t justify paying so much for nude or sheer shades!
I used to think that Estée Lauder was boring and old. But I recently sampled and then purchased double wear and it is now my Holy Grail foundation. People think I’m wearing like Armani or YSL when I have it on.
NARS…its so hit & miss with their products that im always afraid to spend money to try new things from that line. a couple months ago i got a sample of that nars luminous weightless foundation that everyone has been raving about & i didn’t like it at all! Formula seemed almost like water with pigment & it would go on patchy for me. so i set it aside for a while. Just picked it up again to use it up & its not bad now. knowing the formula was like that I worked it differently & now its pretty good coverage. i think im starting to like it very much now! And i’ve discovered that the quality of their palettes aren’t the same as the singles. so now that i know better, I’m half in love with nars now LOL Craziness…
LORAC. I’m not sure I “love” them now, but I’m definitely liking them a lot more than when I first tried their Skinny eye palettes. Unzipped Gold, Unzipped Cheek and Pro To Go Eye/Cheek Palette are definitely loves from that brand. The original Unzipped Palette is fantastic, too, from what I’ve swatched, but I don’t really have a need for it right now. I have some really pretty lip glosses from them, too.
When I was younger, in my teen years, MAC Cosmetics just came out on the scene. At first, I was so reluctant because I felt it was too overrated. I thought its “overrated” nature was like the old Hard Candy nail polish that was so popular at the time. I didn’t start trying out MAC products until my third year in college while discovering my “style” I had all the satin lipsticks such as Cyber and Film Noir. I also had the Stone and Chestnut lip pencils. I found out that MAC wasn’t that bad. Now I love MAC cosmetics and I only stock up my lip pencils. The Stone and Chestnut lip pencils have been replaced by two best “friends”. One is named Stripdown, a beautiful beige brown which is my go-to neutral for my lips for an sophisticated look. The second is named Mahogany, a fabulous intense reddish brown color that is glamourous as well as chic for everyday for a reddish brown. It is also very sophisticated.