What brand was most disappointing to you in 2021?
Urban Decay for sure. I want to root for them, but they make it a little harder every year with how often they miss on things I know they can and have done better.
— Christine
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Does anyone else even come close?
Hi,
I agree about UD, and it seems like most makeup enthusiasts feel the same way about them too. But, I still love the brand and think that most of the scrutiny comes from their lackluster eyeshadow palettes. Maybe it’s the influence of social media trends, but I have come to realize that some folks judge a brand almost solely on their eyeshadows, but I don’t necessarily. Their eyeliners, lipsticks, mascara, and concealer are a regular part of my routine and are top notch quality in my humble opinion. At the same time, I think it’s also because they gained so many fans years ago because of their bold eyeshadows, so I get the disappointment.
100% agree with Urban Decay being a major disappointment. They have totally lost the plot! Hopefully they turn things around in 2022
In 2021 specifically?
Bite. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think they have an anti-vegan spy working there whose sole mission is to present vegan makeup as inferior. Waiting three years for them to come out with the same ho-hum silicone-heavy lipsticks almost everyone else is doing when they previously had a vastly superior product cut deep. And those blushes were irredeemably awful.
At this point UD has been lost for several years so it just feels like more UD being UD and wasn’t as crushing to me as Bite in 2021. They’re still in contention for disappointing me in 2022 though.
Trying to think beyond the obvious correct answer (UD), also tf (pretty much the past 5-10 years) and Viseart, which has suffered a bit in quality and had rather uninspired offerings in 21.
Bite Beauty and Hourglass. Bite Beauty just continuously discontinuing everything good and Hourglass just refusing to be inclusive until they couldn’t ignore it anymore.
Yes, I agree with you 110%, April. Bite has become some kind of terrible joke played on us.
And Hourglass needs to get a clue and become far more inclusive, especially as regards their cheek products/face palettes. I will still continue to purchase the Ambient Lighting Powder in Dim Light, as that is THEE perfect finishing powder shade for my darker end of medium skintone. I did try the one by Laura Mercier, and it was far too shiny for my liking.
Hourglass is finally releasing a deeper version of the Ambient Lighting Powder Trio. I just think it’s too late. I’m currently using Beauty Pie One Powder Wowder and it’s a good enough replacement for me. I also have a few of the By Terry Apricot Glow CC Powders in my stash because it’s my favorite finishing powder of all time. I heard from someone that the Ilia lipsticks are quite similar to the beloved Amuse Bouche formula so I’m going to try those out and see how it goes.
Based on the horrible downfall of their eyeshadow quality, that award goes to Urban Decay. Like, how is this even the same brand that I bought all my different Vice, Naked and Urban Spectrum palettes from?
And Dior wins the prize for making one very perfect quad that they seem to have only made enough for YT’ers and beauty bloggers, but nothing for the majority of us when they produced Night Bird! Yeah, I can buy it. From Europe. For over $100 USD. 😒
What Dior quad was that?
Hi Lisa, I’m sorry, I meant to type quint, but accidentally put “quad” instead. It was the super elusive Night Bird quint!
Thankfully, I am able to dupe it using two smaller palettes and one UD single, Zodiac.
I managed to acquire Nightbird from someone destashing it and it’s such a shame that it sold out so quickly. It ‘s beautiful but not for over $100 beautiful. They should spend more money on the production of the product than on influencers. I feel like so much makeup ends up on reselling sites from influencers.
I agree that Urban Decay was a disappointment, but for me it’s gonna be BITE BEAUTY. I’ve been disappointed in them every year since they discontinued the Amuse Bouche lipstick and failed to release a suitable replacement. Instead, they offer disappointing products like those liquid blushes that came in the really impractical squeeze bottles.
Like pretty much everyone else, it’s UD – what a heartbreak to lose the great products they used to make. I’d also add Stila. I used to love their powder eyeshadows so much but they seem to have vanished entirely….except maybe for Kitten.
Quite a few brands have bit the dust, but none as so spectacularly as UD – Bite Beauty, Stila, Lancome, Guerlain, Smashbox and even PMG – with her continued releases of rose themed palettes.
I bought a Morphe eyeshadow pallet. It was horrible, hard and no color payoff. It went back. NYX has great eyeliners and I’m an eyeliner nut but theirs made my eyes have a terrible reaction.
I have every Naked palette they’ve made. It was my beloved go-to ALWAYS. Then I got the Prince & then the Marvel palettes. I don’t even touch them. I’m using Huda, Natasha Denona and Pat McGrath now. Fortunately I saw the bad reviews on this Cyber palette so I passed on it. The color story seemed odd to me too. Why and how do certain companies do so well then suddenly start producing junk? I’m sad about UD.It used to be my favorite.
Tom Ford – not impressed with the barely-pigmented eyeshadow quads that were offered and those sparkle, glittery lipstick balm things. Meh. They could do with refreshing their blush as well – not formula but newer, more current tones and hues.
I agree that UD’s made some bad eyeshadow palettes lately, but they still make lovely lipsticks. However they have a lot fewer choices of lipstick colours now.
Bite Beauty as so many others have mentioned id probably the brand that’s disappointed me most. Back when they still made the Amuse Bouche lipsticks they didn’t ship internationally, now they do and have absolutely nothing I’m interested in.
I have to add PMG to my list, the quality is still there, I’m sure, but all the palettes from the last year, or years seem to muddle together in my mind. I thing the colour stories used to be more interesting. I should add that I haven’t bought any of the face products at all, and it’s been a long time since I bought lipsticks from the brand. One of my favourite lipsticks ever, Major Red is DC’ed, I find the matte lipsticks drying. I do know so many here like PMG, this is just me.
I feel like they should just go back and rerelease things from the past so we can replace what’s funky, but those would probably be garbage quality. Rest in peace, my very beloved UD
Chanel. I go the Chanel le Volume after hearing so much hype and was so disappointed. The packaging is lightweight and cheap feeling and there’s less product in it than other mascaras. But the formula was worse. I appreciated the blue-night color but it smudged and smeared just from the steam from a dishwasher. Even drugstore brands like the Maybelline false lashes and Missha 4D mascara last better than the Chanel. I returned it as soon as I could and its soured me from the brand.