What product do you own but don’t have the courage to wear? Think you’ll ever find a way?
Foundation that’s either wayyy too light or too dark for me, but I imagine that’s kind of a given! There are no colors that I’m afraid to wear point blank 🙂
Thanks to Maria for today’s question! Have a question idea? Submit yours here.
We're here to help you make better beauty purchases that you'll enjoy and love! We recommend signing up to take advantage of personalized features like tracking products you own, viewing dupes that you already have, and more!
Here are some useful resources for you:
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
Comments that do not adhere to our comment policy may be removed. Discussion and debate are highly encouraged but we expect community members to participate respectfully. Please keep discussion on-topic, and if you have general feedback, a product review request, an off-topic question, or need technical support, please contact us!
Please help us streamline the comments' section and be more efficient: double-check the post above for more basic information like pricing, availability, and so on to make sure your question wasn't answered already. Comments alerting us to typos or small errors in the post are appreciated (!) but will typically be removed after errors are fixed (unless a response is needed).
We appreciate enthusiasm for new releases but ask readers to please hold questions regarding if/when a review will be posted as we can't commit to or guarantee product reviews. We don't want to set expectations and then disappoint readers as even products that are swatched don't always end up being reviewed due to time constraints and changes in priorities! Thank you for understanding!
We try to approve comments within 24 hours (and reply to them within 72 hours) but can sometimes get behind and appreciate your patience! 🙂 If you have general feedback, product review requests, off-topic questions, or need technical support, please contact us directly. Thank you for your patience!
I wouldn’t keep a product I don’t like to wear.
I’ve got a handful of bold eyeshadow colors that I can’t bring myself to wear. I’ll wear them as liners and be fine with em, but I’ve got a history of wearing overly bold eye makeup and looking ridiculous, and I’m afraid of slipping back into that.
Me too! It’s awful how it just like sneaks up on me, and the next thing I know, I’m out there looking like an escalated clown … and the worst part is that I’m well over forty!!
Colorful eyeshadow
Love that you said there’s no colours you’re afraid to wear! I would love to read a longer article on that 🙂
Absolutely nothing!
If I won’t wear it – I won’t buy it. Unless, like you said – it’s a foundation colour that isn’t matched. If it doesn’t match though, I return it for a shade that will match.
I have every colour imaginable, and wear all of them proudly. 🙂
I have this extremely tiny birchbox sample of birchbox’s (super neony) hot pink lip gloss… I hate hot pink so I don’t think I will ever wear/try it.
I have that same one and it’s actually quite sheer so you should try it!
MAC’s Rebel lipstick. I’ve worn it but only to strengthen the color in certain glosses, never full force.
Rebel full-force is so gorgeous though!!!!
it’s my 2nd favorite lipstick (Nars pure matte in Vesuvio is first)
I agree! I think Rebel is stunning. It’s probably my favorite MAC lipstick, and I think anyone can wear it.
I think you should really give it a shot, Sally! I’m sure you’ll look gorgeous in it!
hahaha it is beautiful but I’m very pale and full force makes me look a little goth-y. But, who knows! This might just be the day! 😉
Black or fluorescent orange lipstick.
M·A·C Candy Yum Yum Lipstick from Quite Cute Collection, it’s so damn neon. Even though I love to wear Milani Rose Hip, NARS Schiap and my latest fuchsia/bright pink lipstick, M·A·C Rare Exotic Mattene Lipstick, I never have the courage to wear M·A·C Candy Yum Yum outside the house!
Nars Schiap lipstick! It looks a little crazy on me. Maybe I’ll try it out again this summer 🙂
I think this question was already posted or something really similar, so same answer goes…there’s no product I don’t have the courage to use. This especially goes for something I already own, lol. I don’t purchase things I wouldn’t wear. I don’t get intimidated or have a phobia of colored shadow, lashes, bright lipstick, bright blush, and so on like others.
my red lipstick. i have one, and i just find it sooo weird on me. maybe ill get used it eventually haha 🙂
You sure you have the right red for your coloring?
Sometimes red lipstick is something you just need to grow in to. I wore it for years, some stuff happened, no red. Then I just blossomed again one day and bought some Ruby Woo. And then a few others!
Your time for red will come.
I have blue and white lipstick (sleek pout paints) that I would never wear on it’s own out of the house – I only own it to mix with other colors.
I’m totally willing to wear purple and black lipstick though!
I don’t buy things I’m not going to wear, but I have an UD palette with Woodstock in it and I’ve never worn it because I haven’t figured out a way to use it. I’m very fair with a pink undertone, so I don’t want it to make me look like my eyes are inflamed.
maybe try with some darker purple shadow?
i do Woodstock on the inner portion of my eyelid with this dark purple one from UD ( i forget the name!)in the crease and a brighter purple on the outer part of my lids. I use my purple UD liner on the lower lid. I forgot the name of that one but it starts with an R!
Rockstar perhaps? 🙂
Black lipstick. I love it SO MUCH, but there’s something about trying to have a conversation with your professor in -black lipstick- that seems kind of gauche to me. Also, I don’t really want to randomly show up one day wearing it.
This exactly. I LOVE my black lipstick but I’m interviewing for graduate school and working in a corporate office right now…so it’s been hibernating.
I can’t seem to be able to wear red lipstick and i have a few. I love it, love how it looks on everyone but me :(. My lips are too full and big so if I put such a bright bold color its overpowers all of my face and I look like a clown. So sad.
Aww…that makes me sad. I LOVE how red lips look on women with full lips; so strong, yet so feminine and beautiful! In fact, I refused to wear red for years because I thought my lips were too small to do it justice.
Isn’t it strange how we perceive ourselves? I have dainty Clara Bow type lips, and I used to think I looked like a clown with red lipstick! But I finally took the plunge and received so many compliments. And the more I experiment with different looks, the more comfortable I feel wearing red lips!
All this to say, before you give up entirely, maybe you could do a bit more research? Get a few ideas on full face looks (sometimes it’s a matter of balancing proportions, right?); from bloggers who look a bit like you, makeup artists, an SA you trust. Then practice a bit and get some opinions from friends, the ones who will give it to you straight, no matter what. And if they tell you that you look great, you have no excuse not to believe them!
But if it doesn’t work out, donate or swap your red lipsticks and don’t look back. Celebrate your beauty! 🙂
Let’s see.. Blush, eyeshadows, eyeliners, lipstick, lipgloss haha! Most of the stuff I own in these categories are gift with purchases, rewards, etc… But I have no clue what to do with them. I’m probably just going to combine a few and have giveaways on my blog. Seems the most logical. They’re unused, just sitting in a giant bag.
My MAC Blue Candy eye shadow from the Cyndi Lauper limited edition collection. I bought it just to combine with an equivalent green but didn’t have the courage since I got it four months ago lol
RED lipsticks…i have one by Dior..which they said was the lightest red they had…and armani eyes to kill..i have 4 of them but they are so shimmery/glittery i dont know how to wear them.:(
What about that blue illamasqua lipstick? I must admit i couldn’t pull it off lol
So many things! Which is sad really, because I’m wasting my money and I wish I could wear them:
-Red lipstick (NYX Snow White)
-Neon pink blush
-Foundation too dark for me
-bb cream (too light for me)
-green and blue eyeshadow
🙁
About NYX’s Snow White, have you tried patting it on and wearing it as a stain? Or maybe mix it with a lighter red lipstick? That’s how I tend to wear it, since it looks too harsh on its own.
I like how bold and red it is on its own. I just don’t have the courage to go out of my house with it… lol. =/
Aw, that happened to me too haha
But I started wearing bright lipstick when I was in the house to get used to seeing myself with it before wearing it out and it really works!
MAC Neon Orange lipstick. It’s a great color and it suits me but it’s just too bold for most occasions.
I got a gorgeous dark red lipstick that I’m afraid to wear. It’s so creamy and sometimes I end up with lipstick on my skin… Plus, if the color fades, it shows ugly patches so I need to check my lipstick all the time or I’ll look like an idiot!
I agree about the foundation Christine. I mix my own but it always tends to lean on the yellow side. I am in need of a pink toned liquid foundation … MUFE has a couple but I’ve not had the chance to stop by Sephora. If anyone has a suggestion, please let me know. Thank you in advance.
My other product would be a couple of blushes … NARS’ Exhibit A and Sleek’s Flame. I have yet to wear them. And I’m not sure what provoked me to buy them, other than I love red blush.
Mac Zingy! don’t know what I was thinking when I bought it lol x
Matte neon orange lipstick! I like it, and it looks good on, but I just haven’t yet found a way to wear it so that it doesn’t totally clash and look odd with the rest of my makeup and general style. Any advice would be appreciated actually, lol! For reference I am super pale (MAC NC15) with dark hair and green eyes.
Put on a lip filled in with red or pink pencil and it will tone down the orange. I have Morange and think its cool, but where I live you pick your fashion statements… Some pencil will mix to make an orange toned new shade, but play around and find the way you like it. Orange is fun, so if you need to mix it to enjoy it remember that mixing lippies was what we did before most contemporary lines existed. Pros do it too.
Ahhh, I never thought of mixing it with a pencil. I actually have an orange-red pencil from Illamasqua that I reckon would do nicely. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
I use foundations which are mismatched against my (facial) skin tone, on my legs, as a substitute for fine hosiery. It is impossible to wear hosiery in hot weather without feeling uncomfortable, so foundation + dusting powder does a great job of
giving the look of translucent hosiery without the discomfort.
I usually buy waterproof foundations with added SPF, but a dusting of translucent powder will make most foundations keep for all day, without rubbing off annoyingly against the skirt or the chair.
Finally, it smooths out any uneven skin tone (a dab of concealer camouflages any uneven spots even more effectively), so my legs look great as well.
As for the product which I am most reluctant to wear — that would be MAC’s peacocky lipcolor. It is a bright blue, and against my NC 25 skin tone, how to wear it?
Glad to know I’m not the only one willing to put foundation on my legs 😛
I used to to that, but now I use this stuff from victorias secret that gives a bronze tint and a little shimmer to perfect my legs in summer 🙂
Peacocky is FABULOUS mixed with a magenta lip liner! I guess any bright pink would do. I fill my entire lip with a generous amount of the magenta liner and then use a separate lip brush (not the kissable lip colour applicator) to mix the colours together! The result is a true violet that is really hard to dupe! I LOVE wearing it this way and people always comment on how pretty and unique the colour is! I guess you could also just mix it with a pink lipstick, this this method works great and lasts and lasts!
Try it! I hope this helped!
Great! Thanks, it really does look nice.
Blue lipgloss, purple, and so… ( like the kissable lipcolor from the peacocky collection)
for me its mostly heavy foundations! I NEVER feel comforatable wearing a higher covering foundation because it feels like a mask on me I can deal with tinted moisturizers and/or lighter foundations though The best is when I try to keep my skin in top condition and just use minimal coverage or concealors
Makeup For Ever Fuchsia Star powder…I’ve worn it over things and under things but NEVER by itself!
there is no color i’m too afraid to wear…including foundation! but i’m really afraid of filling in my eyebrows. i did it once but i washed it off before i actually left the house. blech.
bright lipstick! i buy it because its so pretty, but I never wear it out because i’m afraid i look like i clown 🙁
As far as colors go I find I can wear them easily. The things I have a problem wearing are some lipsticks I bought from drugstores and they look very matronly/90’s. I think casual stuff can be more difficult to not make it look overdone and those lippys are just scary…
Seriously, the “no make-up” look stymies me. Give me Neon Orange
lipstick and Bitter eyeshadow – no problem. Ask me to create a subtle, understated look with The Naked palette and I am lost. I need winged eyeliner and Black Knight lipstick. A color like Twig looks horrible on me. Then again I have jet black hair with bright red Bride of Frankenstein stripes in it and super pale skin sooo I like a dramatic appearance.
lime crime lipsticks in “new york city”, “no she didn’t”, “mint to be”, and “styletto”. I did wear “d’lilac” out a couple of times.
New Yolk City*
The only product I have that I’ve never worn is my Maybelline Red Revival lipstick. And I never will wear it unless it works with a Halloween costume. I honestly don’t know why I ever bought it, because I’ve known forever that I’d never wear it.
None! I have no fear when it comes to makeup. You can always find a way to make it work.
I’ve got these great over-the-top hot pink and black eyelashes from MUFE that I’ve had for years and they are still in the box.
I have several bright, bold, and dark eyeshadows that I love, but I feel like I can’t wear them unless I’m going out on the town or doing a show. Bleh.
Illamasqua Kontrol lipstick! I looked everywhere for it when it came out. Now that I have it, I’m scared to wear it out of the house because it’s suuuch a gray purple that it looks very goth. One day I’ll summon up the nerve as it’s a gorgeous, unusual color.
Bright yellow eyeshadow!!! I just saw the post you did of 5 different ones. I’m thinking about maybe trying it.
I’ve always wanted to try orange lipstick but i’m terrified of it! I’m NC25 and i haven’t found one that works for me
I own one pair of false eyelashes (from wal-mart), and while I think it can look good, sometimes it looks so fake. Plus they look difficult to apply.
MAC Black Knight lipstick – I’ve never even tried it on! Perhaps I could take some effort to layer it with other lighter shades, but honestly I’m a little nervous and am totally uncertain why I ever even purchased it!
Mac’s Liptisck in Impassioned..it’s so pretty too!
Bold color eyeshadow for sure. One of my fav youtube guru’s did a yellow eyeshadow look last summer and I recreated it .. and it looked nice, but I was too chicken to wear it out 🙁
I don’t think I own anything I wouldn’t wear. Although I used to own and wear this super SILVER lipstick when I was like, 14 that I would never wear on a normal day now! I don’t think it’s still in my makeup collection any more, though I might have held onto it for memories sake.
As strange as this will sound:
Nars Orgasm
I love the color but the blush/illuminator makes my face look SO red I just can’t pull it off.
I also have the Amplified Dark Deed from the M.A.C. Venomous Villains Collection: Maleficent that I can’t bring myself to wear. I wanted the whole collection since I love Maleficent, but I’m so pale that I’m afraid this color would make me look dead…same with the eyeshadow from this specific collection. I’ve worn them very, very rarely.
I got a clinique chubby stick in super strawberry as a GWP and have only worn it like twice lol. It’s not a bright color, its actually a very natural color, but I have really pigmented lips so I prefer really nude lips or bright pink/red/purple opaque shades haha. I did like how it looked with some concealer on my lips and lightly applying the color, so maybe ill try and wear it that way lol I also got a brown clinique lipstick as a GWP which i wont wear because. it looks terrible with my nw25 skin! XD
this bright blue-based red lipstick… i have no idea what i was thinking when i bought it, lol. i can wear red lipsticks, but i am much more comfortable in orange-based and darker ones
Anything that I’m afraid will bleed/crease horribly or such. I need primers and lip liners.
I’ve gotten pretty good at making any color wearable, but I haven’t gotten brave enough to wear black eyeshadow anywhere except close to the lash line–every time I try it in my crease, it doesn’t look right.
“Prince Noir” lipstick from M.A.C, though I do like dark lipsticks.
Good question, Christine. I have 3 sets of fake eyelashes, along with the glue, and always back out of wearing them when there is “an event”. Go figure, eh?
MAC Ramblas Red I usually don’t wear in public, just if it is haloween or Fasnacht.
A neon orange or orangy red lipstick.. It totally makes my teeth look so yellow!
Oh, also i bought Violetta lipstick from mac by mistake.. I would Never Ever buy a purple lipstick.. Ever!
I know that purple on lips contrasts with the yellowness in the teeth
So .. Yh
I bought Girl About Town and Rebel lipsticks from MAC because they look beautiful on the sales clerks. Even thought I tested it and tried it on, they insisted that it looked good on me. I have medium brown skin sorta mocha color and I can only wear certain colors that I believe don’t look weird on me. I want to wear those colors because they’re bold and are very pretty. I hope to work up the courage to wear it, at least starting when I go to the mall and maybe work my way into wearing it more often!
I have not been able to wear my Mac lipstick in Saint Germaine out of the house. Hopefully I will wear it soon, since it is such a colorful lipstick.
MAC Play Time lipstick. It’s SO neon purple on me, and I’m pushing 50 years old LOL. I bought it on a whim, and haven’t worn it out of the house yet.
Really cool toned pink lipstick… makes my teeth look really yellow… and makes me look like I’ve dropped 50 pts in IQ (seems to only do this to me, not other people I’ve seen wear it).
Some drugstore brands blushes, like L’oreal and Maybelline. I don’t want to throw them out since I still paid for them, but I have so much better to go to now, like my Nars, Benefit, Korres and Tarte blushes !
I have a couple of lipglosses that literally make me feel like my lips are glowing and even though I adore the colours I can’t bring myself to go out in public with them on. I usually apply them thinking that this will be the time to give them a go outside of the house, but then I always take them off at the last minute and go with something safer 🙂
Nope, not a one. I can usually find a way to use any product.
I usually give away unused products, but I do have a lot of eyeshadow lying around that probably doesn’t get the use it deserves. In particular, I find really dark shadows (especially blacks) very intimidating, as I’m very pale and black shadow is so, so easy to overdo, so Urban Decay’s Creep and Oil Slick tend to sit unused in my palettes.
i won’t buy anything i won’t wear or couldn’t wear.
Same here with foundation. When I was still new to makeup, I didn’t know that foundations have undertones, I just immediately looked for the shade closest to mine. And more or less, the first couple of liquid foundations I had looked way too pink for my yellowish undertones.
I usually buy only what I’ll wear but there’re times when I make the wrong choices.
Teal eyeliner from Tarte, wrong foundation shades, MAC brow powder (I am unable to get my brows right..), blue eyeshadows..
Mac’s Lady Danger lipstick 🙁
None, because I don’t purchase what I don’t have the courage to wear lol. My philosophy is that once I’ve spent the money, I might as well put everything to good use!
I am a dark NC45, and I have a few lipsticks, especially pink lipsticks, that look insane on me out of the tube. My little sister looked at me in MAC Party Parrot and said, “You look like a black woman who doesn’t know what she’s doing.” LOL. Anyway, I can make them work, but it takes other products and a lot of effort, and it just feels wrong to pay 30-something euros for a lipstick and have to work hard to use it. But I love the idea of pink lipstick, so the problem isn’t going anywhere!
as weird as this may sound, i dont have the courage to wear purple lipstick. i know it’s supposed to look good on women of colour (nc45 for ref), but all the shades ive tried completely drain me. and it’s so funny since i have no problems wearing orange, reds and yellow on my face (orange and purple, my fave eyshadow combo eva) but cant get purple lipsticks to work on me. d light shades make me look ill and the dark shades make me look very wicked.lol
I just recently started getting into purple lipsticks and I am also NC45. I tend to go for ones that has more of a pinker tint to it. Recently, I fell in love with Revlon lip butter in Sugar Plum. It is such a beautiful color on its own but I like to wear it with Viva Glam VI on top to add a touch of pink and sparkle. Also Mac Real Posh lipglass is awesome too.
tanx a lot Aleeya. would def try out the lip butter
I love blue eyeshadows but I am afraid that my friends will criticize me for wearing it. I am the only one in my circle that loves makeup so they wouldn’t see the beauty in it like you guys would lol.
I own all of the Sugarpill eyeshadows, and I used to wear them every day no problem, but I feel like I’ve gotten more conservative in the last year for some reason, and I have a harder time feeling confident in them. I’m trying to work on that though! 🙂
MAC- Cyber. I’m so pale! orrrr MAC-Peacocky. I love the blue but.. I officially look like a corpse with it on. I usually pair it with pink lipstick to make a pretty purple.. never on it’s own!