Archived Post
What was the last beauty product you regret not purchasing?
I can’t recall one in recent memory that I skipped out on and wished I hadn’t!
— Christine
Explore Temptalia
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:
Compare Any Two
Curious how two shades compare to each other? Type in the shades below to get instant side-by-side swatches!
52 Comments
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!
Comments on this post are closed.
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!
Urban Decay Spectrum Palette or the Guerlain Perles des Neiges.
Ah, yes, the ONE time when I tried to order something online, and through no fault of my own, everything went wrong. And so I missed out on being able to purchase the one & only UD Spectrum Palette, due to not one, but 2 computerized snafus. I was utterly crestfallen. And totally pissed at the same time!
But that’s alright. I think I more than made up for it with MUFE 15, Anastasia Self-Made, plus MAC Ascent Of Glamour and Tonight’s The Night.
I kick myself every day for missing out on the Kat Von D Mi Vida Loca remix eyeshadow Palette. When it came out I kept telling myself “I’ll buy in next week, I’ll buy it next week”…then it sold out and I told myself they will restock it and then Kat Von D put on her Instragram the palette was sold out for good. I wanted to die because I knew I just had to buy it when it first came out. I looked on ebay but it is way too expensive to justify. I just hope it comes back or they make a new one for the next holiday season.
I have very few beauty regrets, but I completely spaced out and missed the MAC Alluring Aquatics collection last year, was one of their best. At least they brought back the Extra Dimension shadows, but I still missed out on the lippies, blushes, and beauty powders.
That one for me too, Katherine! Worse still, was that I really could have bought that one crazy lipstick, the one that looked butt ugly in the tube, but so gorgeous on. I cannot remember it’s name, though. Thankfully, they made the EDES’s permanent! But sadly, no Lorelei ?
The US spectrum palette! : /
The 2015 Summer release of Tom Ford Eye Cream and Powder duos. I had just bought Spring 2015 and really liked the formula and when the summer duos released, I thought I would have more time to decide what to buy. By the time I decided on what to buy, the 2 that I wanted were sold out. I ended up tracking just the creams (Pink Haze, Spice) down on ebay (didn’t need the eye shadows because I had dupes) but had to pay ebay prices. I also found Illicit and Platinum and bought them as well, also stupid ebay prices.
This is where the angst is for me – if you wait too long, you miss out and while there is always ebay, there will always be ebay prices also. If you buy everything at the time of the launch for fomo, then you overbuy and have to return quite a bit, and I hate returning because I feel like the SAs would totally know it was a fomo buy and are judging me. It’s a vicious cycle :-|. This past year I’ve gotten better about not overbuying and I am learning to be more discerning, but I still get anxious at the beginning of launches, especially from HG brands.
Jeffree Star Velour Liquid Lipstick in Ho Ho Ho and Drug Lord. They were LE for the Christmas season, but I’m hoping he’ll be nice and make them permanent at some point. I was able to grab Mistletoe, at least.
The Tarte holiday blush palette! It was something I was waiting for ages for so I could buy, then it went out of stock!
SAME!! I was waiting to get my next paycheck and it just sold out so fast 🙁
Oh the biggest regret i have was not to purchase the items of MAC Alluring Aquatics Collection. They arrive here in Brazil i was in the shop on that day, but my husband say: – We go to UK in 3 days…i think we can buy in there cheap than here. The dumb in here say ok and leave the shop. When i arrive at my fave mac in Manchester and i ask about it what happen? The lady told me : Sorry dear we don’t have anymore! I go to Selfridges and other places to look for and nothing! At MAC counters in the airports the same, when i arrive back in here too. So, my hubby learn never more this kind a opinion on my makeup collections, and i learn to listen my heart and if i rave conditions buy at the time the item or collection come out. My hubby feel so sad than he got the entire Cinderela Collection for me in one of his trips to Dubai! *-* That was so sweet of him! But that was the short story of my big makeup not purchase regret. My heart bit a bit slow everytime i see a photo of a item from this collection. hehehehehe
That sounds like divorce for me! At least he made it up to you. That’s a really lovely story.
Hi,
I tried to purchase Charlotte Tilbury Bar of Gold highlighter yesterday and was told the product has been recalled due to the packaging and they will reintroduce the product in the spring once they have redesigned the packaging. So this is definitely the product I regret not purchasing a short time ago when it was available, as I do not really care about the packaging (could always just transfer to a different container or whatever). Also, what was a $42 product is now selling for around $125 to $150 on eBay. Can you recommend a similar product? I have a lot of highlighters but from what I have researched this one seems special!
Same here 🙂
The Bite Beauty Lab Limited Release lipsticks! I only got three of them and when I looked back over the year, I really regretted about five colors that I missed. I was so pleasantly surprised when they released them in December. Now I’ve got the colors I missed and every one of them is a keeper?!
There was a holiday assortment of Fresh Sugar lip balm minis that had three or four shades that I want but don’t have in it, and I wish I had picked it up! I kept thinking that I wouldn’t be wearing them much until warmer weather in the spring, but the only time of year these assortments usually come out is in the fall for the winter holidays, and it’s hard for me to use up a full-sized one, and they seem like they might not last for years and years the way some lipsticks do. I should have just sprung for it and kept it for six months in the future!
The limited edition MUFE eyeshadows collection. Definitely not something I needed, but it’s a formula that has very much grown on me.
seppia by mac :((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
Nars Blush ” Cœur Battant” 🙁
I wish I had bought even one product from the MAC Alluring Aquatics line – I just got into makeup some months before so I didn’t really know much about MAC and that it was LE. I haven’t really been wowed by any of the collections since then. I had hoped the Guo Pei one would wow me like the Alluring Aquatics. Same with the Zac Posen collection – nothing sticks out which is sad since I love Zac Posen.
I’m also just kicking myself for not getting Bite’s Barberry sooner, but school got in the way and I kept putting off the purchase one too many times.
Aj, several shadows from the Alluring Aquatics collection are now permanent, so you don’t have to miss out them any longer – Sea Worship, Fathoms Deep and Legendary Lure are all from that collection, I believe, and are all permanent now.
Guerlain Perles des Neiges. I couldn’t justify the pricetag, but I really wanted it. I splurged on the regular Meteorites pearls finally because I felt they would be a little more versatile (although the effect is so subtle for both I’m sure it would have been fine. I do not regret getting the regular version, but still wish I had gotten the holiday one.
Revlon reduced the lip butters line before I picked up all the shades I was looking at. I wish I had picked up a new bottle of Gaultier Ma Dame perfume before it was pulled.
It is still very easy to get Ma Dame. It’s not to expensive either. Just look around online. It trust Overstock or Fragrancenet. It is wonderful if you love bold fragrances.
Maybe the Anastasia Self Made palette (or maybe not!); back ups of Sephora Snakeskin Dress eye pencil (had I known they were going to discontinue it, I’d have purchased at least 1 more) and my most lamented “non-purchases” from several years ago – MAC Subtle Breeze blush and Modern Pewter eyeshadow.
Probably last year’s Hourglass Ambient Blush palette. And last year’s Lorac Mega Pro.
Prob MAC Viva Glam Rihanna 2 lipstick. I waffled on it for months and when I decided to commit it was sold out.
Not purchasing an extra tube of Tom Ford’s limited edition lipstick, Vampire Kiss!
Guerlain’s Holiday 2015 Meteorites. I have, no lie, about 12-13 different jars, all lightly used, all bought for because they were LE, or just so lovely an eejit like me couldn’t resist. This year, with the price point hovering close to $100.00, I forced myself to not buy the Holiday version, even though it was so extra darling! I won’t use it enough, and it will sit with the others in a small train case! I still catch myself looking at them on eBay, I’m such a junkie for Meteorites!
The MAC X Marilyn Monroe lipsticks. I think I saw the collection when it released, but I didn’t pay much attention to it (surprising considering how much I LOVE Marilyn). Charmed, I’m Sure & Love Goddess are GORGEOUS & I haven’t seen true (not discontinued) dupes for either. :’-(
Forever it will be the Tom Ford Emerald lust palette. Just could not get it shipped to Australia. Now it is more than $250 plus exorbitant shipping to get on ebay….
The Spectrum palette!! Ugh!!!! Seriously I think about this so much. It drives me nuts lol.
I was recently at nordstrom and there was a charlotte tillbury booth. and I didn’t buy the filmstar bronze and glow which I’ve coveted pretty much since it came out. eternal regret
Mac’s Cinderella Collection :'(
Mac’s Oh Darling highlighter, Guo Pei’s blushers and lipsticks, though I did manage to get the Night Sky eye palette which is awesome. At least there are plenty of dupes for Oh Darling and Brave Red. I feel lucky I managed to nab an UD Urban Spectrum palette from the UK UD website when it first came out here!
I regret waiting too long to purchase Dolce&Gabbana #1 Sophia Loren lip color. I was able to order 1 from Nordstrom but when I saw how beautiful the color and texture were for me and tried to order another it was too late everywhere. Hoping they make it part of their permanent line.
MAC Pink Cult. I swiped it, loved, didn’t buy it on the spot and a few days later it was gone!
Marc Jacobs Free Spirit holiday eyeshadow palette. I thought I could get it for Christmas but it was already sold out before then.
I regret buying the Tarte Rainforest After Dark palette and Naked 3. The colors just aren’t what I usually use and in Tartes case the quality isn’t great either. I adore every shadow in the original Naked but if I had to rebuild my collection from scratch I’d skip it. Pre made palettes just don’t seem to ever be perfect. Naked is close, I just wish there were more mattes. And yet I’m still hoping to invest in MAC Warm Neutrals! That seems like a winner for my tastes.
Ah! I answered the wrong question! There isn’t much I regret missing out on because I feel like a lot of LE things I lust after for the packaging or for the novelty of it, and I’d probably feel bad about “wasting” money on it if I did buy it.
I had every intention of purchasing the Sephora Favorites Extend Your Style set (all dry shampoos) but I put off placing an order… then it was gone. Some part of me didn’t believe it would sell out so quickly. I don’t know why I believed that because it was a great deal for the amount of products contained in the set. =(
Tom Ford Summer 2015 Pink Glow Eye and Cheek Pallet – it is priced at $150-$199 on eBay.
The UD Spectrum Palette and the Charlotte Tilbury Bar of Gold. Still kicking myself for debating on both for so long I missed out.
I live in the UK. We were over in the US last September and at the time I bought the lip favourites kit from Sephora. Wish I had tried the Tarte lipstick whilst over there as I would have liked to buy more of these. I also really like the Marc Jacobs and Bite products that I got on that trip. Of these three brands there is only Tarte available over here online (QVC). I don’t mind returning goods to QVC but wouldn’t anywhere else. Am hopeful that Marc Jacobs Beauty and Bite Beauty will become available over here.
Mostly Tom Ford products like cream eye shadow in Platinum and Spice.
Maybe the Jem and the Holograms eyeshadow palette. I know it didn’t get very good reviews, but I have the rest of the set, so I feel a bit incomplete.
The first Lorac Mega Pro Palette! UGHHHH I should have purchased that while I had the chance. After that, I never passed up something I really wanted again, for fear I would miss out on it for good.
I’ve missed all of the Chanel releases this year and it’s bummed me out. They have some incredible quads, lippies, eyeliners, and nail polishes this year! Some great blushes too!
Over a year later and I still regret not buying the Amrezy palette by ABH!
I can’t think of a regret! There are some drugstore products that I saw in store while travelling or something… That are hard to get here and I didn’t pick them up and afterwards wished. But I can’t remember which exactly at this time so obviously no huge loss for me!
I think Le Metier de Beaute Red my Lips!
Jaclyn Smith Morphe pallette.