Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Bronzer… did not like at all–so dry and LOOKED extremely dry on my skin. I enjoy the original finishing powder, so I was really surprised to have such trouble with the bronzer.
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Hourglass blush in Mood Exposure. It’s a nice blush, but at $40 I was expecting a wow, not a meh. The first one I bought had very bad marbling, so I returned it and got a better one. It’s still not very impressive on me, though.
Maybe it’s too close to your skin color. I had that problem with MUG secret admirer and SG always and forever. And I haaaate the Emperor’s New Blush. I tend to (not totally) agree with those persons who believe a blush fares better if it is contrastive, rather than similar to, your complexion tone.
No, it’s definitely different from my skin tone. It looks nice, it just doesn’t seem that much better than blushes that are half the price.
I bought the Ghost Quad, and I can’t say I’m terribly impressed with how any of the shades look on the face. I don’t get the hype, but maybe it’s my oily skin or my foundations.
MJB Steeletto. Total expectation deflation. Not impressive in application. Not unique or a workhorse in my stash. I like the Lunatick, the CP, even the Smashbox (punked) better. Of course, I expected Steeletto to do my taxes and win a lottery, so…..
Tom Ford Honeymoon e/s quad. I honestly believe that there must have been a formula change. Either that, or mine was of a faulty batch. Idk. But mine was very dry, difficult to build up and could only be used wet if I wanted any sort of sheen or solid pigmentation. Because I had been so looking forward to getting it finally, when it failed me, it genuinely felt like someone let all the air out of my happy balloons.
In the past year I wasn’t trying too many things, mostly repurchases and haven’t got too many disappointments…
The Maybelline SuperStay powder foundation was a big miss, surprisingly since I like the SuperStay liquid foundation and other Maybelline powders I tried.
NYX brow gels were another disappointments, again, especially since the pencils are good dupes for higher end brands.
The most memorable disappointment from last year’s is Charlotte Tilbury as a whole. I expected to love the brand, don’t know why. The powder, so praised by many, is worse than the Maybelline one mentioned above, the pencil formula is purely bad and overall that gold packaging looks and feels cheap to me.
Without a doubt, Huda Beauty Pastel Obsession Palette. I haven’t purchased a product that Christine reviewed without checking the review in over a year but during the midst of the pandemic and while visiting my daughter, who doesn’t have service, I used my mobile data and bought the palette. What a mistake. Every time I do that I end up regretting it so I am back on the “check review before buying” train. It is by far the worst palette I have ever used. No amount of primer or application technique will save this palette.
The Melt 420 Palette. I’ve gotten it to work, but really the quality isn’t great and the shadows are very picky. If it weren’t the unique color story and the shade Chronic (weirdly a dead-on match for my eye color, yet Chronic enhances it rather than competing like other similar shades do), I would have taken it back after the first couple uses.
After consulting with the crew in the in the Phyrra FB group and some experimenting, I find I can make the shades work over UD Primer Potion or ABH Eyeshadow Primer, which allows me to build up the more sheer shades and blend the darker shades over the lighter ones. A less dry primer such as TFSI will result in patchiness and inability to blend. Patting the shadows on with a dense brush eliminates most of the horrible fallout. I like the e.l.f. C Brush best for this.
UD Naked Ultraviolet! I don’t even own it, just saw the release a few minutes ago, but I’ve been anticipating UD making a purple-themed palette for ages now, and fully half those shadows don’t belong there! Get rid of those peaches (and such a lovely green that belongs /somewhere else/) and add more matte purples and COOL tone neutrals, UD. Such a bummer.
Okay… now that I’ve calmed down… something I’ve actually used: Too Faced BTS Waterproof mascara. Maybe I got a bad tube, but it was so dry and clumpy, pretty much unusable. A MAC mascara sample came with the order and I ended up just using that instead.
For me, MAC Powder Kiss lipsticks were a fail, although I had braced myself for it.
I bought some during the recent sale (they were half price in the end) and I avoided buying them before because of their smell. I had thought I could move past that, and knew they didn’t get a good rating here, but still, I bought some.
The colours are perfect, they look and feel unique, but my God, they both smell and taste like the Zellers shoe aisle. It’s gag inducing everytime. Not sure what I can do with them now…
Estée Lauder Pure Color Love Cooling Highlighter in Moon Pearl. It goes on really nicely, but any attempt to blend it out makes it disappear. It’s very subtle when applied and not blended.
It was awhile ago now, but Laura Mercier’s Translucent setting powder was a big miss for me. It didn’t work any better than any other setting powder and for the price – $57 here, I went through it in a about 6 weeks. Disappointing.
Boscia’s Cactus Water Moisturizer. It’s a beautiful moisturizer and feels amazing on the skin but it makes my sunscreen pill and I specifically purchased it so to be part of my morning routine during the winter months. I’ve found a much better alternative, Blithe’s Crystal Iceplant Pressed Serum but I’m still trying to work through the Boscia one.
Pat McGrath FetishEyes mascara. It was dry to begin with but seemed to really dry out within 2 weeks. It was clumpy and didn’t hold a curl.