What was the strangest beauty product you've ever used?
I tried one of Dr. Jart+ rubber masks, and it was such a weird experience–not in a bad way, but it was certainly a unique experience for me at the time!
— Christine
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The only one I can think of (though something might occur to me later) is The Ordinary’s AHA 30%/BHA 2% Peeling Solution. It’s a great product but it looks a bit like a blood-bath when it’s applied.
Some Dr. Hauschka cleanser that was essentially ground almonds in a base of oils and some fillers. It was not very effective even though I am willing to overlook weirdness if a product actually works. Maybe I used it wrong, but there are so many better, cheaper and less fussy cleansers that I really cant be arsed 😀
The original Epilady coil epilator that came out in the mid-1980s. It was awful and hurt to use it, and I returned it.
I had one too! It hurt so much. I was a dork and I kept using it, even though it was a torture device.
I had to google it bc I don’t think i’ve ever seen one, but it does remind me of the manual could that some brands like Tweezerman have started selling. Yikes!
* Manual coils, not could…
Kuavsui, I hope coil technology has improved. A manual one sounds kind of scary.
I had the original Epilady, too. Actually, I still use an epilator made by Remington. It does hurt a bit, but not terribly. I like it better than waxing my legs. That, to me, is torture!
Seraphine, I thought the original was awful. I have a really high pain tolerance, but it pulling out my leg hairs was too much for me. Of course, I was 16 or 17, so maybe I just wasn’t as tough back then.
I’ll have to check out the Remington, out of curiosity if nothing else.
I use an epilator too & I like it better than waxing. The only super painful encounter I had with it was when I caught some of my knee skin. Ouch! But my leg hair hair gotten really sparse after using it for a year, so now I’m just extra careful around my knees.
Oh Rachel I tried that too, waaaay too painful! Wishful thinking and a waste of money!
I’ve never used that one, but I have the Braun epilator (with the disc design), and I use it regularly. Painful, of course, but it’s the only thing I can use that doesn’t give me 5 o’clock leg shadow, ingrown hairs, or cost an arm and leg to have someone else do to me (like waxing). It has the added bonus of causing my hair to grow back more sparsely and (seemingly) slower — waxing probably has that effect too, but I’m opposed to other people working me over for money, and I’ve never been able to successfully wax myself.
I’m so scarred (literally) from those Braun epilators!
Ouch, I remember this well, now that you mention it, Rachel. What a torture device. I still have it, though I don’t know why. It’s packed in a box in the barn with other things I never got rid of.
That original Epilady! I had endured the pain, but the coil caused so much scarring due to ingrown hairs that I couldn’t wear skirts for two years! Somehow, the damage to the roots was permanent and I was left with no choice but shaving my legs after that.
A vibrating mascara by Lancôme. I had to buy it just to see what newfangled eyelash technology this was. It was weird to use and didn’t do any better a job. Hey, sometimes even a gimmick works well.
Not sure if I’d call them weird, but some get weirded out by my using them!
Castor oil for lashes and brows to increase growth. It does work, but takes a few weeks to see results.
Coconut oil to loosen up my base products for removal at night. Also works as a sunscreen on me, but I am not a burner. This is only used on days where I will be indoors most of the time anyway, as it makes up for my not wearing hose from late March or April until end of October/early November. Not something I would use for a day at the park or when going to a pool!
Cake mascara! I know it used to be ubiquitous, those little pans of black pigment, and you’d dribble some water (or, let’s be honest, SPIT) onto it and then rub a bristly brush in. But it’s still a VERY odd product. The brush was like a wee toothbrush. Scrubba scrubba on your lashes.
I know Besame still makes them. I was almost curious enough to try it last year.
I had the black and the brown cake mascara from Maybelline back in the day and I used to love them. And no, I never used spit.
Saffy Taffy….did it work?
Usually I don’t fall into the gimicky / strange product trap, I’m quite basic. 😀
I guess the strangest thing I ever tried was the Hungarian Thermal Water Mineral-Rich Atomic Heat Mask from Peter Thomas Roth. I got the mini set of masks that come in tube (hate jar packaging, even for masks) just to see if the Irish Moor Mud Purifying Black Mask and the Hungarian Thermal Water Mineral-Rich Atomic Heat Mask were something to try; I gifted the other 4 masks since they contain fragrance (some of my friend don’t care, but I do).
The thermic effect of the mask was interesting, but actually not really that intense or tingling. Definitely not worthwhile the price tag. Well, I just noticed PTR has an odd looking new Lashes to Die For Lash Enhancer at $85, so the mask doesn’t seem as expensive.
Back in the 1980s, I bought a black lipstick that smelled like fresh strawberries at a little shop in London. I have no idea what brand it was. The shop sold punk/goth-type merchandise. That’s all I remember. I know it doesn’t sound that weird these days, but at the time I was pretty surprised at the color/scent combination.
Just thought of another one: CoverGirl Total Tease Mascara. It has a tiny comb sticking out sideways at the end of the wand. It seemed like a good idea when I bought it, but it was actually a bit nerve-racking to use because it could stab you in the eye if it’s not turned away when you’re using the regular part of the wand.
That lipstick sounds awesome.
I would buy a lipstick like that now!
I tried some really weird exfoliators – one was called a magic pad and it was literally like one of those green matted plastic pot scrubbers for dealing to baked on crap on your casserole pots (except it was this lurid pinky orange colour) but it worked surprisingly well as long as you had lots of foaming cleanser and were very gentle.
The other one was a supermarket purchased tube of facial scrub (can’t remember the brand, it was traumatic enough for me to block it from memory) and it was marketed as a cleansing polisher but it was this really weird consistency, like grainy bubble snot and it was claggy and smeary and did not scrub, exfoliate or polish in any way and then wouldn’t rinse of my face without leaving a really weird film on my skin. I hated it. But it has the weirdest texture of anything I’ve ever used.
Snail essence, lol. I keep thinking “This is snail poop I’m putting on my face…”
It’s not poop though! It’s the stuff they secrete in order to move around without getting stuck – so it’s more like snail lube 😉 LOL!
I don’t know if that makes it better or worse…
Yup. There’s snail lube in Bye Bye Foundation or at least in the original formula. I figured that’s why it was so suspiciously flexible and never drying. Eww.
Better — it makes it better; snail lube is preferable to snail poop … I’m sure of it. ?
Secretions. ?
I tried that sili-sponge for applying foundation and wondered why I ever thought it would be a good idea. At the time it appealed to me because it seemed more hygienic and that there would be no waste – for me, I feel like the beauty sponges soak up the foundation and only half gets on your face. Using both just reinforced how much I like to apply my base with clean fingers/hands.
In the 90s MAC made some weird stuff that I bought like a blue-toned pink liquid that I think was a blush or highlighter but you could use it on your eyes and lips too (which I did, ugh) and a “vinyl” goop you put on your eyes to make them glossy. It was a trend for about 5 minutes.
I have been pretty careful of gimmicky stuff for my face, even since I was a 16 year old, with a few pimples, and my mum got me to put on an egg yolk mask….apart from the appalling smell, it totally dried out my skin and I needed a month of moisturiser to help it.
My next door neighbour, at the same time (a year younger than me) put on a ‘natural’ mud mask her sister bought her back from a trip to NZ (thermal mud it was supposed to be), well, it just about ripped her face off it was so strong. Both of us ended up cursing our families after that.
Synthetic snake venom on my face as part of skincare.
That is odd, yes, but all things considered, no more odd that Botox or bee venom, if you really think about it, and both of those have gotten pretty mainstream.
The uguisu no fun facial (translation – nightingale bird poop facial…I’ve also heard it called Satan’s pancake batter). If you can get over what you are putting on your face (the chemical process removes anything nasty) it leaves your skin amazing. But…I couldn’t get over it. I still have bottle of the powder in my vanity. 😀
Bird Poop Facial, Yes it’s the strangest beauty product which I ever used in my whole life. I still remembered that day when I had applied it on my face.