Thursday 1 November 2012

Products I Would Not Buy Again–Autumn 2012 Edition

I really like the idea of this kind of post so I’ve called this the Autumn 2012 Edition hoping that I can make this a regular feature. While of course I love reading about products that other people really enjoy using it’s also useful to hear about products that are best avoided – it helps save so much disappointment and money too!

So without further ado, here is my current tray of shame. Some of these products are awful, and some I just don’t like. You can click on this pic for a larger view.

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  1. Nivea Visage pure and natural cleansing lotion – this product claims “95% of natural origin” but, if that’s true, then I’m afraid their scientists spent too long focusing on ingredients and not enough time on coming up with a product that actually removes make-up. It’s rubbish. I wear eye make-up nearly every day and I need a reliable eye make-up remover. This unfortunately is not one. I won’t be buying this again.
  2. Illamasqua Base Coat – this is one of the only Illamasqua products I’ve tried that I don’t like. It’s very runny and while that makes it quick-drying I just feel that it doesn’t offer enough protection to my nails as I still quite often suffer from staining from coloured varnishes when I wear this base coat underneath.
  3. Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain and Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm – I know that loads of people love these, but I really hate them both. The balm stain is so hard and waxy that I end up having to rub so hard for any colour payoff that it hurts! The Just Bitten Lipstain is a felt-tip style lipstain with a tiny waxy balm at the other end. It takes ages to apply because it dispenses colour so unevenly and to be frank it’s still impossible to get even coverage no matter how long you spend trying to apply the thing. I definitely won’t be buying either of these again.
  4. Accessorize Diamond Lipgloss – I love most Accessorize products that I’ve tried but even though these lipglosses look gorgeous in the tube, you have to apply a huge dollop to get close to the same effect on the lips and they just don’t last. It’s a shame as the colours are gorgeous and they do look so pretty.
  5. Collection 2000 Cream Puff – again this is a product that’s been raved about by so many beauty bloggers and vloggers and it does have a lovely texture and colour – but I just can’t get it to last on my lips. It lasts a couple of hours on me max. Maybe I talk too much or drink too much coffee or something, but in any case I prefer my lip colours to hang around for just a little bit longer.
  6. MAC Shadestick – these used to be part of MAC’s permanent collection but they were discontinued a couple of years ago and now just make occasional appearances in limited edition collections. I was curious to give one a try as I do like eyeshadow sticks, but once I got my hands on this I soon realised why they had been discontinued. It feels like such an old-fashioned product, like the kind of eyeshadow stick that was on the market 10 years ago. The packaging feels cheap and plasticky, and the product only fills the top 1/3 of the pen. It dries out quickly so you have to be very careful about retracting the shadow and clicking the lid on tightly after each use. Unlike the best modern eyeshadow sticks which are smooth and creamy it’s also so horribly hard that it is actually painful to apply as it tugs so much on the skin, and you have to press quite hard to get any colour payoff. Yuck. Definitely not a product that I’ll be buying again.
  7. Urban Decay Glitter Eyeshadows – this used to be my favourite eyeshadow – this particular shade is Midnight Cowboy, but I have the same problem with every single Urban Decay eyeshadow that contains any glitter. They suffer from terrible, terrible fallout that begins during application and then continues on throughout the day. When I was younger I didn’t mind having glitter all over my cheeks – just doubled up as an extra highlighter – but now I’m over that stage and I really prefer to keep my glitter where I originally apply it. My favourite glittery eyeshadows are the amazing Blingtones by Myface Cosmetics – super glittery effect, without any glitter! Does that sound confusing? Check out their website (linked in previous sentence) for more info.
  8. 17 Wild Metallic Cream Eyeshadows – these are yet another product that seems to be beloved by all in the online beauty community except for me! I really don’t get the hype over these. I bought 3 as I’d read such great reviews of them and there was a 3-for-2 offer on at the time and they looked OK when I tested them on the back of my hand, but the colour just ends up faded and uneven on my eyes and creases like mad. Not only will I not be buying these ever again, I’ll probably end up throwing these in the bin as I just can’t think of any way to get any use out of them.
  9. Rimmel Glam’Eyes HD Eyeshadows – these look really cute with their Union Jack designs, but they’re totally impractical and the quality is quite poor. It’s very difficult to load a brush with the eyeshadows due to the design and the texture is super-soft and crumbly so eyeshadow just gets everywhere when you try to pick it up on an applicator from the packaging. The colour payoff is poor too. I consider this to be more of a novelty product than useful make-up. I mean, they’re nice to look at, but ultimately that’s not really what I buy make-up for – I want to be able to wear it on my face! At £5.99 each they’re not cheap either.
  10. Bourjois Little Round Pot Eyeshadow – the colour payoff of these is just terrible. I loved the colour of this eyeshadow but in order to get decent colour payoff I had to scrape the surface of the eyeshadow and apply the resulting loose powder with a damp brush – waaaay too much hassle for an eyeshadow that should be producing good results straight from the pan.
  11. Stila novelty eyeshadow palette – it’s a bit of a shame as some of these colours are quite nice, but the design of this palette is so impractical. Some of the segments are so small that you have to use a pencil brush to pick any product up. While some of the colours have good colour payoff, many of the matte shades were quite sheer and chalky so I was really disappointed with this. This palette came out last year and I know they have released similar palettes this year with a snowflake design, but I’ll be steering clear.

Well I had fun compiling this list and I hope it was useful or interesting too. I will try to do another edition in late winter or early spring.

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