DISAPPOINTING BEAUTY PRODUCTS

 I feel like I’m forever writing about rave-worthy products; but let’s be real, there are more than enough disappointing beauty products on the market, and we’ve all had our fair share.

So today I thought I’d share with you some of my most disappointing purchases! Let’s get started!

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H&M GOSSAMER LIP STAINS ($9.99/hm.com)

 

 I have a whole review on these (click here to read) but the long and short of it is that, while they swatch well on the back of the hand, once they hit your lips, they settle into the slightest lines or dryness, giving you ‘butt hole lips’ (you know what I’m talking about!) and then before you know it, they’re gone! The swatch lasted two days on my hand, but it was gone in a matter of moments on my lips!
And beware, H&M does not accept returns on beauty items (which if I had known prior to purchasing, I wouldn’t have – that’s kind of a red flag to me) so save yourself the aggravation, and just skip on down to ULTA for worry free shopping!

MAYBELLINE FACESTUDIO MASTER PRIME ($9.99/drugstores)

 

 These primers come in three varieties; Smoothing, Redness Control, and Illuminating. And none of them do what they claim. Not one. They’re almost like glorified face lotions repackaged with false promises. If you’re looking for a good drugstore primer, click here. But I honestly recommend you don’t waste your hard earned money on these.

SMASHBOX PHOTO FINISH PRIMER WATER ($32/Sephora)

 

 While we’re on the topic of primers, here is another one that I was severely disappointed by. This is nothing by glorified, $32 water. I was actually really excited to try this, too, because it’s been super hyped up all over the internet, and some of my favorite YouTubers swear by it – but it did absolutely nothing for me. If you want to know more, I have a whole review on it here.

URBAN DECAY DE-SLICK MAKEUP SETTING SPRAY ($30/ULTA)

 

 I bought this for the same reason everyone else does – oil control. While I did like that, just like the other Urban Decay setting sprays, it does spray in an even, fine mist better than any other brand I’ve ever tried, it did absolutely nothing in terms of controlling my oil and keeping my makeup matte or in place. In fact, I get better results from the Chill Makeup Setting Spray over a mattifying foundation than I ever got from this product. Within an hour, it seemed I was oilier than ever! I exchanged it for the All-Nighter spray, and I’m much happier!

COVERGIRL LASHBLAST PLUMPIFY MASCARA ($11.99/drugstores)

 

 I love every mascara from the ‘LashBlast’ line – except this one. The wand is awkwardly huge, scratchy, and twisted, making it impossible for me to get my lashes anything but clumpy. And unlike the typical not-too-wet, not-too-dry ‘LashBlast’ formula, this one seemed unusually wet, which made it even harder to apply. I returned this within like, 8 hours, I hated it so much. It wasn’t even worth keeping and tossing into my mascara drawer and waiting for it to dry out some; there was just no making this work for me.

NYC SMOOTH SKIN BRONZING POWDER ‘SUNNY’ ($4/Target)

 

 This has been called a dupe for the Benefit Hoola Bronzer – I don’t own it, so I can’t speak to that. It’s also been said to be the number one matte drugstore bronzer that everyone loves to contour with. That it’s natural looking, never fake or orange, and works for everyone. Yeah, if everyone had warm undertones. My skin ranges from ‘printer paper white’ in the winter all the way up to a solid golden bronze in the summer, and nowhere along that color spectrum could I make this shade work for me. Nowhere. However, if you’re looking for a good drugstore bronzer, check out my post here, and if you’re in the market for a drugstore contour shade, try here.

KEVYN AUCOIN THE SENSUAL SKIN ENHANCER ($48/Sephora)

 

 I think this is quite possibly the most expensive beauty item I’ve ever purchased. But suffering from a case of #youtubemademebuyit, I did my research, watched reviews and tutorials, and placed my order. This is a super duper, teeny tiny tube of concentrated cream based pigment, that can be used incredibly sparingly as a heavy duty concealer, or sheered out with your favorite mixing medium (i.e. a moisturizer or face oil) for a flawless finish foundation. Maybe on someone else. For me, no matter what I did (and I’m aware of the extreme learning curve with this product) I just couldn’t make it work. It clung to dryness, it sank into my pores, it settled in fine lines – and it angered a minor blemish that I tried to cover with it to nearly double it’s original size. As much as I genuinely wanted to love it, I ended up returning it. I don’t have like, a burning hatred for it; it just simply wasn’t for me, and for what I paid, I couldn’t justify keeping it around to not use it.

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Have you guys tried any of these products? What are some of your disappointing beauty buys? Leave me a comment and let me know!

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DRUGSTORE HAUL! HITS & MISSES

 So a couple nights ago I was thinking to myself “it’s been awhile since I’ve done a drugstore haul, and there’s so much new stuff out!” so I went a-shoppin’.

I hit up CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens, so this is a collective haul – most items I picked up last night, and a few I’ve had for a couple days. There are some great products in here, and some that quite honestly, I wasn’t really wowed by, and ended up returning this morning.

Let’s get started, and I’ll share my thoughts on the products!

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NIVEA MEN’S POST SHAVE BALM (SENSITIVE) – $5.54/Walmart

I actually have a full review on this product, but basically, I bought this to use as a primer (thanks to NikkieTutorials on YouTube) and I gotta say, I’m not disappointed! If you want to check out the full review, just click here.

GARNIER SKIN MICELLAR CLEANSING WATER – $8.99/CVS

I had such high hopes for this product, as the concept of micellar waters is pretty cool to me (cleanse, hydrate, tone, and remove all your makeup) and I love, love, love their gel cream – unfortunately this just didn’t do it for me. At first I thought it was glorified, purified water with a dash of minerals, and then after just one use, I woke up the next morning with probably one of the worst breakouts I’ve had in years – not cool, Garnier, not cool. Just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean it won’t work for you, but it claims to be great for all skin types, and well….yeah….I returned it.

MAYBELLINE BROW DRAMA POMADE CRAYON in SOFT BROWN – $9.99/Walgreens

A little part of me was hesitant, and clearly for good reason – this is an overly creamy, medium pigmented crayon that while it was relatively easy to apply, has no staying power at all. When you think of a pomade, you think of like ABH Dip Brow – somewhat dense, with some hold, and decent pigmentation. This was like taking a jumbo brown Crayola crayon and wiping it over my brows. Didn’t love it, brought it back. I’ll stick with my NYX Micro Brow.

COVERGIRL LASHBLAST PLUMPIFY MASCARA – $9.99/Walgreens

Man do I feel like this is a super negative post! I hated this too, really. That wand looked cool (twisty with a ball on the end like Benefit’s They’re Real! Mascara), and the concept is great, and I’ve always loved ‘LashBlast’ mascaras – but this one, when I opened it up, had a massive wand that is really just too big for any eye. It was almost impossible to use. And the formula is much wetter than the usual Covergirl mascara, so those things combined were just a recipe for disaster. Plumpify = CLUMP-ify. No bueno.

MAYBELLINE COLOR SENSATIONAL VIVID MATTE LIQUID LIP COLOR in NUDE FLUSH – $7.99/Walgreens

I actually went to 2 different stores in search of this product, because I really, really wanted to try it. I picked mine up in the shade ‘Nude Flush’. Oy….it’s like a Barbie pink, it never really set, it was more of a creamy satin finish than a matte finish, and it just moved around on my lips. It is a very opaque finish, which I expected. But just wasn’t for me. In the tube it looks like it could be a ‘YLBB’ (your lips but better) but no….just no….it’s now living back at Walgreens.

WET N WILD MEGAGLO CONTOURING PALETTE in DULCE DE LECHE – $4.99/CVS

So now that we’ve gotten all the not-so-great stuff out of the way, let’s move on to some products that I think are pretty nice! First up is this contouring palette by Wet N Wild (obvi!). This comes in a disc palette about the size of your average coaster, and it’s split with a matte highlight shade and matte contour shade. They’re really nicely pigmented, seem to blend well, and they’re very creamy (GO Wet N Wild!) – it’s looks like they come in two shade variations, Dulce De Leche (the one I got, for lighter skin) and Caramel Toffee, which would be nice for medium to tan skin tones. My only complaint is that the contour shade is a touch on the warm side, but I want to play around a bit and see if I can make it work.

WET N WILD MEGASLICKS BALM STAIN in RICO MAUVE – $2.99/Walgreens

This looked interesting to me, as I love the convenience of the twist up, crayon style packaging, and well, the fact that it claims to be a stain. I stayed in my comfort zone here (bad Donna! Bad!) and picked up the shade  ‘Rico Mauve’ which is just that – your basic neutral mauve shade. It applies semi-shiny and highly pigmented, and I haven’t had the opportunity to wear it long enough to see how well it stains, but I’ll get back to you on that! So far, so good!

MILANI BRILLIANT SHINE LIP GLOSS in MAUVE FETISH – $2.99/CVS

So these next few items I found at CVS, and they had stickers on them that said “take 50% off”, and I couldn’t pass them up – like this one. I have a few of these glosses, and they’re wonderful. Pigmented, sticky enough to last awhile, but not so sticky that they’re uncomfortable. I grabbed ‘Mauve Fetish’ and it’s a lovely purple-y mauve shade that is perfect for everyday wear. Not too pigmented, not too sheer, and bonus – these glosses smell like a vanilla cupcake! Yum!

NYX POWDER BLUSH in MOCHA – $2.75/CVS 

I’ll be the first to admit I have far more blushes than I really need (or wear) but when NYX blushes are on clearance, you don’t walk away! They make amazing quality blushes, and my local CVS carries them for about $5.49, so take 50% off, and that’s $2.75! That’s a great deal! I grabbed the shade ‘Mocha’ ( I had all the other ones they had ) and it’s actually more of a peachy-pink shade than what I would have thought of with a name like ‘Mocha’. But I like it. I’ll use it. I think it would make a beautiful springtime blush, actually!

NYX BUTTER GLOSS in PEACH COBBLER – $2.75

Another product with a 50% off sticker on it (though only select shades) was this NYX Butter Gloss in the shade ‘Peach Cobbler’. I have a whole bunch of these glosses (if you’d like a review and swatches let me know in the comments) and this is a beautiful coral-red shade that is medium opacity and will be perfect for spring and summer! I love these glosses, and anytime I find them on sale, I always try to grab a few that I don’t have!

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Alright guys, I hope you enjoyed this haul! Have you tried any of these products? What new products have you tried? Leave me comments below! I love to hear from you! And if you’d like a full review on anything, leave that in the comments, too!

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