Hi Everyone!
I've decided to do a products I regret buying post, i've seen loads of people do videos for this so i thought i'd have a go in a post. I might venture into videos eventually but at the moment i'm sticking to blogging.
The usual disclaimer: i'm not bashing these products, i know some people love these products. This is my personal opinion and experience of the products only. Everything shown was bought with my own money.
Ok now thats out the way... lets get started. This post isn't products I hate, its products I regret buying - it might be that I don't like them but it could also be I found them disappointing, over hyped or just not worth the money. I've tried not to include things just because I don't like the colour (e.g. something that was to light/dark etc). These will be quite short reviews, i'm not going to go into tonnnes of detail about each product.
With any shadows I mention I always wear primer... i'm not trying to get these to work on bare lids.
1. Wet N Wild I-Sparkle Palettes. I bought 3 of these in Utopia, Paradise and Oasis. I've had an excellent experience with Wet n Wild in the past so I wanted to give these a try.
(Top: Oasis. Left: Paradise. Right: Utopia)
The pigmentation is what let these down, the colours are lovely (in the pan these are really really pretty but such a let down) but they don't transfer at all. Paradise was the worst followed by Utopia. Oasis is just about ok if your willing to really work with it but i did find i had to be careful blending as even the shades that had ok pigment just blended away even on a sticky base.
Spot the first 3 shades.... yes there are 3 before the first brown and two more before the next brown...
Left to Right is Paradise then Utopia then Oasis. You can at least see all four colours of Oasis. I have to say the copper in Utopia is really pretty but the palette just wasn't worth it for that one shade. Paradise just has no pigmented shades at all.
2. ELF Flawless Eyeshadow palette in Golden Goddess.
These seemed to have so much potential as I thought they would be a better version of the brightening eyecolor quads (which for the most part i like). I actually think the quality of this, at least the first three shades, is worse. Lets look at the swatches.
The first three shades are really powdery, chalky and apply patchy. Its like its all shimmer with no base pigment. The main problem is when you apply these shades, all the shimmer falls out onto your cheeks leaving nothing on the lid. The final shade swatches really pigmented and applies ok but has a similar problem if i try and blend it out. This is also £1 more expensive than the brightening quads... and I definately think the quads are better quality, I can actually wear them. I have also got this in Tantalizing Taupe which i haven't tried yet... fingers crossed its at least a bit better.
3. Too Faced Single Cosmo Shadows - not sure what the official name for these were but they are the swirly single shadows with space related names.
Top left: Amber Asteroid. Top Right: Cocoa Comet. Bottom: Magenta Moon.
These are one of the ones that I sort of like but still regret buying. The concept of these is when swirled together they produce a duochrome brown. Amber Asteroid swatches as a brown with a greeny gold duochrome. Cocoa Comet is a brown and aqua duochrome (think MAC Club dupe) and Magenta Moon is brown with a pink and blue duochrome (the pink has a blue duochrome). The reason i regret buying these is that although they swatch beautifully the duochromes don't seem to pick up on a brush and just look plain brown on the eye (so it seems like I bought three identical brown shadows). Thankfully I did not get these at full price as they were being discontinued but I think I expected a high end brands eyeshadows to transfer their true colour onto the eye. *extra disclaimer - this is just what i thought at the time... i recieved the Too Faced Natural at Night Palette for my birthday and love it*
Heres some swatches of how they swatch becuase they are quite pretty swatched....
(L-R: Amber Asteroid, Cocoa Comet and Magenta Moon)
The next lot are grouped so I could swatch them together, they are:
(L-R: MAC Sheertone Blush in Peachykeen, No7 Lipstick in Coral Dream, ELF Hypershine Lipgloss in Vixen and ELF All over Colorstick in Pink Lemonade (yes its in a pot... more on that later).
4. MAC Sheertone Blush in Peachykeen: I know its called Sheertone but theres sheer and theres unpigmented.... this is unpigmented. I have to dig my fingers into it to get a swatch. I don't wear this often as I have to apply several layers for it to look like I have blush on. I guess I feel disappointed as I have loads of drugstore blushes with gorgeous pigmentation and shades and I paid loads for this and never reach for it as my drugstore ones are better.
5. No7 Lipstick in Coral Dream: This is such a beautiful shade swatched. But when applied it dries my lips out, sinks into the lines in my lips and goes patchy. It looks awful on. Its also far more frosty on the lips then when its swatched. I've tried using balm underneath, no luck. I've tried a gloss over the top to smooth it out so I can still wear the colour, nope still patchy.
6. ELF Hypershine Lipgloss in Vixen: so the website shows a bright redish coral... right...? Nope this is completely sheer, invisable on my lips, might as well be wearing a clear gloss....what more needs to be said, if i wanted a clear lipgloss i would have bought a clear lip gloss.
7. ELF All Over Color Stick in Pink Lemonade: its in a pot... the packaging was broken, it could not be wound up. Then the bottom popped off. So i depotted it. To be honest though i find the product too dry, i would have had to have dragged it really hard across my cheeks to get the colour. It blends kind of patchy too. On the up side it is really pigmented so i'm still going to see how i can make it work. I think i might try the shimmering facial whips, they come in exactly the same shades as the color sticks an may be smoother to apply.
(L-R: MAC Sheertone Blush in Peachykeen (several layers), No7 Lipstick in Coral Dream, ELF Hypershine Lipgloss in Vixen, ELF All Over Color Stick in Pink Lemonade (this is darker and more pigmented then it shows up here).)
Ok three more to go, these are grouped too. No particular reason.
(L-R: Maybelline Illegal Lengths Mascara (Black), Benefit They're Real and VIVO BB Cream in Light)
8. Maybelline Illegal Lengths Mascara: This actually looks ok on, its nothing amazing but it doesn't clump or smudge. However it hurts... a lot. I constantly feel like i have some thing in my eye when i'm wearing this. I've tried it several times incase i applied it badly the first time. It hurts everytime. Everything else in this post i will try and find a way too use up but this will have to go in the bin.
Brush pic... people seem to like brush pics. (Maybelline Illegal Lengths Brush).
9. Benefit They're Real: This is more a regret because of being overhyped and overpriced rather than not actually liking it. This small sample size (4ml) cost me £9. I'll make this clear this is a good mascara but thats all it is. Considering the hype and advertising i was expecting to be amazed and i really wasn't. I do like it and will very happily use this up but i have no plans to repurchase. I have several drugstore mascaras I like as much or more than this and are less than half the price of a full size tube. I think the regret is spending so much money on a something thats no better then other stuff thats out there. (I find the same with Bad Gal lash - i have never bought it, it has always come as part of a kit - its a great mascara but would not spend the money on it as there are plenty of other mascaras that are just as good).
And another one... I think I was just amazed my camera phone could focus that well. (Benefit They're Real brush)
10. VIVO BB Cream in Light: The main thing for me with this was the consistancy. Its very thick and greasy feeling. Its streaky when applied and leaves my skin very shiny even with powder over the top. Its the only BB cream i own (i have about 6 different ones) that feels like i have heavy 'make-up' on my skin. It feels heavier than even my highest coverage foundation yet it gives hardly any coverage, its all grease.
As I said earlier I am not knocking this brands, i have other products from every brand here that i love and are favourites. These just didn't work for me.
To make up (hehe pun :p) for all these products I didn't like I am planning to start a series of posts of favourite products. I've picked about 5 products from different catagories (lipgloss, eyeshadow, palettes etc) that i would repurchase straight away it they ran out.
I'm also planning to do a post on my experience with the new Boots No7 foundation matching service.
Thanks for reading!
