I’m doing a few different beauty categories of my beauty ‘favourites’ of 2016 so I thought it only reasonable to share with you a few of my beauty purchases that DIDN’T work for me : for various reasons including reactions, packaging and difficulty in use (*cough lush cleansers*). I think it’s important to be more honest in our blogs and reviews and maybe share more what isn’t great, which can be hard for fear of ruining a relationship with brands & PR’s, but I’ve decided I’m now ok with that.
Also if you haven’t caught up with my Makeup Winners of 2016 you can do so here.
First up the skincare failures for me: Zelens 3T Complex face cream. I know this brand has consistent rave reviews and I really want to like it but after trying their best-selling face cream, I broke out. Which hasn’t happened in a long time. It was after about 4 days of use and I came up with tiny raised bumps all over my face like a rash, which is annoying as I was so excited to try it. Perhaps, with my more combination skin I should have opted for another cream, but I am definitely not well-partnered with the 3T Complex. I have had some sachet samples of the Hydra Shiso moisturiser which I have tried without incident so that is probably the safer option. I have tried their luminous serum and that has been fabulous so it hasn’t put me off the brand by any means.
Last year, I realised that I hadn’t used anything from LUSH for like 15 years (no joke). I keep seeing so much blogger & lush action that I thought I needed to re-discover and try some bits from the brand. Hmmmm, I was not wowed by anything really. I purchased the Herbalism cleanser, the Angels on Bare Skin cleanser, a couple of shower gels (they were nice) and a couple of other things. One thing I just cannot get my head round are the cleansers : I add water to them to create a paste, which is a feat itself, then when I massage the product over my face, I find the large lumps go in my eyes, bits fall off over the sink and it just ends up being a right god damn mess. The cleanser is *ok* in terms of how it makes my skin feel but it does not balance out the mess of using the damn things. Am I doing something wrong?!
I do love the Cover FX Custom illuminator Drops, as in they have an insanely beautiful and bright highlight and the product is perfect. However the packaging ; the entire outer packaging rubbed off to nothing within months, so I cannot even see what colours I am using. They *are* in my makeup kit and it obviously doesn’t stop me from using them but for £34 I would expect better quality. Have you had this problem? I think they have since re-called and altered the packaging.
I really liked the Lancome Grandiose Liquid Eyeliner initially. It applied well, I loved the deep matte brown hue of it and although the gimmicky applicator that you can bend didn’t have much use for me, I could see how it would make other’s feel more at-ease with the terror of perfecting that ‘feline flick’. HOWEVER, this ran out. Like quickly. Way too quickly for the £23 it cost me. I’m talking after around 15 uses/ 3 weeks. Na fam, never buying you again and I suggest you don’t either. Another liner product that either dried up quick or I got a dud was the Suqqu Brow Ink. I purchased this quite a while back off the back of a load of hype (Lisa Eldridge I blame you) and when I went to use it there is just literally ZERO payoff : maybe like 5%. Perhaps they are supposed to be like this but as you can see from the ‘swatch’ on my hand, it really imparts very little ink, so not very visible. Not for me or my brows.
I purchased this wonderful-looking Make Up For Ever Eyeshadow in Debenhams as I had some vouchers to use. The colour was an absolute beauty and I swatched it in-store and it was exactly what I was looking for. However, when I got it home and started to use it, the powder shadow almost seemed damp/wet as it was just coming out in clumps and a REAL struggle to actually apply. The only was I can get the powder (I checked IT IS supposed to be powder) onto my actual eyelid is to use the back of my nail to scoop/scratch it out. Sad times. Both of the Chanel Illusion D’Ombres from the Chanel Les Rouges Collection receive a big NO from me.The colours are fantastic and I am still using them but these bad boys dried out WAY too quick. Still sad about this, you can read the full lowdown (& see the glorious swatches) HERE.
I love Hourglass as a brand and hold a great deal of it in both my personal and professional makeup kits. The Ambient Light Correcting Primer launched last year in 3 shades and I opted for my favourite powder version ‘Dim Light’. Hmmm it just didn’t *do anything* really. It didn’t really colour correct well, it just made my skin quite matte. The only words I can think to use to describe it are meh, disappointing & unnecessary. I absolutely love the Mineral Veil and no.28 primer they do so I will just stick to these.
Oh how I love my luxury candles. It’s my *thing* and my house is adorned with Diptyque, Diptyque, Jo Malone & Diptque. But what’s this I spy out shopping? A candle that looks sleek and gorgeous in it’s gorgeous black jar and white label and does a fragrance that smells of a library and costs more than an arm & a leg? I NEED IT IMMEDIATELY. << This was me around 4 months ago. I finally got around to opening and burning my first ever Byredo candle last week and I was so excited, I think I even snap-chatted it. As I tore off the packaging, my obsessed-crazy smile turned into horror and fear as the label of my lovely luxe candle was bobbly and non-fixable. Ok, this is probably pretty minor and absolutely hands-up #FirstWorldProblems but I spent £55 shitting pounds on this candle for it to look like this is just not right. Byerdo you are in my bad books but I still like your fragrances ok BYE.*
*BYREDO UPDATE* I purchased one for my friend for Christmas (same scent) and it was perfect, so probably just an unlucky one for me. I have been burning it and it is pretty much the most gorgeous and strong scent I’ve ever had from a candle, so I am not ready to give up. It burns really well too : in insane candle person talk this means the wax burns perfectly evenly downwards so you don’t get remnants of (wasted) wax up the sides of the jar so the quality of wax/fragrance etc is superb. And breathe.
Have you used any of these products and found they have worked really well for you? Or at least better than my outcomes.. Let me know your thoughts!