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When it comes to beauty products (well…actually any products), I want to love them all. Who wants to buy something and then never use it or enjoy it? But it doesn’t always work out. No matter how much research I do or reviews I read, sometimes I buy a makeup item, and it just doesn’t work for me. Sometimes I just flat out hate a product, but other times they get lumped into the ‘not my favorite’ category. As is the case with these 6 products I wanted to love but just didn’t.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with these products, and I don’t despise any of them. So if you love them, that’s great! However, I, for whatever reason, found these 5 products just didn’t work the way I wanted them to. So let’s chat.
Touch in Sol Metallist Liquid Foil + Glitter Shadow Duo
I bought this exclusively because Tati (Glam Life Guru on Youtube) raved about it. And I understand why she loves it; it just is too much of a hassle for me. This is a 2-step eye shadow situation. You have a liquid shadow you apply first and a loose glitter you apply on top. I purchased the shade ‘Lottie,’ a beautiful plum color.
I wanted to love this. Really, I did. The color is gorgeous and perfect for fall, but I just find it to be more hassle than it’s worth. The liquid I use. It’s easy to blend onto to the eye, and it performs well over the course of the day. It’s the glitter I can’t get behind. Firstly, I try to be a glitter girl, but I’m just not. I find I’m never wanting to reach for the glitter side. And it’s so messy. because it’s a loose glitter, it’s very easy to fall off the little spatula. And if you drop a piece on your face or your arm or your pants, it’s smears everywhere. Definitely, do your eye makeup first when using this product.
All things considered, the finished look using both products together is amazing–one of the prettiest finished I’ve seen. It’s just such a hassle; I never want to use it.
Almay Smart Shade Concealer
This is a pretty recent purchase, but I formed my opinion quickly after only a few uses. I’ve had my eye on these Smart Shade products from Almay for quite a long time. The adjusting aspect has always intrigued me. If you want me to buy your product, tell me it’s adjusts to my individual skin tone (I love when it’s all about me). There are a couple of things I like about this:
- Because it adjusts to the skin, it actually is light enough for me. I struggle with drugstore concealers being too dark, too yellow, etc. I’m already extremely fair, so finding a concealer to use under my eyes is a struggle, especially at the drugstore.
- It blends out really well. Sometimes concealers are too thick and are difficult to blend, particularly under the eye. But this glides on and blend outs nicely.
But there are bigger things I don’t like. It’s not a thin formula, so you’d think it’d be good for coverage, but *crickets*. I’d rather use a concealer that’s a bit off from the color I need but still offers a little coverage when I need it. I don’t have any major blemishes or skin problems to cover, so it doesn’t take much to do so. And this just missed the mark a bit.
Of course it could be because it just didn’t last on my skin. It only lasted a couple of hours before I saw it breaking up. By the end of the day, or sometimes throughout, my makeup breaks up around my nose, on my chin, and my jaw line where I rest my hand from time to time. But this broke up on my cheeks and around my temples–places that usually don’t struggle to hold makeup.
It’s not a terrible concealer, and I’ll try to make it work in various ways. But this just wasn’t what I was hoping it’d be.
Marc Jacobs Velvet Noir Mascara
I’m a drugstore mascara kind of girl. They’re comparable, sometimes better, than high end mascaras, in my opinion, so I have a hard time justifying a high-end price tag. But I do have a handful of high-end favorites, and I thought this would be one of them.
When I started hearing my favorites bloggers and vloggers go crazy over the Velvet Noir mascara from Marc Jacobs, I was sold. In terms of mascara, there are two things that usually guarantee I’ll love it: an hourglass brush and a thicker texture that’s a pretty neutral consistency but slightly on the drier side. Which, this pretty much hits. It’s a little prone to clumping, which is fine with me. The bristles of the brush make it easy to comb out clumps. It offers length, definition, and volume.
So I just talked this up a lot, right? This smudges so bad on me. No matter what concealer/powder combo I use, it smudges. I look in the mirror after a few hours, and I have black marks all over the under eye area. And I just can’t be bothered with that considering I have so many other (and cheaper) mascaras that don’t do that.
Glossier Stretch Concealer
I actually enjoyed this when I first got it. It was the first pot concealer I’d ever used, and it’s a lightweight, super creamy consistency which is a change from my typical concealers. I liked how it felt on my skin, and I thought it lasted through the day nicely. But as I kept using it, I began to notice I just wasn’t super into it. It didn’t do quite what I wanted.
As I mentioned before, I don’t usually have major blemishes and problem areas to conceal, so the coverage on my face was alright. But under my eyes in another story. I don’t have awful dark circles, fine lines, or discoloration, but I do need a good ‘wake me up’ concealer from time to time. This isn’t it. It’s too oily and sort of sits on top of my skin. If I try to blend it too much, I notice it almost blends away. I know Glossier’s whole thing is the no-makeup makeup look, but I mean…if it’s reeeeally going to look like no makeup, I might as well just not wear any!
The other huge downside for me is that the color of the product is darker than my skin. I can make it work, but I’d rather just use a concealer in a shade that’s right for me. I love a lot of products from Glossier, but this isn’t at the top of the list.
Laneige Two Tone Lipstick
Laneige is a brand I don’t think enough people love. It’s wildly popular, but among my IRL friends, I rarely hear it mentioned. I personally love Laneige, and it quickly became one of my favorite brands. Predominately, I use their skincare. The Water Sleeping Mask is God sent, the Lip Sleeping Mask is the only lip balm you’ll ever need, and the Water Bank Essence is tried and true. But their makeup is also innovative and intriguing, and pretty good for the most part. Except this.
Ok. It’s not bad. Actually, the formula is quite good. It’s just not what I wanted it to be.
A few brands have come out with this two tone lipstick product–where there is a lighter and darker shade, so it’s like a liner/lipstick combo. Or if it’s not a lighter/darker shade, it’s a combination that is supposed to create a really cool ombre lip effect. The actual lipstick is creamy and lasts and sits comfortably on the lips.
I thought the colors kind of mixed together, and it didn’t really look like I had two distinctly different colors on. It’s not a bad product, just not what I thought it’d be.
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Are there any products you wanted to love a whole heck of a lot more than you did? Let us know below.
Up Next: A Look at 5 New Eye Shadow Palettes | Loving or Leaving?
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