Okay, we’ve all been here: we buy a product with certain expectations only to be gently let down before banging our heads against a wall, regretting every impulse that persuaded us to purchase said product in the first place. Can’t be just me, right? In a less headache-inducing manner, sometimes we make a purchase that was super awesome at first but it was just time we moved on from the product. We can still find it in ourselves to maintain a friendship (or acquaintanceship) with our old loves.
I have owned a few products that just didn’t quite fit the bill for me. If I had a nickel for every product I’ve ever purchased that I ended up tossing to the side, I’d be at least a thousandaire by now. At least. Since I wasn’t about to compile a list of every single product that fell short for me, I did the next best thing: I compiled a list of every single product I’ve used for the last few months that fell short for me. Maybe these products didn’t do the trick for you, either…
Disclaimer: I have used all of these products continuously; by no means did I use any of them just once and decide that they didn’t do the trick! Please keep this in mind when determining my credibility!
The Body Shop Tea Tree Oil System This system includes the facial exfoliator (not pictured), the toner (left), the anti-aging serum (middle) and the skin clearing lotion (right). I have breakout-prone skin (as well as some post acne marks sprinkling my face) and I’ve always had a difficult time finding a product that works well for me. I’ve actually been using this system since September and, at first, had relatively good results. Within the first month of use, I had noticed some improvement in the severity of my flare-ups. I loved that these products helped to calm things down in just a few days, but after a while it seemed as though my face “got used to” the products and they lost their effectiveness. This being said, I kicked this one to the curb in favor of the Shea Moisture Black Soap system (lookout for a review of this!) However, if your skin problems are light or mild, I highly recommend this system.
Tarte Lip Tint in Energy Noir I had such high hopes for this product…I thought it’d be a nice, bold berry color because I had purchased my Tarte dressed to the nines lip cremes at the same time and thought that this was also a pigmented lip creme (my fault because I should have read the name of the product more carefully. Oops). The shade is alright, though not the berry color I had in mind. It’s extremely sheer and still not much of an adequate lip tint. The finish is very similar to that of a lip gloss (which I personally don’t like anymore) so this product was definitely not one that I was fond of this month.
New York Color Long Wearing Nail Polish in French White Tip No. Just, no. It’s not that I don’t like white nail polish (I truly love it, actually) but this particular brand just got me like…no….If you love seeing ugly streaks left behind by your nail polish (which I doubt you do) then you’ll love this nail polish! This nail polish is very streaky and sometimes two coats isn’t enough to hide that! Plus, this nail polish chipped rather quickly (Ummm, what happened to being ‘Long Wearing’?) It is relatively fast drying, however that doesn’t make up for its lack of quality. Sorry, New York Color, but this one just didn’t cut the mustard.
Dove Dry Spray Confession time: I love sweating. And this is the part where you think you didn’t read that correctly so you go back and re-read that last part. Never fear, your eyes didn’t spazz out on you – I love sweating. I mean, I Zumba, box and workout on my own (and I’m pretty interested in getting into crossfit) so how can I not enjoy sweating, right? Anyway, I was hoping for a deodorant that would keep my B.O. at bay so I don’t, you know, send anyone running in the opposite direction (though, I’d be able to clear a gym pretty fast. More treadmills for me, right?) I decided to try this out because I had never used a dry spray before and plus I love the smell of pomegranate! This just did the opposite of what I wanted it to do. I felt that I smelled worse and like I had to carry it around with me to run into the bathroom, wipe my pits and apply more throughout the day. So, yeah, I was pretty self-conscious when raising my arm or hugging people. Needless to say, there will be no second date with this product.
Essence Jumbo Eyeliner Pen Maybe I got unlucky with this one. I’ve heard good things about Essence cosmetics so I jumped at the chance to purchase a product from them for insanely cheap (they’re products are already affordable, so getting to make a purchase for next to nothing was even better!) This was my first time using an eyeliner pen, though I have always wanted to use one. I’ve been using gel eyeliner since high school and excited when my package arrived. I swatched a bit of it on the back of my hand and was extremely pleased to see that it was pigmented and pretty hard to completely remove #stayingpower #24hourwear. Unfortunately, the times I’ve taken this out for a spin weren’t as satisfactory as I had hoped. The color wasn’t very pigmented on my eyelids and actually faded out really quickly. Creating a winged look was relatively easy with this pen, but as far as #stayingpower went, this fell flat.
Sephora Cream lip Stain in Polished Purple Oh no – my beautiful purple lipstick made it onto this list! #sadface. The color is beautiful and Sephora is an amazing brand – don’t get me wrong! However, it seems to me that there is some sort of metallic hue to this shade that I’m not too fond of. Not only that, but I feel that this dries a little too matte for my liking. At the same time, I don’t want my lips looking like I dipped them in oil! Did I mention it is hell to get this product off your lips? Well, it’s hell to get this product off your lips. Sephora is fantastic but I will not be repurchasing this particular product.
Tarte Dressed to the Nines Lip Cremes in Striking and Plush These lip cremes are fantastic in every way, shape and form! The only reason I ditched these two shades is because they just don’t compliment my skin tone too well. They look way better on fairer skin, so I just gave them to my mom, who is significantly lighter than I am! Fantastic, high quality products, but they are just not the shades for me.
Neutrogena Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover ‘Oil free’ my backside! Never will I ever repurchase this product! It’s extremely oily and leaves you with a gross, heavy feeling. Plus, it’s horrible if you get this in your eye! My feelings of hatred toward this product are so intense that I can’t even say anything else about it!
Wet n Wild Makeup Remover Towelettes I’ve tried many makeup remover wipes in my day and these are literally the worst ones I’ve ever used! I bought them because my go-to Elf makeup wipes weren’t in stock at Target and these were really cheap at a wonderful $2.97 for a pack of 25. The towelettes themselves are of very poor quality and it is extremely difficult to remove any makeup using these wipes. I have found myself using up two towelettes per night when removing my makeup because one is just not enough! They hardly put a dent in my foundation and I’d rather not scrub the crap out of my face to come close to wiping off my makeup!
Well, the savagery is over…for now…
What’s on your January ditch list?
