Sparklecrack Central: Everyone raves about X, so why don’t we?

Everyone raves about X, so why don’t we?

« Older • Wednesday, January 06, 2010 at 03:25 PM • 29 views • 7 Comments • Newer »
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“Makeup” encompasses a LOT of stuff. Eyeshadows, eyeliners, mascaras, blushes, rouges, face color, brow colorant, lip sticks, lip glosses, lip liners, primers, fixatives, foundations, concealers, correctors… And then there are the tools! Brushes, applicators, spray-applications, wands, puffs, sponges…the list goes on. The good part about that is that there is choice. If item A doesn’t work for you, maybe item B will. If Brand 1’s foundation doesn’t give you the look you want, Brand 2’s might work a treat. If you dislike using brushes, you can use sponge applicators. And so on.

What items have people raved about that you tried…and they just did not work for you? Leave a comment! I’m curious to see why things didn’t work out for folks, or what folks may have tried but found lacking. With all the blatant trendism, it’s easy to get caught up in the “buy it” fever - but then be hugely let down when you just don’t love the thing as much as many others.

Just a few guidelines, though.

It's too easy to bash a company. In some cases, far too easy. (Like "fish, barrel, loaded gun" easy.) So instead of saying something like "X company has crap photography and nothing was as described" or "Everything from Brand Q is a total ripoff because you're just paying for the name" or "Foo type of applicators hold contaminents and so are inherently inferior" or "The only people in the world who only ever need SPF 15 are Glaswegian shut-ins, so all the SPF claims in foundation are sheer hype", give us all a solid reason why the product didn't work for you, or why you decided not to try it. Examples might be:

The colors were too sheer/too heavy/too blackened/too grainy/too crumbly for me.
I didn't feel like I had enough control using foo applicators/I couldn't get the precision/coverage I wanted.
I can get very similar products from another vendor, and they're less expensive/they actually ship to my country without exhorbitant charges.

No sales pitches. I don't think that this will be a problem with most of the folks who visit this site; but in the event that marketing gurus for Company X or Brand Y come on over and find this post...take your marketing and go elsewhere, per favore. For this reason I will also not be including any links in folks' comments. I'll leave the brand and site names intact, but just edit out any HTML linking capabilities.

For me, one of the biggest cases of beauty-product "meh" was Urban Decay's Primer Potion. I bought the UD Hall of Fame kit, knowing full well that the lip gloss and the eye pencil would not be getting any love from me; but I was fairly curious to try the primer potion which is so highly-praised all over the place. I found that while it does apply easily, is inexpensive, and does hold the loose-powder pigments in place...it does its job perhaps a bit too well. I couldn't blend the colors the way I wanted, and would either have to gain lots of extra levels in eyeshadow blending before I could get the look I wanted, or would have to apply a thin layer of powder over the UDPP and under my eyeshadows (to lessen the primer's "grab" on the pigments and give them more blendability.) There were some other things that I didn't love; but initially I thought I might be able to use this on those days when I was going for a no-color base. Sadly, this didn't seem to work out - and so after about 30 uses, I threw out my bottle of Urban Decay Primer Potion. I know that others love it, it works great for them, they're incredibly happy with the product...it's just not for me.

So what have been some of your makeup disappointments? What products did you use instead, and why?

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On 01/06 at 01:05 PM, VexInTheCity said:

That Revlon eraser pen didn’t work for me. I wasn’t influenced to buy it. I bought it off my own back after spotting it in CVS when I was shopping in NY. I find it smudges my makeup and leaves a shiny patch where it’s been rubbed, thus ruining my make up and I have to wipe it off and start again. A lot of people like it, but it just doesn’t work for ME - no biggie.

On 01/06 at 06:31 PM, StarlightLace said:

I can’t see at all why so many people rave about MAC cosmetics. Well, I kind of can, when I see the stuff posted on Temptalia, but back in April of last year, after being extremely enabled by ladies in a certain forum, I went out and splurged on a bunch of MAC stuff, most of which went back (I was glad they were willing to give me a refund,since the products were either not used or hardly used.) Anyway, I think I must be spoiled by loose pigments,especially TSS, because I have not had the urge to go back and used panned/pressed eyeshadow, especially after I tried MAC,and realized their pressed stuff, is really not all it’s hyped to be. Call me the lone ranger, I just don’t like pressed shadows anymore.

As to MAC’s pigment line, I am kind of on the fence about those. I have a mini of Pinked Mauve,and am lusting after Universal Mix from the All Ages,All Races,and All Sexes.

On 01/06 at 07:34 PM, LiAnn said:

Heh…let me guess which forum that was. I find it very easy to steer clear of pressed-powder shadows. I’m like you, I fell in love with many aspects of loose-powder no-preservatives makeup and won’t be going back. But I can understand why folks love MAC - the vivid colors, both for eyes and for lips, aren’t found in too many other makeup lines. MUFE also has amazingly vivid colors in their pressed line, and while two or three looked kind of interesting, they weren’t interesting enough for me to pay those prices…though they did apply very easily when I was in the Sephora trying them out.

On 01/08 at 11:41 AM, Lisa Kate said:

Hmm…I’ve had a lot of experiences before I really got into mineral makeup that didn’t live up to the hype. One was MAC. While I liked it, it’s just very expensive. I can either buy one vibrant purple eyeshadow for $16 or 16 different purple eyeshadows for $16. I think my frugality makes me not like MAC that much!

I have really sensitive skin as well, so a lot of HG products for some people become HOLY ALLERGIC REACTION on me! UDPP, TFSI, DuWop Lip Venom, many Benefit products, etc. I’m not even sure what I’m allergic to in em, they just make me BURN. No thanks!

On 01/09 at 12:04 PM, ndoodles said:

Hummm…. there has been TONS of disappointments out there NYX lipstick in Thalia - everyone raves about it… it makes my lips look PURPLE! What else… Lash Blast from CoverGirl… I actually bought it twice thinking that I really liked it but that brush drives me insane!

On 01/09 at 01:43 PM, LiAnn said:

@Lisa Kate - I’m a little bit like that with regards to MAC colors, though for me the hold-back has been “pressed powder vs. loose powder”. Price also is high - though I was surprised, when I broke down the paint-pot cost, to find that they’re actually one of the better values in that arena.

@ndoodles - that’s one I hadn’t actually heard of! I’ve never been a huge lipstick person, though, so haven’t had as many lemmings in that direction as I have for eye colors. If it makes your lips look purple…have you tried layering a peach gloss over the purple to warm the color up a bit?

On 01/12 at 09:15 AM, Arianne said:

Have you heard of MAC Feline Kohl Pencil? EVERYBODY who loves MAC loves that thing, but 2 days after purchasing it, back to MAC it went. Smudged off my eyes so fast. Probably not even 30 minutes. I use Urban Decay Zero now, dipped in MAC Blacktrack Fluidline for maximum staying power.