It was a bountiful make-up year for me, as I already mentioned in my
first recap regarding the best products of 2014. But everyone makes mistakes
and I'm no exception to the rule. So without further ado, here are the products
that disappointed me the most in 2014. Again,
I'm trying to keep this short, but I will include the link to my previous
reviews regarding these products, if I already wrote them.
Let's start with face products.
All-around concealer by Catrice seemed like
a good, inexpensive option for the days when I actually take the time to color
correct my face before I apply foundation. I chose this particular palette
because I thought that it would be a good learning tool, but I find that the
product is really difficult to blend (with fingers, beauty blender or with
brush) and cakes on my face where I apply it.
Bahama Mama was a big, big disappointment
because I've heard so many bloggers go on and on about how it's a great
contouring bronzer. I somehow managed to make it work when I had some tan from
summer (read about that here)
but now I just look like I've been rolling in the mud every time I attempt to
use it. I am afraid that it is not meant for us fair-skinned folk, unless you
are going for the Kardashian look on an everyday basis.
As far as eye shadows go, I made two rather
unsuccessful purchases this year, but the one that really left me down was the
Maybelline Nudes palette.
You can find the entire review over here,
but if you don't feel like reading it, let me just say that half of the shadows
in the palette are so bland and have such low pigmentation that they are
useless and the other half are nothing special, really. You can find better
palettes at Essence, Barry M or BH Cosmetics for half the price.
Another fun chapter was my eyebrows and
lashes. The biggest flop of the year regarding my high expectation and the high
price of the product was undoubtedly the Benefit They're real mascara. This
mascara is so wet that it's impossible to apply without getting those spidery
lashes and what's even worse – it's absolutely impossible to get off.
Apparently, it comes with a special remover for this particular formula but I
did not bother buying that so I could spend as long as 5 minutes rubbing the
stuff off and still wake up next day with panda eyes.
I was really disappointed with the e.l.f.
primer and sealer because it is so dry that it is impossible to distribute in a
normal manner on the eyelid. I have tried the fluid version of the e.l.f.
primer and love it, though, so I would definitely recommend it.
Another e.l.f. product that was not up my
alley was the Eyebrow kit in #D36. It comes with a darker cream formulation and
a lighter powder but none of these two really worked for my eyebrows and had
almost no staying power. The story was quite different with the Rimmel Brow
this way (001 – blonde) which was very pigmented (I am sorry, I know the swatch
below looks like something pooped on my hand, but oh well, you get the picture)
but the spoolie was SO incredibly large that it was impossible to maneuver
normally around the eyebrow and not go over the edges about 10 times. I could
probably use it with a brush but I just cannot be bothered with the mess.
Two brushes that I already had a rant about
are the e.l.f. professional bronzing brush (which does nothing professionally
other than leave the bristles all over the place) and the Essence Smokey eye
brush (which also sheds and leaves color). Fortunately, they cost next to
nothing so I won't feel bad when I toss them in the trash.
For nail polishes, I had a hard time
choosing the biggest disappointment since there were quite a few this year, but
I must say that the ones that probably left me most frustrated were the Make-up
Revolution polishes below – you can see the swatches here.
This formula really is nothing to write
home about – it's bland and doesn't apply evenly, but what is most frustrating
to me is that I need three coats to make it presentable which inevitably means
that I can expect chipping in 3,2,1… I will not purchase more polishes from
this line although the colors are very beautiful and unique.
Last but not least are the lip products.
Again, I tried to bring it down to the ones that were absolutely unsatisfactory
and leave out those which are just… meh.
I
Heart Makeup lip combo named Yesterday's favorite is a beautiful red matte
lipstick on one side but it’s so matte that it cannot be worn without a lip
gloss. I love the idea of the gloss on the other side (sort of a 2 for 1 deal
and very practical indeed), but it contains so much shimmer that it would only
be manageable for some sort of photo shoot or something, not for everyday wear.
I’m
not sure what I was thinking when purchasing the Rimmel Apocalips in Nude
eclipse, but obviously I didn’t take enough time to really check out the
swatches on internet. This color may be nude on someone’s lips, but I could as
well use it as a concealer because it’s more skin-toned than anything else.
Toss.
Last
up we have the Catrice Ultimate shine in 270 (What’s AP-ricote). The formula
itself is nice, very soft and quite long lasting, but the color was just off
for me – not pigmented enough to be orange, not light enough to be coral with
orange tones – just a very unflattering color in all.
What
were your biggest disappointments of 2014? Let me know below!
Until
next time, stay beautiful, stay awesome!
