What highly recommended purchases have you bought that turned out to be underwhelming, if not totally shit?

[JustinianTheThird]

For me:
> Wool duvet:
No warmer than an Asda synthetic job. Heavy as fuck so hard to change the bed. Stiff so it doesn't mould around your body. Thin so looks shit on the bed.

> Heater clothes airer
Massive monstrosity. Takes forever to dry clothes. Makes clothes smell musty and fusty.

> Spa day
Just boring. And damp.

> Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell
Poorly written to the extent it felt like YA fiction. Unlikable and unrealistic characters. Couldn't find the deep emotional aspects that people go on about.

> Modibodi period pants
The tightest waistband I've ever experienced in my life. Are Modibodi selling these to failed third world states as torture devices? They fucking should.

What about you?

Oh I was thinking of buying a wool duvet, v mixed comments ! I don’t like heavy duvets, are they very weighty ?
Agree on sloggi leg holes, horrendously tight. I bought three sizes up and still too tight. Dd is a size 4 and I gave her my size 12 waist high ones and they fitted! Also agree re the uncomfortably tight waistbands on ModiBodi knickers, but it isn’t all styles, it’s the ones that have a visible trim type band of elastic. The ones with lace at the waist are still snug ish but not a horrible tight ring of elastic round your middle.
I have a Lumea but I am too scared to use it !
Very few mascaras live up to the hype.
I am an advertiser’s dream, I often buy products after seeing an ad on Instagram, and the vast majority of them are at best underwhelming.
I have one of those cordless bagless little vacuum cleaners, mine is Miele, it was about £300 but it seems to need recharging or emptying every five minutes. I thought it would be light and easy for a quick whizz round but no.

We need a heated airer for various reasons. Only know about the Lakeland one, which ones should I avoid??

I love my wool duvet, not sweaty like a polyester one, I do use a cotton throw on the top though, cotton sheets, all natural fibres, the wool duvet has a cotton cover. I hate going to hotels now where there's polyester duvets, got fussy.

Steam mop. A steam cleaner. Dyson vacuum and any kind of bagless vacuum.
Window vac. It's just easier to wipe the windows.
Lots of expensive mascaras with rave reviews that all smudged.

Henry the hoover. A big clunky lump with a good marketing department.

Boody wireless t-shirt bra. Dear Lord, where to start... The fabric is the colour and texture of 1970s Elastoplast fabric bandage and the under band keeps rolling up on itself after barely an hour's wear. The quest for the perfect 30F continues.

Also, rented One Battle After Another this week and found it to be an unmitigated pile of shite with added annoying pinky plonky discordant piano. I bailed after an hour (an hour more than it deserved).

White Company candle - glad I used a gift card to buy it as would have been royally pissed off to spend £26 of my own on it.
Dr Hauschka rose day cream - just a crap over perfumed tube of shite.
Cordless Dyson - reasonable if not amazing before we got our dog (she isn't massively floofy). Realised within a week or so of pup arriving that it wasn't going to make the cut. Shark Cordless is brilliant and I'm surprised at a PP mentioning poor battery life - ours are still going strong almost 5 years later with daily use ( we do have 3 batteries on rotation tbf)
Benefit They're Real mascara - got black undereye smudges after a few hours of wear.
Naked Nation bamboo socks bought after being recommended in the Guardian. £18 for 3 pairs and either heel or toe has a hole in every pair after only a few wears. Never had this with M&S socks and they didn't even have the courtesy to reply to my complaint email.

Another one disappointed with the Lakeland heated airer. Just created lots of condensation and didn't dry things any quicker.

Now we have a dehumidifier we wheel out and stand next to the washing in winter. Much better!

A wool duvet was recommended on mumsnet and I saved up for a Baavet lightweight one and it’s so lovely ! It’s not as sweaty as a nylon one and I just bought a cheap blanket for the top and been fine all winter.
Agree that most skincare can be a rip off. A lot of it brings me out in spots.

Just to add, we've never had a heated airer but got one for DS to take to Uni, just a cheap one from Dunelm. It's been brilliant for drying his towels as there's nowhere in his room (Halls) to dry it after a shower without it hanging on a door and getting fusty.

@Serenity45 yes, to the White Company Candles!

They don't burn evenly and I ended up with a load of wax down the side of the glass that couldn't burn. I was gutted as they're not cheap! Bought one from a local independent shop copying the WC scent I love and it was perfect (and half the price)

Robot hoover, not totally crap but not as good as expected. We bought one when they were first out so it was expensive.

I phone, I had always had android, DH always I phone. He has been trying to get me to have an iPhone for years. Last year my phone was due a replacement but he said I will buy you one but must be an iPhone. I just said go on then, well I don’t like it.

Le Creuset. I mean, it's useful. But it's no better than the Sainsbury's or Aldi dupes.

I do make an exception for my Deathly Hallows spoon rest.

Anything by jml
Anything cordless

I had 0.7mls in the vertical lines above my lips .. done 18 months ago and still working.. love it!

Anyone else got the dunelm heater airer and prefer it. Love my wool devon duvet, DH is a boiler and he is much cooler with but I am still cozy.

I don't find my wool duvet particularly heavy to lie under. Like I don't feel weighted down IYKWIM. But it's much heavier than the down-filled duvet I have on the spare bed.
It's very heavy to lift and manouver when I'm changing the bed though, so changing the bed in a fucking ordeal.

Like a PP, I always use natural fiber bed clothes but still sweat like a pig under my wool duvet in summer. And freeze in winter because it let's draughts in. I really fucking hate it.

I'd honestly avoid like the plague. My Cuddledown down-filled duvet on the spare bed is a thousand times nicer.

I will add generally baby change bags. Was endlessly told that it was essential to carry elephantine amounts of storage with me, with forty five compartments for the fifty changes of clothes I'd need.

Well, the infinite pockets meant things took an infinite amount of time to find, and the eleventy billion options meant it was hard to find the one thing I needed.

Eighteen months later I purchase a small bag from a charity shop with two compartments which adequately holds two changes, nappy if needed, small amount of wipes, snacks, duck food, a fold out toilet seat, and a sizeable water bottle.

(MIL appalled when handed a tiny bag and told that this is all she would need)

A weighted blanket. Only used once as I woke up with terrible hip pain.
also Dyson stick vacuum. Great to start with but as soon as the battery starts to go terrible.

Shark corded hoover... I went along with the hype and it's sat in a cupboard. Thankfully I didn't get rid of my sebo straight away so still have that 17 year old beast and it's going strong.

I’ve had problems in the past of the paper/wall behind radiators becoming damp when I use them for drying. Plus (mine are quite tight to the wall) anything other than smalls has to be stuffed down the back, so it ends up badly creased. Jumpers/dresses/tops/trousers can hang nicely on the heated airer so that they dry in a good shape. I mean, I’m not saying they should be compulsory — if you’ve got a solution that works, you don’t need a heated airer! But I guess I ended up with one because all the other solutions were worse for me. I’m lucky in that I’ve got a tiny box room that has basically become a room for books, storage and the dryer, so it’s up most of the time. I put a huge (horrible) heavy fleece blanket over mine so everything dries completely in about 24 hours. Sometimes stick the dehumidifier under there too. It’s one of the things I’d replace immediately if it ever stopped working — it’s in near-constant use.

Nioxin anti-hair-loss products. Made my scalp dry and irritated for several months after using the products just once. But so many people think they are wonderful.

Just about every non-wired bra I've ever tried. I am committed to not wearing wired bras for health reasons but cannot find a non-wired one that's comfortable AND that fits properly around the back band and the cups AND doesn't create the dreaded monoboob effect. So I have a drawer full of about 10, none of which are right.

Bras. All bras. I have big boobs so cant go without but have never found the holy grail. Even my £££ Rigby and Peller one was fine for about a month and then gave up under the strain.

Forget about AI or life saving medical research….the world needs a solution to the bra problem!

Flash Dust Magnet - absolute bobbins! Ended up binning it and redoing everything with good old polish and duster.

Flash Speed Mop - getting soaked in stinky detergent as you faff about getting the paper wipes onto the mop - much quicker to spray Zoflora and then mop with a normal mop.

Dyson Pet Hair Hoover - useless, bulky and still blocked a lot and left pet hair - bought a much cheaper hoover from Asda and it was a lot more efficient (although got a Blaupunkt stick hoover now and it's brilliant).

Air Fryer - just prefer using my oven tbh.

Yes, and it smells funny!