Beauty products we regret..

[YouNoNothinJS1]

Anything you have found a waste of money and wish you didn’t purchase, I’ll start Kevin A contour pallet! Looks grey on my face

L’Oreal mirror shine shampoo and conditioner (pink bottle). Awful. Made my hair feel plasticky and claggy. Had to buy a clarifying shampoo to get rid of it.

Tanning drops of all kinds. Utter bollocks. Little discernible difference in colour even when I use twice as much.

Beauty Pie tinted moisturiser. Doesn’t spread over your face properly, oddly mask-like appearance. Chucked.

The Clinique 3 step programme. Which I notice they are selling less enthusiastically these days, probably because everybody has realised that it is crap. My poor skin.

Every hair thickening product I've ever bought, they don't work. In fact, hair products are usually crap. I've bought a lot and none of them do anything. The only hair product I do like is Mythic oil by L'Oreal.

I think the majority of beauty products are a scam. £100 face cream isn't better than £5 face cream in my experience.

Phillip Kingsley elasticizer did absolutely nothing for my dry lengths. Luckily I only paid Brand Alley price.

Urban decay All Nighter foundation. Feels very heavy on and it settles into wrinkles, bare minerals was the same only worse!
Lots of hair care products for frizzy hair that just have not worked.

YSL matte lip stain. £20. Awful. Left my lips dry and looked odd.

EA 8 hour cream. Smelly slimy yucky stuff.
Vaseline is much better at a fraction of the cost.

CT scent of a dream perfume. Made me sneeze.

Dior nail glow. Chips within hours and is too pink.

Nip and fab dragons blood pads. Brought me out in spots.

PK Elasticizer made no difference to my hair what's so ever neither did Opalex

Mugler Angel parfume. Smells very nice but doesn't last.

Trinny London ‘miracle’ blur. Literally exactly the same as any primer ever. In a tiny pot.

For a long time you couldn’t pick up a magazine without being told how fabulous 8 hour cream was, and how all the models and celebrities swore by it blah blah. It seemed to be the default ‘what can we fill two pages with?’ beauty article fodder.

I was given some as a present. It is brown Vaseline with a strong scent. What am I missing?

It is seldom mentioned now, which I ascribe to every beauty article in any magazine or Sunday supplement being paid-for content written specifically to push new products.

I have loads, always buying things then disappointed!

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair
Estee Lauder primer
Elemis marine cream
The Ordinary (everything from there)
Aveda shampoo and conditioner
Aveda smoothing balm
Nesti Dante soap
Benefit Pore professional
Pixi tonic
Cli ique products

Kat von D lock it foundation was my worst purchase. It was thick, difficult to apply and settled into wrinkles making them look twice as bad.

Anything by benefit.

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish absolutely destroyed my skin for months.

I don't think it's terrible... but I'm glad I got NARS Orgasm at a sale price because it doesn't suit me well enough for me to have wanted to pay full price for it! Which I was (I guess naively) surprised by considering the "universally flattering" claim.

I'd also agree with Pixi Tonic (Nip & Fab glycolic range is much better in my opinion!) and the Clinique 3-Step stuff.

@Parkmama
Lancôme Bronzer - supposedly gives an insta filter type finish - why did I believe that crap?! Overpriced and same as cheaper brands

Can I ask which bronzer that is? I use Lancôme's Belle de Teint in Cannelle as a bronzer and I love it! I think it's actually meant to be a powder but that's what the sales assistant used on me in store and for me it works really well, like I've been out in the sun and got a bit of a glow. I like a natural look rather than anything too contoured.

I like a lot of theordinary, especially buffet serum, oils, peel mask and hyaluronic acid but wish I had never bought the squalene. Not expensive but my face broke out something terrible. Aveda volume spray is also a bit crappy, makes my hair really hard and piecey

Any Charlotte Tilbury except the Flawless Filter which is bloody amazing.

Any Clinique apart from their cleansers and Black Honey lipstick.

Eve Lom cleansing balm. Costs about 5 times as many as other cleansing balms and is eye-wateringly scented.

Lucus Paw Paw lip balm. Apparently the exclusive lip balm of choice for every supermodel alive but basically like plastering jam all over your lips.

Lancôme Juicy Tubes. Another beauty ‘must have’ that all models/celebs/make up artists apparently had in their handbags a few years ago. Jammy, greasy shite.

Charlotte Tilbury mascara (always gathers under my eyes) and the "multi miracle glow" - supposedly a cleanser a mask and a balm. Not sure what a balm is, as a cleanser it stung my eyes terribly when I took off my makeup and as a mask it sat on top of my skin like grease and soaked into my pillow with no discernible result. Totally overpriced and overhyped. Also Laura Mercier Candleglow - can't see it on my skin at all....

@mindproject...I agree. I had Estée Lauder Night Repair which did nothing whatsoever. I teamed it with Resilience Lift which was a nice moisturiser but no better than my Savers shop Loreal Revitalift at £5.99.

The older I get the less inclined I am to splash out.

I bought some Perricone MD ‘cold plasma’ night treatment in TK Maxx last year for £30 instead of >£100.

What a load of rubbish! It smelled foul, had to steel myself to put it on, and after forcing myself to use it up, I noticed no discernible difference in my skin.

£129, it now costs. Don’t buy it!

@Shookethtothecore... thanks for the BFB tip. I have a tube bought last year and used twice due to it making my foundation streaky and everything I put in top of it “move around” my face. I thought at 58 I was just too old for it. I’ll give it another go 😊

Has anyone tried the Obagi products? I've been using the 5 step kit, cleansing wash, exfoliator, pads, skin primer and skin brightener for a couple of weeks however I'm not seeing much of a difference. And it cost a bloody bomb!

Oh I can so relate to so many of these. Beauty counters are a prime example of hope over triumph. Will give Beauty Flash Balm one final try though, thanks for the tip on application to the poster upthread.

Sisley All Day All Year anti age cream £271 for 50mls. What was I thinking? Gave it three years and finally admitted defeat. Cheap spanish retinol gave better results within three months. Am a sucker for packaging though.

You all need a 'Beauty Swap Shop'!

At least you could try some of these products for free. They may perform differently on different people..and if not at least it stops the 'longing' and spending of ££££'s.

I'm a 'longer' for electrical beauty stuff....Philips Lumea didn't work for me and a hair curling thingy...oh and an electric face brush...but maybe that is laziness! I think I get bored and the enthusiasm I had to buy it goes when I have it!

• Living Proof shampoo (I feel like it made my hair shed)
• Tom Ford lipsticks (hate the consistensy of them, way too creamy for my liking)
• Charlotte Tilbury lipsticks (I hate her colours, they all seem to be slightly wrong)
• Maria Nila dry shampoo (the scent and the effect was terrible)
• Davines Oi hair oil (somehow made my hair more dry)
• Blush palette from JCAT (same as Charlotte Tilbury: off colours)
• Urban Decay Naked palette (don't like the colour scheme much, it's too cold)
• Too Faced Chocolate palette (Initially liked it, but found it a bit hard to work with)
• Marc Jacobs perfumes (very low quality and smell weird after a while)