Make up and beauty products always are a bit hit or miss. You simply find the things you like by trial and error. One thing many places will do is only list positive reviews or at least write exclusively about those products which they like. I think however, that knowing which products are not good, gives much more useful information. Of course, what works and doesn’t work for a person is an individual experience and thus what doesn’t work for me, may be something that works for you. So this is a personal opinion. Which products are worth buying and which ones should you not even look at or spend any money on? Here are my 10 make up and beauty fails.

Benefit Stay Don’t Stray Primer

This product is definitely number one on the list of make up fails. It’s too yellow. It’s cakey and it doesn’t prime anything. Concealer still creases as does eyeshadow. I even tried using it as a sort of lip erase for my lips but that makes me look a) dead and b) my lipstick ends up feathering and sliding all over the place.

Zarqa Hydra face cream

A hydrating face cream. That’s what this should be. One that is quickly absorbed by the skin, especially made for intolerant and sensitive skin. Well hell to the no it is! It stays on my face like a layer of oil that won’t mix in with water and every single time I used this my skin developed zits and other splotches. It hydrated my skin alright, but a bit too much so. Though the cream is aptly named: it shares its name with a monster from Greek mythology…

LUSH honey I washed the kids soap

One of the holy grails by LUSH. And I hated it. I love honey. In my yoghurt, in my tea, in face masks but not in a bar of soap. The soap left a yucky layer on my skin and I never felt clean after using it. Also the smell wasn’t for me the minute I lathered it on. Unused it smells deliciously, but once in the shower it just made me feel and smell like I had just poured a jar of honey all over myself.

The Body Shop Chocomania products

This things were all the rage when they came out. I never even bothered buying them. The minute I smelt it I felt dizzy and developed a strong need to vomit. I don’t see why bath companies have to insist on making products smell like candy bars. I guess some people like this, but to me the sickly sweet smells of milk chocolate or wine gums isn’t one I want to wash myself with.

LUSH Lemony Flutter

Alright, this isn’t a complete fail, but since the product has been hyped into the heavens I feel the need to go against some of the raving reviews. This honestly doesn’t do more for my cuticles than a well nourishing hand creme that costs a fraction of the price. I have taken it upon myself to finish the jar anyway, but I was unable to use it throughout summer because as soon as the temperature hits 20+ degrees Celsius Lemony Flutter melts into a liquid that you can’t use anymore.

Lip stains

It doesn’t matter which brand I buy them from, I’ve tried a few, but lip stains just aren’t for me. Whenever I use them, my bottom lip ends up with a lovely stain, but my top lip simply refuses to absorb the color. In fact, the color I put on my upper lip, simply ends up on my bottom lip making for a very weird look. It’s like ombre gone bad. I tried several ways of using them, with lip balm, without lip balm, etc, but no matter how hard I try: it doesn’t work. So now I have that Duwop Twilight Lip Venom with it’s great menthol tingle and cinnamon smell lying in a drawer as a mere keep sake.

Sleek lip sticks

Another lip product. Sleek lipsticks come in some amazing colors, but the texture is as dry as the Sahara desert. They don’t glide on like most lipsticks and accentuate every line and flakes of skin that might be present on your lips. In short: they are hell to work with.

Lancome foundations

I have sensitive skin and finding anything that works on my face that I want to use all over is a challenge, but Lancome foundations definitely take the cake. Several times, make up artists in stores have done my make up with products of different brands. And every time they whip out the Lancome foundations I get an allergic reaction. Not straight away of course. No 3 hours later I get the worst itch along my jawline. Why can’t they simply make everything hypoallergenic?

OPI Guy Meets Galveston nail polish

OPI is by far my favorite nail polish brand. The colors are usually lovely and the textures are great. Except this one: Guy Meets Galveston from the Texas collection. First of all, it’s a jelly nail polish. On all the swatches I found at the time the polish looked creamy not like jelly. This means that the finish is very transparent. I swear, this polish needs 5 coats and then it still wouldn’t be opaque. Plus the drying time is horrible and it feels like a layer of glue on your nails. Big big miss, because the color is oh so pretty.

The Body Shop scrub

Scrubs from The Body Shop usually come in a jar. Apart from the packaging being the worst for a scrub. Jars in a shower are not a good idea, as the water can make the product get spoiled very quickly. But that’s not it. The grains in these scrubs are pretty much non-existent. Texture wise it feels like a shower gel gone bad, with very small particles. So you need a lot to scrub your entire body. On top of that, the gel like substance that keeps the scrub together is fairly thick and compared to the grains, there’s not enough of it. You simply end up with nothing but too small grains that hardly scrub your skin. I’m not a fan.