I shouldn’t have bought this!

As I am getting to know my preferences more and more, and as my skin is changing over the years, I need to get more real with myself. I don’t like shimmer on my face or glitter on my eyes. I don’t like too much glow in my base. I prefer a satin or natural finish. I don’t like bold colors nor pink color on my face. I have been slowly stepping away from buying things that don’t suit me, but every once in a while I fall in some kind of trap.

Here are some of the products that I should not have bought over the years.

I have come to conclusion that I don’t like Hourglass blushes. Crazy, I know! They are supposed to be glowy, but the colors I have contain some shimmer that is very obvious on my skin and it makes me look less than ideal. I was wearing Brilliant nude blush the other day and my husband noticed how orange it looks on me…and concluded that it makes me look older. I remember being so excited to buy this shade and I thought it would become my holly grail, but I haven’t reached much for it in the last two years that I have owned it. Same goes for the Dim infusion light. I bought it this year at some sale and I thought it would be a perfect replacement form my Milani Luminoso…and it is. However, I fell out of love with either of those. It looks too bright on my cheeks. I guess I need to look into muted peach blushes, if I want a peach blush.

I have also fallen out of love with Jouer blushes. It used to be one of my favorite formulas. I had various duos over the years and I thought I landed on a great one when I got this one called Darling. It is a fairly nice blush. I used the left shade a bit, but overall didn’t reach for it much. As we are traveling during the year, I don’t want to keep this compact for 50% of its content that I don’t even use that often, so I will give it away.

The biggest mistake was buying the Hourglass quad. The silliest thing is that I chose the shades myself. I thought I would love these blushes as they are a bit more red and orange toned, but the shimmer is just too much for me now. I do love this bronzer which is Diffused bronze light from their permanent collection. Highlighter is ok. I don’t even use much of a highlight and I have one from the Hourglass palette from 8 years ago which is almost the same. I fell for the hype: the hype of exclusivity, the fact that you can build your own, the fact I got a discount….and overall it set me back for about 70$. A terrible lesson.

I shouldn’t have added this Merit eyeshadow Vachetta to my collection. I didn’t technically spend money on it as it was a gift card from Sephora, but I still wasted the resources. It is a nice basic camel shade that is just ok. It would work better for me if it was a touch lighter. Formula is nothing special and I have noticed that it is hard to wash my brush after I use it to apply the shade. I rarely use it and it has a short life span from opening-only 6 months, so definitely not worth 24$.

Every once in a while I like to look into eye pencils and this time I was drawn by Victoria Becham satin kajal eyeliner, specifically in the shade bronze. It is a lovely color. The problem is the formula that transfers everywhere. I love how smudgy it is but unfortunately that is also the biggest problem of it. I used it a couple of times and every time I end up looking like a racoon. I can’t handle it just as I can’t handle a smudgy mascara, so I never use it. I should just pass it along and count my losses.

I shouldn’t have bought Surrat eyeshadow Beyond beige palette either. It looked like I would use every shade in it but it pulls cool-toned on me and that light brown shade looks straight up grey on me. It was very expensive, so the 25% off got the best of me, as I was resisting it for years before I caved. I should have listened to my instincts: I don’t need it, I have plenty of other brown shadows that I actually love… Is the formula really that special to justify high price tag? No, it is not. (P.S. I have contacted the customer service to see if I can return the item and they said yes, however I got the store credit instead my money back.)

Hopefully I have learned my lessons. I am not sure what to do with these for now. Maybe I leave them in my collection for a bit and see if I change my mind, but I really doubt it. I will probably give it away to someone whom these would suit better than me.

That said, I am tempted by new Make up by Mario Ethereal eyes Nature eye shadow palette. It looks neutral warm with an earthy toned vibes. I have read that the new shimmer formula is very understated and not as metallic as the previous palettes, so that would be a plus for me. Do I really need 12 new eye shadows? I do not. Maybe if it be around for the Black Friday sale, I might consider it then. If it sells out, oh well….It would help me if it does! 🙂 I shouldn’t buy it though.

Anyways, that is all for now.

Talk to you soon and hope you have more self-control with make up than me!

XOXO, Iva!