Though I must say I sail the beauty products waters quite successfully and rarely purchase a product that performs poorly, I still have a few laying around. I'm a type person that extensively researches almost every product I buy and I rarely buy something impulsively, yet actually a lot of these product were bought either based on previous good experience with a similar product from the same brand or they just grabbed my attention and I bought them on the spot. To avoid making this post too negative, I'll put a link to a favourable review of each product, so you can more critically assess whether the product might still work for you.
How gorgeous is this to look at, am I right? This is without a doubt my favourite collection of colours in a palette out of the ones I own (which aren't that many to be honest) and I am gutted it turned out to be such a dud product. The pigmentation of this is so poor, especially of the prettiest matte shades. Those shimmery shades don't perform much better, they do show up, but they all look the same on the lids when blended. This palette completely turned me off cheap "dupe" palettes. I'd rather pay more for a high end one and have eyeshadows that are of actual good quality. I don't care if this was only 6 €, it was still precious pennies wasted on a rubbish product.
Positive review: Bean's Beauty Blog.
I was sent this, but that doesn't inspire mercy from me. At the end of the day I'm still left with a liner that isn't performing the way it should and I hate having such products taking up my space in my makeup collection. The formula of this is simply too dry, so a nice even line is hard to do as mostly it turns out to be a diffused and soft type of line, the same I can achieve with an eyeshadow. Gel eyeliners should be fluid enough and not almost dried up when new.
Positive review: Temporary Secretary
I got not one, but two completely dry ones, which can only mean I have either the worst luck in the world (believable) or this is just a rubbish formula. I couldn't even do a proper review with pictures of this on the eyes because I couldn't even do a line. I think that the swatch picture says everything there is to know about this liner and I'm still pissed I paid 10 € for it.
Positive review: Meteo Beauty
This liner is infuriating. The worst flip flopper I owned. If you've read my review, I've seen the problem with it - the formula is simply drying too fast for a decent application. Most of the time I get barely anything out of it and then on rare occasions it works almost perfectly. It was very expensive, so despite its occasional good behaviour, it deserves a place in this post.
Positive review: Anaviglam
For a time this was the only such product available in Slovenia, but now I've seen a few new interesting ones. When this first came out, I've heard some great reviews about it, later also a few bad ones and my experience falls into the latter group. It's a strange product that on my hair either does nothing when used in moderation and when I increase the amount, I get a very sticky, my-hair-hasn't-been-washed-in-ages result that doesn't terribly please me. This is like a very weak, sticky hair spray that just doesn't work for my hair. I much prefer the VO5's one as well as the Charles Worthington's.
Positive review: Katie's Beauty Blog.
When I discovered that my favourite hairspray apparently isn't sold in Slovenia any more, I decided to give this one a try because I love the mousse and the styling spray from this line. I hated this from the first spray. I was so spoiled from the Lee Stafford one, which feels like nothing on the hair that having a sticky, wet residue after application was a bit of a shock to me. It also didn't perform in the hold department, certainly not on the level of Lee Stafford's one. For me this felt just too noticeable on the hair and technology has come far enough to leave such 90's feeling hairsprays in the past.
Positive review: Chérie
I got this because I wanted something that would hold my natural/heatless curls that I love so much, but they drop within a half an hour (such a shame). It didn't perform as I expected. This has a very high rating on Makeup Alley and people said this holds like nobody's business. Apparently just not on my hair. I saw no difference in terms of hold between Lee Stafford's one, however, this is very sticky as well as heavy. I don't like noticeable hair sprays, so this isn't for me. That being said, when I do hair on other people, they almost always request this hair spray because they like to feel that there is something on the hair, I guess they are so used to the idea that the hairspray must be sticky to hold. I used this on a girl with very thin hair when I curled her hair for a special occasion and she said her hair drops really fast - as far as I'm concerned this hairspray didn't perform all that well because she came home with her hair almost flat.
Positive Review: I Covet Thee
This was one of the biggest hair disappointment for me. Glowing reviews convinced me to shell out for a 75 ml size that I knew won't last many uses on my long hair. It's a pre-wash treatment that you apply either for 20 minutes or overnight on slightly damp hair. This didn't pretty much nothing, certainly nothing comparable to other expensive hair treatments like Masquintense or Intense Hydrator. Money down the drain this was, nothing else.
Positive review: Amelia Liana
Another product I got based on highly praising reviews on Makeup Alley and one I disliked from the first use. My hair is very dry, especially in the days after washing, so I had hoped this would be a nice silicone-free nourishing leave-in to fix my hair. This is such an odd product, it's like applying a face moisturiser on the hair and it leaves these white dust-like dots on the hair, which is not attractive when you have dark hair like mine. But the greatest disappointment was the fact that it didn't even work. I noticed no significant nourishment, certainly nothing comparable to Orofluido Sahara, which is one of the best quick-fix products to treat dryness that I found.
Positive review: Makeup and more
ARGAN OIL Hydrating Hair Mask
This is utter, total crap. By far the worst product in this selection. It ruined my hair by making it look and feel like straw, people genuinely couldn't believe that a masks could do this when they touched my hair. I saw this whilst exploring the never ending treasure that is Leclerc's beauty department. It caught my eye because it's very cheap and the ingredients looked decent (argan oil on 7th place plus even a bit of keratin). Though it's a thick mask, it has zero moisturising properties, my hair felt awful when I was rinsing it off and I couldn't even run my fingers through my hair when it was dry, that's how tangly it was. Horrible, horrible stuff. If you see this in Leclerc, just ignore it.
I can't find a positive review about this and I'm not surprised.
Yeah.. this is basically liquid. You know when a shower gel or liquid soap is running out and you can't get the last bit out, so you pour water in the bottle to get it out. Well, this is like it. A diluted soap. It's impossible to wash with or least make foam without a mesh sponge. It smells nice, but that's it.
Positive review: Parokeets
BALEA Fantastique 5-Klingen Rasierer
I bought a female razor after possibly 7 years or more. I used to have a Venus one, but I completely switched to male razors because if it's good for someone's face, it's good enough for me. Sweet lord are female razors rubbish compared to male ones! What's with the annoying, bulky strips that prevent you from reaching places. They make it so clumsy. I already have a good shaving gel and an oil, why do I need a moisturising strip as well? Also I think it kind of broke after first use because it bent 90°degrees and stayed like that. Odd little thing. In all years of shaving, I don't recall many occasions when I cut myself, but with this one, I was shocked to see bloody shins when I came out of the shower. And I don't mean on one single occasion, I mean every time I used it. Once I had four cuts on one leg alone. I'm sticking to my Gillette Fusion Proglide. Yes, the replacement blades are so expensive, but the razor does its job the way it's supposed to, plus it has an additional blade in the back. Male razors rule, people. Just saying.
Positive review: Julia's Beauty Blog
Any big disappointments you encountered recently? Have a great day!