Ahh cult beauty products. Hailed as the Holy Grails of the beauty world.
These are some of the beauty products that are highly raved by the beauty blogging community, YouTube-land and magazine editors and are deemed desert island products that one cannot live without. You’ll most likely have seen very positive reviews on them because to many, they work really well. But to some, they’re just not as good as they’re hyped to be.
Taking a page out of Val‘s blog series on cult products that didn’t work for her, I thought I’d share with you my take on certain cult beauty products that didn’t cut the mustard for me. These are the products that I’m supposed to fall head over heels in love with but have been sorely disappointed by.
Now these beauty items may or may not work wonders for you. If it’s the latter, I’m glad they worked well for you because I sure wish they did for me and not turn out to be a waste of my money.
In no particular order, here we go!
1. Tangle Teezer
I read so many good reviews about this and since I have thick, coarse and easily tangled hair, I thought this would work wonders on my hair. I don’t like it. I find the bristles too short and although they get rid of tangles, it makes my hair at the top of my head too flat when it’s wet and the ends very frizzy. A cheapie wide-tooth comb from DAISO does a better job for me. Plus this comb is actually pretty pricey.
2. Clarins Beauty Flash Balm
Oh what a cult product this is! Man, I wanted this to work for me but I found it too heavy on my combination skin to be used as a primer, especially in the sweltering hot months. It didn’t make my skin look any better. In fact, it looked oilier. Sigh.
3. Caudalie Beauty Elixir
Lisa Eldridge’s favourite water! Val kindly gave me her smaller bottle of the Beauty Elixir to try after her holiday to Paris. I haven’t tried it before so I was really looking forward to it. It’s probably just me but I really didn’t enjoy the scent. Plus the water did nothing extra to my skin that a thermal spray can’t do at the fraction of the cost.
4. NARS Orgasm Blush
The Orgasm blush doesn’t make my skin pop like it does for many. I wanted to buy this but ended up with the Exhibit A instead, which in my opinion, is SO MUCH BETTER.
5. Maybelline Baby Lips Lipbalm
Too dry and waxy for my liking.
6. Clarisonic Cleansing Brush
My mum and auntie raved about this so much about how fantastic it’s made their skin. I bought it, tried it out and my skin reacted badly to it. Mum and auntie use it on a daily basis without any problems. I tried it for 5 consecutive days and my skin was already screaming bloody murder. I ended up using this twice a week, which made it a glorified scrub in my bathroom. Sigh, what a waste of $200. 🙁
7. Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream
This works wonders for a lot of women and can be used on the face and body. Sadly, I’m not keen on this because I find it too heavy for my face. I’m not a fan of the scent either which means I probably won’t use it on the body. I might give the fragrance-free one a go.
8. YSL Touche Éclat
The highlighter du jour! This was a staple in every other women’s makeup bag so naturally I too have to give it a go. Technically, I don’t hate it but I don’t exactly love it either. I just didn’t see anything fantastic about it. Having said that, I do have By Terry’s Touch Expert Advanced (an improved formula of the Touche Éclat, created by Terry de Gunzburg who’s also the creator of the YSL’s cult highlighter) and I prefer it to the Touche Éclat. It has a creamier formula that doesn’t settle into the fine lines under the eyes.
These are just a few of the cult beauty products I can think of at the moment. I’m sure there are more 😛 . Again, if these work for you, that’s great. I wish it did for me too.
I guess we can agree on quite a few numbers of dud products!!
ponikuta recently posted..Self Centred Medi Spa at Melbourne Central
Haha yep! Sorry the Beauty Elixir you gave me didn’t work. I really wanted to like it. 🙁
I’m with you on nearly all of these! NARS Orgasm looks really ordinary on me, I look flushed but not in a good way – in a kind of sick way, if anything. As for the Clarisonic, I really want to love mine but it just does nothing for me! I really notice no difference if I use it or not.
My one point of difference would be Beauty Flash Balm – I really do love it!
Products that haven’t hit the mark for me are usually mascaras (Maybelline The Falsies & Great Lash, Covergirl Lash Blast). People rave about them so I throw one in with my groceries and I’m always ALWAYS disappointed! Unfortunately cheap mascaras just never ever seem to work for me.
I also made the switch to a Cloud 9 straightener from GHD and I’ve been quite disappointed. I’ve been hearing for a couple of years how Cloud 9 is “the new GHD” and all the stories about how the inventer of GHD put all the good technology into Cloud 9 etc and how GHD just aren’t that great anymore etc….but I have to say I’ve been really disappointed! Lucky I didn’t sell or give away my old GHD!
The items on this list I tried, I have loved.
Especially the Clarisonic, I really notice when I don’t use it, my skin is terrible without it. But everyones skin/hair/nails are different so its to be expected that things don’t always work as well.
I heard the same about Cloud 9, and right as I went to purchase one, I used the Muk 230IR and it has replaced my beloved GHD, it does everything and my hair always looks sleek and smooth with it.
Glad the Clarisonic works for you. I’m quite envious of those who find this so useful. When I look at mine, I’m like “you were a waste of my $200”.
Hahaha I love the Cloud 9 iron, especially the Wide Iron! Oh, and I’ve never tried a ghd flat iron. Unless you count the hairstylist using it on me at salons. Tee hee! 😛
Maybelline’s The Falsies, Great Lash and Covergirl’s Lash Blast don’t work for me either. I find the brush too big for my Asian lashes. I remember reading so much about the popular Great Lash mascara in magazines and when I finally came to Australia, it was one of the first makeup products I purchased. When I first tried it on, I was like … err that’s it? Meh. 😛
Oh, I thought of another one – Clarins Hand & Nail Cream. People are devoted to it – but on my hands it sinks into my skin in about half a second and leaves me with no hand cream feeling. Which I guess is why people love it? But I prefer something a bit greasier and more emollient so I can feel it working!
Oh I remember that one. It was okay for me, not fantastic but not bad either. I’m the kind who prefers the quick dry sort of hand cream. 😛
Have you tried Aesop’s hand balm? It’s a lot more emollient and the smell is yummy!
Agree with most of them, but not the Tangle Teezer – have to say its a LOT cheaper in the UK (where I got mine, and as are most things!), and I have dramatically different hair to you – very fine but lots of it, and I’ve killed/abused it many times over the years with dye and bleach (I used to be white blonde bleached :D), but its the only thing that was able to comb through my hair when I accidentally took it to chewing gum stage when I left some bleach on for a tad too long, so am a massive fan 😛
The 8 hour stuff – agree, but have you tried the lip stuff? That is *lovely*, especially for flying, no chapped sore lips on a plane for me. The face stuff though, nopey, just too thick and claggy for me.
And a special mention to Flash Balm – soooooo Meh! on that one.
I’m so backward though I generally don’t try so called ‘cult’ stuff, if I do its like 10 or more years since everyone started harping on about it I get round to it lol.
Hilary recently posted..End of one adventure, beginning of another?
I saw the Tangle Teezer at Boots in the UK and I didn’t buy it. Ended up buying it here for almost $20. Worst of all, I found that my DAISO comb worked better for me that cost almost 90% cheaper. :'(
Ooh I’ve not tried the 8 hour lip balm. I saw it at Priceline, sold in a set together with the 8 hour cream. I wanted to try the lip balm but I don’t want the cream. Damn. 😛
Totally agree about baby lips lip balms! I haven’t bought them, but I don’t actually understand all this hype -.-”
xx
Arianna
I would say try it out but that would be a waste of money to try something that’s just not worth the money, even if it’s under five bucks. Save the money for a good cup of coffee (or another hot drink you prefer) instead. 😉
I actually haven’t tried a lot of these, but now I don’t really want to! Most of these I’ve seen fairly mixed reviews, so it’s enough to put me off wasting my hard earned cash haha xx
Jasmine recently posted..Tokyo Makeup Haul 2013
Hahaha you never know, some of these might work very well for ya. 😉
I’ve to say I feel the same about most of the products you mentioned here, except the Clarisonic. But I don’t use my Clarisonic daily now – it can be too much for the skin. I’ve tried the baby lips, nars orgasm, eight hour cream, touche eclat (it did nothing for me – not even highlighting). I’ve sampled the beauty balm (knew it was too rich for my oily combo skin) and caudalie water (too much alcohol!) – they just didn’t even pass the test at the store. It just goes to show you have to try out products and see if they suit you. In fact, some people have been underwhelmed by a few products that I love, e.g. Dr Haushka’s Rose Day Cream.
Beauty Box recently posted..Going Gaga Over Ginger
I feel that the Clarisonic would work better if not used daily because it can be a tad too drying. I’ve not tried Dr Haushka’s Rose Day Cream although I have heard about it. Will make a trip to David Jones to test it out.