A few weeks ago, I was doing a round of spring-cleaning and was culling my beauty stash when I stumbled upon a barely used tube of Maybelline’s Instant Age Rewind Eraser Dark Circles Concealer + Treatment. I remembered writing a couple of years ago on how much I disliked the packaging with the unhygienic sponge and it was because of that that I put it away and stopped using it.
Between the time I wrote the post and up to those few weeks ago, I read a lot of good reviews about how great this product is. I figured it was high time to give this another go, silly sponge be damned. Since I couldn’t detach the sponge, I cleaned the heck out of it as much as I could with a lot of rubbing alcohol and gave it another chance.
After using it daily for a week, whaddyaknow, I’m really liking it!
This got me thinking, how many of us have decided that a product isn’t worth a second chance because the packaging is lousy?
I know I have. Heck, just look at my makeup graveyard and it’s filled with a lot of products with crappy packaging. Fiddly jars, broken caps, pump-less creams … the list goes on.
When I looked past poor packaging, I discovered how good many beauty products actually are. For example, I overlooked L’Oreal’s Nude Magique Eau de Teint‘s glass bottle with the large hole that is really not good for Ms Clumsy Clogs here and gave it a chance. It’s now one of my favourite foundations to use. Here’s another foundation worth mentioning: Revlon’s ColorStay Whipped Créme Makeup. The glass jar is heavy, its wide opening exposes the product to contamination yet it’s my Holy Grail full coverage foundation.
Of course, there’s packaging that makes it very hard for the product to redeem itself. When pumps are so easily broken, screw caps that are over-screwed that you can’t even close the product properly any more, pencils that break off at the slightest touch and so on … well, some things have to go to the cosmetics graveyard and stay there. Unfortunately, we’re not allowed to return opened cosmetics in Australia so we have to make the best out of them, give them away or chuck them into the bin.
On the other hand, if the packaging is just a nuisance and isn’t actually damaged, how about giving those products another chance? If it was something you weren’t keen on mainly due to lousy packaging, it could be worth giving it another go. You never know, you might end up really liking it after all!
What about you? Have you given beauty products with lousy packaging a second chance? Did you end up looking past the packaging when the product is really good?
PS: I realise that the concealer is now 2 years old, which means that I should have chucked it and gotten a new one. Not to worry, just did!
I can think of one brand in particular that kills me with their shoddy packaging, which is By Terry. I do tend to look past it because the product has been so expensive and the quality of the product itself is usually really good, but I’m put off from buying anymore from the brand because I can’t be bothered with maneuvering around the dodgy packaging to be able to use the product. Their lipstick packaging is especially shocking, which is such a shame when the lippies themselves are gorgeous!
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Oooh really? I’ve not tried their lipsticks but I’m now curious to see how lousy their packaging is!
I love both the L’Oreal Nude and the Revlon Colorstay Whipped foundations so much that I don’t mind the packaging. I can understand why they are both packaged that way though. The consistency of one is so thin and the other so thick that I don’t think a pump bottle would actually work. So yeah, the silly packaging is forgivable in this instance 🙂
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See, the thing is, Chanel’s Perfection Lumiere Velvet is very similar to L’Oreal’s Nude Magique Eau de Teint but their bottle has a tiny hole that makes it so much easier to dispense. L’Oreal’s is not good for people with clumsy hands. Like me. Sigh, what to do, I like it so much, have to tahan lor.
I actually ripped the sponge head off of my age rewind concealer so it just dispenses the product! But yes lousy packaging can be so off putting!
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You know what, I think I’m going to do just that. I can’t stand the sponge!
I recently purchased that Maybelline age rewind concealer for the exact same reason! Tried it when it first came out. Love the product (doesn’t settle in lines, when you reach certain age, this is very very important!) but hate the sponge tip. My only solution is to wipe the sponge with alcohol from time to time to prevent bacteria build up and a lot of product wastage through this process. I don’t know if this really kills germs but it makes me feel better.
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That’s what I’ve been doing as well with the rubbing alcohol but I think I’m going to do what reader Chloe suggested. Rip off the sponge and let the bottle dispense the product from the, er, hole. A lot of product’s wasted in the sponge!
Just to warn you – don’t use the Maybelline concealer when you have to have photos taken – I look like I have covered half my face in flour in all my halloween photos – thank goodness they are halloween photos and I can sort of get away with it! 😮 (especially as friends have posted lots of photos of me up before I could edit them all lol)!! But I do like it. Now just to get a mid way between ‘ultra pale and reflective but get rid of the bags more or less’ and ‘you’ve been tangoed’ orange tones that don’t cover the old bags up at all………sigh
Gasp really? I don’t think I’ve ever had photos taken when I had that concealer on but yikes! I’m going to experiment with flash photography with the concealer on and see how “ghostly” I look. 😛
I know what you mean. I loved the Maybelline Age Rewind concealer but stopped using it because of the sponge applicator. This was till I saw, Alix (@icovetthee) rip off the applicator and use it directly. Now, it is one of my most used concealer.
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Yep, I’m so going to do this too!
If the packaging is horrible, i don’t mind EXCEPT when that horribleness is related to the function of the product. Two products come to mind – Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask (original packaging) and Ellis Faas Creamy Eyes! (And probably other Ellis Faas items too lol) Both I absolutely love the formula, but despise the fact that the packaging prevents me from being able to apply the product properly.
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Oh I know what you mean! Ellis Faas’s bullet lipsticks are gorgeous in terms of the lipstick but the packaging? Ugh not a fan. Too big!