2017 Beauty Disappointments

2017 Beauty Disappointments

For my 2017 Beauty Disappointments they’re not necessarily products I hate, they tend to be products I’d lusted over which didn’t quite cut the mustard or ended up not being worth the hype when I got my hands on them. The good news is that there’s not as many disappointments as there were favourites. Just like my favourites of the year – there is no skincare or haircare in here – I feel like there I have less expectations over those, and for skincare in particular I haven’t changed up my routine significantly this year. The only non-makeup item across these two posts ended up featuring in my disappointments.

MAC In The Flesh Palette
I haven’t gotten around to reviewing this yet, I’m going to try and get around to that soon – but I bought this after the makeup artist at my wedding used it on my bridesmaids and I’ve barely used it.
For me this is a palette of transition colours and it’s far from my preferred complete eye look. It’s a mostly matte palette, the few shimmers in it look near on the same on the eye and I very, very rarely reach for it.
Once I’ve posted my review on it, I’m considering selling it because it feels like it’s taking up precious real estate where a better palette could live.

Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts Palette
It really pains me to say this and put another palette on my list. I will say this Palette is okay, but I had high expectations of it and I find it very expensive what it is. I find the shadows a nightmare to work with, they don’t blend as well as I would expect at £45 palette should do. Some of the colours pay off completely different on the eye then they look in the pan, and overall I find this palette pretty limiting in the looks I can create with it. So many people adore this palette and it half makes me wonder whether I got a dodgy one. If I lost it, I wouldn’t mourn its disappearance.
Review

ColourPop Over the Moon Supershock Highlighter
The only product from Colourpop that has been a disappointment for me. I saw and did a lot of research on which highlighter to try from Colourpop and settled on this one with it being a bit different in tone. This picks up barely any pigment on the brush, and it just pays off as a mixture of pink to lilac glitter, when applied with a finger to get more of a glow it ends up just blending away to nothing once you’ve tried to even it out. I repulled this out this week after a good 4/5 months of not using it to see if I could make it work and it’s just not good in conclusion.

The Scent of Liu Jo Perfume
I smelled this in Milan airport at the tail end of last year, when I got home it immediately went on my Amazon Wishlist and it was the only place I could find which had it in stock. To put it on my wishlist straight away I knew I had to like it, and I love the scent of it. So why is it on my disappointments list? It just doesn’t have longevity. Within hours this has gone off my skin, I don’t know whether it’s crap or just doesn’t agree with my chemistry.

Fenty Fire Crystal & Lightning Dust Killawatt Highlight
I do actually love this highlighter, but as time has gone on it’s become clear that the packaging of this sucks. I’ve only had these since September and I shouldn’t have managed to hit pan on both sides in that time. The split hexagonal design with lots of corners going on causes you to really focus and smush your brush into the centre which meant on the right hand side (Fire Crystal) I hit pan within about 6 weeks. The texture of this feels beautiful on the skin – but it’s a creamy type power that doesn’t pick up easily with a light hand or a thin fan brush. I love how both of these look on the skin, I do prefer the more intense side over the other as I feel like it’s more unique – but I wouldn’t repurchase this unless they started making these colours in the full size non split style compacts. If it wasn’t for the packaging these would have easily been a favourite, but the packaging lets it down that much for me. I’m at the point where I’ll almost have to stop using this because I feel like I’ll start damaging my brush by using up what’s around the edges.
Review

Bourjois Healthy Mix Concealer
I picked this up on a deal alongside my favourite one from Radiance Reveal. I know lots of people love the foundation and concealer from the Healthy Mix line so I was hoping it would live up to Radiance Reveal. Wrong. This is the first concealer I’ve ever had that has creased on me, it does have good coverage but it’s just so uncomfortable and doesn’t look great over the course of a long day. It feels thick and cakey in comparison to RR. I’m currently using this as my daily go to to try and get it gone, but needless to say I won’t be getting this one again in future.


There were some products that were close to making their way to the list of 2017 Beauty Disappointments but I’m willing to try them out again before I declare them as a disappointments. I may do a follow up with those later in the year once I’ve had chance to put them on trial again.

If you missed yesterday’s post and want to check out my beauty favourites for 2017, you can click here.

Let me know in the comments any products which didn’t live up to your expectations last year.

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Helpless Whilst Drying
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50 Comments

  1. highstreetbeauty11
    January 5, 2018 / 8:37 am

    I found this really interesting, especially your thoughts on the Fenty highlighter which had such he hype about it x

  2. Sophie in Wonderland xo
    January 5, 2018 / 9:47 am

    Noo i can’t believe colourpop made it in!! 🙈 such a shame about the 2 palettes as well xxx

      • Sophie in Wonderland xo
        January 5, 2018 / 9:59 am

        Yeah i have 2 supershock highlighters i love them the glow is poppin! They’re really pigmented xxx

        • January 5, 2018 / 10:01 am

          Maybe it’s just this shade – it’s pure glitter! I’ll get your shades next time we inevitably order (post no buy of course) xxx

          • Sophie in Wonderland xo
            January 5, 2018 / 10:02 am

            Of course haha! Ill bring them for you to swatch next time i see ya xxx

  3. January 5, 2018 / 10:26 am

    Aw I loved the fenty highlighter but hated the color pop product x

    • January 5, 2018 / 10:30 am

      I really like the highlighter – but I’ve been so disappointed with the packaging and how quickly I’ve gone through it. You should be able to see me from space with how much I’ve used since September!

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  5. January 5, 2018 / 2:19 pm

    It is so interesting to that you disliked the Coloured Raine Queen of Hearts Palette since I’ve read nothing but raves for it!
    Seriously, how do you hit pan on a highlighter in 6 weeks?!! 😮

    • January 5, 2018 / 2:29 pm

      It’s just not worth the money, it occassionally goes for sale for 28 on beauty bay and at that price it’s maybe worth it, but the colours all pay off darker than they look in the pan and they just don’t blend easily at All!
      🤷🏽‍♀️ I don’t know, you should have been able to see me from space, I was convinced for a while it was the creamy powder pushing its way to the sides and just hollowing at the middle but I think it’s just the brute force you have to use to get it on your brush and the reduced surface area combination!

      • January 5, 2018 / 3:20 pm

        I’m hesitant about Coloured Raine. I saw it on BeautyBay and each single shadow was $15.50 each? And that’s just for the refill pans. I didn’t buy any just because it’s double the price of MAC and Makeup Geek.
        I agree, the packaging on the Fenty compacts are nice looking but a pain to use in reality!

        • January 5, 2018 / 4:00 pm

          Yeah no way are they worth that – I’m more impressed with the Juvia’s Place pans – they’re £3-£6 each and they’re double the size of a MAC/MUG Pan!

    • January 5, 2018 / 3:59 pm

      Thank you, the foundation was in my favourites and I do like this one, I just hate how quickly I’ve used it up and the packaging looks pretty but isn’t that practical for me!

  6. January 5, 2018 / 4:15 pm

    I’m so surprised to see the Queen of Hearts palette on there! I don’t know too much about it as the colours aren’t up my alley, but I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.

    It’s funny how you bought that MAC palette (assuming) you liked the way it looked on the bridesmaids, yet somehow you never got any use out of it yourself. I started trying to build a MAC palette last year, and I just can’t seem to get into most of their shadows!

    That’s so disappointing you didn’t like the Colourpop highlighter. I have yet to try any of their highlighters but they are at the top of my list of products to buy in 2018 – makes me wonder if the other ones are any better.

    • January 5, 2018 / 4:26 pm

      My friend Sophie assures me the others are better, this one is just like a purple pink disco ball with no sheeny base – I may try another one when I next do an order!

      Yes you’re right I loved how it looked on them, the few shimmers that this palette has are just all so samey on the eye! Mac pans are double the price here (£10 / 16.50 cad) they’re just not special enough for me at that price

      And yep, you’re right on the coloured raine palette, feel like the only person who felt underwhelmed by it!

      • January 5, 2018 / 4:41 pm

        I totally get why you picked Over the Moon though – it pops out to me most on their website it’s definitely more unique. Even though their other ones might be better, who needs another champagne coloured highlighter? 😛

        Oh my gosh, I can’t believe how expensive the MAC pans are! That’s basically the price of their regular shadows (with the packaging).

        • January 5, 2018 / 4:43 pm

          That’s exactly why I picked it, I was like that looks different – but it just doesn’t pick up pigment the way it swatches on their pics and doesn’t blend out to anything but glitter 👎🏼

          Yep crazy isn’t it – full pans with packaging are £15 from memory I think!

  7. January 5, 2018 / 5:20 pm

    I like my Queen of Hearts palette but I agree it’s not worth £45! I got it for £31.50 I think but it’s still one of priciest palettes I own. I hadn’t really noticed about how the shades translate to the eye except that matte purple shade that I get zero colour from! I’m a lazy eyeshadow wearer though haha two shades and I’m done most of the time.

    • January 5, 2018 / 6:27 pm

      I’ve seen it on offer for 28.50 and I think at that price it’s better value if you love the shade range. I just don’t find the metallics as Metallicy on the eye as they are in the pan, and shades like princess look dusky pink but pay off brown. I want to love it more than I do 😥

      • January 5, 2018 / 7:00 pm

        Yeah I think that price is about right! I think I had read your review before I bought it so wasn’t too disappointed!

  8. January 5, 2018 / 6:53 pm

    I’m surprised to see that you don’t like the concealer, Bourjois is my absolute favorite drugstore brand for foundations and concealers! And how do you manage to use up all the highlighter for such short time, I’m impressed!

    • January 5, 2018 / 7:18 pm

      Well the reason it’s in my disappointments is because it used up so quickly, that’s definitely not normal for me, I’d say a solid year if I was using a highlighter daily would be about right!
      I love the radiance reveal concealer from bourjois and this one just didn’t compare for me, just looked cakey and creased and I never normally have that problem!

  9. January 6, 2018 / 5:38 am

    The MAC palette is lovely, if you do sell it the person who buys it will have plenty of product to play with! Such a shame about the packaging of the Fenty highlighter 🙁 I have considered buying a Bourjois concealer before but I didn’t know whether to opt for Healthy Mix or Radiance Reveal so I didn’t buy either lol 😛

    • January 6, 2018 / 7:02 am

      I way prefer radiance reveal, it’s much lighter and has a really glowy finish whilst still having decent coverage, it’s rumoured it’s s dupe for urban decay naked skin, but I haven’t actually tried that one to compare!

      • January 6, 2018 / 7:09 am

        Collection’s Lasting Perfection is my favourite concealer and I’m liking MAC’s Studio Finish lately too. I’ll have to try Radiance Reveal 🙂 x

          • January 6, 2018 / 10:51 am

            I got colour matched (I was worried as I have heard of some incorrect matches, to put it nicely) and the colour is exactly right!

  10. January 6, 2018 / 10:55 am

    I’ve been eyeing that Colored Raine palette but thank god I read this 😅 saved some moolahs 😅😂

  11. January 7, 2018 / 7:23 pm

    The Fenty beauty one seems a pain to use. One of those times where they made it to look good but didn’t consider how you’d actually use it. I don’t think I’ve tried anything on this list but I’ll not be tempted if I see them. I have seen the Queen of Hearts palette on sale and almost got it because of the colours, glad I didn’t now!

  12. January 7, 2018 / 11:13 pm

    What a shame about the MAC palette! I had considered getting this. Guess its not a bad thing that I passed on it.

  13. January 8, 2018 / 11:48 am

    Sorry to hear that about the Fenty highlight. I’ve had mine since around the same time and can still see the FB imprint! I usually use a Morphe brush or a beauty blender. I do have a different color in the highlight but jeez! Shouldn’t be that easy to hit pan!

    • January 8, 2018 / 12:20 pm

      Ahh do you have one of the full size ones or one of these split duos? I have used it every day but I’m still surprised at just how quick I went through it, by end of the week it’ll be a gonner and in my empties! I do like it the speed I went through it and the packaging just let it down!

  14. maddisondoolan
    January 11, 2018 / 5:24 am

    Posts like this are so helpful, sad to hear they werent as good as you thought they would be x

  15. January 17, 2018 / 12:48 am

    Have you tried the Fenty foundation?

  16. January 24, 2018 / 11:11 pm

    It’s always a bummer when the item that you’ve lusted over doesn’t work out.

    I am disappointed with the Bourjois concealer too. I find that the coverage isn’t that much better than the Healthy Mix foundation. Used it a few times to cover my freckles, its just so frustrating to use.

  17. January 26, 2018 / 10:10 pm

    So crazy you hit pan already on the fenty highlighter, I’ve been using mine everyday Since November and it’s still full…maybe a bad one

  18. Topshop
    March 21, 2018 / 7:57 am

    Interesting, thanks;)

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