My Total Duds- Products that just didn't work out for me!

Most of my blog posts are on products that I love and speak highly about. I thought it would be fun and something different to do a post on “Total Duds” these are products that I thought I would love and just didn’t work out for me. I have chosen two high end and two drugstore products for my “Total Duds.” These won’t be full reviews, just my thoughts on each product and how they were disappointing to me.

Rimmel London’s “keep Calm” lip balms-

Rommel London Keep Calm Lip Balm from my Instagram @adrienneroyale 

Rimmel London’s “Keep Calm” lip balms, ohh how my daughter and I looked for these for months! We first saw them online selling in Europe and then I saw my friends in Canada were able to get their hands on them. When I finally heard they were here in America and at Walmart our search began. These lips balms are so cute! Might be the cutest packaging out there for a lip balm! They come in a variety of colors and cute “Keep Calm” sayings. I only paid $2.50 for each and couldn't wait to come home and try them out! Oh, was I ever disappointed! Cute packaging, that’s where the goodness ends! These lip balms smell horrible! I usually love different smelling lip products and rave over them! These smell strongly like cheap play makeup, even sort of like plastic. Yet, at the same time have a slight rose sent, like they are trying to cover up the bad smell but it just makes it worse. They are not moisturizing at all and actually feel drying on my lips. It also feels like a residue is left on my lips after wearing them for about 5 minutes. Besides smelling horrible, they taste disgusting! There is no color payoff on any of the colors that I bought and once put on your lips it is barely noticeable. Overall these are the worst lip balms I have ever tried! If it wasn't for their cute packaging I would throw them in the garbage! Hey, at least they look cute in pictures.

Urban Decay Naked Flush Palette-

Makeup mess featuring Urban Decay Naked Flush Palette from my Instagram @adrienneroyale

A couple of Christmas’s ago I asked my husband for the Urban Decay Naked Flush Palette and was so happy when I opened up my first gift and saw the Naked Flush Palette and Naked 3! I was actually more excited about the Naked Flush Palette even more so than the Naked 3 palette. My excitement ended there once I actually tried the product. Over the last two years I have really tried to love this product but I just don’t. The packing is in beautiful bronzed-gold packaging and compact enough to go with you anywhere. It retails for $32 and you can pick it up at Ulta, Sephora, or on Urban Decay’s website. The problem I have with this palette is that it just doesn’t go with my skin tone. This may be a perfect palette for girls with different skin tones then me but for me it is a total dud. The bronzer section is just way to orange! It doesn’t look natural at all! The blush is not a flattering color on me and is way too dark. I do enjoy the highlight and use it once in a while. I wouldn’t say I hate this palette, I just don’t like it for myself so it is a fail. I like the packaging and the big mirror it comes with, and the bronzer, blush, and highlight are all very pigmented. Besides the bronzer being so orange, I also notice that it is not very long wearing and fades away quickly. I urge you, if this is something you have considered picking up to go to your local Ulta or Sephora and swatch it before making the purchase.

Maybelline Master Kajal-

When I saw the commercials for Maybelline Master Kajal I literally went out that afternoon and bought it. The commercial made this eyeliner look like it was going to be a dream come true! I love tight and water lining my eyes and I like it to be very dark. This eyeliner looked promising and loved the way it was designed. I also thought this would be good to put on my lower lash line to smoke it out. I went to CVS and bought it for $7.99. I was so excited to use it that once I got into my car tried it on right away! I picked up the color Navy Night. I swatched it before putting it on and the color was beautiful! Then came the trouble, I tried to tight and water line my eyes and almost no color payoff! The color was so faint and barley noticeable. For several days I tried to make this eyeliner work and still grab for it once in a while but every time it is a total dud! The design concept is great! I love how the eyeliner is a large cone shape, going from thick to thin and how you are able to see the entire product. Seems, like it would make for great application and even make perfect cat eyes. While the design is remarkable, the product is junk for what it is intended for! Swatching it on your hand you think you are going to get a nice cobalt blue-navy color, but once you try to apply the eyeliner on your water line you get an iridescent dirty looking blue. Under my water line it just basically smudges away. The only thing I have been able to use this product for is an eye shadow base. If I am wearing a blue eye shadow and want to be extra-long wearing I will use this eyeliner and smudge it all over my eyelid and blend it. The issue with this though is I have to press hard on my eyelid to get a good amount of color pay off and the it blends away so easy! This eyeliner was nothing what I expected and I would not repurchase it again!

Benefit They’re Real! Push-up Liner-

One afternoon my husband came home with a Huge Ulta haul he bought for me, filled with lots of goodies! One of these being the Benefit They’re Real! Push up Liner, it looked so interesting so the next day I used it. I wouldn’t say I am an expert at eyeliner, but I would say I am pretty good and wear cat eyes about 95% of the time and have for at least the last 10 years!  Every day since I have been in 8^th grade I have worn eyeliner and I am 31 so that is a long time. My favorite type of eyeliner is definitely liquid but I do enjoy good gel eyeliner. I thought this eyeliner would be like a gel liner with the application of a liquid, best of both worlds right? Was I ever wrong! I have heard so many mixed reviews on this eyeliner and for me it just doesn’t work. There is both good and bad with this liner though. First, the actual liner itself is good; it is extremely long wearing and super dark! It doesn’t smudge and never got flakey on me. This stuff doesn’t smudge and no matter what, you need eye makeup remover to get this baby off! I love that about the liner but what I hate is the applicator! It is SO messy and you have to twist up to get the product out. Once the product comes out it is just one messy, blob of a ball. Then I had to wipe it on my hand a few times to even out the amount of product before applying it to my eyelid. Once you start applying, you better work fast because it dries super quickly! The applicator for me just doesn’t work!  It doesn’t give a nice line and the tip feels so flimsy. I have heard the more you work with it, the better you will get.  Sadly again, not for me.  Each time I used it I wasn’t impressed. It’s just so much work, and I personally feel like you waste so much of the product during each use. When I can just use my go-to liquid eyeliner and be done in 2 minutes. Another thing I noticed is how the eyeliner dries out after every use. Then you’re wasting even more product, I’m sorry but for a $24 eyeliner, it better work perfectly for me and last quite a bit of time! This product was such a fail for me that I ended up taking it back to Ulta and this is something I rarely do. I love Benefit They’re Real! Mascara and couldn’t live without it, just wish this eyeliner lived up to their mascara. After taking it back a few months later after repurchasing They’re Real! Mascara I received a free mini They’re Real! Eyeliner so I thought I would give it a shot again. Sadly, it still doesn’t work for me. What does work though it if I squeeze out some product and apply it with a brush like I would with regular gel liner. Maybe Benefit should make this product in a different applicator and I bet a lot of us would love it!

Now, that you know some of my “Total Duds” I would love to hear some of yours! Are any of the ones I mentioned yours to? Or, do you absolutely love the ones that didn’t work out so well for me?  Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Adrienne Roayle