Welcome back!

This is a post I have been thinking about for months, no really, months. I was inspired by 1 product in particular because it is sooooooo over-hyped and in my opinion is total garbage. Yet it still is everywhere I look online, which makes me wonder if everything we see online these days isn’t just an ad. In fact if I am being honest, it has turned me off of YouTube quite a bit.  The beauty gurus I used to love and watch religiously barely post makeup videos any more and when they do it just isn’t the same. It used to be about technique with yes, maybe a product recommendation in there…but now it is looks that are surrounded by the product! Meaning, “we are trying to sell this foundation so here’s a random tutorial about a product I’ve never mentioned before.” #ad. Boo.  If it’s not an ad it’s drama. Like, unnecessary amounts of drama I wouldn’t expect from anyone over the age of 15 amounts of drama. Just….no.

I will admit I have been influenced many times and I still am, to some extent. I have just become quite a bit more aware of it which, thankfully for my wallet has led me to think twice before hitting ‘Place Order’. I’ve been burned too many times at this point. #ad

So learn from my mistakes! And please remember that this is simply an opinion. If you have and love the products I have listed please know that this is not an attack on the brand or people behind it. I just don’t enjoy these products. At all.

Farsali Rose Gold Elixir, $54 for 1 oz.

Farsali Rose Gold Elixir. The inspiration for this entire post. This. Stuff. Is. Crap.  There is no other way to say it. I paid that disgusting price tag because all down my Instagram feed were videos of beauty influencers dripping this oil down their faces and then putting makeup over it.  And I wanted to look like they do. Yay advertising!

Let’s just stop and think about how stupid that is to begin with. Do you want your makeup to slide across your face throughout the day? Because that’s what you’re setting yourself up for when you use an OIL as a base! The only way oil is a good idea is if your skin is excessively dry.  So dry that a moisturizer won’t cut it, just gimme the hard stuff.  I don’t know for sure but I seriously doubt all of the influencers I’ve seen doing that have the exact same skin type and that that skin type is ‘hyper-dry’.

This is a marketing gimmick at it’s best. It smelled old AF right away, and you know what old makeup smells like. Not exactly something I’m excited to smear all over my face. It did absolutely nothing for me. And honestly, I kind of knew it wouldn’t. I have combination/oily skin. I need the opposite of an oil on my face with maybe a few spots in winter as an exception to the rule. There are gold flakes of pointlessness floating around in it as well. Do you want gold flakes dried onto your face underneath your makeup?…nah. I get so mad at myself when I think about this stuff and all the others that have come since. It is incredibly popular, but I have never seen or met anyone in real life that uses or likes this stuff. Myself included. Save your money.

NARS Climax Mascara $24

Let me start by saying that NARS is one of my favorite brands. I have so so many products from this brand that I love and adore and they perform very well. This is a newer release from NARS that is a hard pass and I wish I had returned before throwing the box away.  Now I typically prefer travel size mascaras and why? Because the wand is smaller so it’s easier to control. Bonus: I often get them as free samples so I almost never have to buy them.  The Too Faced Better Than Sex is probably the only high-end mascara I’ve found that I actually feel like made any sort of difference to justify the price.  And even then, Loreal has since released a very good dupe for it for $8, Lash Paradise if you’re interested.

This mascara exploded onto social media sometime in late 2018-early 2019 and I bought into the hype. Which is silly because for me personally if I am wearing makeup, I’m wearing lashes. Mascara is necessary but if your lashes are covered by lashes, who cares how great that mascara is? My point is I never need $24 mascara. And often, neither do you.

Tatcha Silk Canvas $52

Don’t hate me, but I (kind of) hate this stuff. This is easily the most disappointing product I’ve tried in the past year. I wanted to love this primer so much. I really did. I love Tatcha as a brand and I use a TON of their skincare on the daily. And I will continue to do so because it is worth every penny, in my opinion. So when I heard that the brand had released a primer that claims it is “A velvety priming balm of pressed silk that smooths and makes makeup last longer while keeping it out of skin, helping to prevent clogged pores and breakouts” I couldn’t buy it fast enough!  

One of my favorite YouTubers that actually does regularly post makeup tutorials and who also has a similar skin type as mine (texture, oily/combo) swears by it so I was thrilled to have a new one to try.  It did nothing for me. My skin was still super greasy and my pores were still very visible. So I have this giant tub of primer that I can’t bring myself to throw away because, um, $52.  I keep telling myself I will try it again to see if it works differently, but I genuinely never reach for it. Interestingly, when I posted about Tatcha’s friends & family sale coupon code earlier this month a few ladies replied to me about this specific product and said how much they too had a similar result.  Disappointment.  I still see a lot of influencers use and swear by this stuff and I don’t find it gimmick-y, although I am not a fan of the fact that you have to actually scrape the product from its container to use it.

Briogeo Scalp Revival Micro-Exfoliating Shampoo $42 for 8oz.

First let me say this, I was at least smart enough to buy the smaller size of this because please look at that price point. $42 for 8oz of shampoo…h-e-l-l-n-a-w. It better change my life for that price, and I am someone who wastes a LOT of coin on beauty products with little hesitation. This stuff is a dark grey scrub that has all the buzz words of 2018 in its name: coconut oil AND charcoal?! Whoa! We never had a chance.

Except this stuff was just awful, I don’t care how many magazines gave it awards.  I do have a flakey scalp in colder weather, especially around my hairline.  I had never heard of this brand but was excited to try it especially after seeing the photos. Except it stripped my hair & scalp so much it actually felt like squeaky, dry AF straw. Or it felt like it did when I was bleach blonde and if I didn’t condition it.  On top of that, it didn’t clear up my flakes. I don’t even know if I finished the 2oz of product that were there I hate it so much.  There are plenty of other scalp treatment shampoos that don’t leave my hair feeling just so awful.

Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Primer ($32) & Foundation ($34)

DO. NOT. COME. FOR. ME. I love Rihanna, and let’s be honest, 50 shades of a foundation is incredible. There’s no denying that the launch of this brand really started a movement that should have started decades ago. Never before have makeup brands had to be so inclusive and Fenty Beauty started that conversation.  There are plenty of products in the line that perform very well for me. Neither of these does.  I will not lie, I heard Rihanna was starting a makeup line and I kind of scoffed at it. Another celebrity who never does her own makeup starting a makeup line, just what we don’t need. Well, my opinions have changed but not about the OG products.

The primer is supposedly mattifying, nope. The claims are “A shine-stopping, pore-diffusing primer that smooths the way for better foundation application and longer wear with an instant retouch effect.” Also no. If it did any of the things it claims to; I would be in love. It actually has a very pleasant scent and I am obsessed with the packaging. The product though, is useless to me. Such a shame. The foundation is the same. It claims to be a matte-finish foundation with medium to full buildable coverage, which is where I normally live. I got no matte skin, it just did not work, work, work, work, work.  I think I may have actually just thrown mine away. Which is sad but no one I know is even remotely close to my shade range.

That’s all for now, I’m sure there are more. Leave me a comment & let me know if you’d like me to post about something specific!