In writing this blog, I asked a bunch of other folk (mainly women) if they had similar regrettable purchases: those that were forever destined for the downstairs bathroom, right next to Harry Potter’s cupboard.
I was surprised by the vitriolic tone of responses as well as the consensus, that everyone had bought at least one product based on pure hype/marketing and was disappointed. The experience was described as paying for a top of the line Aston Martin, but inexplicably receiving one of these:
Main finding
My main finding was that the world is divided into women who either hate or love Drunk Elephant and retinol. And no-one likes gimmicky products, such as a retinol toner, even if it is made by the clever folk at Pixi.
As skincare is what I live and breathe, its no surprise that my list is longer. Therefore, without further ado, here are my seven:
The rose quartz roller
I bought this in the sale at half-price, so I guess its not a big deal. Except it has no utility, unless you consider the actual existence of an inanimate object as utility, which I kind of don’t.
Anywho. This product does nothing for my face. Perhaps the region under my eyes are not puffy enough for this thing to work effectively, but thankfully, I will never know. I must say it does like a fancy loo-roll holder…
Forest Essentials have introduced a rose quartz roller with their Ojas night balm. I do expect negative reviews to take a while – but you heard it here first.
Meteorites baby glow light-revealing sheer make-up
The original Meteroite product is the precusor to highlighters and shimmery eyeshadows. It genuinely is a pity that Guerlain was not able to capitalise on this trend, and instead came up with this product:
I specifically bought this product for a wedding (see this blog). If there ever was a product that I solely attributed to making me look like a 1970s rose gold disco ball, its this.
It doesn’t photograph well and perhaps the key is to use a tiny amount. But I am Indian. “Tiny” portions or amounts are simply not in my lexicon.
Bobbi Brown facial oil
I love the smell of this product and its such a pleasure to use. If I ignore the acne and doughnut sized zits it caused all over my face and which took a month to clear, it is a wonderful product.
Naturally, if you have money to endlessly burn and have never had a pimple or acne, then at US$72 for 30ml, this is still not for you.
Kama’s Shea Lotus Body Butter
I do like a good Kama product. There kokum & almond butter has been a staple of my winter armoury for many years now and is far superior to the similar L’Occitane product.
BUT this product just smells TOO strong and is nauseatingly sickening. I can’t even “repurpose” the product as a hand or foot cream because the smell just transfers to everything.
If you can tolerate the smell, good for you. Do you want my tub as well?
Atelier’s cologne
I am a complete sucker for anything named “Jasmine” which is extremely rare to find in pure form, let alone in high concentrations in perfumes because of its extortionate cost. Naturally, I am also an impulse buyer when it comes to parfum. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that when I found myself with a fewer hours to spare at an airport, I purchased this hideous perfume.
This smells more like cigar smoke with hints of frangipane. And at US$ 235 for 200ml this will be painful for a while.
Anything with the word “Soundarya in it”
The whole Soundarya experience has scarred me for life as well as F&F (friends and family) The stench of the face cream and the serum was enough to make (repeatedly) question how I could weasel my way out of using this product that I was testing. See this product review for more details.
Room diffusers
Diptyque make the best candles, but I genuinely dislike their diffuser.
My first diffuser from this brand was when they first introduced the product (and then 2 months ago). On both occasions, I loved the smell for the whole of 3 days and on the fifth day I could not smell the fragrance. It is olfactory fatigue and I get it.
But apart from degenerating sense of smell, who honestly has the time to constantly keep flipping the hourglass? If you are going to ask people to pay a small fortune for something that simply evaporates into air, the least you can do is get the drip rate correct.
Ciao, ciao
I thoroughly enjoyed writing this post, as I hadn’t appreciated how much beauty junk I had accumulated. Let me know what your deep beauty regrets are at email@happyskindays.com