PolkaDot’s Least Favorite Make-Up

FOUNDATION

Anything liquid.  *Although I did used to use MAC Studio Fix which was pretty good applied with a MAC foundation brush. Still not as good as minerals though.

Most liquid is goopy, masky and fades away after a few hours. If I want to do a day-to-night look, I have to rewash my face entirely and start over. With most mineral make-up, I can rebuild my look after it fades a bit throughout the day.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I do not like Revlon ColorStay Mineral Foundation. The packaging and brush leaves much to be desired and it is way too matte. I love a semi-dewey, glowy look. If matte is what you’re after, then you may like it, but I would recommend the use of a different brush (Coastal Scents kabuki on a stick is amazing) and moving the make-up into a different sifting container. Thank heavens CVS has a no-questions-asked make-up return policy.  

CONCEALER

Again, anything liquid

However, I must mention my beloved L’Oreal Bare Naturale Concealer here stricly for its packaging. As a concealer, it’s fantastic – I go over this in my Favorites post. BUT, the packaging is awful. I wish they would knock $3 off the price just to get rid of that silly useless brush. To make it useable, I dump the L’Oreal concealer into an old Bare Minerals container without the sifter. Otherwise, getting the product out of the L’Oreal container is super awkward.

BLUSH

Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Blush

Ew. This stuff never went on evenly on the first two or three tries so by the time I had two even cheeks I looked like a garage sale China doll. See the item below for the completion of this look.

 MASCARA

Sephora Lash Stretcher

Yes, this stretched my lashes – into what appeared to be five giant individual lashes. 

 EYESHADOW(S)

Bonne Bell Eyeshadow in Café Classic

I knew better. I knew this was going to be cheap and awful, but the third color down was the PERFECT shade of taupe and if it worked out, what a find! Well, it was a nice shade of taupe – after about 5 or 6 coats. Way too much effort.

Physician’s Formula Eyeshadow Shimmer Strips in Bronze Hazel Eyes

I like the idea of shadow colors bringing out your eye color – so I purchased this thinking it would make the green in my hazel eyes pop. Instead it looked like I managed to barf on my own eyelids. The colors were just HORRIBLE on me. Maybe on a warmer skin tone it would be nice, but the pigmentation left a bit to be desired too. PF has these baked eyeshadows that you can use wet which I think are much better.

All Cover Girl Eyeshadows

Unsatisfactory color pigmentation. Now, I haven’t tried a CG eyeshadow in ages, so maybe they’ve improved their formula, but I’m gunshy about trying again.

Honorable Mention after CG: Maybelline Eyeshadows

Revlon Illuminance Crème Shadow in Precious Metals and Not Just Nudes

Ok, I have a love/hate relationship with this. When I want to be out the door in a hurry, I love that I can slap these colors on my lids, swipe on some mascara and be on my way. And the colors in these two palettes are gorgeous and flattering. However, even with my eyelid primer, by mid-day it creases. I want to use these up because I don’t have the receipts anymore and don’t even know where I bought them. I hate wasting stuff so I’ll use it up and not repurchase. A MAC Paint Pot (even at $16.50) is a much better value here – I don’t even need primer with it!

                         EYELINER

Revlon ColorStay Eyeliner

Should be renamed Revlon ColorStRay. Get it? Stray not Stay? Yeah…

Also any liner that isn’t an automatic twist-up pencil. I don’t have the time/energy/desire to deal with a flipping sharpener.

LIPSTICK

Anything bright red. NOOOO.

NAIL POLISH

Fast drying formulas. Always chip off in one day or less – never fails.

FRAGRANCE

I know this is a make-up post, but I deserve all the public humiliation I’m going to get just for even trying this. For some reason, one day, I spritzed the Celine Dion Sensational perfume on myself and liked it. And bought it. What I was thinking, I couldn’t tell you. It actually smells like rotting candy – if there is such a smell. The container was kind of pretty which also lured me in. I hate wasting things but actually threw this away with about ¼ of the bottle left. I couldn’t even bear to hand it down to someone else. Blech.