My Picks for Worst of 2013

Sub-par beauty products are one of those disappointing but inevitable realities of life.  One of the reasons I started this blog was because I faithfully read reviews prior to purchasing, which has helped cut down on those disappointments.  A few still happen, however, and here are the ones I reviewed in 2013:

• Viridian Bloom Eyeshadow Trio by Elizabeth Arden (full review here):  Such a pretty palette and my first foray into Elizabeth Arden makeup products in years.  Sadly, this was such an underperformer that I'm now hesitant to purchase other Elizabeth Arden items, fearing similar bad quality.  So what was the problem?  Poor pigmentation tops the list, followed by patchiness and a hardening of the pigment surface when I tried to use them wet to get better color.  Top that with a hefty price tag of $32, and you can feel my disappointment. 

• Champagne Shimmer and Starry Night True Color Creme Eyeshadows by Le Métier de Beauté ($28 each, see full review here):  It pains me to include Le Métier de Beauté on my worst of list, but if the shoe fits...  While lovely to look at initially, these crease within minutes and stay a greasy mess no matter how I prepped my eyes or used them - under shadows, over shadows, on their own.  It didn't help that the marketing material claimed they were crease resistant and long lasting, yet reps from LMdB later said they were really meant for a "messy" look and should not be used in the eye crease.  All righty then, big disconnect there.  My love affair with LMdB still continues, but this was an epic fail for me.

• Miss Candy Nail Lingerie by L'Oreal ($9.95, see full review here):  Loved how these looked, hated how they felt and wore.  These are plastic nail decals and I found the edges ragged no matter how much I filed them, plus they kept snagging on things and picking up dirt.  At best, I could see them for a brief wear for a special occasion, but I peeled them off after about 4 hours. 

• stila Smudge Crayons in Smoke, Umber, and Black (see full review here):  The major downfall of these pencil shadows by stila were their less than stellar wear time.  To be fair, stila claimed 'long lasting wear of 6 hours', but that's not long lasting in my book.  They start to degrade as opposed to creasing, but regardless, there are better pencil shadows on the market.  I believe these have been discontinued, so hopefully any new ones will have a better formula. 

• Lash Domination Volumizing Mascara by Bare Minerals (see full review here):   I was able to get decent results on my upper lashes with this new mascara by Bare Minerals, but the large brush made it difficult to coat my lower lashes without smudges.  I get really irritated when I get mascara on my skin, and it seemed inevitable with this one.  Plus, the mascara seemed to get more and more clumpy, I believe because the brush kept picking up excessive amounts of mascara each time I used it.  I ended up throwing my deluxe sample out after a week.

• Narc 24/7 Shadow Pencil by Urban Decay (see full review here):  Loved the color, hated how it applied.  I don't know if I got an old pencil, but first the tip broke off, and then it applied in this weird clumpy way.  I believe Narc has been discontinued, and perhaps poor performance was a factor in that.  I've had much better success with other Urban Decay shadow pencils, so I'm not sure if this was a fluke or not.

• DD Creme and DD Concealer by Julep ($36 and $32, full review here):   Where to start, where to start....well, the hype surrounding this 'first ever' DD creme probably helped start it's downfall.  It is dangerous to build something up to the point where it's decline will be inevitable.  Then, there were the difficulties determining which shade to get, although to it's credit Julep seemed to try it's best in helping people figure that out.  However, the differing amounts of product contained in the tubes cemented the downturn in perception, and the negative roar from the masses on the Internet became a bit deafening.  Personally, I found both to be subpar in performance and well below the standard established by Asian BB creams, which are much less expensive even factoring in shipping prices.  Hopefully we are over the escalating alphabet creams, but it wouldn't surprise me to see an EE cream on the horizon. 

• The Natural Beauty Box (see full review here):  This Canadian based natural beauty product subscription box service started off strong but went downhill within 6 months or so.  I subscribed month to month, which turned out to be a smart decision.  The decline seemed to begin with TNBB featuring it's house brand of products at rather inflated values, followed by delays (hadn't received products, shipping issues, etc.), followed by an increase in price, followed by skipping a month to catch up.....well, you get the picture.  Then, the founder of the company behind the service got into online tiffs with disgruntled customers, which is never a good sign.  It's just one of many subscription box services cautionary tales (Google Bondi), and I'm fortunate to have not gotten burned.  I actually liked many of the products I received, too bad they couldn't have gotten their act together. 

•  Sparkle, Sparkle Holiday Lippy Trio by Butter London (see full review here):  Techically, this was a 2012 holiday release, but I didn't review it until 2013 so it made the cut.  I'm not really sure what I was thinking, I mean, glitter lip gloss at my age?  Well, age be damned, I would have worn them proudly if they performed well.  But, they didn't.  One looked like I had flecks of debris on my lips, another was uneven, the last looked like just a clear lip gloss.  This was a $34 fail for me.

What were the major disappointments for you beauty wise in 2013?  Was there something that really surprised you in a bad way?