Products That Aren't Worth The Hype

I'm sitting here, covered up in my purple mermaid tail blanket (Thanks J), drinking my Birthday Hot Chocolate (secret recipe), and watching it snow. I'm also sitting here pondering on some very hyped up products that I just.....don't get. A lot of it is very good advertising and marketing.

*SKIP THIS PART IF YOU AREN'T INTERESTED IN MARKETING AND ADVERTISING*

Now before we get into it, I'll tell you a pretty simple definition of marketing and advertising. Ad's are a very appealing shot, testimonial, video, post, billboard, commercial, etc by one person or company. Advertising is part of marketing. Marketing is the big picture which is the placement of ads, when to time them, where to put them, so they'll have the most impact and so on. Like, can you imagine how ideal and awesome a time slot to air a commercial during the Superbowl would be? When that many people are watching? So there's that, now you know a little back ground information. I have no issue with ads, lot's of times it's actually very good products that they're talking about. I'm not opposed to sponsors, affiliates, or sponsorships because I do a lot of those and I'm an affiliate to a lot of things. Just because you're sponsored does not mean that you are lying by any means.

So today I find myself thinking about products I've purchased because of very very persuasive advertisment and excellent marketing skills. Two in particular stand out but I'll throw a few more in for good measure.

First is the Karity 21 Eyeshadow Palette. If you have Facebook I'm sure you've seen the ads for this and I believe it's an article in Huffington Post. The headline is super catchy about how these inexpensive shadows are disrupting a $63 billion dollar industry. So I read the article. I seen the swatches they provided, in said article, which I'll link here. I looked up their Instagram and then I bought a palette. I got the Smokey palette. Fully believed this was going to be amazing. Now, not to say that this is terrible it most certainly is not. However, does anyone remember the first palettes that Morphe had? Where there was inconsistencies in the shadows? This is similar. Some shades do very little, other shades do remarkably well. There's more good shades than bad, but nothing like what I expected it to be which simply, I thought it would be better. I prefer my Makeup Geek shadows that are also very inexpensive. 

Moving on, and I believe this was also in Huffington Post, I seen an article where this young woman was talking about Dr Jart Cicapair correcting cream that had changed her life. To the point that she no longer needed foundation. I love Dr Jart, we all know this. So I was pumped! It was sold out in my Sephora, then I went to another one and got the very last one. Pretty sure it was selling out online just as quickly. Concept is it's green and turns beige or adjusts to your skin tone. It corrects pigmentation issues, soothes the skin and has a bit of a blurring/masking quality to it for pigmentation issues as well. This was around $50, maybe more? You get 1..7 oz. It comes in a glass jar. It's mint green. Let's be clear, I do like this and it does do what it says. However, unless you have great skin or minor issues with your skin, you still need foundation to have coverage. At the very least you'll need concealer under your eyes or somewhere. So that being said you're paying $50 ish dollars for a correcting cream that has no long term skin care benefits that I can find and also no claims for long term benefits. The you would proceed to foundation. Which is costing you more money when you could use a full coverage foundation and get the same effect of masking your imperfections without the extra step of the Cicapair. So let's say that your foundation costs around $25. For a lot that's really low and then for some it's mid line, and for others it's still expensive. So together you're spending $75 roughly on your foundation/base. Which if that's what you want to do then go for it because make no mistake it is good. However, when I read this article I was under the impression that after using the Cicapair for a while, it changed the appearance of the skin so much you can get away with wearing absolutely no foundation. I could've read that completely wrong but still that's how I took it. So that being said I can't really justify purchasing this product because there are other ways to achieve the same effect which is much more inexpensive and less time consuming. The product is good though, so if it's something you want then go for it, it will help your base makeup for sure. I don't view it as a "need" right now.

Another product that was really hyped up for quite a while, is Butter London nail polishes. Let me say I've tried to love these. Over and over again. I have quite a few of these actually. They just, in my opinion, not great. I much prefer Formula X or Essie, or anything else for that matter. These look cool, they have beautiful colors, but there just isn't anything special about them I don't think. 

I'm also not a huge fan of the Glam Glow masks except the firming one and that's only because it smells good and I like peel off masks. I got the white one that everyone and their uncle was talking about and I tried to use it cause it was not cheap.....it just didn't work for me. I have other masks that do a better job like the Aztec Indian Healing Clay mask. It's way more product, and costs way less. I wanted to love these and I don't think they're useless, I just don't have much luck with them.

I'm on a roll now. Laura Mericier secret brightening powder. Secret's out: there is no secret. I'm sorry, it just didn't make my under eye area look any better. It actually made it look worse. I can not use it.. I am not a fan, simple as that.

Loving Tan 2 Hour Express Tanning mousse. This. Does. Not. Work. For. Me. I have a whole post on it. People talk about this like it performs miracles but it's super uneven and patchy on me. The color is gorgeous don't get me wrong but it looks very patchy on my skin. I've tried everything, followed all the rules, then tried changing it up. No such luck.

Maybelline Age Rewind concealer. This has no coverage in my opinion. I have pretty dark circles though so even using a corrector and then this, I have no luck. It looks like I didn't use anything at all. This is hailed as one of the very best drugstore concealers and I just do not understand why. It still baffles me to this day.

Pretty much Tatcha anything. I'm not trying to be mean but the only thing I like from Tatcha is the Triple Indigo cream and I LOVE that cream. It's wonderfully soothing and I think it's fantastic. I'm not a fan of the rice powder that everyone loves, I don't feel like it does anything. I don't like the Luminous spray merely because that just doesn't work for my skin type. I'm not a huge fan of the serum. I just haven't used much from them that has been a hit and it's so expensive. It's widely talked about but I don't get it. Luckily you can always return stuff to Sephora.

Another thing that everyone loves is the Bumble and Bumble Pret A Powder. Which is a dry shampoo voluminizing powder. I bought it thinking unicorns would appear and give my hair the boost it needed. NO that didn't happen. Not in the least, not at all. It was a complete waste of my time. 

I'll leave this here right now. I don't want this to get too lengthy. I guess my advice is, take everyone's recommendations (including mine) with a grain of salt because what works for some, won't work for others. As for things that are heavily marketed by ad placement, do your research. Don't go off that one ad, that links a certain article. Find your own articles.