Hello beauty buffs!
Well, you must be a beauty buff, since you’re reading this blog that’s mostly about beauty, right? 😀 I am a self-confessed beauty buff and I love all these little pampering things we have and use for our skins – makeup, skincare, shower gels…
Yet, there are some products I don’t really care for.
As I’m sure you do too!
For me, some of these are just products I don’t use, or aspects of personal beauty that do not attract me at all. For others, I’m just not fussed about them.
What are yours? 🙂
Beauty products I don’t pine for fall into roughly 4 categories.
Nail products
I used to wear nail polish off and on over the years, and although I’ve played with and found some nice formulas and colours over the years, nail polish and its ancillary products go whoosh! over my head. I no longer wear nail polish because I won’t let it stay on for more than 2 days before I want to wipe it off. So I figured, why even bother?! I’m probably the only beauty blogger out there not flaunting her nice manicures in every shot LOL. Most of the time if you do see my fingers, they’re naked 😀
Hand Creams or lotions
Related to nails but I never got into the habit of using hand creams or hand lotions. I used to use the ones by Crabtree & Evelyn but even those, I found too sticky and oily after a while. I do use a hand cream though. My favourite is the one by Clarins although I’m quite taken with the Biotherm one too after almost finishing the tube. I don’t collect nor pine for them though. I won’t use most of the hand creams out there and I’m planning to repurchase the Clarins one simply because it doesn’t leave oily marks over my books when I read in bed 🙂
Hair products
Hair is one aspect I’m very unfussy about, and even more so now that I’ve cropped it short and it looks to stay that way for a while because I love it! I love the ease of care (hardly any care bar washing!) and that it keeps me cool in this infernal heat. So I just go for basic hair care – shampoo and conditioner – and I’m good to go. Sure, I like brands like Kerastase because they do make my hair feel nicer than normal, but I’m just as happy using L’Oreal Everstrong (which is surprisingly good and cheap and I don’t even need a conditioner!) I don’t style my hair (I’m blessed with naturally voluminous and pouffy hair) and while I sometimes use a touch of hair cream or wax to hold it in place, that’s the extent of my “styling”, so I don’t really care for hair styling products either. Hair colour? Been there, done that, had ombré hair when it was known as “too skint to touch up roots” instead of a fashion statement 😛 these days, I embrace my natural hair colour and I’ll start dying when the grey hair starts to overwhelm but till then, I’m low maintenance when it comes to hair.
Body lotions and creams
I’m a right sucker for body oils but not lotions or creams. In fact, the reason I never used to apply anything on my body was because I hated the feel of body lotion and creams! Too heavy, too sticky, too oily, ick! I still don’t like them, although there are some out there that don’t feel as icky, but I’ll stick to my body oils that feel luxurious, nourish my skin and smell incredible!
So now you know why you hardly see reviews or chatter about these 4 categories of products on my blog. I’m just not interested enough although when I do come across something that’s worth mentioning, I do and I will. I just don’t chase after them nor do they interest me enough to.
What beauty products don’t you care for?
I’m sure you too have your favourite beauty categories and your not-so-favourite ones. You know mine, now let’s hear yours 😀
Paris B
Hahaha love this. I hate nail stuff too. Don’t care. Won’t do.
Hair though, I care as I colour mine so I need good sulcate free products, plus I have curly hair so anything geared to that I care about too.
Body lotions? Same. I’ll use them when I get itchy, but most of the time I skip. Do not like feeling all greased up!
You know, where it’s cold like you are I always find the need to slather on the body creams and lotions despite my dislike for them. I turn into a snake otherwise >.< I haven't coloured my hair in years but I hear ya - coloured hair does need a little more TLC! Some day when I colour to hide the grey I forsee paying a little more attention to hair care too LOL!
For me it’s:
1) Nail polish: I am too much of a perfectionist to put up with smudges and mess on my dominant hand. Plus, my job doesn’t allow for bright nail colours and chipped polish, as it harbours germs. >:(
2) Blush: I want to be able to love blush, but since I have rosacea-type skin, I tend to have a permanent flush that isn’t pretty because it involves my nose and chin too, not just the apples of my cheeks. Any more blush on top of that just makes me look like a clown.
3) Lipstick: I have very dry lips and I hate the feeling and appearance of lip products making the skin of my lips peel. Plus, has NO ONE done any tutorials on successfully reapplying lipstick? All lipstick looks great on me after the first 5 minutes. But when I try to reapply after a few hours, all formulas just peel and bunch up on my lips. The only way around it is to either scrub the heck out of my lips (effectively removing the surface layers of epidermis, along with the embedded product) or use makeup remover; both options are pretty impractical. >:(
Aww you don’t like 2 of my poisons! Haha 🙂 Sorry to hear about your skin and blush but I know what you mean. It’s hard for people with flushed skin to wear blush but on the bright side, I suppose you could just deem it to be a natural flush 🙂 As for lipstick and reapplying, you’re right. No one talks about the reapplication process. On a personal note, I just wipe off all my lip colour after my lunch. Then, I go bare lipped or reapply if I feel the need, just as I would in the morning, straight from the tube. Don’t apply over the old colour. It’ll definitely look awful. I find sometimes, if lips are dry, to wipe off lip colour (a wet wipe or makeup remover wipe will do for this purpose although I just use a piece of tissue), dab on some balm, wait a while then apply colour. Good as new 🙂
Nail products! They just get neglected and stay in the back of my drawers. And feet care stuff too. Like pumice stone, foot cream/scrub etc. Total fail.
I’m not too fussed about shampoo and conditioners either. And I don’t even own a hair spray/mousse. LOL. But hair oil/serum is another story. Super picky on those. Some can be too heavy for me.
Ooh I hear ya on feet stuff! You know, I don’t even know how to use a pumice stone LOL!! 😀
I used to not care for nail polish but no, I’m so addicted to them! I can’t seem to last a week without any color on my nails now. Times have definitely changed. I also used to scoff at candles (though that’s not a beauty product!) but now, I’ve been buying luxury ones (same as you re: vices! LOL). I’ve gone through the hand cream stage
buying L’Occitane hand creams with backups but now, I seem to just look past them in my vanity.
Some beauty products I don’t care for:
1. LIP GLOSS – not a fan of glossy lips AT ALL. Never bought a lipgloss since… EVER.
2. LIP LINER – never line my lips no matter how “important” they are for long-lasting wear. Woops. Sue me.
3. LASH PRIMER – i know I should be using this because of my sparse Asian almost-invisible lashes but heck, another step to my already 1-hour routine? Pass.
4. BODY LOTION – nope, don’t want to feel like a greaseball all day in this humid climate no matter how ‘fast drying’ you are.
Haha I hear ya re: candles! Once you start, it’s hard to stop! 😉 Oh I don’t do lash primer too. I never got the hang of it and saw it as too much work for everyday. In fact, I don’t even wear mascara on most days now. I just tightline, and I have really short sparse lashes too! Gosh, I’m quite lazy aren’t I? 😛
Nail care products. I have cuticle oils and creams but I don’t use them. No wonder my cuticles look awful. Hair products, I’m not fussy with. I don’t style my hair at all. The most I do is iron my hair and I can’t even do the curls. Just straight down. Bronzing products, nope, don’t care for those either.
Tine, I have just bought some coconut oil yesterday, after reading your post about it a week ago. 😀 Can’t wait to try it tonight!
I’m with you on bronzing products, Tine! I still cannot get the hang of it and you know what? I’ve given up trying. Seriously, I know I would never bother so I just go fawn over my blushes 😀
Beauty products I do not care about are nail polish (because I do housework and just get too lazy to use them), lip gloss (because I have long hair and do not like my hair getting stuck on my lips) and lip liner (because I think it is pretty pointless when you already have a good lipstick).
Body lotions, foot lotions, body scrub, hand creams and cuticle oil are essential to me because I just want my skin to be constantly smooth and not dry. The brand of shampoo and conditioner is also important to me because I have rebonded hair. I guess most women are vain and just want to look and feel good 🙂
You’re absolutely spot on about women wanting to look and feel good. It’s also how these beauty companies are making a killing selling us things we may want haha! 😀 I too don’t use lip liners. I have one which is a bold red and it makes a great matte long lasting lipstick. Another use for a lip liner I guess?
I am not into nail polish too! I wish I can say the same for hand and body creams, but my dry skin doesn’t allow me to skip them. The other thing that I am still not fascinated by is BB cream; they are either too heavy or too drying. I rather stick with my regular sunscreen. Hair styling products are also absent from my vanity top since I prefer to keep my routine fuss-free in the mornings.
I’m so bad with styling my hair even though I may have styling products I don’t know what to do with them! Lol I never understood BB Cream either but I quite like some of the new Western versions for a very light base but I do agree many of them do tend to be heavy.
Body lotion, hand cream, nail polish, mascara, fake eyelashes, face primer.
Me too for fake lashes and primer! Incidentally, I haven’t been wearing mascara much lately either LOL
Body scrub
Lipstick/lip gloss
False eyelashes
Hair brush. .short hair-never owned one
Anything whitening..dont believe in it
LOL I had to smile at your quip on hair brushes. I have a relic from my longer hair days but these days, I just run my fingers through my hair and I’m out the door! So fun! 🙂
All of those that you mentioned, scrubs, body washes, bronzers, highlighters, lip glosses, fake eyelashes, beauty gadgets, perfumes, self-tanners, plain oils, eyebrow products…I never realized that there were so many out there :D.
Hahaha I know! It’s when you start listing down what you DON’T use that you start to realise just how much you could be spending on otherwise hehe…
1. Concealer. I have not found one that works for me. The ones I’ve tried tend to appear really dry and make my undereye area look worse. So I have learned to ignore my undereye circles.
2. Hair brushes. Believe it or not, I hardly ever brush my hair and the only thing I use regularly these days is a Tangle Teezer.
3. Body butters. I don’t like the heavy, slick feeling it leaves behind and most of them tend to make my skin itch. I do use lotions, gels and oils because I have dry skin and eczema, so I need to keep my skin comfortable and moisturised.
4. Falsies. Strangely enough I do have a stash of falsies but I’ll never get around to actually using them because it involves too much effort. I’ll probably pass them to my youngest sis.
5. Hair tools. I went through a short period of purchasing all kinds of funky tools to straighten / curl my hair but I think I’ve only used them once (or not at all). Most are still in their boxes. The only tool I use is a hair dryer and even that is on a rare occasion.
Have you tried the Nars concealer? I still swear by that although the Diorskin Nude one isn’t bad either and feels lighter. As for body butters, there was a time in my life when I thought I had to use it, and that was just when I’d just returned home, not realising that the weather here is nothing like that in the UK 😛 Oh and I hear ya about false lashes too! Can’t bear to wear them
Like you, I don’t care about hair products. Just shampoo and conditioner, that’s it.
Also, toners. I think they’re useless. If they contain alcohol, they’re usually drying. As for the moisturizing type, well, I’d just rather invest in a good moisturizing cream. Saves both money and time in the morning.
I half agree with you about toners Gio and I too used to not use them nor believe in them but recently I’ve gone back to using them to exfoliate and hydrate skin and it seems to be working well for my skin in addition to serums and moisturisers 🙂 I think it depends a lot on what you use it for as well as the type but if you can get by without it, it’s just as well I guess 🙂
ahahahaha interesting post, even more interesting readers’ comments! So fascinating finding out what others don’t care about when some products are like my routine! 😀
I don’t give a damn about nail care products as well. I hardly have time to care for my face let alone nails which aren’t obvious, compared to face, right? Before children time, I used to be crazy about making my nails pretty. I even started doing some nail art during my teens. But now… hardly on my fingers because I am worried some of it might end up in the food that we eat (horror!!!). Plus, I was into hand kneading dough so it’s absolutely bad idea to paint the nails.
Nail base coat –> nah. I don’t paint my nails that much so it’s OK to skip this, right? 🙂
Next is hair spray/mousse/serum. I can’t stand the smell of hair spray/mousse… I would only use it if there’s an important function. Hair serum… if I wanna look extra polished, haha. But really, nothing else on my hair after shampoo/conditioning. My children loves to rub their faces on my hair so it’s not good for them. :p
I know, it’s funny to see how some people don’t like what I like… or maybe it makes me sad too hehe… But I do notice that many of us don’t do nails which is very fascinating, coz I thought it’s the next new thing everyone’s crazy about! Or maybe it’s just everyone reading MWS who doesn’t care about nails hehe
Scrubs. I just don’t care about these things. I use daily exfoliation with AHA so I really don’t care about these abrasive products 😀
Good point Sasha! I haven’t used a face scrub in erm…. erm… I can’t remember when! HAHA! 😀
Hey paris,
I am a beauty addict liked you too especially when it comes to bath and body products.i have 20 over bottles of shower gels at my bathroom counter( which is a mix of drug store and high end ones).as for nail polish, why dont you try gel ones? They are more chip resistant and last longer. They are also more glossy compared to the regular nail polish. I go for gel manicures every month at my hometowns nail saloon.