I shared this picture on Instagram last week, where I proclaimed this to be among my least favourite liquid foundations. If I have a Top 8 liquid foundation list, this one falls in my Bottom 8 foundation list. Ok, I lie I don’t have a Bottom 8 (although if I think hard enough, I might be able to pick them out) but if I had that list, this would be down there at No. 7.
But the abysmal performance of the foundation aside, what interested me were the comments I received. Those who had tried this foundation (so popular at one time, and which I hear, is making a comeback – WHY?!) agreed with me that it was heavy and greasy with no wow factor. But many were in agreement with the fact that as a brand, they tended to be disappointed with Benefit Cosmetics.
Naturally, that started me thinking. Is there a brand that consistently disappoints you with their products? Do you notice that trend, or are you liable to find hits and misses in all brands equally?
In the case of Benefit Cosmetics, I realised that although I used to wax lyrical about their box blushes and their cream eyeshadow (Skinny Jeans is still a fave colour although it’s dried out and been tossed) there is very little else I’ve used from the brand that merits my consideration.
I used to buy Benefit from their website whenever there was a sale, and share the purchase with friends to get free shipping. It was worth it then, because it’s overpriced at our counters (and still remains so) But then I realised that other than the 2 items I mentioned above, nothing else from the brand really grabbed me or impressed me enough to keep trying. This foundation was bought at the height of its hype and it dashed my expectations on the cold hard rocks of reality that it wasn’t a good foundation at all. At RM135 (then) I could have topped up just RM15 and bought a Diorskin Nude which is fabulous!
So therein lay the problem. As a brand, Benefit Cosmetics has cute packaging, quirky and catchy names and what seems at the first glance, to be an innovative/interesting product. They know how to use online hype to drive their sales and they are masters at using social media, bloggers and vloggers to push that hype for a new product. I noticed this with the It’s Real eyeliner last year and this year, the marketing for the Roller Lash is everywhere. You can’t move for having a close up eye with an apparently non-curler-curled lash staring in your face (don’t believe everything you see on Social Media, kids!).
But strip all the marketing and hype aside, and I find the products fairly mediocre. Even the blushes are, I’d agree average for the price. In fact, in recent years, while the prices of the blushes are kept constant, it turned out that they’re reducing the quantity in each box. Sneaky? Yes. Locally, I find it very hard to justify the price of Benefit simply because it’s priced too close to high end brands and honestly, I’d rather pay a little extra for a luxury brand.
But you know, Benefit isn’t a brand that consistently disappoints me. Strange as it may seem, the brand that has failed to blow me away is actually Burberry Beauty. I love the idea of the brand and I actually have a soft spot for the fashion side, Anglophile that I am. I also know that many people love their products.
But personally, everything I’ve tried from Burberry Beauty has been just average. Yes, their blush is nice…. but the pricetag is a bit too rich for my tastes. The eyeshadow quads have not impressed me at all. I tried one, and it left me feeling so bland, I have not tried another despite being swayed. After the 1 lipstick I owned turned after just a few months, I’ve stayed away from their lipsticks. Their liquid foundation leaves my skin like an oil slick. I suppose I’m extra harsh on them because they are a luxury brand with hefty pricetags and at this sort of price point, I expect a much higher standard of quality. But it’s not been the case in my experience.
That said, this is just my view. I’m open to trying most brands, but there are very few that consistently blow my mind. In fact, I’d safely say that there is none for me LOL! 😀 OK wait, I lie. Guerlain does often blow my mind 😀
Do you have a brand that consistently disappoints you with their products? Do you find yourself prejudiced the next time you try something new from it?
I admit I will be prejudiced. I try to keep an open mind, but hey, I’m human and you know, once bitten, twice shy! What about you? Is there a brand you keep trying and trying but just doesn’t wow you?
Paris B
I have a love/hate relationship with Benefit. Some of their stuff, like their blushes, is really, really good. Other things are just meh… The line just lacks consistency.
Instead Deborah, a drugstore Italin brand, always disappoints me. The eyeshadows and eyeliners lack pigmentation, the mascaras don’t do much, and the lippies and blushes are just average. Nothing from them has ever wowed me, so, these days, I mostly stay away from it.
You are right Gio. Their blushes deserve mention, I agree and are the only Benefit products I still use. I’d never come across Deborah and now I won’t! LOL 😀 That’s always the danger with drugstore makeup right? You get great ones like Essence and Catrice and then you get… Deborah hehe…
There are some brands I’ve never “got” and haven’t bought much from – Lancôme, Lauder, Tilbury (ha!) – so I don’t know if they deliver or not. Others I avoid because the few products I’ve tried don’t seem up too much. I love the idea of Benefit, the products are quirky and the marketing is brilliant but … The box blushes are brilliant, and were the first high-end products I ever bought. The rest is a triumph of style over content. It’s a shame, because if they put as much effort into the products as everything else, they’d be fabulous! (And I’d be broke!)
Tilbury! LOL! Gosh the hype coming out of that brand is crazy! I admit I did get a few items but I haven’t yet been blown away. Maybe I didn’t get the right items 😛 Again, you are right about Benefit’s style over content. I find they tend to target the slightly younger crowd. Nothing wrong with that, except their prices aren’t exactly catered for the young!
The only product I like from Benefit is their Gimme Brow mascara. The only one in the market with the correct shade (NO RED, most Japanese brands are too red/brown/yellow-toned and Eyeko had a promising brow gel but why glitter?!) for my black hair.I haven\’t tried any of their other stuff. I tend to stay away from Western brands for mascara and foundation because Japanese brands do much better textures and formulas. I was quite disappointed by RMK since most of their foundations seem to work better on really dry-skinned women in dry climates. Their foundation totally melted off (it was the cream emulsion compact) when I wore it out one afternoon. My mum loves their stuff because she has dry mature skin.
Glitter in a brow mascara?! LOL!! That’s hilarious. What were they thinking?! 😛 But yes, you are right about foundation and mascara. For the most part, the Japanese get that right. Their mascara is amazing, even the ones you get from the drugstores! I’m supposed to be trying a cream compact foundation from RMK – but I generally find cream compact foundations tricky in our weather. I have never really found one to love 😛
I never really got into Benefit. While some buy it for the packaging, it’s the very same reason that turns me off. The one product that I tried from Benefit was their eye primer but got bad in less than a year. It just separated and I couldn’t save it.
I read some comments about Dior here… and well, I LOVE DIOR! Most of their stuff work on me, and their skincare works wonders on my skin. To each her own for sure 🙂
Their packaging is just too “cute” for me. Makes me feel like i’m buying toy makeup LOL! Not at toy prices 😛 Like you, I like Dior in general too. It seems to work well for me, which is great and I like their colour stuff too. As much as I love their night cream, I’ve stopped using it. Wallet just doesn’t like me very much when I take it out to buy, so I’m not really using their skincare anymore. But their makeup, I still enjoy 🙂
Oh my god it’s Etude! I can’t stand this brand anymore. The BB cream was such a disaster and turned out to be my last buy since then. No more BB creams and no more Etude products.
LOL!! Etude House was my first experience with BB Cream and I swore off BB cream forever after using it! It took the western brands to bring me back into the BB fold LOL! I was quite interested in it when it first arrived on our shores, but I haven’t tried very much from it. I think all that pink gets to me 😛
I love Benefit’s Gimme Brow. Some of their box o’ powders too (unfortunately, unlike Geek, I don’t like the Dandelion). The rest are so so. But one brand that consistently disappoints me is Lancome, specifically their makeup. Very shimmery, sheer, lots of fallout, poor lasting power even with primer on. Their Rouge in Love lipsticks are all right but everything else in the makeup department’s disappointing. I’m glad they took Lisa Eldridge on as creative director. Hopefully she’ll be able to do something about their mediocre makeup.
Gosh, you’re the 2nd person to mention Gimme Brow. I’d be interested if I didn’t already have brow pencils I love 😉 Lancome makeup is a bit strange IMO. On the one hand, they try to be “western” but for Asia, they make a different range in Japan, to cater to the Asian makeup style – sheer, shimmery. So I find them a little messed up. They’re lipsticks are nice, but when they brought in a new shimmery blush to replace their excellent Blush Subtils (no shimmer, beautiful texture) locally, I stopped paying attention. Don’t mess with a good blush! 😛 p/s I didn’t know about Lisa Eldrige bring their creative director! I think I don’t pay enough attention to these sort of news, thanks for the info!
YES. CHANEL.
I hate Chanel. From their SA to their products.
Ouch! Did you have a bad experience at their counter? I do find them snobby at the counters. I once went to redeem a sample and they were so bloody fussy, it was as if I was asking for a kidney!
I have to say, Benefit. I tried their Hello Flawless liquid & powder foundation, Cha Cha Tint, High Beam, Big Easy BB, They’re real liner and mascara. They’re all just, meh. I was intrigued by the Roller lash mascara and the idea of ditching eyelash curler, but I felt that it was too gimmicky. I’d say most of their things are overhyped and overmarketed. If there’s even such word. Needless to say, I do love their cutesy packaging, but I’d rather fork out more dough for a much more better quality product from other brands.
A friend has tried Roller Lash and calls it out as bullshit, unless you already have long, curly lashes LOL! I suppose that takes care of that 😉