Products that didn’t work for me

Hello everyone!

Hope you’ve all been well! Today I’m sharing some products that didn’t work for me. Some of these products I received in PR, others I purchased and was sadly let down. Let’s get into it!

Alkira Lilly Pilly Night Cream*

I received this in PR and was super excited to try out the new brand, but unfortunately this just wasn’t for me. It comes in a black jar, with the main ingredients being Lilly Pilly, Desert Lime and Kangaroo Paw.

I’m not a huge fan of jars for creams, more so if they’re for the face, just for hygienic reasons. I found it to be too fragranced for my liking (essential oils) and the texture felt kind of weird. It was a bit thicker than what I’m used to – given that it was a night cream this is expected, however I found it didn’t easily absorb into my skin. I felt like it didn’t mix that well with my other skincare products as well, which made it harder to absorb. Lastly, the scent lingered on my face for a while after application and as I mentioned above, I’m not a huge fan of the scent already so this wasn’t ideal.

I have since repurposed this to be a body moisturiser because I don’t want it to go to waste. I also plan on repurposing the jar it comes in!

Sukin Antioxidant Eye Serum

I got this as a gift and don’t use products from the brand very often. I remember trying my first Sukin product years ago, back in 2014 or 2015 and did not like the product I tried. It was like a small product that came in a sachet, I’m pretty sure it’s been discontinued since then.

Now enter the Sukin Eye Serum, I’ve never used an eye serum before, however this is one is more cream-like. It comes in a pump packaging – hygienic! I only need a tiny dot for both under eyes. Despite using the tiniest dot, the serum never absorbed into my skin! I just ended up dragging the serum all over the under eye area, even a little beyond that! I posted about this on my stories and found others couldn’t get this product to work for them as well.

I tried it early in my routine, just after toner and it still didn’t absorb well into the skin. I tried later in my routine, just before moisturiser, and still the same thing! After a while I decided to just stop trying and repurpose the product instead. I plan on using it as a body moisturiser as well!

The Ordinary Retinol 0.2% in Squalane

A highly raved about product that I purchased a while back but only opened it a few months ago. At the time of purchasing I was a newbie to retinol so I got the 0.2%, but since then I’ve used other vitamin a products which were fine on my skin.

This is pure retinol in squalane, so it’s in the form of an oil. It also has jojoba seed oil and tomato, it has a distinct scent to it, but it’s not an overpowering one. As it’s an oil, it comes in their signature dropper bottles and is packaged in UV protective packaging.

I used this once a week when I first started and still found no changes in my skin. It claims to help target signs of age and textural irregularities. As someone who has experienced cystic acne in the past, I wanted to see whether this would help with my texture, pigmentation and scarring. I found the results to be so minimal, I didn’t notice much change in my skin at all. Maybe I needed to try a higher strength but for now, 0.2% was a bit of a bust for me.

In the mean time, I have increased it to two times a week and we’ll see how we go!

Makeup Revolution Eyebrow Pencil

I bought this on a whim as I needed a new eyebrow pencil and my regular one was out of stock. This retails for $7, so very affordable, but the quality is not there.

It’s a triangular tip eyebrow pencil, which comes with a spoolie on the other side. I got the shade dark brown, it comes in three shades, with dark brown being the darkest. I found the pencil to be quite chalky, and took maybe 3-5 applications for the pigment to come through. In comparison to other pencils, this one is quite hard and I felt that it didn’t give a really nice defined and soft brow.

I’m still slowly working through this one, but I prefer to use my other brow pencils.

Real Techniques Makeup Sponge

Another highly raved about product. I got one of their pink ones in a sale a while back. After using other makeup sponges, I found the shape of this one to be…not the greatest to work with? My current favourite is the Ecotools Blender, which has a flat top, and is flat on two sides. The RT one is more rounded, which may be a bit awkward when applying foundation around the nose/eye area, just because of the contours of the sponge.

I also found that it ripped a bit when I was washing it during my initial uses. I still have this one in my drawer and barely reach for it, so I might toss it out soon. Reminder to clean your sponges (and brushes) often and replace when they get daggy!

Sebamed Lip Repair*

Another product I received in PR, I did enjoy most of the products I tried from the brand, but this was a let down. If you know, you know I love lip balms, they are an essential product.

This comes in a tube and has a flat applicator, similar to a lipgloss. It helps soothe and repair the skin, it has vitamin e, jojoba oil and shea butter.

The texture is similar to vaseline, it’s quite thin and it’s not sticky. I found the formula didn’t help my lips, I would often reapply about an hour or two later. What I can’t get over is the scent/taste of the product. It smells like plastic? that’s the best way I can describe it. I would apply this lip balm in the morning, then drink a cup of water and find that the lip balm transfers onto my cup and I end up tasting some of the lip balm. I just can’t get used to that taste, it’s just too overpowering for my liking.

I might try to repurpose it as a cuticle cream and see how I go with that!

Beauty products are so personal, what works great for everyone might not work that well for you and vice versa! Don’t ever feel like you have to purchase all these products just because someone on the internet said you should. Always research if it’s suitable for you and ensure it’s your own decision to purchase these products.

Are there any popular products that didn’t work for you?

With love,

*Products received as PR samples, no obligation or compensation to post.