1. Up & Up blusher brush--If you didn't know, Up & Up is Target's version of Great Value stuff at Wal-mart; it's Target's "brand". Usually, I don't have a problem with Up & Up brushes; I have two of their eyeshadow brushes that work great and I have their powder and kabuki brushes which do their jobs perfectly. The blush brush however, leaves much to be desired. The bristles fan out flat (not round) so it's impossible to apply blush in a decent shape on your face; it just comes out looking rectangular and uneven. If the brush was round it would be more effective, but I was disappointed in this brush and went out and bought a Sonia Kashuk one instead.
2. Revlon all-over shadow brushes--Generally I'm a huge fan of Revlon products, and I used these brushes for a long time before finally admitting to myself that they sucked. The packaging tells me they're made with "all-natural hair", but they sure don't feel like it. The bristles felt scratchy on my eyelid and they didn't pick up hardly any product at all, no matter how hard I scrubbed it into the eyeshadow. The bristles also fan out pretty wide, so getting precise application was out of the question. The handles are also pretty long for an eyeshadow brush, which makes them kind of awkward to use. I tried to keep the faith and made the mistake of buying two of them, both of which are now stashed in my closet.
3. L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes mascara (in charcoal black)--This might be the worst mascara ever. I only bought this because I had a coupon for it, and now I want my money back. The packaging is very lightweight and just feels cheap; the wand is so flimsy and plasticy and bendable it saddens me. The bristles are like those in my favorite Covergirl mascara, except they suck. It clumps like no other, and it crispifies and falls off in chunks (like mascara fall-out) while I'm still applying it! It flakes a lot during the day too. And it smells LETHAL. Like cough syrup or some other toxic, deadly substance; the smell alone can probably kill brain cells. Don't waste your money on this mascara.
4. MAC Lipglass in Viva Glam Gaga II--Lady Gaga, I love you girl, but your Viva Glam II color is whack. I'll admit, I only bought this lipglass because it's endorsed by Lady Gaga (trust me, I love me some crazy Gaga), but this color looks terrible on me. I tried on the lipstick version in the MAC store and it looked like concealer on my lips, so I got the lipglass version, thinking it would look better, but it just looks like liquid concealer. It looks streaky on my lips and is hard to blend; I tried to use it overtop of other lipcolors to tone them down, but it just ended up looking like one big muddy, milky color. I looked like a hot mess. I've noticed that the product has also separated in the tube (probably because I never use it....). I read somewhere that Lady Gaga was trying to create a taupe color that would look good on all skintones, but this one just does not agree with my skincolor.
5. Revlon lipstick in Soft Nude--Normally, I love Revlon lipsticks; I have a whole container of them on my makeup table, and I had heard rave reviews of this lipstick on Youtube. I had the same problem with this lipstick as I did with the Lady Gaga lipglass: the color does nothing for me. It completely blanks out my natural lip color, which gives kind of a cool, mod, 60's look, it that's what you're going for. Which I'm not. I wouldn't wear it to work and I really can't see myself rocking it out in everyday life; it's not a bad lipstick, but because of the color, I really have no use for it. *Note: it appears more pink in the picture than it really is.
7. Physician's Formula Eye Definer Felt-Tip Eye Marker (in Ultra Black)--I found the worst eyeliner ever to go with the worst mascara ever. I know in the picture it looks like it works decently, but it does NOT go on like that on your eye. It doesn't even show up! The color peeters out before you're even done lining your entire eye. The formula is so watery it doesn't even show up over eyeshadow, so it's completely useless. I need to stop buying things just because I have a coupon for them.
8. Maybelline single eyeshadow in Urban Brown--I love Maybelline eyeshadows; I have almost every color. This particular one, however, is not the greatest. The color is very pretty, but the quality is not as good as other Maybelline eyeshadows. The biggest beef I have with this one is that when you apply it, there's fall-out like crazytown! The second (and last) time I used this eyeshadow, I had brown dust all over my cheeks, and even during the day it kept falling out onto my face! And when I tried to sweep it away, it just smeared onto my skin, so I just ended up looking dirty. It was awful, unless you like looking dirty.
--Shine bright
