My Most Disappointing High End/Luxury Makeup Purchases of 2020

I’ve shared my best makeup purchases in my previous blog post here. On this blog post, I'll be sharing my 2020 high end/luxury makeup fails and regrets! These are the products that just didn't work for me or that I regret purchasing.

Before diving into this post I’d just like to preface it by saying that the intention of this blog is not to bash, offend, or upset any brand or anyone. Some of the brands on this list I absolutely adore- and there are other products from them, which are excellent. Many of them even landing on my bests list. So this is not about that. We all have different opinions and experiences, and some of these may have worked for you, and that’s great!

Even though this list represents some fails and regrets from my personal point of view, I still keep some of them in my collection with intent to use them here and there where I can, and make the most out of it. For some, I’ve decluttered, or passed on to someone who will find better use from it than me.

The intent of this post is to share my honest opinion and experiences with all of you, in the hopes that you can make better decisions when it comes to purchasing makeup and potentially save some money.

As I keep mentioning, there will always be so many hyped up makeup launches coming at us periodically. And amidst them all, there’s bound to be some hits and misses. I love wearing makeup and I love shopping for makeup too- high end & luxury makeup especially- but we know it doesn’t come cheap.

So if something I tried doesn’t work for me, or I’m not loving it for one reason or another, I’d like to share that to the community. Just so we can all have as much information about a product to then decide if it’s worth our hard earned money, or not- beyond the hype of it all.

So without futher ado, here are my top 10 makeup regreats that I purchases in 2020.

Natasha Denona Love Glow Cheek Palette

I bought this cheek palette purely for it’s gorgeous packaging. I love pink, I love glitter, I love beautiful packaging and I do love Natasha Denona makeup products. But therein lies the lesson I learned for how I’ll decide on future purchases. I can appreciate the beauty of a product and it’s packaging without buying it.

As beautiful as it is- on the inside it is pretty much a variation of similar shades of pink in different powder & cream formulas, and a standard light champagne colored highlighter. It is very much on theme with the Valentine’s Love Collection (this launched the same time with her Love eyeshadow palette).

There are 3 pink blushes in a glittery diamond formula, a glow cream formula and super glow cream formula where you can layer and combine to get different dimensional effects. And then there is a classic highlighter peachy champagne shade in the glow impact powder formula.

The first time I tried it, it was very underwhelming to say the least. It can be very effective for editorial looks, but for regular use on and off it does come off one dimensionally pinky peach. It looks beautiful but not any more or less beautiful than if using other pink or peach blushes.

After a while when blended out the pinks more or less look the same, where the diamond powder formula leaves a very glittery trail, which some may or may not love. I also found the formulas to be a little on the drier side for both the powder and cream, making it a little hard to blend and pick up product. It’s what makes it less appealing for me to reach for, to be honest.

So for the amount of effort to put into the products to make it work, the lack of versatility and shade dimension, combined with the heavy price tag, it was an utter disappointment. I love the pretty outer packaging and that’s about it, and that’s why I still keep it. It also took quite the effort at the time to get this product being right at the start of the pandemic where shipping was iffy.

But I was just at the beginning of my journey and was so excited to get all the new trending things- and it reminds me of that feeling too. But hopefully for the next time, I can have that spark of joy, but be wiser about why I’m purchasing it too.

2. Huda Beauty Diamond Lip Balm

Again, the marketing got to me with this one. It’s very sparkly and gorgeous, and looked amazing on Instagram. Again, that’s about it. Lesson I learned with this one: stop buying things that are just for or just going to look good for Instagram.

I was just very confused with this product. It was marketed as a diamond hydrating lip balm, but the shade I got which was Negligee, was neither sparkly nor hydrating.

It was just a regular lip balm with a lip balm-y feeling- that quickly subsided after about 30 minutes or so. It is also very, very fragile and melts extremely easily, making it hard for me to bring around. So even as a balm it’s not very travel friendly.

Negligee is described as a “signature beige brown balm but with a glam, gold-crushed diamond exterior. It's the perfect everyday shade but with a head-turning finish.” I gravitated towards this shade because at the time, I felt all the lipsticks I had were too warm on me, and I thought this would cool it down- and add some sparkle.

But it did not. It’s such a shame because it is a very beautiful shade when looking at the actual bullet- if it was ever to be released as a regular lipstick, I’d be interested in it.

The glitter cover is sort of like a spray like effect on the bullet, so it looks great untouched, but once you wear it, it goes away. Which is fine if it performed better. I expected it to be more glittery- because I read on some reviews that it was actually too glittery. For the times I want sparkle, I do want the sparkle!

So on top of the subpar hydrating effects, there was this too. Perhaps other shades performed better, but in the case of this I barely see any tint as well. So all in all I found it very disappointing because this also came with a high price tag, which is not worth it in the end. It just didn’t perform for me on all levels.

Again, I use it up just to use it now- just for a balm I use whilst prepping. Since most of the glitter on the bullet wore off and also since it’s a lip product, I don’t think it’d be nice donating this, but I also don’t want to throw it away as it’s still useable.

To be fair, I’ve never experienced a successful glitter lip balm that was both comfortable on the lips and gave me an adequate sparkle effect to wear alone or layer over.

So perhaps it’s a hard one to decipher. If you are looking for something sparkly to wear on your lips I’d still recommend a regular glitter lip gloss.

Currently balms can just be balms, & glittery glosses can be glittery glosses. But who knows what 2021 will bring?

3. Fenty Beauty Snap Shadows No. 7 & No. 8

We’ve been served mega palette after mega palette throughout the past couple of years that I have been loving smaller, better thought our colour schemes in eyeshadow palettes.

I have a feeling more and more brands will start doing so, and Fenty Beauty certainly seems to be thinking along the same lines launching their 6-pan Snap Shadow eyeshadow palettes in themed colour schemes.

The packaging idea is unique, 2 palettes can be snapped together and are meant to be travel friendly. They also include a mirror even with its small size, which is always a plus.

In the past Fenty hasn’t been too successful with their eyeshadows, so I was wondering if these would have the same fate, or if they’d been upgraded.

I picked up no. 7 an army green & yellow color story, and no. 8, a pastel rainbow color story. First off, my first impressions were actually very positive because I felt they were less intimidating to work with and more wearable.

But after some time I found that the formula is inconsistent across two palettes. Even after the time & effort working to put them on, after a few hours they fade significantly and drastically.

The pastel is an all shimmer palette, which swatches great and creamy on the arm, but on the lids comes off very, very pale and lackluster. It can also be hard to tell the difference between the icy blue and frosty green on the lids. When wearing this, using the finger is the only option to get maximum payoff.

The shimmers in the army green palette have more punch to it and appears more “shimmery” on the lid, but again must use using a finger. The mattes in general are a little bit dusty. If using these, a primer is a must so there’s something for the shadows to really grip to, otherwise they have a tendency to blend away into nothing.

So overall, these palettes can work, but they’re just not great. It’s mostly a formula issue, because I think the colour stories are wonderful, the concept of the snap packaging is brilliant, and the price point is fair (if it was to be a better performing product).

Currently it sits below mediocre, and with the vast number of makeup there is out there, there are definitely better options.

4. Fenty Beauty Matte Cream Concealer in Almond & Matte Contour Matchstix in Amber

Another Fenty disappointment this year was their cream concealer and contour sticks. I picked up two shades, Almond to use as concealer and Amber to use as a contour.

I LOVE the shade Amber. After the longest time, I finally found the perfect contour shade for my skin tone that gives a more shadow effect rather than an orangey burnt effect. There was a slight error in picking out Almond as it was a tad too dark to use as concealer. (Downside of shade matching online).

But shades aside, these sticks were very dry, and hard to blend out on the skin. It makes it look streaky and muddy. And that’s all there is to it really- another non-performing product. If I were able to swatch and have a feel for it in-store, I would not have picked them up.

Thus another lesson learned: When shopping for base complexion products (foundations, concealers), best to do them offline and in-store. Try out some samples and see how it wears before deciding to purchase.

I am so happy Fenty decided to come out with their new cream compacts, because I got that in the shade Amber and I absolutely love it so much that it’s on my bests list! So I’d definitely stick to their cream compacts vs their Matchstix.

5. ABH Norvina Pro Pigment Palette No. 4

I first must preface that this by no means is a “bad” palette or a dud. It is in fact very beautiful pink and lavender themed palette with a large variety of shade spectrums where you can create both neutral and statement colourful looks. There’s also a touch of unexpected lime, which I actually liked to break up the rosy tones.

Performance wise, it was just fine—there was inconsistencies across the shades in the palette but I always find that with ABH formulas so it wasn’t a surprise. I wasn’t expecting this to be the most stellar of formulas and I was ok with having to face that.

So why is it on my list of disappointments?

Well, for starters, I purchased this palette right when it first launched- around May/June. And I haven’t reached our or even used it until…. right about a couple of weeks ago in December when I just remembered about it and wanted to do a Sugar Plum inspired Holiday look.

I admit I purchased it out of an impulse whim- it was the first out of the other large Norvina palettes that I was actually interested in because of it’s pink packaging and color story of the palette. Also, I just kept seeing it everywhere and my mind tricked me into thinking that I must have it and it’ll make me and my looks standout.

When in reality, no- you don’t ever need or must have a makeup product. I also didn’t have enough time to think it through and research more about the product.

The lesson here: Don’t buy out of hype or impulse. Take the time to get to know a product and research a little more about it.

The other thing is, it’s just much too large. It does overwhelm me quite a little bit on where to start and what to do. It also doesn’t inspire me too much. After knowing a little more about my “beauty personality” and how I do makeup where it’s more flattering for my lid space to hold just around 2-4 shades per time, this was probably not the best fit.

I think this palette would be amazing for a makeup artist, or those who love experimenting with bold, striking colours and more out of the box creative, artistic looks. The lesson here: Get more clarity on your style and personality when it comes to makeup, and purchase products that will showcase it and make it shine.

The last point is, is that sixteen shades (A2, A3, B2, B3, B5, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, D1, D2, D4, E1, E4, E5) in the palette are “not intended for use around the immediate eye area.” There are also two glitter shades listed under eyeshadows, which contain plastic (PET) glitter.

Personally I’m not finicky about this, many brands and formulas now have this renaming their palettes as Artistry Palettes rather than Eyeshadow Palettes. However being that it is not a cheap nor standard priced palette (especially when converting into IDR/Rupiah), it felt like I can get the same kind of eyeshadows from various Colourpop palettes if this was the range and quality it offered. It’s just not worth spending the money on a large palette, if more than half the shades aren’t deemed “usable” or “eye area friendly”.

And so I was disappointed in my decision with this one, because the money I had spend for it could have been used for something a lot more special that I’d use a lot more, and in my repertoire such as another Pat McGrath Mothership that even though also considered a large palette- has one of a kind, can’t find anywhere formulas that makes the experience, artistry and money spent worthwhile.

I love eyeshadow palettes, and moving forward, unless it has extremely special, well performing formulas to the likes of Natasha Denona and Pat Mcgrath- I would be more interested to look for mini and midi sized palettes.

This palette was going to be decluttered initially, however as I move towards more mindful shopping for the next year, I realize it can be a good source for many of my Dupe the Mood series. It also serves as a reminder that I already have one ultra large palette, and pink themed at that as well, that I can hold off on shopping for another one for a while.

Because Lord knows I have shopped enough pink themes palettes this year!

6. Pat Mcgrath MTHRSHP Rose Decadence Palette

The reason for this purchase was absolutely unnecessary and one I must stop the habit of doing. Refrain from being a completionist when it comes to purchasing makeup. I have such a bad habit of doing that. I thought - well since I already have Divine Rose I and II, maybe I should get this one too. Or well, I’m thinking of getting the new Lip Divinyls with the pink packaging, and this palette will look great with it. Just terrible reasons and have nothing to do with the intention of the product itself.

Divine Rose I and Diving Rose II were spectacular releases, but there may have been some that are hesitant to commit to such large palettes or spend the ridiculous amount of money for them if they aren’t familiar with PMG’s brand yet.

So the Rose Decadence was intended to be a little taster palette to fill that void. You can still get the beautiful pinks and golds with a touch of warm neutrals without having to get Divine Rose I or II.

We definitely do not need all three. It serves nothing to be a completionist when it comes to purchasing makeup. We’ll just end up with a whole array of products we don’t plan on using.

Moving forward if there is a collection presented and there’s a palette and some lipsticks but I’m only interested in one of the lipsticks, I’m reprogramming myself to just get that ONE lipstick. No need to have two shades, no need to get the palette. That is something I’d like to practice.

Moreover, compared to other PMG palettes I own, Mothership, MTHRSHP & the smaller quads, the eyeshadows in these seem to be drier, and lacklustre, unlike the PMG formula I’m used to. The cardboard packaging, whilst sturdy- doesn’t scream luxury. It felt like paying a luxury price for a non-luxury product.

And that is why it’s on my list of disappointments. First off, it was an unnecessary purchase as I have enough pinks and golds to last me quite a while, and secondly, it didn’t reflect the best of PMG and what the brand is known for.

Thankfully, whilst I can still play around and get some good looks with it (I actually wore this on my eyes for my birthday), I can also share this with my mom who is trying to break out of her charcoal, smoky eye routine and play with more colours.

7. Charlotte Tilbury Luxury Palette of Pops in Pillow Talk

This is not a new release but it was again one of those completionist purchases that I’m practicing to undo. I had this idea in my head that I wanted to get all the Pillow Talk items that Charlotte Tilbury releases.

I already had the Pillow Talk quad, which is lovely- not the best- but lovely for a muted rosy easy everyday eye look. And I thought I’d like to have the palette of pops as well to complement it.

When I received it I was so disappointed. It doesn’t pop at all, and once it’s on the lids it looks practically the same like the original Pillow Talk quad.

Was not worth it at all, and I could have done with one or the other as the color stories are just much too similar.

Her updated palette of pops formula, thankfully, is spectacular. I picked up the new Dazzling Diamonds quad which I love, and reviewed here, and that one truly pops and dazzles! To see how it compares to the Pillow Talk one, please read that post- you’ll see what I mean.

8. Patrick Ta Lip Creme She’s Unapologetic

I was looking for a true beige nude shade for my lips. I’ve said it time and time again but everytime I choose a shade it ends up all looking like a variation of Pillow Talk- which is fine, I don’t mind it at all as it’s what I gravitate towards.

However I wanted to go even paler, because that’s my version of “changing things up a bit”. When I saw this shade from Patrick Ta I was optimistic.

When it arrived and I tried it on, my heart sank a little. It ended up being too pale, and looked a little like concealer on the lips. The shade references online were all over the place so I did take a chance. I mentioned in my review of it here that formula wise, for a matte it wasn’t the worst. But because it was so pale it looked dry and chalky on the lips, emphasizing some lines.

To wear this, I need to combine it with lip liner and a gloss. The result is beautiful- but it requires a bit of effort to get there and a lot of products. At first I didn’t mind, but the more time went on, it got a little troublesome. And so that’s why it’s on my disappointments list.

When spending for a high end product, I prefer for it to work well on its own and not require me to spend even more to make it work. In my opinion, there are better pale beige nude shades out there, with better formulas.

I still keep this in my collection to combine with other lipsticks. It does make for a great brightener for the center of the lips to create an ombre effect, or to tone down lipstick shades that are too deep. Sometimes, you can make winners out of your fails. But if I had the chance to try this out beforehand, it would have been a miss for me.

9. Hourglass Veil Setting Spray

This one is pretty straightforward. I was on the lookout for a new setting spray, and this just simply didn’t work for me as it made my skin look too dewy borderline on oily. I purchased it hearing so many wonderful reviews about it, but unfortunately I didn’t have a positive experience with it.

I do think it also depends on your skin type too though. I’m guessing for those with drier skin, this would work better. On me, I didn’t love it because it felt tacky, and got more oiler as the day went on. I don’t like for my skin looking too matte, but also not this “dewy”.

The mist of it was fine, and it didn’t have too strong of a scent, this is purely a product that didn’t work well for me despite me having high hopes for it. She is now in a new home of my friend’s who I hope is having a more positive experience! When a product doesn’t work for you, it may for someone else. So be fluid in your experiences and don’t be afraid to share your thoughts- but be open to receive the opinions of others, too.

10. Patrick Ta Precision Lip Crayon in She’s Humble

This is on the list because of the mechanism of this product as well as how little product there is compared to other luxury brands! Read my full review here. First off, it works like mechanical pencil, which is fine, until you press out too much product and you can’t retract it back in! I tried doing that and a lot of it broke off- I felt like I already lost half of the product!

I love the colour, the sleek packaging, the formula is alright, and the unique shape makes for an easy application to outline the lips, once you get the hang of it, but it’s because it’s just too fragile and too little of it compared to it’s price that I don’t find it to be worth it.

I’d rather stick to classic lip pencils which you can sharpen. I’m just using this up to finish it, but I won’t be repurchasing. Sometimes, and for some things, it’s still better to stick to the classics.

And that’s a wrap for my best and most dissapointing makeup purchases in 2020! Thank you so much for reading this post. I hope you enjoyed it and learned something from it, or that it helped you in some way.

Please share some of your thoughts with me- do you agree, do you disagree, have any of these worked for you? And also do share with me some of your makeup fails that you tried in 2020, in the comments below!

See you on the next blog post!