5 Beauty Products I Wish I’d Never Tried

Over the years I’ve used many different makeup and skincare products. Not so I could blog about them but because I was trying to find products that would work for my skin type and skin tone.


I didn’t grow up with a lot of direction or information on how to find a foundation that worked with my skin tone, how to control my facial oil, or test out products to see if they would break me out or not. It wasn’t until my mid to late 20s that I started to figure those types of things out.

Beauty products I never should have tried | A Relaxed Gal
As a result, I bought several beauty products that I wasted my money on because it should have been obvious from the get-go that they weren’t going to work for me. Below are the top 5 beauty products I wished I had never tried.

CoverGirl Clean Foundation

First up is the Clean Foundation from CoverGirl. It’s been years since I used this foundation. I think I was in high school when I bought it. The darkest shade available at that time was Tawny (which looks to still be the darkest shade) as there weren’t many shade options available for my skin tone. This was way back in the day before darker shades were a thing. As you can imagine this foundation didn’t look good on me because the shade was off. This wasn’t the biggest problem though.

This foundation also broke me out. Badly. I had bumps pop up around my face and they didn’t leave or stop until I stopped using the foundation.

Since then I don’t think I’ve tried another CoverGirl foundation or powder ever again. I’ve used some of their eye products but I’m afraid to use any of their face products for fear of breaking out again.


Bare Minerals Loose Foundation

Speaking of foundations that broke me out, the Bare Minerals Loose Foundation is another one that did. I found out about mineral foundations via Saturday morning infomercials for Bare Minerals and another mineral foundation brand. Since I hadn’t had success with drugstore foundations I decided to give mineral foundations a try and bought a Bare Minerals kit.

The shade was a decent match but boy did that stuff wreck my skin so bad. I thought the breakout from CoverGirl was bad, Bare Minerals was worse. My entire face was covered in bumps and some of them itched. To be honest, it may have been a mix of pimples or a rash.

It took me a while to realize the foundation was the cause. It also took a long time to get my skin looking decent, not even good, just decent. Thank goodness this was before cell phone cameras were everywhere and took good pictures because I avoided the camera because of my bad-looking skin. Because of this experience, I refuse to use anything from Bare Minerals, especially their foundations and other face powders.


Maybelline Facestudio Blender

Because of my bad foundation experiences with Bare Minerals and CoverGirl, I didn’t wear foundation for years. Once I decided to give the foundation a try again I used either my fingers or the cheap, thin makeup sponge wedges to apply it.

As I started to watch more makeup videos I realized I needed to upgrade my makeup sponge. This would have been a good thing except instead of getting a Beauty Blender or Real Techniques sponge I opted to use the Maybelline Facestudio BLender. I selected it because it was black which is a great sponge color for darker makeup shades and didn’t cost a lot.

This makeup sponge was trash. It broke and tore during the first use. I had to throw it away soon after that. Also, it soaked up so much makeup that more makeup was in the sponge then ended up on my face. Overall it was useless.

Oil Of Olay Face Moisturizer

I don’t quite remember which Oil Of Olay moisturizer I used but I know it was a cheap one. It may have been the Complete Daily Moisturizer. Anyway, I should have known after the first application that it wasn’t for me because it stung my skin after I put it on. Yes, stung and yet I kept using it for several weeks.

Needless to say, I had some breakouts due to this moisturizer and my face would itch throughout the day. I eventually wised up and threw the half-empty bottle away.


e.l.f. HD Loose Powder In Translucent

Ugh. Buying this e.l.f. powder was just a stupid decision. Before I bought the e.l.f. HD Loose Powder I had been watching lots of makeup tutorials on YouTube. During the tutorials, they talked about setting makeup with a loose powder. This was something I realized I wasn’t doing and decided I needed to do.

During a trip to the drugstore, I looked for loose powders and saw this one. It claimed to set makeup and it was budget-friendly. So I bought it.

I’m not sure why I thought that a white powder, even though it said it was translucent, would work for my darker skin tone. I had to do a lot to make it work. I’m surprised that wasn’t a clue that the powder wasn’t for me. I had to put just the right amount on. If I applied too much I looked ashy. Applied too little and what was the point. Needless to say, I didn’t finish the jar. I ended up throwing it away because I had no business buying the powder in the first place.


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