Nothing annoys me more than wasting my money on products that don’t work for me. However, if there is a silver lining to me wasting my money it’s that maybe I can save some of you from wasting yours. I went on a small shopping spree for my birthday and sadly a lot of what I bought is terrible. Of course, this is all my opinion based on my own personal preferences and you may love this stuff. I’m going to split the reviews by brand.

Pacifica

Pacifica is a brand that I had never tried before so when Ulta had the entire brand on clearance I decided to pick a few things up. I love that the brand is vegan and more natural but everything I bought was a major disappointment.

• Tahitian Gardenia Mini Body Butter– This lotion at full price is $5.00 for 1 ounce. I wanted this because I love the smell of gardenias, however, this smells AWFUL to me. There is a hint of gardenia scent but whatever is mixed with it is not a pleasant scent. Besides the smell, this is an alright body butter but I do think it’s overpriced for the quality.
• Kale Detox Cleansing Face Wash– This face wash is $10.00 for 5 ounces. It claims to remove makeup, cleanse and tone. It’s best for oily and acne prone skin, which is why I wanted it. Again, my main complaint with this is the scent. This smells like straight up turmeric which is not a smell I like at all. I also don’t feel this did the best job at removing my makeup.
• Kale Water Micellar Makeup Remover– This micellar water is $12.00 for 8 ounces. I wanted to try this because I had never used a micellar water before. Like the face wash, this is best for oily and acne prone skin. My first complaint is the scent. Again, this smells strongly of turmeric. My second complaint is this really BURNS my skin. It did an okay job removing my makeup but I can barely stand to use it because of how bad it burns. This definitely isn’t for anyone with sensitive skin.

I kind of feel like three strikes you’re out with Pacifica right now. This was my first time trying the brand and I’m not really interested in trying it again. There are other cruelty free/vegan brands out there that are cheaper and work better.

Catrice

Catrice is a very meh brand for me. I don’t think I’ve tried anything from them that I’m crazy about. I wanted to hit the free shipping amount on the Ulta website so I threw Catrice’s Camouflage Wake Up Effect Cream into my virtual cart. It was $5.99. I wouldn’t say this is terrible, it just didn’t work for me. It looks like a salmon color on the website, which is what my dark circles need, but it’s actually a very pale pink. This would be better for just brightening dark circles, not color correcting. I didn’t notice it creasing and it blended fairly easy but I had to work fast. If you don’t blend it quick enough it becomes hard to move because it has a very tacky texture. I didn’t really like the way my makeup sat on top of it and if I didn’t blend it perfectly my makeup would look clumpy. I recommend e.l.f.’s Color Correctors over this one.

Ulta Beauty

Like Pacifica, the Ulta Beauty brand was another that was new to me. I decided to try two of their primers because one was non-comedogenic and I’m trying to swap all of my products to non-comedogenic ones. Both are oil free.

• Travel Size Brightening Primer– This primer is $8.50 for 0.5 an ounce, so not that cheap. This is supposed to be a glowy primer but this just did nothing. It didn’t help my makeup last longer and didn’t look glowy on my skin whatsoever.
• Travel Size Mattifying Primer– This primer is the same price and size as the other. I bought this because it’s supposed to blur pores and it’s non-comedogenic. Again, this just did nothing. I much prefer my Hard Candy Pore Defense Primer Serum over this and it’s way more affordable for way more product.

Makeup Revolution

Makeup Revolution, like Catrice, is another brand that just never really wows me. I like the few lipsticks that I’ve tried but that’s really it. I reviewed their Vitality Reloaded Palette and really didn’t like it but when I saw one of the new Reloaded Palettes, Velvet Rose, I wanted it SO BAD. It’s a dupe for Soft Glam by Anastasia Beverly Hills which is a palette I wanted but didn’t want to pay for, lol. I also bought their new Hyaluronic Spray.

• Hyaluronic Fix Makeup Hydrating & Plumping Spray–  This setting spray is $9.00 for 3.38 ounces. I wanted this because it has hyaluronic acid in it which is supposed to help with skin hydration. However, the second ingredient in this spray is alcohol denat which causes skin dryness, irritation and breakouts. Even my $4.00 e.l.f. Setting Spray doesn’t use that harmful ingredient. This setting spray also smells like bad breath sooo it’s a hard pass for me.
• Velvet Rose Reloaded Palette– This palette is $7.00 and worth half that. Like I mentioned above, I wanted this palette because of the color story it has. This palette has five shimmers and ten mattes. I’m going to review this like all of my palette reviews with a list of pros and cons and then three looks I created just using this palette.

 

 

Pros:

• Beautiful color story of mauve and other neutral shades.
• Very little fall out or kick up.
• The lighter mattes are very smooth and blend easily.

Cons:

• The darker mattes blend terribly.
• The shimmers are some of the worst I’ve ever tried. The mauve/purple shimmers and the gold on the top right corner are the best of the palette but they still are not good. These are more like glitter toppers and they need a matte eyeshadow underneath or patches of eyelid can be seen through them.
• These eyeshadows made my eyelids burn.
• The palette has a chemical scent; the Vitality palette does as well.
• All of these eyeshadows fade.

*I’m going to show you three looks I made just using this palette. I am not the best at creating eyeshadow looks but I promise I’m better at it then what is in these pictures. You can click on the pictures to see them better.

 

Everything with this look was fine until I tried to deepen the crease and it refused to blend. The shimmers also had to be caked on to even show up causing them to crease and look scaley.

1. I used the matte cream shade (top row, end left) all over the lid and up to my brow bone.
2. I used the light tan shade (middle row, second from the left) in my crease.
3. I used the burnt orange shade (bottom row, second fro the left) on the outer part of my crease.
4. I used the brown shade (middle row, end left) to deepen the crease.
5. I tried to use the gold shade (top row, second from the left) on my lid but nothing I did would make it show up. I then used the lighter gold (bottom row, end left) all over my lid and inner corner.

 

This was my favorite look I made using the palette, but I say favorite loosely. The mauve shades are the only halfway decent ones but I still struggled to blend the darker shades.

1. I used the matte cream shade (top row, end left) all over the lid and up to my brow bone.
2. I used the lilac shade (top row, second from the right) in my crease.
3. I used the reddish/brown shade (top row, middle) to deepen the crease and on the lower lash line.
4. I used the light pink/mauve shimmer (middle row, middle) on the inner part of my lid and inner corner.
5. I used the deeper mauve shimmer (middle row, second from the right) on the outer part of my lid.

 

This look was the final straw and when I was done. The mattes I used were just awful. They would not blend and as you can see in that third picture, there was one part of my face they just wouldn’t stick to. I was trying to smudge it out like I’ve did a million times but these eyeshadows just weren’t going to do it.

1. I used the matte cream shade (top row, end left) all over the lid and up to my brow bone.
2. I used the medium tan shade (middle row,  end right) in the crease.
3. I used the lighter brown shade (bottom row, second from the right) to deepen the crease and smudge on the lower lash line.
4. I used the golden shimmer (top row, end right) on the lid and inner corner.
5. I used the dark brown (bottom row, middle) on the lower lash line.

Needless to say, I will not be buying Makeup Revolution eyeshadows again for awhile. I know a lot of people love the brand but they just don’t work for me. For eyeshadows, go with Juvia’s Place or Milani. I never have trouble blending my shadows when I use those brands. I shouldn’t have to work for an hour to make a cheap palette work, especially one that burns my eyes.

I do not recommend ANY of these products.  I’d love to know if you’ve tried anything I mentioned and what your experience was! Thanks for reading and have a great day!