Reader Bubu asked in the comments of a post if I would write a worst style purchases of year, but I think that’s a bit tough. Style is subjective; one person’s hideous is another’s Holy Grail. Not even that, things I don’t like in the spring can end up being a favorite by fall. However, beauty reviews aren’t as subjective. When you have a similar skin type, hair type, coloring as a reviewer, negative reviews can be very beneficial. And so, I am sharing reviews of my worst beauty buys of 2014.

First Aid Beauty Eye Duty Triple Remedy

Why would I take beauty advice from Selena Gomez?  I read her Into the Gloss interview, she raved about this eye cream and for some reason I decided her opinion held value to my almost-40 fair skinned self and bought a tube. Well, the description on Sephora also helped:

Eye Duty Triple Remedy instantly erases dark circles while delivering serious, long-term skincare benefits to the orbital eye area. Upon application, it instantly brightens the entire eye area with a soft universal tint and light reflecting pigments that create an illusion of bright, smooth, and youthful skin. Over the long term, actives in the formula significantly improve the appearance of undereye puffiness, dark circles, and fine lines.

Sounds pretty awesome, yes? I tried it the evening after I got the tube. The formula is a nice consistency, easy to blend without tugging. The color is a weird calamine lotion-pink that doesn’t completely disappear, but under makeup does help lighten and brighten at least on my fair skin. And after three days I felt my undereyes less puffy and not as dark. However, I started having sensitivity around my eye area, like I do when I’m around horses or cats. Also my contacts were driving me crazy. It was late summer/early fall and I chalked it up to allergies, until I woke up one morning to have what looked like a rash in the inner corners of both eyes. I didn’t put on eye cream that day and the rashes were gone by noon. I stopped using the product and then a month later thought… maybe it wasn’t the cream? I tried it and immediately felt itchy and raw and threw the product in the trash.

RapidLash

I bought this for my birthday last year, started using it at the end of January/beginning of February. Supposedly this product would give me longer, lusher lashes just like the prescription products. They said it took a while for the effects to kick in. I applied it daily per the instructions. It didn’t itch or burn, didn’t mess with my contacts. I didn’t see much change; I did see a few more lashes fall out than usual, but didn’t know if that was coincidental or maybe stress-related (I broke my arm two weeks after starting RapidLash).

And then one day I went to curl my lashes, my elbow that was propped on the side of my dressing table slipped and my lash curler yanked every lash out of my left eye. What was crazy is that it didn’t hurt, didn’t even get red. Those lashes slipped right out. Eh, it could have been circumstantial and not RapidLash’s fault (though some online reviews say it weakened people’s lashes and roots) but I stopped using the product immediately. But I knew it was RapidLash when Klutzy Me a few months later did the same exact thing and ended up only yanking out 2 lashes and it hurt like heck.

L’Oreal Glow Renewal Face Oil

My skin isn’t super dry, but it reacts well when I layer a serum or oil under my day or night moisturizer. I had run out of the serum I was using (which was… fine) so I decided to try this oil blend from L’Oreal, a brand that usually plays quite nice with my skin. I’d put 4-5 drops in my hand and dab onto my skin, and then massage it into my face and neck. It absorbed well, smelled nice in a subtle spa/essential oils sort of way, and I did think my face looked as though it was glowing. That was, until I started getting blackheads and whiteheads and all kinds of things I hadn’t experienced in such quantity since high school. At first they were near my mouth, and I thought it was maybe stress related or me falling off the Whole30 wagon. But then I got then on the sides of my nose, on my temples, and between the brows and I had one of those endless whiteheads near my mouth that seemed to regenerate each evening while I slept. I stopped using the oil and in three days my skin was almost back to normal. I’ve gone back to L’Oreal Youth Code serum and my skin is super duper happy.

L'Oreal EverSleek Humidity Defying Leave-In Creme

I tried it on very wet hair, damp hair, dry hair, hair dryer or air dry. Directions say 1-2 pumps; 1 pump was more than enough to battle frizz on my hair but left me lip and a bit greasy. I tried just a dab on my fingertips and it too just made my hair look greasy and limp. I think this would actually work quite well on thicker or coarser hair and those who have naturally very curly hair, I just think my hair is too fine for it.

Head & Shoulders Itchy Scalp Care 2-in-1

Come winter, my head gets super duper itchy awful.  My grandmother dealt with winter psoriasis and I wonder if I have the same thing.  In the past I've used Neutrogena T-Gel in the past but that stuff stinks and eats away hair color. Since changing my diet my dry skin and sensitivity isn’t as pronounced, but with the first head scratch of winter I decided to switch my shampoo. I was at the grocery store and saw Head & Shoulders. I read that Sofia Vergara agreed to be the brand’s spokesperson because she and her family had been using the product for decades. Well Ms. Vergara has amazing hair, so I figured what the heck, can’t hurt right?

You know a shampoo is bad when your husband says it sucks. First use… fine. I don’t like the new smell but whatever. Second use… my hair felt weird after drying, like I had mousse in it though it was product-free. The next morning I woke up to a grease pit on my scalp, and I had not used any product and let my hair air dry – such a method (even with using just conditioner) usually gives me two days fine and one day dry shampoo before having to wash again. I washed again, went to dry my hair with the dryer and round brush and my hair looked greasy and limp but heavy as though it was dirty or full of product. By the end of the work day I looked as though I hadn’t washed my hair in a month. Oh, and my scalp still itched. Karl said his hair felt like Barbie hair with it and stopped using it after a week.