April 14, 2020

Pick One Beauty Brand That Just Isn’t Doing It For You Anymore

Have you fallen out of love with a certain beauty brand? A brand you just aren’t into anymore? One you aren’t even following for new launches? If you had to pick one beauty brand that just isn’t doing it for you anymore which would you choose to break up with without any regret?

I was thinking about this for a while and I hate to say it but Urban Decay kept popping into my mind. The formula just isn’t the same, the releases seem so phoned in, there aren’t any truly interesting palette releases from them lately. I think Too Faced does more palettes than UD at this point.

But after mulling it over I decided, “Wait, I can’t just break up with Urban Decay!” There are still so many things I like about the brand plus if and when they do release something interesting I know I’ll be first in line to buy it.

So, after careful thought and consideration the brand that simply isn’t doing it for me anymore that I think I can safely break up with is….

Benefit Cosmetics.

I’m just meh with them lately. I respect Benefit because they’ve never been a brand to do huge, flashy releases. A lot of their releases are single product launches and they come around seasonally or sometimes they come out every other season. They really keep launches small and they don’t overwhelm consumers and fans.

However, I think that also works against them as well. I used to look forward to every new Box o’ Powder launch they did but now they’ve taken to doing reruns of older shades. I’d totally buy a new one if they created it but a relaunch of Georgia isn’t really getting my blood pumping. I want to feel the excitement I felt when Bella Bamba came out and CORALista!

I wouldn’t mind some new single eyeshadows or even an eyeshadow palette from them at this point.

I think I can safely say that breaking up with Benefit isn’t hard to do.

What’s one beauty brand that isn’t interesting to you anymore/

A brand you can totally live without?

Do share!

About the Muse

Isabella MuseIsabella is just an average everyday geeky girl who doesn’t blend her eyeshadow correctly, wears too much blush, and hopes she never finds her holy grail products because she likes the thrill of the chase so much. Her mission is to bring you super honest reviews on makeup, skincare, fragrance and all things beauty. She’s in no way an expert on the topic and she sure as hell isn’t a super model. But she’s passionate about makeup and is seeking like-minded individuals that like pina coladas, getting caught in the rain, and ones that enjoy spending hundreds of dollars at Sephora without feeling buyer’s remorse. If you’re that person feel free to reach out and leave a comment or follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Bloglovin‘.

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Comments

    • Fey

      Me too. I was so in love with their clicky pen gloss, their convertible colors, and most of all their adorably illustrated (by Naoko Matsunaga) eye shadow palettes. I adored the fashion artwork on those, and I loved the fun color combos matched with destinations.

  • Sarah

    Urban Decay. Their heyday as the “it”� brand has come and gone, and nowadays they just come across as trying too hard to stay relevant and delivering underwhelming products.

    And honestly, I’m kind of over most major makeup brands in general! Now that I’m into my 30s, I find myself much more drawn to skincare products and the very natural-look vibe of brands like Glossier.

    • Isabella Muse

      100% agreed on natural and skincare at my age it just works for me!

      • Fey

        NYX for me. Do I still love their butter gloss and eye liner? Sure. They have a good amount of staples and basics. But… They have more of a pro/mua vibe now (with hit or miss quality) than ten years ago when they were a fun brand with creative color stories and launches. My favorite discontinued products from them were a candy glitter liner that had an adorable tassel hanging from it and some quirky colors of their round lipstick. Their quality seems to have decreased for eye shadows in particular.

        • kellly

          Me, too! I miss their inexpensive colors that were perfect for experimenting.

    • Chris

      I thought of Urban Decay too. But Buxom is another & a lot of other brands already mentioned. I loved Buxom’s individual eye shadows (create your own palette) which haven’t really added anything new in several years. Many brands are trying to get the teen market or post college age group & forgetting the older woman (40’s & up). I feel many brands are following certain trends. If one company has a palette of desert colors, then 5 other companies need their version of the same.

      Or maybe a brand gets the latest influencer or celebrity du jour as their brand ambassador. Enough! We don’t care who is hawking the product, we just want a good long lasting product.

  • Hollie

    I second Benefit. They “brought back” Dallas and Georgia (which I LURVED), but they aren’t even the same colors.

    • Isabella Muse

      I like them too but it’s like, dude, if you’re going to bring it back make it good not to mention I also have the colors already I’d prefer something new!

  • kjh

    Benefit, yeah. Totally panned the old Georgia. If they’re bringing back retros, don’t tweak them. They lost me when the second generation took over and they went head to head with ABH on brows. BITD, I used virtually every B product, even had my face done…poorly albeit, she did not get me at all…by Jane. Speaking of Jane, broke up with Iredale, too. I like KGD better across the board for base products. 2 that I never engaged with, based on dislike/neg color and performance are CT and Nudestix. Or is that a question for another day? The only UD I still do is liners.

  • Sara

    Without deep thought, Urban Decay was also what first popped into my head just like it did for you. Their holiday collection was like nonexistent. I also used to love Bare Minerals but haven’t bought any of their products in probably 4 or 5 years. I loved those little 8 pan palettes. So I’d say that brand is higher up on the list for ones that just don’t do it for me anymore.

    • Isabella Muse

      Their Holiday Collections blow lately. They just come out with gift sets and nothing else :-/

  • LC

    I don’t know if I could pick one brand where I have fallen out of love with. I do agree with you about Urban Decay, Benefit. Stila, Mac. I’m sure there’s more to the list. I think the cosmetic industry has changed so much in the last several years. There are so many cosmetic brands that we are being constantly exposed to and bombarded. For me, it is coming to the point where I basically have to shut it out. I think another factor is that I am getting older, so my priorities are shifting for me to be “less is more” and investing on good skincare and health. That is is probably why I am not excited about these launches anymore unless there is something extremely unique that comes onto the market. I actually have shifted my attention more to Japanese beauty and skincare products. They seem to jive with my skin better. Even Kbeauty can be overwhelming sometimes as well.

  • Suzanne

    That’s how I feel about MAC- back in the early 2000’s they were so innovative, I used to be in their pro program & would travel to classes and the products were so good. The launches were copied by everyone- remember when they did the Icons collections? Then all of a sudden they started pandering to to the teens and they went from having like Shirley Manson & Eddie Izzard as faces to doing the Smurfs lol. A lot if brands chased the teen market, but they really lost all credibility.

  • Lauren

    Lush. But it might be me not them, or we are equally at fault for the breakup. I don’t have time for baths anymore and bubble bars were my favorite so that’s out for me, but I feel their new releases are phoned in too. More than half are some citrus variant. Who cares. And the past few years it seems the holiday line is formulated at half quality, as though they are planning on selling it bogo after Boxing Day. Poor show. I turned up my nose at more conventional bath products for so long out of preference for Lush. Last summer I bought a bath and body works shower gel and freaking loved it.

    • Sara

      I broke up with Lush too. They canceled my entire boxing day order for no reason and offered a pathetic $10 gift card to make up for it. And lately everything seems to have glitter in it! I don’t want to sparkle after my shower and prices have gotten even more ridiculous. I’m using up what I have and that’s it. Maybe I’ll buy Rub Rub Rub again in the future, that’s the only product I still use regularly but I had a giant rub of it to get through.

  • Vanessa Chaudhari

    Sadly for me it’s a tie between Physicians Formula and Too Faced. After PF was caught red handed selling in China, I lost total interest and respect for them. As for Too Faced, it’s been too cutesy and young. As I’ve gotten older I’ve learned quality is better than quantity.

    • Randi Macdonald

      MAC recently reformulated the singles to be more like the old formula. I still love my quads that I made myself( pro pan palettes.).

  • Moxie

    NYX. They discontinue their fun, everyday products and take themselves way too seriously now.

    EOS. Their balms are a waste of money and they drove a competitor out of business with a frivolous, litigious lawsuit.

    Skinfood. After their threats to close down and enter receivership, and then magically coming back from the dead, it just seemed like they were trying to boost sales with panic buying.

  • Robin

    Tarte. Been a while since I bought anything from them. I would look forward to their holiday products, but no more. Benefit too; still miss lemonaid

  • Sakura

    Wet n Wild. I can’t get over how they said that they were cruelty-free and found to be secretly selling in China. It’s still makes me sad!

    • Jen

      This was actually clarified and a lot of cruelty free brands are doing this or have done this. Ecommerce has made it possible for brands to open their products to individual consumers without ever entering the physical (stores) market, which is what WnW did, and therefore their products do not fall under the testing laws. NARS as an example, however, does have presence in the physical market and therefore their products while claiming to be cruelty free are still required to undergo testing before being sold in stores.

  • Christie

    My first instinct was also to say Urban Decay, but I’d be lying bc I think the Naked Honey palette is a DREAM and I find myself reaching for my After-Glow blushes over all others these days. Heartbreakingly, my answer is Bite. Way too much (unnecessary) change in a short time and I had many holy grail products – lip pencils, buttercreams, multisticks, bb for lips, lip mask – that were (obviously) discontinued. They have pissed me so far off that I’ll probably never go back.

    • Isabella Muse

      I don’t get Bite Beauty. What the hell happened? After those cool Christmas lippies that came in a set I felt positive they’d launch the new lipstick line already but nada? nothing? All gone? And suddenly a bunch of foundation, face powder, primer? It’s so confusing!

      • Christie

        I agree, Muse!! And based on the reviews I think their foundation is right up my alley but I refuse!! I’m not sure they can ever redeem themselves for me. (Not that they would care! )

  • ANONYMOUS

    Bite Beauty? Years ago they had lip crayons that were 100% natural and edible, hence the word bite. I remember being so exited for their lip pencils, multisticks, liquid lipsticks releases. They had better neutral shades. Now the shades are too intense and vibrant for everday use.

  • Jackie

    I would have to say Tarte and Stila…It’s been a while since either brand excited me and I used to sooo look forward to new palettes, lip products, blushes, and holiday sets from Tarte. Now they’ve just been releasing the same shades over and over again for the past few years. It seems that they’ve run out of fresh ideas. :/ As for Stila, I used to love their clicky gloss pens and mini travel palettes…but it’s been a while since anything excited me from the brand. Mehhh….I would love it if either brand made a comeback and made me a fan again.

  • Dee

    Too Faced and Tarte would be the ones I’m over. I have older palettes and blushes that I love but have been unhappy with much of what has come out lately.

  • moongoddess81

    Josie Maran. I had my DVR set to every new QVC launch. I’m bored with her lately and no offense to anyone, when she started launching CBD/Hemp products I just thought she was hopping on the bandwagon.

    BareMinerals. Too Faced. Urban Decay Naked Line (haven’t bought anything since Naked 3). And Benefit. Nothing new, like ever. Pretty boring these days.

    Can we say what we are in love with right now? Natasha Denona, Fenty, NARS, Hourglass for me.

  • Lisa Marie Seibert

    I agree with you on Benefit. I LOVED Georgia back in the day and I was so disappointed when they brought it back totally changed! Urban Decay used to be a favorite of mine, but now I’d say it’s on the bubble.

  • Jaimie

    Muse, I couldn’t agree more. Benefit hasn’t been doing it for me for some time now and I used to LOVE their products (especially the Bathina line which is pretty much vintage at this point. I was completely in love with their The Pore Fessional primer, until I found one like even better, No Pore Blem by Touch in Sol. It’s so much smoother and doesn’t ball up under my makeup like The Pore Fessional does. Plus the Pore Fessional cost $32 for .75 oz. where the Touch in Sol costs $18 for 1.01 oz. Safe to say I’ve moved on from Benefit and am OK with it. 🙂

    • Isabella Muse

      ahhh Bathina. What a shame! And maybe baby! 🙁 The hydrating Porefessional was utterly disappointing! The really need to re-think their latest releases! 🙁

  • kellly

    I hate to say it but I’m getting over it with NYX. They used to be my go-to brand whenever I was trying out a new color scheme. I knew I could find eye shadows (SINGLES, not those damned palettes!!!), blushes and lip colors all for very reasonable prices so if I didn’t think my idea looked that great when applied, it was no big deal. I’d hate to spend $20 on a shadow that looked funky when I put it on, but $5 was no big deal.
    Now they have almost totally discontinued their eye shadows and have gone to lip colors all.the.time. (as have so many other brands). Just try finding single shadows these days and good luck with that.

  • Wendy

    Tarte! They used to be my favorite brand. Now all of their eyeshadow pallets are the same. BIG OLE YAWNIE!

  • Susan S

    Bobbi Brown. I used to love her products because they were high quality and she was into a natural look. I actually met her a couple of times when she was promoting her original lipstick collection, and later, other makeup. She was always very aloof compared to others I have met. Trish McEvoy might be the friendliest. Anyway, once Lauder bought her out the quality went down. The eyeshadow palettes were hard to work with and the quality was so inconsistent. I haven’t bought any of her makeup in years. I am pretty sure they even changed the formula of a lot of the Extra skincare products from the original. I think once Lauder gets their hands on a brand it changes not only the formulas, but what made them stand out.

    • denise lee

      I had the WORST makeover with BB. For some reason BB and Lancôme want to make me darker than I am. Whatever foundation the BB artist used emphasized every flaw know to man. I have green eyes and Blonde hair (light brown) fake highlights. Lancôme put something on me IDK in Mac i’m NC15- this was like NC40 and the Lancôme lady said “don’t you want a little color in your face?” Yeah I do that with blush and bronzer. I have some old BB e/s that are still awesome

      The best makeover I had was at Laura Mercier

  • denise lee

    Stila. I was a long- time fan but after Jeanne Lobell sold them, they just changed. The e/s are no longer the same, the Kajal e/l smudge. Sephora is pulling them out of stores ( or so I heard) They did have a recent comeback with the liquid e/s but I don’t like it. Their foundation is hit or miss.

    Benefit too back in the day they had some innovative products that I still cling on too- the l/l with the one side shimmery for the cupids bow and the other side with a darker liner to make your lips look bigger. They were also the first ones to focus on eyebrows and h/l with their Camoflage powder that came with I mini fan brush

    Mac- exciting with 4 releases a year and collecting the Mac cards. 1 Collection a month- not so much

  • Susan K

    Lorac. They used to be one of my favorite brands with fun seasonal collections (especially holiday) and regularly added interesting new products to their permanent lineup. And the quality was reliably good. The brand has really gone downhill since they sold to Markwins a few years ago, but it was on a slow decline before that. I havent bought or even been tempted by anything from them for a few years now.

  • Staci

    Every brand, makeup in general, isn’t doing it for me anymore. With a new eyeshadow palette being released every week, they are no longer special. With a new collection being released every week, I’m not paying attention anymore. Limited edition means will be discounted later.

    Decluttering a few times has made me hesitant to spend money on more makeup too. When you are throwing out a $50 eyeshadow palette because it’s 5 years old and the formula has changed, it makes you pause. Makeup goes bad. A little goes a long way. You start to realize that you don’t need MORE makeup.

  • Julie Cote

    Tarte: only bought eyeshadows and they were too chalky for my taste!

  • Randi Macdonald

    Stila. I remember buying a palette for my wedding in 2013, so excited by it. I think its called In the Know or something like that. I’m currently panning it, almost finished with all the neutral( not gray/black) shadows in it. They still perform great!!

    Honestly, I’m pretty much over buying anything new. Except for staple items( mascara, eyebrow). I have sooooo much of everything. I was in Target this morning and looking at makeup. I almost bought one of those new maybelline lipsticks( glossy) because I had a coupon. Then I thought ” why, I have to wear a mask everywhere, no one will see me with my new lipstick.

  • Rachel Runyan

    Stila. They just gotten so ‘meh’ and under-the-radar the last 5 years. Those pretty liquid shadows aside, I couldn’t name one other thing they’ve released.

    Also, Urban Decay is getting there, but I haven’t given up on them yet. Ever since they sold to L’oreal, UD’s quality has become erratic, the packaging hasn’t been as good in quality or creativity, and they just generally seem to be losing their way.

    NYX seems to be stuck in a bit of a rut, too.

    E.l.f. had been this way to me for the last 2-3 years, but now I think their quality and product lines are getting interesting again, and I’m starting to love them again.

  • Kel Berg

    i’m addicted to stila glitter and glow shadows and i love urban decay shadows. i used to love mac shadows and never use them anymore. not sure why! i saw urban decay just came out with this glitter lotion…..hoping you will review it as i can’t decide if it is good and what shade to buy:)

  • April

    Mac. They used to be innovators 10+ years ago, now they release disappointing products. I remember when I would get so excited about a launch. Now I barely look at them. I bought one of the “girls”� palettes and it was terrible. Urban decay used to be more fun and “edgy”� and the products are just..boring now. I feel like they’re a little late on the trends.

    • Fey

      Right? Remember those silly-dumb-hilarious Pocket Rocket lipglosses from UD with the pin up guys? Those were so funny. I loved the original body powder from UD too. I loved their cool palette packaging with the translucent purple and the vibrant, unique shades. I think the brand lost all their edge. I used to love their website’s look books with graphic liner designs and crazy color combos. (I kind of miss fun cosmetic sites in general. They used to be really interactive and showcase a brand’s personality.)

  • Penny

    Honestly, I broke up with more than one brand! I said so long to Mally, Laura Geller, Tarte, and Doll 10. Now my one and only is bareMInerals! I started using BM in 2012 and I have never quit using them, however, when I was introduced to other brands via QVC I started to add the other brands in. Until finally I just got to the point at the beginning of this year that I wanted to simplify my life and that included simplifying my makeup. So now I only use BM and am a very happy camper with my decision. 🙂

  • Leigh M.

    I’m breaking up with The Balm. Back in the day, they were a great alternative to department store/higher-end offerings. Sadly, the brand seems kinda stale these days. Drugstore cosmetics have vastly improved in the past few years and The Balm hasn’t really stepped up it’s game to compete in the new beauty landscape. Their product quality is generally very good but honestly, I don’t think The Balm is worth the price tag anymore. (Plus, who wants to wait around a couple of random times a year for their 50% off sales?) I love their cool, creative packaging and really wish I could continue to support the brand. But unless things drastically change on the innovation front, I’m out.