Makeup Artists Say These Beauty Products Are Pointless
Whether you’re a beauty beginner or a seasoned Sephora veteran, you’ve probably been duped into buying a sort of useless beauty product before. Maybe the packaging was too cute, maybe there was a sale, or maybe your favorite beauty blogger insisted everyone needed one.
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But with makeup seemingly getting more and more complicated these days, it can be hard to tell what’s worth your money (and time), and what you can do without. We talked to pro makeup artists about what products they think are unnecessary.
1. Thick Contouring Cream
“Thick contour cream leads to over-contouring,” says Milani’s National Makeup Artist, DeMille Michelle. “Please stop.”
And DeMille isn’t the only pro-makeup artist who’s over heavy contouring. Even Kim’s kissing contouring goodbye (or so she says).
David Birdwell, Makeup Artist and Creative Director for Jane Cosmetics, also agrees.
“Contour palettes are unnecessary for anyone who is not working on a multitude of skin tones (i.e. makeup artists),” he says. “Also, you can achieve a sculpted look with bronzer.”
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“I believe Instagram has amplified the heavy contouring trend with thick cream palettes by making it a ‘thing’ and that trend should stay with theater makeup,” says DeMille.
It’s not that DeMille is completely anti-contour though. After all, once you get hooked it’s tough to go cold-turkey on contour.
Instead, she recommends something lighter, that’ll make it more difficult for you to accidentally look like Jim Carey in The Mask, like the Milani Contour and Highlight duo.
“On one side there is a lightweight cream contour stick that makes it extremely easy to sculpt and shape the face. It can literally be blended out with the fingers,” she says. “On the other side it has a liquid highlight cream that has light-reflecting pearls to strobe and bring forward your best features.”
2. False Lashes
“False lashes are pretty unnecessary,” says David. “With the technology in mascaras, you should be able to achieve a dramatic look without having to apply falsies.”
He instead suggests saving a dramatic faux-lash for Halloween. And honestly, considering how time-consuming applying lashes can be, who has the time to do that shit everyday? Not to mention that cost-wise they can add up.
If you can’t bear to bare your natural lashes, maybe consider investing in some legit extensions? If your other option is applying falsies every day, it seems like a worthwhile investment.
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3. Rainbow Highlighters
Honestly, can’t we be over this trend by now?
“As a makeup artist I feel that everyone has their own preference and makeup is a way to express your individuality but [rainbow/holographic highlighters] are one product I personally could do without,” says Demille.
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Demille understands it’s totally dope for an editorial spread, but prefers natural powder for most mere mortals who don’t play with makeup for a living. Instead, she recommends something like the Milani Strobelight Instant Glow Powder.
“It gives a smooth and natural sheen to the skin, without making you look like a walking glitter ball,” she says.
4. Translucent Powders
Remember the whole “baking,” thing that takes fucking forever? Yeah, David says it’s kind of a waste of time unless you’re Kim Kardashian or hired a paparazzi to follow you on vacay.
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“Translucent powders are great products, but are unnecessary to your makeup wardrobe unless you are being photographed constantly or have very oily skin,” says David. “No need to cake or bake daily.”
5. Lip Plumping Products
DeMille is over the big-lip trend. Sure, using a professional lip suction or venom is better than doing the Kylie lip challenge, but she believes a great lip liner and a bold lip can go a long way.
“When you use products like this, the result typically looks very unnatural and very unflattering,” says DeMille. “Using a great lip liner with a bold lip will bring the perfect amount of attention to your lips without looking like your lips are swollen.”
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6. Lip Primers
The growing popularity of liquid lipsticks in the past couple years have led people to buy lip primers and lip scrubs in hopes of not turning their lips into a dry mess from their lip kit addictions.
But before you spend $8 on a cupcake flavored lip scrub, consider what it’ll actually do for you.
“Lip primers are an unnecessary product and never live up to the hype,” says David.
As someone who’s tried loads of free ones, I can agree. Half the time they ended up making my lips more dry and cracked then they were before. Save yourself the trip to Sephora and just use plain ol’ Vaseline or Chapstick instead.
