Hyped-Up Let-Downs

I'm not sure what it is with hyped-up products and me. We seem to have a perpetually bad relationship, and I can honestly say that it has nothing to do with going against the grain for the sake of it. On the contrary, when I hear how amazing the latest eye cream or lipstick is, I would love to be one of those people who agrees, because it would mean that I, too, had found an exceptional product. But sadly, more often than not, it's just not the case.

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo. Now, where do I start? This was one of the most talked about products as 2012 drew to a close, and it certainly didn't end there. Personally, it was never a product that had appealed to me, as I had always been quite lucky with my skin and didn't suffer from much in the way of breakouts (if anyone isn't sure what this is, it's essentially an acne treatment in a liquid/gel-like form). However, all of a sudden that changed a couple of months ago, when I found myself suffering from a horrible scattering of blemishes all over my chin and jawline (niiiiice). Initially, I thought this was skincare-related, and as a result I really scaled back the products I was using, but no matter what I did the blemishes just didn't seem to be getting any smaller. Enter, Effaclar Duo.

Originally, I used this product for around ten days, and in that time my breakout got much, much worse (angrier, redder - you name it) before finally beginning to subside. However, I soon had to call it quits after finding that I had been left with a delightful scattering of tens of tiny under-the-skin bumps. After a couple of weeks of not using Effaclar Duo, it became apparent that the bumps were going nowhere fast, and worse still, my breakout returned with a vengeance, far worse than before. Now, I have seen a lot of people saying that those who don't have success with this product obviously don't persevere with it for as long as they should, so I decided to recommence use, this time using it only as an 'on the spot' treatment as opposed to all over the face. Well, six weeks later, my blemishes had shown no improvement, so I once again showed it the door. Interestingly enough, since I stopped use, my breakout has all-but disappeared (although I do credit my new skincare regime for a large portion of that).

So, that was all the experience I needed with Effaclar Duo, and after writing this blog post I will take great pleasure in throwing it straight in the bin (for the record, I am still stuck with the tiny bumps). I know that this has worked absolute wonders for some people, and I'm really happy that it did, but it's most definitely not the product for me.

Next up are the Rimmel Apocalips. In this case, I don't have any horror stories to share, nor to I harbour a particular dislike for them. In fact, to their credit, Luna, Nova and Stellar are all lovely colours, and the others in the range don't look half bad either.

My issue with the Apocalips is that essentially, they are just glorified lip glosses. No, let me correct myself - they are lip glosses. Yes, they may well be quite highly pigmented, but are they really the first of their kind!? They are quite wet and sticky, and don't dry on the lips, meaning the second you take a sip of your cuppa they are going to come off all over the rim of your mug and you'll have to reapply. They don't last two seconds on my lips, and personally that's just not what I look for in a lip product. As I said, it's not that these are awful, but the way they were raved about you would think they were an absolute miracle product, which they definitely are not. You could say it's partly my fault, as I've never been a lipgloss girl and will always choose a highly-pigmented, long-wearing lipstick when given the option.

Having said all of this, I'm a firm believer in the philosophy that what works for one person may not work for another, and vice versa, which is a point I think this post pretty much proves. The only way you can really know if a product works for you is by giving them a go, and I'm glad that I did - if I hadn't, then I'd still be wondering what all the fuss was about, and whether they would work for me.

Have you tried either of these products, and if so do you think they live up to their reputations?

xx