I Got Influenced and Wasted my Money on These 15 Hyped Products

 Influencer marketing has been there forever but with more online social media platforms it has become even more crazier since the 2010s. This type of marketing trend has its good sides as we get to know about a lot of things that are introduced into the market while sitting at home. So there is no worry of missing out on anything that is good. But it is also sometimes misleading/misinforming which can not only make us waste money on worthless products but also mistrust influencers as a whole. 

This post is going to be only about beauty (skincare/haircare/makeup) products that I wasted my money on. It does not mean that I mistrust influencers or that I am not going to follow influencers anymore. I have also benefited in many ways from influencers so this is not a hateful post. I only want to convey through this post that it is important to use our own judgment and not blindly follow what somebody is recommending just because they seem likable, genuine, or convincing on camera. The following products were a total waste of money for me because they either did nothing or worse-damaged my skin/hair.

Rohto Mentholatum - Hada Labo - Koi-Gokujyun Perfect Gel 

I don't know how much this costs where you live and what is its availability but I had to ship it from an international website that ships from a warehouse in Hong Kong and I paid 20 euros for it. And this was a total waste for me. This product burned and irritated my skin. It also made my skin super oily and greasy after a few hours. I honestly do not understand the hype for this product. And it is definitely not the hyaluronic acid that was irritating my skin because I have used other HA products (and still do) without any problems. It's just something about this gel formula that did not work for my dehydrated/sensitive/combination skin. So if you go by the hype and think this product is going to do wonders for your skin you might be in for a surprise.

Canmake - Mermaid Skin Gel UV SPF 50+ PA++++ - 01 Clear

This sunscreen was one of the most popular sunscreens at one point. I think it still is on most top elegant formulation sunscreen lists which is what Asian sunscreens are so famous for. It also has no alcohol, essential oils, or fragrance so it is good for sensitive skin. I will agree the sunscreen was elegant in formulation, has a nice semi-matte dewy finish, and works well as a primer under makeup. But it has a slight white cast, it pills, it's drying, and it is just 40g of product for around 10 to 12 euros (depending on where you live/buy it from). So all-in-all it wasn't the worst or even a bad product but it's not a holy grail standard like influencers claim and it doesn't deserve the hype in my opinion. There are other much better Korean sunscreens that are more hydrating, have zero white cast, and do not pill for around the same price.

Mizon Snail Repair Eye Cream

This is one of the most hyped eye creams. You will find this in most skincare influencers' best eye cream lists, best Korean skincare lists, and holy grail lists. After so much hype it's hard not to get tempted so I fell for it. This eye cream does nothing. It does not reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, lighten the dark circles or signs of hyperpigmentation, or strengthen the fragile skin around the eyes like it claims. I did not even find it as hydrating as my regular basic moisturizer. In fact, my moisturizer does a better job than this expensive (around 20 euros for 25ml) and hyped eye cream.

Uriage Bariéderm Ointment Fissures Cracks

A French skincare influencer promoted this to be a very good lip balm for cracked and dry lips. Since both my husband and I suffer from chapped, cracked lips during winter, I bought it. This product is a very thick and hard-to-spread ointment as the name says. When I tried to apply this on my lips it felt grainy, kind of like a scrub, and was very difficult to spread on. I tried melting it with my fingers first but it still didn't work. After a few tries I gave up. I honestly don't see this working for fissures or cracks or anything like that. I would say skip this and stick to good old Vaseline petroleum jelly. Honestly, most French pharmacy skincare is so overrated and overpriced.

Huile Prodigieuse® Multi-Purpose Dry Oil for Face, Body, Hair

While we are still discussing French pharmacy skincare, this oil is another hyped product. This tiny 50ml bottle costs around 20 to 25 euros. This is nothing but a fragrant body oil. And for something so expensive I find the packaging to be very inconvenient. I wish it came in a pump or pour-down type of bottle and I also do not like the glass bottle because I was scared every time that it would slip and break. The fragrance of this oil was quite potent and it kept burning my eyes whenever I used it. It was quite projecting and overpowering. Overall my experience was not great. The oil does spread well and sink in nicely on the skin and does moisturize well but so do some other inexpensive body oils. I love body oils from The Body Shop. They are much cheaper, have better packaging, smell great without being overpowering, and perform well.

The Ordinary "Buffet" Multi-Technology Peptide Serum

This brand is so overrated and overhyped. 99% percent of products I tried from this brand didn't work for me. Their packaging is not the most convenient, textures are bad, odd names, do nothing that they claim, and some of them are even irritating. There is also a lot of shady drama that goes behind the scenes if you google about this brand. And this is a brand that is recommended by most dermatologist influencers. I would say save your money and do not fall for it if you haven't already. Just because you put something in a glass bottle and make it look all clinical and apothecary-ish doesn't mean the product will work. Also, the glass packaging is not convenient for someone like me who's clumsy/accident-prone, and for traveling. This particular "buffet" serum was an international bestseller and it was the most famous among all its products. First of all, this is why I say odd naming because this is not a serum, this is a mask that just sits on top of your skin and does not sink in no matter how much you rub it. Also, it has a weird frothy texture. It is neither hydrating nor anti-aging. For all its glorious inci list it did absolutely nothing for me and I hated using it. How the hell am I supposed to layer my moisturizer or anything else on top of this "serum" which doesn't sink in? There's a layering problem with other The Ordinary products I tried as well. Some of them burned when I put anything else on top of them. These are not wholesome formulations and are meant to be a step in your routine, meaning they are formulated to be layered with other products. But surprise surprise they don't layer well with other products. It was a real pain to incorporate these products into my routine.

Elizabeth Arden The Original Eight Hour® Cream

This cream costs around 20 to 30 euros for 50ml depending on where you buy it from. The packaging is very luxurious and convenient to use. The cream was thick, greasy, not pleasant smelling, and felt like a thick mask sitting on top of my face. It just ended up transferring onto my pillow and sheets and made them smell unpleasant as well. Vaseline petroleum jelly is also greasy and sits on top of your face but at least it doesn't feel as thick/heavy, and it doesn't have an unpleasant smell. This cream is seriously overrated, overpriced, overhyped, and is nothing but a glorified version of petroleum jelly.

PanOxyl Acne Creamy Wash with 4% Benzoyl Peroxide

I wanted to like this product so much and I was very sad that it didn't. I stopped using antiperspirants a long time back and switched to perfumes. But on days I don't like to use perfumes I thought I would use this to control the odor in my pits. And why is that? Well, a famous influencer said that this can help in controlling body odor by killing the bacteria that cause it. At first, I thought it was a wonderful idea but after using it a few times I noticed it was drying out my armpits and they started to itch and get irritated. It didn't do much for my body odor either. This raises a few questions. Are we even supposed to kill off all the bacteria that exist on our bodies? Isn't using just regular soap or body wash enough? Why do we even need anti-bacterial soaps or washes? This wash didn't help with my acne either. It only irritated my skin and anything else I put on it burned. So yeah, my annoying sensitive skin could not handle this and went all crazy on me. And if you have dry, sensitive skin like me you might not like this either. I even got the low percent creamy version and my skin still couldn't handle it. I had to ship this all the way from the US via an international website which had crazy shipping prices so it was all a big waste of money for me.

PlusWhite 5 Minute Speed Whitening Gel

My husband has stained teeth because he drinks too much coffee and he doesn't maintain very good dental hygiene. He brushes his teeth once in the morning and that's it. He doesn't floss, use mouthwash, or get regular dental checkups to maintain dental health. So I thought if I made him use this gel at least his teeth won't look so yellow. This was recommended by a famous influencer whose teeth were bright white and she said she's been using it for decades. This product did nothing. We later switched to Colgate Anti Stain Toothpaste and that worked a lot better than this. I had to ship this product from an international website with high shipping prices and it was a total waste of money.

Jason Dandruff Relief Treatment Shampoo

Head & Shoulders shampoos work great for dandruff. So why did I interfere with what was working and try something I was unsure of? Well because I'm a crazy blogger who needs to try everything. This hobby definitely has its disadvantages, like wasting money on crap products so I can share them with my readers. Anyway, this shampoo is overhyped and overpriced. It is a salicylic acid and sulfur-based shampoo with rosemary, tea tree, and menthol. It also does not have any harsh surfactants. All great ingredients, sounds good, but did really nothing to control my and my husband's dandruff. It is also very drying and I honestly did not like the smell or the cooling feeling on my scalp when I use it. So, a total dud for me.

Shea Moisture Jamaican Black Castor Oil Strengthen & Restore Shampoo

I do get angry if I lose money over a dud product that does nothing it claims but I get livid when a product is actually harming rather than helping. This shampoo ruined my scalp and hair. After a few weeks of using this shampoo, I had a greasy scalp, dandruff, and my hair was more brittle than usual and breaking off very easily. All of this led to more hairfall than usual and I was almost in tears. How in the world is this shampoo so hyped and is a bestseller on most websites? So I googled about this and I found a whole Reddit thread of users who had similar issues with hair fall after using Shea Moisture products. There were a couple of users who had problems, particularly with the Jamaican Black Castor range. I trashed this shit immediately. It cost me around 15 euros so it wasn't exactly cheap. And the aftermath is that I had to spend a lot of money on hair growth shampoos, and treatments to get my hair back to normal. This is just crazy. So I investigated a bit more as to why this happened, and if you turn and look at the ingredients, this shampoo has way too many natural extracts, oils, butters, proteins, etc. but very little to almost no surfactants. This means that the shampoo is transferring a bunch of extracts and other greasy ingredients onto your already greasy and unclean scalp instead of actually cleaning it. That explains why I never felt like this shampoo did any cleaning and my hair always looked more greasier than usual after shower. And just looking at the ingredients makes sense. This shampoo gives me the vibes of a shitty DIY that someone makes in their kitchen or backyard with a bunch of ingredients they have available at hand. They shouldn't even be calling it a shampoo. I'm gonna steer clear of such shampoos from now on. I feel like all these natural extracts, no sulfates, no silicones crap is a load of marketing BS. A shampoo is just supposed to clean your scalp/hair without promoting hair loss. That is all it has to do so there's no need to make it too complicated.

Smith's Rosebud Salve

I have to be very careful with lip products because I have very dry and sensitive lips that are easily prone to irritation. So it was my fault I fell for this salve. But back in those days I was very stupid and just because it says it's a salve and has natural ingredients I thought this might actually heal my lips. And add to that there were so many influencers hyping this product. So I bought it. It's an expensive salve too. But it irritated my lips. My lips would be slightly swollen and in pain whenever I used this as a lip balm. So I trashed it immediately and raced back to my Vaseline petroleum jelly.

itCosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Color Correcting Full Coverage Cream with SPF50 UVB

They shouldn't be calling this a CC cream because we get the idea that it is not just a regular foundation. But that is exactly what this is, a full-coverage foundation with no skin care or anti-aging benefits whatsoever. First of all, the shade range is very limited so it is hard to find a match but even if you do find one, the formula is just not for everyone. It was thick, heavy, and went on cakey. It has some citrus essential oils so it smelt like Lysol. After a few hours of wear, it felt drying and irritating. It also started highlighting all the texture and lines on my face so it looked like the makeup was drying out and breaking apart. My face definitely did not look better than what it was. In fact, it looked worse. We should really stop fooling ourselves into thinking that just because they say it's BB/CC cream it is not just makeup. Makeup is not skincare and it doesn't matter what they say on the label. Oh and also don't be fooled into thinking this can replace your sunscreen. Even though it is SPF 50 it is only UVB protection and makeup is not sunscreen. And there is no way anyone can reapply this since it is already so cakey. And this shit was so expensive. A full-sized tube of this cream (sorry, foundation) costs around 40 euros and that is almost the same amount I spend on my groceries for a week. Thankfully I had the brain to buy a travel size to test it out first. You see I've been duped with influencer makeup recommendations many a time so I was a little wary about spending so much on a full-sized tube of this shit and I was right to be cautious.

bareMinerals Complexion Rescue Tinted Hydrating Gel Cream SPF 30 PA+++

This is another BS makeup product with a misleading product name fooling people into thinking that this can replace their skincare and sunscreen. This is just makeup and a crappy one at that. This product is overrated, overhyped, and overpriced. The shade range is limited, it is not a cream but a mousse, it is very difficult to apply and if you apply it with your hands it is going to stick to your hands and not transfer onto your face properly. It goes on streaky, it pills, it is very drying, and does not rescue my complexion in any way. There is no way this can replace your sunscreen because you are advised to use a very tiny amount for your entire face. And since the initial application was so messy already you will not be interested in applying this again, which is essential for sunscreens. If this was a sunscreen then this was a very poorly formulated tinted mineral sunscreen. I trashed it after a few uses because no matter what I did it was just not working for me. So I paid a lot of money and then I tried really hard to make this work for me. This is usually how it ends with most makeup products in my experience.

Benefit They're Real/Roller Lash/Bad Gal Bang Mascara

Buying any kind of expensive mascara is such a waste of money. In my opinion, all mascaras perform the same whether drugstore or high-end. The only things that might change are the packaging, a slightly better quality of ingredients, and the application. But these days drugstore mascaras are getting better at all such things too. I find very good packaging, better application, and formulas in drugstore mascaras as well. So in current times, expensive mascaras are a total waste of money. The Benefit mascaras especially are so unworthy of their hype and are overpriced. I just don't understand the rave reviews these mascaras get. They were all very basic, average mascaras. I did not see any wow factor when using these mascaras which would make me want to buy them again. My Essence drugstore mascaras that cost under 5 euros perform the same if not better.

So those were all the products I could find in my archives that I had wasted my money on in the last few years. I will still go through my old product pictures and notes to see if I can find anything more for a future post. I hope you had fun reading my rants. I feel like I roasted the products a bit much but sometimes when I think of all the money I wasted by following influencer recommendations my blood starts boiling. That said I am still not going to blame anyone here because ultimately nobody forced me to buy these products and I should have used my brain and judgment before spending my hard-earned coin. I just created this post as a fun and fair caution to all those who might get influenced into buying unnecessary and worthless products. Definitely follow all your favorite influencers but also think hard and do your own research before blindly following their suggestions and wasting your money or worse-risking your health.