The Skip List: I Tried Them So You Can Keep Your Money
Five favourites that failed the Glow test — a kindly brutal rundown of what to skip, and why your wallet will thank you.
Every product here started with hope — mine, specifically. I wanted the budget gel kit to work, I wanted the glowy SPF to actually protect me, and I wanted to believe a $100 cream could justify itself. It couldn't, they didn't, and my bank statement has opinions. Consider this your official permission slip to skip: every 'no' below is money back in your pocket for something that actually earns it. Scores are honest, affection is genuine, cruelty is banned — even when my skin was not.
Beetles Gel Polish Kit
Cheap, cheerful, and genuinely fun for a playful evening in — but undercured gel and allergy risk are the sort of plot twist your nails don't deserve. If you want lasting gel, save the money toward the salon instead.
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Supergoop Glowscreen SPF 40
The glow is real; the protection, worryingly, is not. With multiple reports of failed UV tests and sunburn within hours, this is a lovely primer cosplaying as a sunscreen — your SPF budget belongs elsewhere.
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CeraVe Moisturizing Cream
A dermatologist darling that behaves beautifully on some faces and stages a breakout on others — closed comedones are the recurring villain here. If your skin went bumpy after this arrived, it's not you, it's the tub.
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Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream
Gorgeous under makeup, undeniably — but $100 for heavy fragrance and a lid that feels like a free gift? The drugstore dupes manage the same job for a fraction of the price. Admire it, then spend the difference elsewhere.
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The Ordinary Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%
At £5 it's practically an impulse buy, but the gamble is real: for every calm, smoothed complexion there's a six-week breakout mystery nobody can predict in advance. Unless your skin already adores it, put the fiver toward something dependable.
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