This review is long overdue, as I bought this product from Fenty Beauty’s site on launch day, waited a week to receive it, tried it, and returned it and got a refund all before I even wrote my first word of this post. I’m not sure what was holding me back, but so many influencers were getting flak for not giving the line glowing reviews, pun intended. But, to me, this product is trash (to me) and I’ll tell you why.

First off, I made the mistake of ordering directly from Fenty Beauty, instead of the Sephora site, as I was afraid they would sell out a la Kylie/Kim K…I should have known better. The Fenty site was easy to order from, but despite their website claiming complimentary shipping on U.S. orders on launch day, I was charged $5.95 for shipping. I still paid it, because I wanted the product obviously.

I forgot about it and waited a week for my order to show up. I purchased September 8th, it shipped on the 11th, and I received it on the 15th. No big deal, as I was still excited about the product despite having a few people tell me they already swatched it in store and that it sucked. I was still hopeful…thinking that the people that had tested the product before them had some grimy fingers 😂

So, I received the product and used it immediately, even though I got it after work. I decided to risk it all and use it on a face of makeup that I had already been wearing all day. I snapchatted some friends my review and I wish that I had kept the clips because it was funny. I compared it to a few shades in my collection, and, while pretty…it wasn’t BLINDING. ✨ But, I still thought I’d use it and like it. So, I waited until the next morning when I applied my makeup for my final thoughts.

See how…lackluster it looks? Where’s the sparkle? I also compared it to a few shades in my collection (which thankfully I saved the below video). Next to Pat McGrath Skin Fetish, Jeffree Star Ice Cold, and Jouer Ice (LE), there wasn’t a clear dupe, but, it also wasn’t as pigmented as the others…which is OBVIOUS.

Not only is it not that pigmented, it’s super light. I have pretty fair skin, and when I packed it on my cheekbones it made me look ghostly. I hate to say ashy, but…ashy. I had figured that it would look even worse on dark skintones, so I watched some reviews and it looked fine on them…so I think it’s just me…I’m just not willing to pay $34 for “fine” when I have a handful of highlighters that I love already.

Last but not least, the packaging was super hard to open, despite being gorgeous. I love the white octagon- a shape I haven’t seen before in beauty components. But, having acrylics, it was difficult to open. I even scraped it with my nail a little bit the second time.

So, all of that led to my return. I just packaged it back up and used the included labels and barcodes and figured I’d be fine, since the site said free returns. Not the case, I had to pay to ship it back- about $4. A lot of companies do that, but they don’t advertise them as free returns. I will say that I was refunded my entire total, sans the shipping of course…so at least there’s that.

I think if you’re still dying to get your hands on some Fenty, avoid this product, and get it from Sephora instead of their site. Because, for me, it was not worth it, as it cost me about $10 in shipping just to try it once and return it.

Would love to hear your experiences in the comments- have you tried this and loved it? Or do you have any other Fenty must haves? I’m not writing the brand off quite yet…this product was just not for me.