By now, you've likely heard of Wish, the Amazon-esque app where you can buy all sorts of generic products for the price of a dollar-menu taco. There, you'll find a slew of Instagram-worthy beauty products at prices you thought you'd have to kill for.
But is it too good to be true? I placed an order and discovered the truth the hard way.
Honestly, for what you pay, Wish's beauty tools aren't completely terrible.
This 18-piece brush set cost a mere $10 after shipping fees.
These ones didn't look too far off from their pictures, but they did have a few downsides.
Each of these individual brushes felt either incredibly soft or completely frayed. They also didn't feel very sturdy — I'd give them a few months of frequent use, tops. The fake leather brush roll these guys came in gave the bristles a smell that I can only describe as "chemical."
Were I to actually use them, I'd clean them thoroughly beforehand.
This cute little pack of beauty sponges offered drugstore quality for just $1.
These little guys are super dense and not nearly as soft as an actual beautyblender, but I've seen worse at a higher price.
This chubby mermaid brush, also $1, wasn't chrome like it was in its photo — but that was really the only thing wrong with it.
This adorable $1 silicone sponge was one of the only things that looked exactly like its photo (and didn't make me fear for my skin's safety).
The same goes for this crazy cat eyeliner stencil, of which I got five for less than $2.
But, uh, it didn't exactly work. The hard plastic couldn't conform to my eye and made applying my eyeliner harder, if anything.
This tool was definitely designed with hooded lids in mind, which is fine but was certainly not made clear in Wish's product description.
Wish's makeup, on the other hand, is an outright scam. None of it seemed safe enough to put directly on my face — especially this foundation.
It only cost $2, but it smelled like toilet cleaner and had the consistency of carnival face paint. And did I mention there was practically no shade range?
This $1 eyeliner pen felt less like eyeliner and more like a sharpie marker.
The bright side? It stayed put. The downside? It bled. A lot.
I could tell before I even opened this eye shadow palette that it was broken.
And I was right. An entire pan had shattered and spread over the entire palette, which was barely the size of my hand.
For $3, you could fine something better at the drugstore. These swatches took several heaping layers of shadow.
Most magnetic false eyelashes cost upwards of $50, but these were only $1.
And, much to my surprise, they worked. They didn't offer a whole lot of volume, though.
For $1, I got this nail polish that was advertised as "mirror chrome," which it definitely WAS NOT.
Yeah, that's just straight-up metallic.
This clear knockoff of Cover FX's Custom Enhancer Drops cost $3, and I'm pretty sure it was literally just glitter and oil mixed together.
And, finally, this $1 "long lasting matte" liquid lipstick couldn't provide an even swatch. It was THAT patchy.
Was it worth saving those coins? Absolutely not. The downsides heavily outweighed the benefits, and I haven't even told you about the shipping yet.
Because Wish's products are all sold by different vendors, they all ship at different points of time and in separate packages. And they all ship from China, so they take FOREVER to land on your doorstep.
After making one single order for all of these items, I waited just over a month for all of them to arrive. Woof.
BYE, Wish.
I'll sacrifice my hard-earned money for stuff that actually works.
