"Not so," say some women. "I keep wanting it to work for me. But it makes me itchy and gets me a little bumpy. And I never get bumpy," claims one. Another maintains that "aside from being difficult to use, the results were an awful enlarged-pores/caked-on look. The iridescent shimmer that it produces on the skin is horrifying!" Others concur: "It looked so cakey on my face no matter how I put it on! What a waste of money and the coverage wasn't even that great! Yuck!" and "it is ridiculous unless you're 19 and already have flawless skin."

The Bottom Line: If you find yourself getting sucked in to the commercial, change the channel.

Next: What's so great about that little pink and green tube?

The Hype: This venerable mascara has been around forever and is often cited as every makeup artists' must-have tool.

Next: See what our readers have to say

"Great Lash is horrible. Makes me look like I have 3 eyelashes all glopped together. Why does this crappy mascara get such rave reviews?" is what one reader wants to know. Another says, "it gave me stubby lashes and at the end of the day I just couldn't get it off." Still more contribute that "it's like tar," "it did nothing special to my eyelashes, just made them clumpy and stubby looking," and "I never understood the fuss over Great Lash, it gives me raccoon eyes."

The Bottom Line: Just because something's been around for ever doesn't mean it's necessarily great.

Next: What real women have to say about Jessica Simpson and Julianne Hough's favorite acne-fighting products.

The Hype: This infomercial darling was developed by Stanford-trained dermatologists Kathy Fields and Katie Rodan and has recently added Katy Perry and Avril Lavigne to its stable of celebrity endorsees.

Next: See what our readers have to say

The glowing assessments from TV stop short with our real women. "It cleared up some zits, but it dried out my face so badly that it looked like I had burns!" says one reader. A mom chimed in to say "I bought it for my daughters and we ended up going to the dermatologist to get help with the reaction they had to it!" And another review says "I used it as directed, and it just kept breaking me out more, turning my skin red, dry, itchy, and raw. I kept using it while trying to tell myself 'It's just bringing the toxins out of my skin, it will clear up.' But, no." Still, others say that it was effective in the beginning. "At first using this product made my skin slightly dry, but it really reduced my acne. However the more I used it, the less it worked and when I stopped using this cleanser, the acne immediately came back," says one reviewer.

The Bottom Line: Whether or not the product works seems to depend on skin type. Maybe you'll get red, itchy skin, maybe you won't. Either way, you'll still have to contend with another aspect that some reviewers found troubling: having to order it and wait for it to arrive.

Next: Will "Photo Finish," the critical darling from Smashbox, get the green light from our reviewers?