EMPTIES // FEBRUARY

This month wasn't super exciting, but I did get rid of a lipstick!  If you had told me from a year ago that I was getting rid of a perfectly good lipstick, I would have clutched my pearls in horror!  If you're following my super duper special lipstick challenge, you'll have seen that Wet N' Wild's Stoplight Red was my first purge!  Very exciting.  I'm also getting rid of that bottle of sea salt spray, because even if the spray nozzle hadn't broken off, it smelled awful.  :(  Finally, I'm getting rid of my hairbrush!  I've had it for years (gross, I know) and one day I realized, huh, the brand is right on the handle.  Why don't I just look it up on amazon and see if it's reasonably priced.  And it was!  So I bought a new one!!  Joy of joys!!!

As for things I actually used up: Nivea!!!  I've had that container for way too long, but I've recently started using it on my hands at night, which is great.  I also used up my sample of Lancome's Teint Idole Ultra Makeup Stick, which was really nice.  I would maybe be interested in purchasing a full sized one to try it out.  Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing mask was interesting; it was super intense and made my face burn.  Maybe not for me??  I find that mud masks all make my skin tingle and burn like nobody's business, so maybe I need to find something more gentle, or just forego them all together.

Bogavia's Exfoliating Facial Scrub was nice, but I never feel like manual exfoliation helps me at all.  I exfoliate my face whenever I wear makeup when I take it off with the washcloth, so I feel like maybe that's enough for me.  I also tried out a sample of Bogavia's Night Cream (not pictured, I saved the little jar) which was nice!  But it didn't solve my dehydrated skin, even though it felt good and was unscented.  Maybe for a summer cream?  First Aid Beauty's Ultra Repair Cream was also a bust.  I used it for about a week before my skin completely rebelled.  I got little bumps all over my forehead, and more red spots on my cheeks and chin.  I mentioned it in the comments on XOVain and someone pointed out that it has Eucalyptus Leaf Extract in it, which is irritating to sensitive skin.  C'mon FAB!  I'm going to give the other packets I got to a friend, so hopefully it'll be better for them.

I also decided to finally toss some of my other samples that I never use.  The two packets I got at least three years ago, probably have gone bad by now.  The pots are Sunday Riley's Night Oil and Good Genes, both of which are totally out of my price range, even if they worked for me, which I don't know if they do tbh.  I tried them for a bit and then broke out a bit, blerg.  Whelp!

February Totals

Empties // Full Size // 1

Empties // Foil Packets // 5

Empties // Deluxe Samples // 0

Purged // 3

Toss // 5

Yearly Totals

Empties // Full Size // 8

Empties // Foil Packets // 6

Empties // Deluxe Samples // 1

Purged // 24

Toss // 15

EMPTIES // END OF 2015 & JANUARY 2016

Hello all!  Happy New year!  I thought I'd start the year off with a nice little purge.  A friend of a friend of mine made a post on facebook about giving gently used beauty items to a women's shelter in Buffalo, so I've decided to finally get rid of a whole bunch of stuff I never use but have been lugging around because I can't just throw away my money.  I also did get through a couple of products between now and the last empties post I made.  Very exciting!

My goal for the year with products is to really try to get through one product before purchasing another.  So, hopefully, I'll have a good amount of empties all year round!

Empties //

All these empties I feel really great about!  The Aveeno Men's Shaving Gel was an awesome product.  It smelled like almonds and lasted quite a while.  It was also great for sensitive skin and didn't itch or burn like Skintimate has done for me in the past.  I also finished a second tube of Weleda's Almond Face Lotion which is great and mild, but definitely cannot stand up to the Buffalo winter.  Maybe I will repurchase for the summer, if I don't find something I like more.  The cotton rounds are just a general good purchase.

The Shea Moisture Deep Treatment mask is yet another of the same, I talked about how much I like it in last month's empties.  On the other hand, I finally finished my first tub of Meow Meow Tweet's Tea Tree Deodorant!  I love this stuff.  It makes me feel good when I apply it and it keeps me smelling good all day.  It has a really mild, natural scent, which is great for someone who dislikes the flowery scents of traditional women's deodorant.  It also lasts forever; I got this pot at least half a year ago, if not more.  Something that may be a downside for some people would be that you have to apply it with your fingers, but it never bothers me.

It was time for this Maybelline Fit Me concealer to go.  I maybe could have eeked out a bit more, but I've had it for at least two years, and it honestly does not get the job done anymore.  It was time to face the facts, haha.  I also finished another tube of Physician's Formula brown eyeliner, which I should probably just repurchase again.  I was debating trying something different, but honestly, it's such a great eyeliner and suits me so well.  And they sell it in packs of three!

Samples wise, all I used were two lotions from Kiehl's: A pot of Creme d'Elegance Repairateur and a packet of Ultra Facial Cream.  The Repairateur was a favorite and I definitely want to repurchase a fullsize, but the Ultra was not great and I got the burning sensation I sometimes get with certain moisturizers.

Give-Away //

Holy products, Batman!  I won't even really try with this category, I just liked the photo of all this stuff spilled out all over the place.  A few items of note: Most of the makeup was just not the right color for me, the lemon body butter smelled awful,  the simple face moisturizer broke me out and the No7 one didn't moisturize well, the e.l.f. brushes were scratchy as hell.... I could go on.

Toss //

To start, those little sample pots are all foundations that dried up as they didn't work for me.  I used to love the Maybelline BB Cream but then fell out of love with it and now it's kind of old.  The Sport Face sunblock also lost it's consistency, but it was my facial sunscreen of choice for years.  I never really enjoyed the Vanilla Body Butter's scent, and the Maybelline's The Falsies mascara never worked for me either, and now it's dried up.  I also have a Stilla eyeliner in there, which still has a bit of color left,. but none of it goes to the tip of the felt tip, so drawing a wing is impossible.  Also, I much prefer my gel pot liner and brush now.

Now, taking some inspiration from the lovely Gummy Vision, I thought I'd write down my totals each month and then the cumulative total for the year!  It's always cool to see how much you've used/purged.

January Totals

Empties // Full Size // 7

Empties // Foil Packets // 1

Empties // Deluxe Samples // 1

Purged // ~21

Toss // 10

Yearly Totals

Empties // Full Size // 7

Empties // Foil Packets // 1

Empties // Deluxe Samples // 1

Purged // 21

Toss // 10

EMPTIES // 2015

Probably should add a bit of a disclaimer before starting off: these empties span from recently finished to used up over a year ago.  Oops!  I saved them and saved them but was too lazy to write an empties post.  I kept wanting to combine it with my "not actually empty, but I'm still getting rid of them because I don't like them" products post.  Probably should have realized I bit off a little more than I could chew with that one, haha.  Anyway, seeing actual empties is nice, because you know I loved each product and used up every drop!

//MAKEUP

I hardly ever go through makeup, so only two products and two samples made the cut this time.  Maybelline's Great Lash was my first mascara I ever purchased, and I've gone back to it again and again.  I find that it adds a nice natural tint to my lashes, without becoming clumpy in any way.  I have begun to experiment with other mascaras I've received as samples, but I remember enjoying this mascara when I did use it.

Stilla's Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner in intense black was my first foray in to higher end eyeliners.  My friend gave me this initially because she never used it and I absolutely loved it.  I went and bought my own once this one had run out, but now I find that they dry up quite quickly.  I've now moved on to using a gel pot eyeliner (MAC Fluidline in Blacktrack applied with a 266 brush) which I prefer, as the application is more precise and sharp.  Along with that, the finish of MAC's eyeliner is matte, whereas Stilla's is glossy.  It all depends on what you prefer, but I like the vintage feel of a matte black cat eye.

I also really enjoyed a sample of Laura Mercier's Radiance Foundation Primer, so much so that I went out and got another sample of it from Sephora!  The subtle radiance is really nice, but I actually prefer to use it over whatever tinted moisturizer or foundation I'm using to impart a subtle brightening effect.  It's a little too subtle to use as a primer, I find, but I also absolutely love bright highlighters.  I'm probably not the target market!  Another sample I got was NARS Tinted Moisturizer, which I now own a full sized tube of.  I think that says it all!

//SKIN

For body, I ran through both my trusty Lubriderm Daily Moisture lotion and St. Ives Even & Bright scrub.  Lubriderm is the lotion my mom has used forever, so not only is it tried and tested, it's subtle scent (or lack of, really) is a trip home for me.  It's the lotion I always turn to when I get out of the shower if I'm not really in the mood for any scented moisturizers and I know it'll always do it's job.  The St. Ives scrub is one I got to initially use on my face, but I ended up using up the rest of it on my back.  TMI, but I get spots on my upper back sometimes.  They've gone away now that I've started washing my hair more (It's very dry due to dying and doesn't need an every day wash), but I felt like the exfoliating was doing any harm.  Now that I don't use it anymore and haven't seen a change, I can safely come to the conclusion that physical exfoliants don't do much for my skin.

You can really tell how long I've been accumulating these empties by the fact I have LUSH's The Sacred Truth fresh face mask.  They don't even sell this one!  A little disappointed, to be honest, since I did see a difference in my skin when I used this.  It was very mild and developed for dry and mature skin, but it was nice.  I actually haven't tried any of their fresh face masks since, but I probably should.  In counterpoint, I recently picked up a Sephora sheet mask in pearl, since my skin was going nuts and I didn't have any good masks.  It was a really nice, hydrating mask.  I didn't see a huge difference in my skin, but it did feel more hydrated, and the experience of applying it along with the resulting photos sent to my boyfriend was hilarious.

I also finished up my first tub of Clinique's Take The Day Off Balm last winter and moved on to my next one.  This cleanser is my HG cleanser and makeup remover.  I doubt I will ever try anything else!  I've never experienced this with any sort of product other than this one, and it is an amazing feeling!  I never feel the need to try any other sorts of balm cleansers, oil cleansers, or makeup removers the way I want to try new moisturizers, liquid/cream cleansers, makeup, etc.  Crazy!

Boots Botanics Facial Oil was my staple last winter when my skin started to get super dry.  I applied it with pure jojoba oil and felt like it really helped.  I have another bottle that I'm currently trying to finish before buying any other sort of nighttime moisturizer, but I won't repurchase.  I don't feel like it's doing much for my skin now, and want to move on to different things.  I'm also on my second tube of Weleda's Almond Soothing Facial Lotion, which I do like a lot.  I initially tried Weleda's Skin Food, which has a cult following and I also enjoyed it quite a bit.  I'm really interested in trying more of their products.  It has never made my skin burn and is a really light weight, non-irritating moisturizer for daytime.  I'm finding now that it's getting cooler and the heat is on full blast in my apartment that it hasn't been doing much for my dehydrated skin, however.  I definitely will repurchase for summer next year, unless I find something better before then!

//HAIR

Both of my used up hair products are related to dying my hair!  Shea Moisture's Deep Treatment Masque has been great for dying my hair pastel.  It's a really good, inexpensive mask for mixing the color with to create a less pigmented outcome.  It also makes my hair feel so much less damaged and I feel really does strengthen the hair shaft.  I always feel like I lose much less hair from both shedding and breakage after I use this mask.  I'm sure leaving it on for three hours the way I do helps, as well.  Along with that, the little tubes of Ion Color Brilliance's Sensitive Scalp Protector really work!  My scalp always burns like crazy when I use bleach, salon or at home.  I was astonished when I used this that it made that burning, itching sensation almost go away!  I use a bottle every time I dye my hair, but they're only 89 cents, so it is a crazy bargain for how much they help!

Hopefully now that I'm finally caught up on my empties, I'll do one of these posts a year.  I hardly get through any products, so now I can start fresh every year and maybe not forget what I thought about each product!