March & April Empties

Listerine Advanced Defence and Colgate Cavity Protection – I actually had two bottles of mouthwash, regular mouth rinsing post extraction. It’s alcohol free so that’s cool. The toothpaste is whitening but given the tea I drink I couldn’t tell haha. They’re both much a muchness.

Nivea Stress Protect – MammafulZo got me buying this, it really does work well! Shame it’s so pricey though, makes rebuying a pain.

Vaseline Active Fresh – doesn’t work as well as the Nivea but was good for throwing in my bag for on to go and for after the gym since it’s much smaller and easier to transport.

Simple Soothing Toner and SPF 30 moisturiser – the toner was just one I was trying to use up, I used it in the morning to clean my face. My moisturisers mostly contain SPF, I quite liked this one, it was hydrating and didn’t leave me looking too greasy. Might well rebuy this one.

Aussie Miracle Moist – freebie from my aunt. I’m trying to stick to SLS free ones with my coloured hair and this kind of stripped my colour, did make my hair feel less dry though. Sadly not a repurchase.

This Works Sleep Spray – gift from my mum, she got it free on a plane or in a hotel or something. I struggle sleeping and this actually helped. Plus lavender is one of those scents I can only tolerate when I’m trying to sleep, mostly I dislike it.

There were also some Sainsbury cotton pads, they work same as any other cotton pads. Bit scratchy though, sadly :(

Barry M Dual Ended, some old pencil and Barry M Green Khol – the first two are just super old, the green is just too stiff to be of much use. Not a repurchase for any of them.

Collection 2000 white liner – decent if a bit smudgey, I do much prefer my rimmel liner.

Detrivore Embalming Tube Chai Tea – this was super moisturising and hydrating and smelled just amazing, but it was very oily and was a pain in the backside to apply. If it got warm it just melted like crazy and went everywhere.

NYC Applicious lip balm – I loved this, the colour was I think Big Apple Red and it gave my lips a lovely red tint. Plus it smelled delicious.

Chap Stick – general chap stick. Not much to say.

Eyeshadow samples: Black Rose Minerals Unicorn, Victorian Disco Zangermarsh, Darling Girl Turning Japanese and Sushi Flower, Meow Hieroglyph

Collection Super Size Mascara – I didn’t like this. I think there’s actually a fair bit left but I don’t want to wear it and it’s getting older, so in the bin it goes.

State of Grace Demonic Forces – this smelled gorgeous and I am totally repurchasing some time soon.

Conjure Oils Release The Bats and Tear You Apart – I liked these both, but they smelled much a muchness. Not a repurchase as these were decants and I believe limited editions.

January & February Empties

I know it looks like a massive pile of empties but it is two months worth, plus I'm destashing my makeup collection so admittedly it's not all actually empty. Some are expired and some were awful but not ones I could sell or gift so were binned. I'm hoping to start doing these every couple of months or so, or if I forget to do it every couple months, whenever the basket of empties fills up. It's a good way to look back at products I've used up and see whether I liked them or not over time.

Listerine Advance Defence Sensitive & Colgate Maximum Cavity Protection you'll probably see a lot of these kinds of dental products over time, I try to buy as many high fluoride cavity prevention/repair ones as I can given the state of my teeth thanks to medical issues. In all honesty I can't give you much information on the effectiveness of either the cavity prevention or the whitening (again, thank you issues). Sorry, this hasn't been the greatest review. They taste fine though!

Cuticura hand gel I picked this up for carrying around and using when I was eating on the go a lot, or for quick cleaning jobs between work in the lab. It works perfectly well, smells better than a great many of the standard ones though, like all alcohol gels, dries hands out.

Garnier Micellar Water & Simply Essentials Wipes I really liked the micellar water, it's a decent make up remover. It doesn't remove waterproof make up particularly well, I didn't really expect it to do, but you can get it off after a while. I mostly used this for cleaning up my face of any of the stubborn mascara smudges in the morning (the stuff that really clings to my lashes that I didn't want to scrub at) and to remove any make up remover residue. It lasted for ages too, which is great value especially if you can get it on offer. I bought a different one to replace it (one of the Boots Botanics Ultra Calm ones as I had a voucher for some money off and Boots had a 3 for 2 skincare) but I may well go back to the Garnier afterwards if it's not amazing. The wipes were not a regular use thing, I used them on and off for loads of bits and pieces though, after the gym to clean my face a bit, removing swatches and travelling. Anyway, they weren't great when I had to use them for make up removal, and honestly I find them a bit scratchy and irritating to sensitive bits of skin on my face. I'm still looking for a kinder, softer alternative to travel with.

Phil Smith Dry Clean & Batiste Tropical so Batiste is brilliant and works great for me, I prefer the Cherry one to the Tropical, but Tropical smells rather nice. The Dry Clean though... that was horrible! It made my hair feel even more greasy and a bit like I'd just sprayed hairspray on it (I checked, it's not). I won't be repurchasing it ever.

Maybelline Falsies yep, still one of my favourite mascaras. There's not much I can say about this really, I like using it and will, when I run out of mascaras, probably end up repurchasing it. Unless the blogger and addict in me kicks in and there's something else out that looks totally awesome of course. #bbloggerproblems

Maybelline Collosal Cat Eyes this worked quite well. I will admit I didn't like it as much as my original Falsies mascara. But it worked fine and I was happy to use it while I had it, I do doubt I would repurchase though, as there are plenty I prefer.

L'Oreal Volum Million Noir Excess when I first got this mascara it smelled terrible, the smell improved over time though you could still smell it. I really did like this mascara, just not so much the price. I do have a second tube in wait that my mum kindly gifted to me (she doesn't use make up) for when my current one runs out, but if it happens to be on offer or something I would consider picking a tube up.

Collection Glam Crystals this dried up rather than being totally used up, but I really love these liners. I haven't seen any so strongly glittery (and mildly pigmented, though that could be the glitter running) for such a great price. It makes the perfect glittery blue line. Or did as the case may be.

Aside from that one trio (which was ancient, old and not very good at all) that I can't even remember the name or make of, though it had long since rubbed off the packaging, these are all samples. Of course. I don't know if I'll ever manage to use up a full size indie product.

Darling Girl Friday I'm in Love and Survival Instinct I didn't like Friday I'm in Love as much, the colour never really worked well on me and in the end I mostly used it as a liner or occasional brow product, but Survival Instinct I did really love.

Victorian Disco Lorien, Kidnap Sandy Claws, I'm 100 Years Older Than You But It's Okay! Lorien was by far my favourite of these, it was a lovely inner corner highlight colour. IOHYOTYBIO was not a great lid colour, it turned very black and not very purple, but worked great as a liner and I pretty much just used Kidnap Sandy Claws as a liner since the glitter never showed very well.

Kiss My Sass Meteor eh, I didn't hate it, I didn't really love it all that much. It was pretty much a everyday neutral that I was, honestly, just trying to use it.

Meow Telekenisis this, I loved. I really wish the shipping from Meow wasn't so painful ($11) because I would repurchase this. I really want to find a dupe or a similar colour. I really should have kept a little and swatched through my collection just to check, it had the perfect warm orange red glow to it without being actually orange or red. I could wear it on pretty much any occasion.

So the MUA BB Cream, Nivea Tinted Moisturiser and Collection Coverup Stick were all too orange (the BB cream oxidises on me something awful now) and the stick was clumpy and chalky. But for obvious reasons I can't pass these on, so they're being binned.

Seventeen Phwoar Paint worked perfectly and I really liked it, I especially like the mirror in the lid for when I'm on the go. I may well rebuy this when my current concealer tube runs out, especially if it's on offer.

Rimmel Matte Perfect this had, admittedly gotten rather caked up and solidified with oil before it broke. I really liked this powder, it was a decent colour for me and worked well as a powder. Stopped me getting too oily though I did have to reapply a few times. When I run out of my current powder I'll likely rebuy.

April Roundup: Favourites & Empties

A little late to the game but it feels like I was only posting my March favourites yesterday! Time seems to be accelerating at an alarming rate and I can't say I'm a fan, though the warmer weather creeping in is good.

It's rare for skincare to really wow me, mostly because it's rare for me to notice anything different about my face unless a massive spot erupts (as they are want to do) but the Nip + Fab Glycolic Fix pads have actually done that. Since using them regularly I've noticed my skin feels a lot smoother, and the KP along my jawline has almost gone. I actually think I'll be repurchasing these when they run out. £12.95 for something that has made such a difference to my face and will last me two months isn't too bad. I have two favourite lip products this month, the first being the NYC Appleicious in Big Apple Red which is a gorgeous red lip balm. I loved this, it smells like apple and leaves a lovely subtle red colour to my lips, it means that I didn't need to worry about removing my lip colour when adding balm to my lips.

The other lip product I loved this month was the Barry M Touch of Magic Lip Paint (swatched here), and not just because it was funny to see people's faces in work when I whipped out a green lipstick! I am easily amused. It gives me a bright pink lip which lasts for hours and hours and means I'm not worrying about odd lip fade during the day. I've also really loved NYX Taupe blush, the blogger favourite, and it's my daily contour shade now. Lovely pale cool tone which seems to work well with my skin. And my eyeshadow pick for the month is Innocent + Twisted Alchemy's Fatal Desire (swatched here) which has been my eyebrow of choice this month, although no one at work seems to have noticed. It's a stunning teal green and aside from apparently being more subtle than I thought, works great with my ever fading hair.

Something which isn't really beauty but I included in the picture (because it was photographable) is my eCigarette. I've been trying to quit smoking for a while and these really helps me stay away from all but the emotional crisis cigarette. I'm on the lowest % nicotine now and will probably move to the nicotine free soon. Plus all the great flavours are fun. A book that really stuck with me this month was Purge by Sarah Litman (which I mentioned in review here ). As I said there it's so well written and really strikes home, and it's rare for a book to still be running through my head so much later. Highlight of the month as far as leaving the house goes was McBusted – they were amazing. Everything the high schooler in me wished that they would be and more. I would relive that night over and over (being locked out of the house until 4am aside). Musically this month the biggest favourite for me has been Bastille's album Bad Blood. I am obsessed. I think I know most of the songs off by heart now and I have so many favourite tracks, namely Flaws, Icarus, Laura Palmer and Daniel In The Den, as well as the two big radio hits Pompeii and Of The Night. The full album is actually on youtube for you to listen to if you search.

Empties

I have a fair few empties this month as well, I seem to be using up quite a few things lately.

First the makeup, quite a lot of my empties are makeup this month. Okay, so, the Collection 2000 Lasting Perfection Powder and Barry M Nail Paint in Black aren't actually empty, but the powder is hard and won't pick up on my brush any more (it's got that weird 'skin' on it or whatever) and the nail paint is gloopy and done for. So they're both really as good as empty - I won't be using them anyway. I'm not repurchasing either of these, I wasn't a fan of the powder and I just bought Rimmel's Stay Matte to try out, but the Nail Paint wasn't bad at all, I just have a black from Maybelline and the Matte black Espresso from Barry M to replace it with. Then I have three lip products! The NYC Appleicious lip balm which I used almost every day this month and am strongly considering repurchasing and maybe trying some of the other shades too though I do have some other tinted balms on the way from Shiro. Speaking of... the second of my lip empties is Shiro Cosmetics Intertubes in Magnets (swatched here) which got very gritty and uneven towards the end. Caitlin has actually discontinued the intertubes in favour of a new better formulation, though if you wish to snap up any of the colours you loved they're currently on sale until they vanish here as many of the colours haven't been remade in the newer formula. I won't be repurchasing Magnets, it was pretty but gritty and that makes me sad. The final lip empty is a sample from Kiss My Sass of their Sippin Mai Tais Lip Tint (swatched here), I really liked this colour and the flavour of the tint but the wear wasn't great. Another non-repurchase that nevertheless I enjoyed while it lasted. I also used up three eyeshadows, Darling Girl The Mummy (swatch) and Ladyhawke (swatch) and Victorian Disco Mellon (swatch), I really liked all three of these but unfortunatley The Mummy and Mellon are both discontinued (as far as I know) and Ladyhawke was one of the Darling Girl GWPs which are one offs for the week, so they're all gone for good. Mellon was my favourite of the three, but I got a new appreciation for Ladyhawke just as it was running out. Typical! The final empty of the beauty products is Thursday's Child Perfume Oil from State of Grace (review here), I wish I had liked this scent more but lavender is just not my thing. So again not a repurchase. Not many repurchases here are there?

Skincare. First off the Sainsbury's Basics cotton wool pads, these were a desperate buy at the time. Next time I'm investing a little extra in my cotton pads (though I shouldn't need them for more than nails for a while with new skincare purchases) because these scratched and irritated my eyes :(. The Boots Botanics Ultra Calm Serum was a lovely feeling serum, and made my skin feel pleasantly soft but it didn't do much to help my redness which is what I'd picked it up for in the first place. I did really love the pump system, it's one of the airtight ones that flattens the tube as you go along and you get all the product out. I bought this in January I believe, and it lasted until early April with daily use, which is darn good for a £7.99 product, but not a repurchase for me. The other is Asda Mattifying Moisturiser which was cheap and cheerful and did exactly what it said on the tin, but didn't play nice with my foundations and really at 23 I need a better moisturiser that does more to hydrate and protect my skin.

Mostly there's not much to say about this last lot. Nose Pore strips don't really work, the Sure deodorant works and doesn't stain my many many black tops. Plus the new compressed tins are easy to carry if needs be. Sensodyne Repair & Protect is my go to toothpaste, it does go some way towards helping my teeth but honestly there's not much that'll save them barring a miracle. The very final empty of the month is nSpa Shower Scrub in Raspberry, this smells gorgeous - a really lush fruity smell, but it doesn't scrub as much as I want. If you have sensitive skin this would be perfect for you because it's really not harsh. 

March Roundup: Favourites & Empties

Since buying the Barry M Aquarium collection (here), I haven't stopped wanting to wear Mediterranean on my nails. It's a beautiful pink/orange duochrome and by far my favourite from the set. I don't sleep enough so Seventeen Phwoarr Paint has been my go-to concealer for the past month, it really works wonders covering my dark circles and the little mirror in the lid is brilliant. I've been really loving coloured liners of late, especially now the weather has turned towards the warmer end of the thermometer, and rather than having to buy a whole range of colours I've been using the miracle in a bottle that is ELF Lock & Seal to turn my eyeshadows into liners which stay in place all day. It really is a wonderful (and affordable) product! Another newer purchase I've really been in love with this month is the L'Oreal Miss Manga mascara in Violet (though admittedly the purple doesn't really show through). With a change in hair colour has come a change in brow colour, I've been going between Femme Fatale Illusions (brown with a blue sheen here) and Innocent + Twisted Alchemy Contaminated Waste (brown with a green sheen and sparkles here) for my day to day brows. As far as eyeshadow goes, during the week when I just want a quick wash of colour I've been reaching for Darling Girl The Mummy (here) almost every day this month.

And now for some things outside of the beauty world I've really enjoyed this month:

The books of the month for me have been The Little Girl in the Radiator: Mum's Alzheimers and Me by Martin Slevin (on amazon here) which is in equal parts funny and heartbreaking, especially as I'm watching my Grandparents memories deteriorate in much the same way, my Granddad in particular. The other was The Gates by John Connolly (on amazon here) which is a funny, dark, supernatural story. Aimed at the YA audience it's still a brilliant book for older readers too (I'm 23, it's still kind of young adult *ahem*)

Musically the warm weather has had me leaning towards the more chart-pop music end of the scale, and I've had One Republic - Counting Stars and Aviici – Hey Brother on quite often.

And for TV I am head over heels in love with The Musketeers on the BBC, which sadly ended on the 30^th March. It was a fantastic series and I'd rather like an Aramis and one of the fresian horses they've been riding of my own! And of course there's Hannibal on the NBC which was one of my favourite new series of 2013 and has stepped it up a notch, Mads Mikkleson as the totally-not-a-cannibal Hannibal Lecter and Hugh Dancy as poor Will Graham have really stepped it up a notch in tsrms of fantastic acting and exploring dicferent facets of their characters.

 

I seem to have gone through quite a lot of stuff this month, mostly using up the last little dregs of things. I don't often have this many empties!

Skincare

First up there's a set of Clarins Skincare samples (HydraQuench Cream, Water Purify One Step Cleanser, Hand and Nail Cream, Moisture Replenish Lip Balm) my mum got from an aeroplane. She doesn't really use skincare (or makeup or anything else for that matter) so she handed them over to me. Obviously with such small samples I can't get a full picture of what they're like, but I have no complaints. The hand cream and lip balm were both lovely and moisturising, the makeup remover worked well – it was only mascara that was hard to budge, as always. The moisturiser I used at night and some mornings just on my cheeks which tend to be very dry and it felt lovely. These were a great freebie, but I wouldn't go out and purchase them, mostly down to the prices. They were nice but not so WOW that I could justify £20+ a piece. (Full size prices: HydraQuench Cream £35, Water Purify One Step Cleanser £20, Hand and Nail Cream £21, Moisture Replenish Lip Balm £19).

Then there are two lip balms the Nivea Lip Balm in Soft Rose (£1.10) and a Betty Crocker Caramel Frosting lip balm (£1.99) I picked up in Camden a year or so ago. They were both perfectly functional as lip balms, I don't know what else to say! I would repurchase the Betty Crocker Caramel Frosting Lip Balm, just for the scent which was a gorgeous vanilla caramel scent. Almost edible. (And you would not believe the number of times I have typed blam instead of balm trying to write this up!)

Makeup empties for this month are the well known Maybelline Great Lash mascara (£4.99), which I didn't technically finish so much as I have had for as long as I can remember and never really use so I figured it was time to bin it. Honestly I don't love this mascara, it was great when I was a teenager but there are so many better offers out there nowadays and this doesn't do much for my lashes.

Another thing I've had for ages and mostly used up is a Collection 2000 palette that I don't know the name of, can't find the name of and never use. I did love the lighter shades for things like highlight and wash of colour on the lid (I think I did that back in college, oops!) and since it's so old and so unloved it's time to say goodbye.

The last two makeup products I used up are some indie samples, Femme Fatale Desecration (AUS$5.50 for 5, swatch here ) and Victorian Disco Jockey (US$1  swatch here ) both of which I really liked. Desecration made a smashing eyeliner and eyebrow colour and Jockey was a pretty sparkly highlight. I would repurchase both of these, though I won't be doing so any time soon – you'd understand why if you saw my indie sample drawer, I have way over 100! And there are always new colours I want to grab and use, I have a shopping problem where indie shadows are concerned.

This empty reminded me I never shared my latest crazy hair colour! You can see it here. I used the remainder of a pot of Directions Atlantic Blue (£4.50) to cover up a not so awesome attempt at orange and blue 'Portal' hair, which went more yellow and blue. I love Directions hair dye and this shade of blue is a gorgeous one, even if it looks more like teal/turquoise where I shoved it over the yellow! I would definitley repurchase this blue if I intended to dye my hair blue again, and Directions is my go-to coloured hair dye brand.

I also used up a couple of scents this month, The Body Shop Vanilla & Tonka Bean Body & Linen spray (£7.00) (it says body, I can use it on my body haha) which is possibly one of my favourite scents of all time. If I didn't already have another vanilla scent to use I would repurchase this. I also used up one of my Common Brimstone perfume samples (£5.50 for 5), I can't remember which it was as I managed to lose the label (and I lost a couple of my other sample vials :() but I think it was either Cherry Kiss or Absinthe With Faust. I wouldn't have repurchased samples if Common Brimstone hadn't recently changed from the rollerball (which stuck quite often and was a pain to use) to a small bottle format which I prefer.

I also used up some Asda cotton wool pads which are an obvious repurchase for using with micellar water (though the next set I got were from Sainsbury, they're the own brand and much the same to be honest). And finally I worked my way through a pack of Biore pore strips (£7.99 for 6) which were better than the asian pore strips from eBay I had been using before, but not so amazing that I can justify spending £8 on them again so not a repurchase.

February Empties

Beyonce True Star - this was an old perfume I finally finished, honestly I can't say much about it. I have owned it for years and I don't remember what it smelled like fresh so have no idea if the scent altered. Sorry!

Barry M Special Effects Black - this was dried up and clumpy rather than empty, but I do like these polishes. I have a Rimmel from the Bargain bin at Asda to replace this, but if that doesn't work out I'm going to buy this again!

Collection 2000 2 in 1 base and top coat  - this didn't do much to strengthen my nails, did protect from staining but I used it more as a top coat. Doubt I will repurchase as I need more from my base coat really.

Rimmel Eyebrow pencil - The lid is half off in this photo, that's how long I kept using this before I finally said it was done. I love this pencil. I have a George one to try that I've had lying around for a while, but this pencil is one I would rebuy in an instant.

Nivea 2 in 1 Eye Makeup remover - okay, felt very oily and didn't remove waterproof mascara but I'm not sure much will. I felt it was a bit harsh for my eyes though, I don't think I will repurchase, not soon at least – I have a Garnier one to try.

Vaseline - staple product really. Not much you can say about Vaseline that hasn't been said for years! heh

Clean & Clear Blackhead Scrub - I don't know if this helped my blackheads, it didn't get rid of them, but I do only use it once a week in the shower. It's a nice, not too harsh scrub.