Empties March 2013

It's been a while since I did an empties post, because in the summer I rarely use up anything - in fact, most of that time I only use the very basics - soap, shampoo, deodorant. I don't even wear moisturiser on my face most days when it's hot. So this is not a month's worth of empties - it's more like 3 or 4 months, or from whenever I did my last empties post. I did have a bunch of chuckers as well as I had a bit of a clean up, but I forgot to keep them aside and actually chucked them. Now you will never know what they are. Try not to let it eat at you.

Coles Nail Polish Remover
Eh, it's nail polish remover. It does what it's supposed to do. Weirdly I think they have tried to make it smell nice - it's a strange toxic vanilla scent. Don't bother, Coles - no one expects nail polish remover to smell good. I'd buy it again - it's cheap, it does the job.

Puretopia Whisk Away Creamy Face Cleanser
This is my second tube, and I like it a lot. I don't think it's any better or worse than most other cream cleansers I've tried, but I'd buy it again.

Garnier Clean Sensitive 2 in 1 Gentle Makeup Remover and Gentle Eye Makeup Remover
I hated these at first, left them in the cupboard for ages, then pulled them out again when I had run out of everything else and quite liked them. However, by the time I got to the end of them I hated them again. They don't remove anything but the lightest amount of makeup - think tinted moisturiser and cream blush. The eye one is bloody useless with any kind of mascara. I don't know why I liked them at all, and I definitely won't buy either of them again.

Beauty Without Cruelty Facial Cleanser 3% AHA Complex
Just another foaming facial cleanser - I like to have one in the shower for cleaning my face in the morning. It's non-drying and doesn't do much of anything except refresh. I like it and it's cheap (I got it from iHerb - and no I'm not telling you my iHerb code), so I'd probably buy it again when I was doing an iHerb order.

Hugo Naturals Shower Gel Vanilla & Sweet Orange
I threw this in with my last iHerb order just to get to a certain amount where the shipping would be cheaper. It smells nice but it's not moisturising or anything, and since I'm too lazy to bother moisturising my body most of the time despite having a large collection of body butters and lotions, that's a necessity for me in a shower gel. I wouldn't buy it again.

Dove Triple Moisturising Deeply Nourishing Body Wash
See, now we're talking. This one is moisturising and I buy it pretty regularly - whenever it's on special. It's full of those nasties that hippies hate, but I don't care - one less step and count me in!

Imperial Leather Foamburst Foaming Shower Gel Passionflower & Jojoba
I bought this because people on YouTube and blogs rave about it all the time. It's shit. It's like washing yourself with shaving cream - super drying and not very foamy. I ended up using it to shave my legs because I couldn't stand it as a soap.

Al'chemy Ylang Ylang Colour Care Shampoo
I don't have coloured hair at the moment but I think this one was sent to me from Echolife. I like all the Al'chemy shampoos and I nearly always have one on the go (though at the moment I'm trying out one from iHerb). I'd buy any of them again, and probably will in the near future.

endota spa organic hand cream lavender & alpine pepper
This had a horrible smell - really herby and medicinal. It did bugger all as a moisturiser too. I can't remember whether someone gave me this or if it came in a monthly samples box, but I know I didn't buy it. And I wouldn't - it's craptacular.

Swisse Hand Cream with Vitamin F and Pomegranate
Another annoyingly non-moisturisy moisturiser. I think Jacquie gave me this from one of her monthly sample boxes. Again, crap - wouldn't buy it.

Ayelet Naturals Firming Organic Under Eye Nourishing Cream with Primrose
Every now and then I get into this healthifying kick where I start buying only natural products and swearing off parabens and chemicals and blah blah. Then I realise that pretty much everything in life has something in it that will kill you and there's not much point getting freaked out about it so I go running back to my nasties-laden commercial products. This was purchased during one of my organic greenie natural phases from an Etsy store called Ayelet Naturals. I liked it. It didn't do anything amazing but it was a nice eye cream. I'm not sure I'd buy it again, but I'd certainly not be averse to trying other products from the store.

Bourjois Liner Feutre Felt Tip Eyeliner
Sadly I didn't put the lid back on properly and this dried up. I would buy it again if I didn't already have eleventy million black eyeliners - I like the texta kind, as this one is.

December Empties and Chuckers

This is my 100th post. I should have thought of a more interesting topic for it. Oh well, just look at these empty bottles and jars and pretend it's art or something.

EMPTIES

Radox Cocoa Butter Shower Cream.
Eh, it's okay. Nothing bad but nothing great either - I just bought it at the supermarket because it was on special. I probably wouldn't buy it again.

Al'chemy Unscented Very Gentle Shampoo
I really like this stuff - it's about my 3rd or 4th bottle. I'm currently experimenting with using this and no conditioner, just a spritz of detangler. So far so good, but I've only been doing it for a week or so, so it's too early to tell whether it's helping anything yet. I might do a post about it when I've been at it a bit longer.

Aveda Invati Exfoliating Shampoo and Thickening Conditioner
I didn't want to say much about this last time I mentioned it in my empties because I was trialling it for a Beauty Heaven review and I hadn't submitted it yet. Well, now I have and I can tell you I hated it. It's supposed to be helpful for thinning hair, but I had a ton of hair fall out while I was using it and I am convinced that it was this that caused it, as I wasn't doing anything else differently. I actually used up two lots of this, thinking maybe I was just imagining it, but I am definitely not. My hair is considerably thinner than it was 3 months ago, and I will never touch this stuff again.

 

Nutri Synergy Natural NS-8 Heel Balm Complex
I have had this around for ages because I kept forgetting it was there. It works pretty well on rough feet when you remember to use it. I'd probably buy it again and then put it somewhere prominent to remind me about it.

Beauty Without Cruelty Balancing Facial Toner
Just a toner, nothing amazing but it feels nice and has a pleasant scent. It's also cheap as chips and doesn't have any nasties in it. I have already got another bottle on the go and both Noodles and I use it so we're ploughing through it.

Bioderma Crealine H2O
Good lord, is this stuff over-rated! I was given this by Jac as she got it in a Bellabox and wasn't interested in it. I was really excited to try it after all the raves I've heard. It stung my eyes (which are not particularly sensitive) and it didn't clean my mascara or foundation off properly. Frankly, I thought it was crap. So glad I didn't give in to the temptation to spring for a bottle of this on eBay.

Ayelet Naturals Under Eye Cream with Zinc and Green Coffee Extract (sample)
This was a good size sample - I got about 2.5 weeks out of it, using it every morning. It's one of my Etsy skin care sample purchases, as I've been picking up small things here and there from Etsy stores to try them out. It's a nice eye cream but nothing amazing. I probably wouldn't buy a full size.

Pure Luxe Luxurious Facial Mask (sample)
It's spelled 'Luxurios' on the little container, which annoys me no end. This is a clay based mask that is quite nice, but I probably wouldn't buy a full size because I have a couple of huge Queen Helene masks that are going to last for ages.

Sigma Travel Size Blending Brush (#224 dupe)
Another Sigma brush bites the dust. I haven't bought any of their brushes for a couple of years now, and given my history with them, I'm not likely to any time soon.

CHUCKERS

Silk Naturals French Lavender Lotion
Yesterday I was looking through my bathroom cupboards to see if I happened to have an unscented body lotion (I don't) I could use to moisturise so my perfume would last longer. I did, however, find a few others that were a bit past it, like this one. It smells weird so it's going. I never liked it all that much anyway, which is why I have had this little tube for well over a year and only used half of it.

Arbonne Ultra Hydrating Hand Cream
Another one with a funky smell, and there's only a tiny bit left so out it goes. I never liked the smell of this - it was strong and herby and hung around forever - so I wouldn't repurchase it.

Haus of Gloi Depravity and Olde Cider Haus
These still smell like they're okay but I hate the scents of both (as does Noodles), so they never get used. I had them hanging around thinking I would find something to do with them, but - eh. They're only minis, they were probably about $4 each, they can go.

LA Color Craze Nail Polish
The formula of this is streaky and horrible and no matter how many coats I apply it looks like crap, so it's going.

NYX Powder Blush in Natural
I dropped this on the bathroom floor the other day and I was a bit devo as it's one of my favourite blushes - certainly one of my most-used. I know I could press it back together, but I can't be bothered. I'll just pick up another one when Cherry Culture or Nonpareil has one of their 20% off sales.