Empties and Chuckers

These are not really July empties and chuckers, as I'm sure it's been a couple of months since I last did one of these posts, and I don't tend to use up all that much stuff within a month. But let's just get on, shall we?

EMPTIES

Couleur Caramel Short Eyelashes Mascara in Black
This was a Christmas gift from the ever thoughtful Sabine of Echolife, who very kindly sent one for me and one for Noodles. Noodles is a one-at-a-timer with mascara and ploughed through hers within a couple of months. I try to be a one-at-a-timer, but in the past few months I also acquired various mascaras from clearance bins and online sales, so it's taken me a while to get through this. I find it adds a lot of length and volume, but the formula is quite wet and never feels completely dry on the lashes. This is great for not getting the crispies, but not so great for someone like me who has a tendency to rub my eyes. That's the only reason I wouldn't repurchase it, because otherwise I found it to be a lovely mascara.

Al'chemy Avocado & Calendula Conditioner for dry and long hair
You've seen me talk about Al'chemy shampoo and conditioner before. I like them. I will probably repurchase this at some point when I've worked my way through all the other shampoos and conditioners in the house. I'm being strong and using what I have. Go me!

Maybelline Express Care Eye & Lip Makeup Remover
This has recently been repackaged and I swear they have reformulated it as well because this stuff was ace, and the new version is shite. I'm slightly disappointed as it was a staple in my bathroom for a long time, but luckily I now have L'Oreal Skin Perfection Micellar, so you can suck it, Maybelline.

Garnier Hand Intensive 7 Days Protecting Hand Cream Aloe Vera
Eh. It's a cheap hand cream. Slightly better than a most cheap hand creams, but still a cheap hand cream. On my hands it didn't do a lot. I actually sometimes use the body lotion version of this stuff on my hands and it works a lot better. I doubt I'd repurchase it.

Michael Todd True Organics Pearl and Silk Facial Mask
Remember when Michael Todd was a makeup brand that no one other than scroungy beauty vloggers who got everything for nowt ever talked about? When did they become a skin care company? Anyway, this was okay - I can't really remember anything about it so I don't think I'll be rushing out to buy a full size.

Paula's Choice Resist Optimal Results Hydrating Cleanser x 2
I love Paula's Choice products, with the exception of most of the moisturisers - not so jazzed with those. This is a lovely cleanser that doesn't make my skin feel tight afterwards. It's on my wishlist, but I have a ton of cleansers on the go at the moment (including a couple of other Paula's Choice ones), so although I probably will get a full size, it won't be for a while.

Paula's Choice Weekly Resurfacing Treatment 10% AHA x 2
I got a couple of samples of this to try after my friend Jade raved about it on Twitter and her blog. I nearly lost all of the first sample I opened because I expected it to be a creamy lotion and it's actually a liquid, like a toner. However, crisis averted and I saved enough of it to get on my face. This stuff is freakin' AMAZING. It makes my skin feel ridiculously smooth and soft the next morning (I put it on and left it overnight), and I am sure it toned down redness as well. I've just ordered a full bottle while Paula's Choice has a 50% off sale going.

Poison Apple Potions Body Butter sample in Garden of Graves
This is a pretty funereal floral with a touch of dirt - I do like those kinds of scents but I already have at least a couple of them in perfumes. I'd buy this in a perfume (though it's discontinued so I think I've missed my chance), but I'm not in love with PAP's body butter formula - I find it doesn't absorb that easily.

Love by Kilian Don't Be Shy perfume sample
This is a gorgeous, sweet gourmand fragrance that reminds me of a more grown up MOR Marshmallow. It was sent to me by Su ages ago but went astray in my perfume drawer (not hard) and I forgot about it until it turned up while I was looking for something else. I loved this so much that I wore it for several days in a row and used it up. Now I want more but I think it's discontinued. SAD FACE.

Solstice Scents Quiet Night perfume sample
I reviewed this a while back on my perfume blog, and although I don't wear it as a daytime scent, I love it at night because I think it helps me stay asleep longer. I just got a full size last week so that's already a repurchase.

CHUCKERS

Benefit The POREfessional 
I have had this primer for at least a couple of years and I bought in on Strawberrynet so who knows how old it is. It still smells and feels okay but I was sent another one a couple of months ago for review, so I decided to just chuck this one.

B Collections by Bloom Prep and Prime Primer
I got this free when I spent a certain amount at one of those discount perfume and cosmetic shops. I never even opened it, and the expiry date is July 2013 so out it goes.

Bourjois Flower Perfection Foundation in Light Vanilla
Jacquie bought this and hated it, so she gave it to me to try. I hate it too - it goes into every pore so I look like I have tiny white dots all over my face. I find that happens to me a lot with Bourjois foundations - I've never found one I liked much.

Garnier Miracle Skin Perfector BB Cream in Light 
Erg, why on earth have I been holding on to this for so long? It was given to me so it's not even like I lose money for tossing it. I have hated it since day one, but for some reason I keep trying periodically to make it work. I give up now. It's going in the bin. And good riddance.

Poison Apple Potions Body Butter sample in Red Queen's Rage
As I said above, I'm not jazzed with the formula of these, and I really don't like the smell of this one. It's like a rose that's had pepper poured all over it. I have used most of it so I don't feel bad about turfing the wee bit that's left.

Benefit Erase Paste
This is another thing that's just been around for too long - at least two years, maybe longer. There's not much left because I really did like it for a long time, but I've since moved on to other concealers and I just never come back to this so it's going.

Pixi Eye Bright Kit #1 and #2
These are little concealer/highlighter quads that I never really did get much use out of. The formula of the product was too sheer and greasy - they didn't give any coverage and the highlighter colours just faded away really quickly. They're a bit useless and they're out.

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.

Inventory 2012: Pressed Single Eyeshadows

This may be my final inventory post. I do have some nail polishes but I got rid of most of them a while ago and they're not something I ever use all that much, so I don't know that I can be bothered photographing those.

Things I have learned from doing this:

1. I have WAY more blushes than I thought I did. 
2. I actually have fewer eyeshadows than I thought I did, though having said that, I have sold or given away a ton of them in the past year or so. 
3. I think I have a reasonable number of lipsticks, but I have a tendency to only wear the same half dozen or so over and over. I might need to do a lipstick challenge or something. 
4. Since taking my mascara pictures I have acquired two more, one from Beauty Heaven and one sent to me by L'Oreal. 

Inventory 2012: Eyeliners and Brows

I rarely use eyliners, because I'm lazy and because I just don't seem to have a knack for it. I used to - when I was in my late teens and obsessed with Doris Day and Grace Kelly I was a dab hand with the black liquid liner. These days I just can't seem to get it right. I could probably improve again with practice, but you know... there's TV and Twitter and Cracked.com. It's a busy time, man.

Top to bottom:

• essence kajal pencil #19 All I Want (this is pants, not soft enough)
• Milani Liquif'eye Metallic Eye Liner Pencil #05 Brown
• Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil #040 Purple Passion
• Rimmel Soft Kohl Kajal Eye Liner Pencil #061 Jet Black
• Mirenesse Tight Liner Saphire (sic!) Blue
• Bourjois Liner Feutre #11 Noir
• Prestige Total Intensity Eyeliner #07 Fearless Teal
• Prestige Total Intensity Eyeliner #06 Powerful Purple
• NYX Slide On Eyeliner #08 Platinum
• Mirenesse Magic Point Eye Highlighter Duo
• (not pictured) Wet'n'Wild Color Icon Brow and Eye Liner Black (I have 4 of these as they came with the eyeshadows that J from Just Peachy sent me with the Naked 2 Palette)
• (not pictured) Urban Decay 24/7 Glide On Eye Pencil mini Zero (also from J with the Naked 2 palette)

Maybelline Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner in Charcoal and Aubergine. Jade gave me these, and I've actually been a bit keen to get into them, but I'm holding off until I know I'm going to use them, rather than just open them, poke around a bit and then throw them into a drawer where they will be neglected and dry up and die.

Elf Cream Eyeliner Black. I do use this one occasionally and it's one of Elf's better products. A good cheapie. 

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencils in Yoghurt, Pots & Pans, Slate, French Fries, Milk. I have a bit of a like/hate relationship with these. I think they're totally over-rated (even Milk), but they can be good as a base if they're used properly. They crease like a mofo, which is annoying. They're cheap, which is good. I often use Slate in lieu of eyeliner (hence its size compared to the others).

Clockwise from top left:

• NYX Eyebrow Cake Powder Taupe/Ash
• Silk Naturals Brow Powder Medium Ash
• Silk Naturals Brow Cream Medium Ash
• Silk Naturals Brow Powder Light Brunette
• Milani Easybrow Automatic Pencil Natural Taupe
• NARS Eyebrow Pencil Ipanema
• essence lash and brow gel mascara

Okay, I probably have too many black eyeliners for someone who doesn't wear a lot of eyeliner, but I don't think that's too outlandish a stash, is it? Is it....?