Empties and Chuckers August 2013

The charger for my laptop died this week and I am currently using Noodles' old school laptop, which is about the size of a matchbox and has a teeny tiny keyboard that my stubby Simpsons fingers are really struggling with. It is also mega slow and has hardly any useful software on it, so I feel like I'm back in 1998.

I don't know why this picture is sideways. I rotated it and saved it on the ancient Paint but it didn't seem to work for some reason. 

Empties:

Palmolive Naturals Ultra Moisture Milk & Shea Butter Shower Milk
This is a staple - it's pretty much in every second empties post. Definite repurchase.

Garnier Body Intensive 7 Days Hydrating Lotion
This is not a particularly interesting body lotion - there's no WOW scent or anything. It does a great job though, and both Noodles and I use it regularly. Definite repurchase.

L'Oreal Revitalift Laser X3
Despite being in a jar, I love this moisturiser. It's rich enough to make me think my wrinkles are going away (they're not really), but light enough that I can use it during the day under makeup. I have some other things to use up first but this will be a definite repurchase. Might wait for a sale though- paying $45ish for a drugstore moisturiser makes me wince.

Chuckers:

MorroccanOil Intense Hydrating Mask
This has been in my shower for a couple of years and I noticed the other day that it was about 6 months past its use by date, so ewwww out it goes. It still smelled and looked okay, but considering long it's been around and it's still about 1/3 full, obviously we are not getting much use out of it. I wouldn't repurchase it - it's okay but nothing amazing.

Nivea In-Shower Rich Body Lotion for very dry skin
I cannot say enough about how much I absolutely hate this stuff. It's greasy, it leaves a gross filmy feel on the skin, it STINKS - it smells like diesel. It's no less cumbersome than putting lotion on after a shower. It's disgusting and stupid and pointless and I don't think I have ever hated anything as much as I hate this shit. I will never, ever repurchase this.

I had a pencil clear out because I found a pencil I don't ever remember even buying and that clued me in that maybe I had too many, which is crazy because I don't even use liners that often.

Out because they're too hard:
Mirenesse Magic Point Eye Highlighter Duet
Lime Lily Waterproof Eye Pencil in Jet
Essence Kajal Pencil in #19 All I Want

Out because they're old:
Milani Easybrow in Natural Taupe

Out because they are crap:
ELF Lip Definer and Shaper in Nude
ELF Eyebrow Lifter and Filler in Ash

Out because they are a colour I'd never wear:
Mirenesse Tight Liner Hydra Gel Eye Liner in Saphire (sic) Blue

May Empties - only three weeks late

Beauty Without Cruelty Vitamin C Facial Cleanser
This is just a foaming facial cleanser I got from iHerb to use in the shower in the mornings. It doesn't do anything exciting, but unlike a lot of foaming cleansers it doesn't dry my skin out or make it feel tight, so I quite like it. And it's cheap. I'd probably buy it again if I were in need of a cleanser and doing an iHerb shop.

Sunsilk Addictive Brilliant Shine Shampoo and Conditioner
I am currently working my way through all the half used hair products in the house and these are two of them. I buy Sunsilk for Lily because she really likes it, but I don't use it all that often myself. It's okay for a supermarket shampoo but nothing special. I'll probably get it again for Lil if she still wants it when we've used everything else.

Palmolive Aromatherapy Shower Gel Anti-Stress
Didn't think much of this - I like the moisturising kind of body washes because I'm lazy. This one was a bit drying and I probably wouldn't buy it again.

Garnier Nutritioniste Skin Renew Post-Treatment Regenerating Moisturiser
This came in a duo with a scrub, and it's nothing special. It wasn't overly moisturising and I wouldn't bother with it again.

MAC Brush Cleanser
Good stuff, but I'm thinking of trying out some of the cheaper ones to see what they are like. I go through this really quickly because I'm a bit fussy about cleaning my brushes.

Beauty Without Cruelty Balancing Facial Toner
Bog standard toner - doesn't do anything special but I do like a toner and this one was cheap. Again, if I needed a toner and I was doing an iHerb haul I'd probably buy this again.

Al'chemy Ginkgo & Jojoba Intensive Moisture Vitamin Masque
Part of a birthday gift from Sabine at Echolife last year - I really liked this. Because my hair is so thin - and thinning - most hair masks are too heavy for it, but this one was light and fresh and didn't weigh my hair down. I used it about once a fortnight as my hair doesn't need any more than that. I'd buy it again for sure.

John Plunkett Essentials Anti-Ageing Multi-Vitamin Moisturiser
Very thick, reminded me of those old school kind of moisturisers like Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream. It didn't make my skin feel especially moisturised though. I wouldn't buy it again.

Lancome Advanced Genefique Youth Activating Concentrate
I feel that there's more than a whiff of the emperor's new clothes about Lancome. People rave about their skincare but I've been unimpressed with everything I've tried. I was sent this to try and I'm glad I didn't pay for it - it was a nice enough serum but it did pretty much nothing.

Pantene Clinicare Fullness-charge Revitalising Conditioner
How on earth do they come up with these names? Another one I was just using up - I think it came in a travel set free with a magazine. Meh. It's a conditioner. It doesn't do anything exciting and I doubt I'd buy it.

Paula's Choice Earth Sourced Purely Natural Toner, Cleanser, Moisturiser samples
I used to be all over Paula's Choice skincare a few years ago but then I moved on to natural stuff and got into Silk Naturals and using Echolife Rosehip Oil and whatnot. However, lately people have been raving about PC products again and I did like them a lot so I decided to get a few things when I'd run down enough existing products. I wanted to try the Earth Sourced range because Paula is famously dismissive of natural skincare and hates many plant-based ingredients, claiming they are little more than irritants. Reading the ingredient list, nothing sounds 'natural' in the sense that I understand it, but nonetheless, these are really nice products. I bought a few full size things as well as samples, but I think next time I'm going to go for the full sizes of these ones.

Ava Luxe Love's True Bluish Light
This is a perfume sample that Su sent me ages ago and I loved it so much I've been stingily ekeing it out forever. I finally got down to the very last drops and there's nothing more there so I think I am going to have to splash out on a full size. It's a gorgeous warm, creamy vanilla musk - nothing really unique, but a beautiful example of a very simple blend. Love it, love it, love it.

February Empties

Al'chemy Conditioners Macadamia and Wheat and Unscented Wheat Free: I hate that I always run out of conditioner before I run out of shampoo - it ruins my love of symmetry! I really like these conditioners - I've already bought another bottle of the unscented one.

Palmolive Naturals Shower Milk Milk & Olive: An old staple, though I usually get the one with the brown lid. I'm trying to go more natural with this sort of thing, so not sure if I'll buy it again.

Silk Naturals Intensive Moisturiser: I was a bit iffy about this at first - it didn't seem overly moisturising - but once I got used to it not having all the silicones and slippy fillers that come in commercial moisturisers I liked it quite a bit. I would repurchase this, but not until I've used up other things I have. Trying not to be wasteful!

Balmain Ambre Gris EDP 5ml decant: Love this, even though it's a cheesy old lady fragrance. What am I saying, I adore cheesy old lady fragrances. I would definitely buy a full bottle - in fact it's on my FB list - but I'm on a total perfume ban for the forseeable future, so not sure when that will happen.

Silk Naturals Coconut Argan Cleansing Conditioner: Noodles used this and really liked it, so I'll probably get her a full size next time I do a Silk Naturals order.

Silk Naturals Vitamin C Peptide Serum: Really liked this and will definitely buy it again, but as above with the moisturiser, I'm using up other things first.

Clinique Turnaround Concentrate Visible Skin Renewer: This came in a GWP a couple of years ago and I never used it. It's been knocking around for a really long time now, so I'm chucking it.