Empties #5

The end of the year is usually fairly productive for me when it comes to finishing products. Here’s my round-up of empties for the last quarter of 2016 and a little of what I thought of them...

October

* Garnier Pure Active 3 in 1 Wash Scrub Mask –  I use this in the shower as a scrub tho I’m finding I don’t use it as often anymore now that I’ve ramped up my nightly retinol regime. I have a few backups so I won’t be repurchasing for a while if at all.

* Garnier Intensive 7 Days Soothing Lotion for Dry, Sensitive Skin – I used this on my legs after shaving. This lotion isn’t made anymore so have moved onto a Nivea body lotion that works as well and smells as nice.

* Rexona Pure Silver Crystal Anti-Perspirant – I prefer these anti-white mark deodorants and tend to pick these up when they are half price or 2 for 1. I would repurchase.

* Batiste Tropical Dry Shampoo – the workhorse of my dry shampoo collection.

* Batiste Blush Dry Shampoo – this scent is a bit too old fashioned floral for my tastes but it works as well as the rest of the line so no doubt I’ll forget I don’t really like the scent and I’ll wind up buying it again at some point.

* Nak Repl-Ends Leave-In Moisturising Spray – bought this on a recommendation from Hairhouse Warehouse staff and while it smells divine, it’s a crappy leave-in conditioning spray that isn’t very moisturising and did nothing to detangle my hair. Certainly not worth the high price tag and will not be repurchasing.

* Ophelia Make Up Rounds with Aloe Vera – these are the Aldi brand of cotton rounds that I thought I’d give a whirl. Not very impressed as the embossing gives them a rough surface which makes them scratchy so I didn’t even finish the pack on my face – I used them to take off my nail polish instead. Won’t be buying them again.

* Garnier Clean Sensitive 2 in 1 Gentle Makeup Remover – still love this stuff as it takes everything off and doesn’t sting at all, even on my waterline.

* Garnier Ultra Lift Night Cream – this was a basic night cream that not surprisingly does nothing for wrinkles, firming or radiance boosting and wasn’t overly hydrating either. As I need something more hydrating these days I won’t be repurchasing.

* Eve Lom Eye Cream – I bought this when pregnant in 2014 as it was nice and thickly rich and moisturising without retinol or vitamin A. It’s a generous 20ml jar rather than the usual 15ml and was a lovely hydrating moisturiser that worked very nicely under makeup so I’d seriously consider repurchasing but I’m getting to a point where anything I put on my face has to serve more of a purpose than just moisturise and since I saw absolutely no effect from its anti-aging properties, I’m on the fence about repurchasing.

* Clinique Smart Custom-Repair Serum, deluxe sample – I got this in a beauty box. I can’t tell if this actually did anything and that’s after using the whole 10ml consistently for the month. It might possibly have reduced my melasma the tiniest bit but it since it also gave me milia clusters on my forehead and cheek I will not be buying the full sized product.

* Lancome HydraZen Multi-Relief Anti-Stress Moisturising Cream, GWP 15ml – I love a scented product as for me it adds to the luxury of pampering myself nightly but this was too heavily perfumed and not overly moisturising so I will not be buying the full size product.

* Rexona Clear Aqua Deodorant Stick – Rexona have annoyingly changed their whole line of deodorants but if I could I’d continue to buy this as it is a no white mark deo that works well.

* Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes – these are SO not worth the price - very average wipes that smelled awful and are definitely NOT super soft. Overhyped average performers that I will not be buying again

November

* Garnier Clean Detox Refreshing Cleansing Gel – I love the scent, I love the creaminess, I love how this cleans my face without stripping it and I’m gutted they’ve discontinued it (Story. Of. My. Life!) but I’ve got a few backups to use while I search for a replacement

* Garnier Pure Active Daily Cleansing Gel Wash – The bad... I didn’t like this as it contains menthol which burns my eyes. The good... this product made me really realise that my skin isn’t oily combo anymore and I need to stop buying products targeted at that skin type. I still love a gel facial cleanser but I struggled to use this and it wound up in my shower where I could thoroughly wash it off under copious amounts of water to prevent eye sting. It’s no longer made so I can’t repurchase it and I wouldn’t even if I could.

* Cussons Pure Mango Butter and Frangipani Bodywash – I bought it on sale on a whim to try it out. It’s very heavily scented which was really overwhelming in the closed space of my shower. I ended up using it on my legs to shave while in the shower just to use it and I won’t be repurchasing it

* CoLab Sheer + Invisible Dry Shampoo, Rio Tropical Fragrance – I loved the scent of this, a delicious fruit-cocktail-lazy-beach-tropical island smell without the cliché coconut note. I have to say I was sceptical to try these but it actually is sheer and invisible, and doesn’t leave a heavy residue feeling. Only downside is that it’s not going to be useful for a serious dry shampoo fix on greasy hair but I’ll definitely repurchase it for lightly dirty second hair days.

* Garnier Nourishing Hand Cream with L-Bifidus and Mango Oil – It’s probably the shea butter but once this soaks in it leaves an oily film on the skin so it’s not a favourite tho it does smell lovely. Yet another product that I’m unable to repurchase as Garnier don’t make this line anymore but I probably wouldn’t repurchase it if I could anyway as I have other hand creams that are better moisturisers without the grease factor.

* St Ives Apricot Scrub, 30ml – Simply needed to just get rid of this so I used it as a body scrub. This was once a holygrail product that I used for over 20 years in all of its reincarnations but since moving onto chemical exfoliants I just can’t bring myself to use this on my face anymore so it had to go. Won’t be rebuying.

* Nivea Fragrance Free Facial Cleansing Wipes For All Skin Types – These were too dry and did not remove even basic makeup all that well and it does not ‘cleanse, tone and hydrate’. Another fail from Nivea.

* Garnier UltraLift Day Cream with SPF 15 – This was the new formula which seems to really sink into my skin nicely. I’ll continue to repurchase for now as it’s pretty basic and works well enough but it doesn’t do anything other than moisturise with a little SPF thrown in and as I mentioned above its getting to the stage where I'm beginning to explore ramping up my morning skincare by swaping out some of my current products for ones that DO more for my aging skin in which case this may need to be upgraded. With what I have no idea yet.

* Skinvitals A-Whiten Anti-Pigmentation Soothing Lightening Cloth Facial Treatment Mask – My first cloth mask and I’m not a fan of the ill-fitting sheet mask but the solution surprisingly seemed to work and I saw a slight but definitely noticable difference in the pigmentation of my skin as a whole...however it’s a moot point as they aren’t being made anymore (according to a company rep) so... sigh.

December

* Tresemme Deep Cleansing Shampoo – I used to use this all the time but now just use it to basically strip my hair if it’s feeling too laden with product. Unfortunately it also strips my colour so in the end I wasn’t using it that often - might repurchase.

* Samy Fat Hair Thickening Spray – by about halfway through this bottle I finally twigged that the second ingredient is alcohol which was contributing to the damage in my hair. I tried to finish the bottle on days that I didn’t flat iron my hair to limit the damage. As it didn’t really add much thickness and if I used too much it would weigh it down, I won’t be repurchasing.

* Garnier Clean Sensitive 2 in 1 Gentle Makeup Remover – See above

* Batiste Neon Lights Dry Shampoo – Supposed to be a limited edition scent which I like. It performs the same as other Batiste dry shampoos so if I see it again I’ll pick it up.

* Tresemme Heat Tamer Protective Spray – Since finishing the first bottle of this back in Feb I’ve cut alot of the damage out of my hair but another bottle down and I don’t think it’s doing any protecting so I won’t be repurchasing it.

* Batiste Tropical Dry Shampoo – Clearly my fav as I’ve finished 9 of this scent alone this year

* Garnier Clean Detox Refreshing Cleansing Gel – This was the one I used in the shower for mornings when I washed my hair. I alternate between this and 2 other cleansers depending on my mood so I haven’t replaced it there yet.

* Beauty Essentials Nail Polish Remover – Very average at removing nail polish but more disturbingly it evapourated out of the pump dispenser I had it in so I will not be repurchasing.

* Smartskin Scented Facial Wipes – After flirting with other brands this year, this is still great value for the price, works really well and I will keep repurchasing.

* Swissper Make-up Pads – With the Priceline Be Essential Cotton Rounds out of stock for so many months, I tried these again and still think they aren’t as soft and the crimp sealing the edge scratches my eyes so I would only repurchase these if I couldn’t get hold of the BE ones again.

* Garnier Perfect Blur Smoothing Base Perfector – I use it as primer as it does provide a smooth base but does nothing for my pores. When it’s fresh in the tube it doesn’t really prolong my foundation wear time but after depotting it into a small pot toward the end to make it easier to use, I discovered that drying it out actually improved my foundation longevity so I’ll buy this again and depot it from the get go and see how that goes.

* Banana Boat Aloe Vera Lip Balm SPF30+ - I used to buy this in bulk, I loved it so much, but as usual I can’t find this in store anymore so I’m on the hunt for a replacement while I use up the last few tubes I have.

* Dior Capture XP Ultimate Wrinkle Correction Creme, sample sachet – I love this cream as a night cream as it’s so rich but it’s completely stupid expensive so won’t be purchasing it in this lifetime.

* Dior Capture XP Ultimate Deep Wrinkle Correction Serum, sample sachet – I just needed to use this up as it doesn’t really do anything and it doesn’t smell as nice as it could for Dior. Will not purchase the full size.

* L’oreal Revitalift Laser x3 Day Anti-Aging Power Moisturiser, sample sachet – I got these as a deluxe 10 day trial sample, ie 10 sachets, from Priceline and have been using them as a night cream as they don’t have any SPF. It’s OK but nothing special - the fragrance smells a little masculine and lingers a while. Meh. I’m not really interested enough in this product to give it a solid 10 day trial unchallenged by any other products so can’t speak to whether its effective over time but as I expected it does nothing when used day to day and is pretty expensive for a drugstore moisturiser so I won’t be purchasing the full size.

So that brings my 2015 total to 115 items used and while it isn’t as many as 2014 where I had a lot I just wanted to use up, I’m past the project pan stage and am now getting through newer products that I genuinely want to try out so I’ve got more to say about them. With that in mind I’m going to try to post monthly for my 2016 empties.