Empties

 Hello,

this is the second half of my empties for February.

This time around I have used up a Skin 79 BB cream. This one in the golden packaging is one of my favorites even though on the swatch (below) it looks a bit dark. It is easy to blend (like all Skin 79 BB's are) and is quite pigmented. I usually use it on vacation or for walks outside when I don't want too much make up and some extra spf.

Next is my very first bronzer which I got on sale for 1 EUR when it was discontinued approximately 10 years ago... and it is not even finished :( This Essence sun club 2 in 1 bronzing powder is in the shade Sunshine. The missing part was mostly highlighter which mixed together gave me pink glow on top of this bronzer. This one was so pretty on my face that now I am really sad that it is gone. Bronzer on its own is a tad too orange so I am throwing it away but it will be missed. Ever since I have been looking if Essence would come back with something similar but so far no luck

Skin79 BB cream and Essence Sunshine bronzer but only the remaining part without the highlighter.

My mom used to have this and I remember this being expensive so when I saw it at reasonable price I grabbed it immediately. It is Revlon 10 in 1 hair treatment. It smelled really good and it was a bit thick for the spray nozzle (towards the end I diluted it with some water to make sure most of it came out). I used it mostly on damp hair on my hair wash days and my hair were a bit smoother. I haven't noticed any big differences so probably I won't get it again but the scent was really nice.

I purchased a bunch of these Korres body lotions because the scent combos sounded so nice and before even trying them out I ended up with 5 or 6 of them. First I decided to try out Thyme & Honey option. At first I was disappointed because I hoped to be more honey like, instead it is creamy with some thyme and in the backdrop I can find a bit of honey. The lotion itself is nice but I wish it would smell more like honey.

This body wash from La Roche-Posay was gifted to me. It is their lipikar huile ap+ oil wash and the scent is somewhat green and bitter to me. Not my favorite but I power through, thankfully it was in a small tube. The oil was thin and didn't left any oily residue. I prefer the cream version used up earlier.

Lastly there is Xmas hand cream from Afrodita. It didn't have any particular scent but it was shimmery. I used most of it as a prank on my boyfriend. He always forgot that there was golden shimmer and then he would sparkle all night :) I used it too and it was really nice moisturising hand cream, I would prefer it without shimmer but we used it up nonetheless.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

 Hello,

this is my round of empties from the first half of February.

Avon planet SPA Heavenly Hydration hot hair oil. The instructions says to put it in a hot water so I always prepare a warm bath for it in my cup :) it smells really nice (the entire Mediterranean collection smells good) and my hair are nourished and silky after soaking and washing this oil off. This was my second one but now I can't find it anymore, I hope the bring it back.

Big bottle is Afrodita Nettle shampoo for greasy hair. I love their shampoos because they are inexpensive and they work for me. At least the cleansing ones that I have tried are nice only if paired with something nourishing afterwards. I probably already have a backup ready for days when my hair need deep cleansing.

Since my hair got really dry and damaged at the begining of the year I tried the Aussie sos line of their shampoo and deep repair conditioner with Australian blend of superfruits for really damaged hair. The scent is gorgeous (same in both products). I feel like conditioner really made a difference in my dry hair and made them a bit more manageable. I will get the conditioner again and probably I will get the 'matching' shampoo as well even thought it was just okay (I like matchy items in my shower).

My skin responds well to tea tree infused face products and face wash seems like a good product to keep my face acne free. I started to use the Saem healing tea garden cleansing balm with tea tree. I really like it and would get it again. It was nice to use it approximately every second day in the shower to keep my skin blemish free.

I have used up another face wash which is The Body Shop Vitamin E gentle facial wash. I love their gel/souflle face moisturiser and I wanted to try out the face wash as well. It wash creamy, like a face moisturiser and it felt a bit odd. If I applied a heavy cream before or oil to remove make-up it didn't perform well, it was too gentle. At the end I used it as a morning face wash and managed to use it up. I won't be getting it again since I prefer stronger ones.

Green tube is Caudalie skin perfecting mattifying fluid. It was quite gel like but it was still a bit oily on my skin so it didn't replace my typical morning/daily face moisturiser. I used it in the evening but if my skin felt still a bit dry I would apply heavier cream or oil over it. I will not be getting it again.

Familiar orange tube is another Neutrogena oil free moisturiser. This is my holy grail daily face cream. It absorbs quickly and my skin is hydrated under my make up. I have been using it for years and I am already using new tube. 

Lastly I have two Pure Paw Paw ointments with Grape scent. I purchased them in a set and they are the same just different sized packaging. Smaller 15g tube has slanted opening (shown above) so it is convenient to use on the lips while the larger one 25g just has a hole. They have sweet grape scent which lasted for about 30 seconds and then it was gone. Texture was just like vaseline and I am not a fan. I was using them regularly just to finish them up. I did not like the heavy feeling but at the same time this product disappeared quickly from my lips, other areas would stay greassy till morning but it was gone from my lips... I did not lick them since the vaseline texture (super greasy) is not my favorite. 

Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Natural Spirit

 Hello,

a while ago I have received this eye shadow palette free of charge because I have spent enough money on Catrice products. It looked pretty warm toned, not something I love but I have decided to give it a try

Catrice pro slim eye shadow in natural Spirit is full of mostly warm neutrals.

It has a paper/cardboard packaging (I don't like it because I can't keep it clean) but the mirror is a nice touch. I believe they now have instead of the mirror clear opening so you can see the colors through which is also a nice touch. 

It contains matte and shimmery shades. I like how they look all together but some shades are way too warm toned for me :( I personally don't like Gold and Hello on me. Hello is just a bit deeper in color. Element is too pigmented and deep hued but pale True is beautiful (I prefer more cool toned shadows on me, that is also the reason why I am so strict and don't like many shades on myself).

On the bottom there is lovely Glory, the undertone is slightly warm, peachy. On my lids comes of peachy gold, not the biggest fan but tolerable. Next is Stone which is not bad, a bit deeper than my skintone to deepen the edges, quite useful shade. Origin is a bit out of my comfort zone but I can work with it, it makes my blue eyes a bit brighter. On the other hand Heat is a bit too much, to obviously orange and I am not brave enough to wear it.

On of my favorites is Sand. It is very pigmented and slightly lighter than my skin. I like to use it in the inner corners to brighten without and shimmers. I don't often find such pigmented cream shadow. Olive is wearable green if I don't blend it too much because it can get muddy.  Last in line is Holy which is super orangey shade and not to my liking.

Under is Attitude. Very interesting shade but swatched looks more antique gold than green. Dark is dark brown, nice to deepen the corners, I like that it on the warmer side since most of my browns in similar darkness are cool toned. Last is Spirit which is also one of my favorites, I use it when I want some cool toned shimmer.

Top row has Gold (yellow toned shimmer), Element (warm chocolate brown), True (pale taupe), Hello (yellow/orange shimmer), Sand (super pigmented pale cream), Olive (pretty self explanatory shade) and Holy (orange toned shimmer).

Bottom row Glory (peachy toned shimmer), Stone (medium brown), Origin (peachy shade), Heat (color of a Fox), Attitude (slightly less yellow than Gold),  Dark (dark brown) and Spirit (cool toned shimmer).

This is a nice palette full of pigmented and easy to blend shadows. It was fun playing with all the warm tones but I think I will still stick to the neutral/cool toned eye shadows.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

 Hello,

my first empties of this year were filled with lip products, mostly because I was almost done with them last year but year 2025 just came around too quick for some items.

I didn't completely used up two Catrice volumizing lip booster lip glosses Pink up the volume and Meet me at Coral bay. I tried really hard but at the end I gave up. They were minty and tingly glosses and I just don't love that effect anymore. The shades were lovely, light but uniformed/ didn't get in my lip lines while applied. I would definitely get tham again, especially the pink shade if they would made them tingle free.

Next is Catrice lip jam hydrating lip gloss Strawrr baby. I only tried it once, because it arrived broken. I have ordered it online and inside the package the lid broke. I can say that it smelled fruity and the shade was barely there light pink (right up my alley). I have put it aside for a few weeks, maybe up to two months and the product inside the nozzle solidified since it was opened (broken lid was just placed on he tube) and no matter how hard I was squeezing nothing came out and I had to throw it away. I am thinking of getting it again since the shade was pretty but for now I got a different shade and a bunch of newly released glosses...

This next item was also a fail and I haven't used it up actually. It is Q&A liquorice lip oil. I didn't realise that the applicator was a metal ball and this applicator I would like to leave in the past. Metal ball spins, rotates and apply product unevenly and messy. In this case it wasn't enough and I was squeezing too hard. Metal ball shot out and most of the oil was spilled all over my lap. Thankfully I was wearing black sweatpants and there were no residue left after a wash. Not much product was left so I am calling it done. The oil itself was very thin and after 10 min it was gone from my lips.

This lip balm was straight forward unpleasant. It is Nude by Nature sheer glow color lip balm in Pink 03 shade. First, it is peach nude rather than pink. Second, it had unpleasant scent, like wooden pencils but make it strong. It applied somewhat gummy or waxy and the strong scent was too much for me to bare, also the shade didn't look good on me. Basically I only put it on, wore it for maybe 15 min and removed it. It went straight for the bin.

Nude by Nature tinted balm didn't work for me but in the packaging it looked promising. 

And that is the peachy swatch, not even near pink territory. 

There is also Burts's bees tinted lip balm Red Dahlia. I absolutely love this shade. It has red in the name but it is not your typical red. It is somewhat cool toned with a hint of brown and violet tone. It wasn't the most hydrating balm for me but since I love the shade so much I already repurchased it :)

Lastly there are two Hurraw! lip balms. Clear one is Papaya Pineapple and tinted one is Black Cherry. I love the squished packaging but there were no hydration for my lips. Papaya Pineapple had a slight scent but nothing distinguishable. Black Cherry was noticeable and I really liked it, also the tint was gorgeous darker red but sheer. At first I was ready to repurchase it but poor hydration properties made me realise that would not be the best idea, I would rather get the Burt's bees tinted option.

La Roche - Posay lipikar lipid-replenishing cream wash was a gift with purchase. It was a nice creamy wash with a barely there scent. I liked it a lot but probably I won't get it again because I can get cheaper washes from the drug store but if I even get one of these for free I will grab them with both hands.

I have used up another one of Catrice ultra last fixing spray. It is very inexpensive and effective, I sill have more than 10 bottles so I don't need to run out and get more. I am fully loaded :)

In the past I already had mini bottles of Moroccanoil light hair treatment, they were free gifts and based of them I decided to get this one. The scent is gorgeous and my hair feel silky and smooth after using it. The price is a bit high but at the end I think it is worth it for me. I have a few others to go through but I will get it again. I haven't noticed a lot of difference in texture with the original or light (I had samples of both)... I can use both on dry hair and it won't grease my hair out.

Little black pot is Artdeco eye shadow primer. This was my fourth pot and probably my last. It always worked for me but this pot felt different. My eye shadows started to crease no matter what so I gave in and gave this pot to my sister (she still likes it) and I purchased something more expensive and thankfully it works for me. I am a little sad that we had to part ways but I prefer my shadows to stay in place when I put them on my eyes.

Last is Nude by Nature Perfecting concealer Shell Beige. I purchased a bunch of products as part of the trial set and this concealer was included. It was pretty light and yellow toned, really nice match for my skin tone. It was very light in coverage but the plus side is that it didn't crease. I wanted to buy it again and use it on my more easy going days (natural coverage) but the price tag seems a bit high for it... maybe if I will find it on sale I might pick it again.

Little baby swatch at the bottom of the tube, nothing more was left :(

Thank you for reading and have a nice day