Empties

 Hello,

this is the second part of my empties for the month of May. This whole month went by so fast, it feels like I only blinked and it was gone.

I used up my first Maybelline Lifter gloss in Moon (I already have a backup). This slight pinky base with tons of shimmers is beautiful. It looks great on its own or layered. Scent is caramel like and very enjoyable. I am glad that I have a backup since I am not out of love with it.

Next is mini 2aN Glaze Bouncing Tint in the shade Peach Ade. Received it as a gift with purchase and I immediately fell in love with it. I love the glossy tin, even tint and the exact shade. I am thinking of getting the same one in full size again because it is that good.

Green bottle is Alexandre J. The Majestic Vetiver perfume. I have all six versions and after purchasing them I did not love them except for the red one and now every one that I touch I like. Most of them are very dry wood and then they added something special to the mix. This one is woody and there is vetiver not super fresh but also not completely dry, something in the middle and I really like it. On most days I layer it with something fruity or fresh. 

Next is another mini, this one is Beauty of Joseon Relief Sun Aqua-fresh Rice +B5, SPF 50+ PA++++. That was a super long name :) I already have three SPF lotions for face that work for me and I just found another one. This one has a semi liquid formula and it absorbs quickly, I love that there is no greasy finish or white cast, i also haven't experience any breakouts so I think it is safe to say that this one just joined my beloved SPF creams. After I finish the one I am using at the moment I am getting big size of this one. 

Second to last is Nude by Nature translucent loose finishing powder in the shade 01 Natural. At first I was using it as a fixing powder and it did not work, I got so greasy that it was not even funny. I just couldn't believe that it is fixing powder I flipped it and discovered that it is finishing powder... I was using it wrong for a few days :) Then when I discovered what it actually is I just did not see any point of using it. It made no difference so thankfully it is mini and it was quickly gone.

Lastly there is one of my old favorite fixing powders from Catrice. It is their all matt plus powder in Transparent. I am throwing it away because around two years ago I was using it to fix my make-up during my work, then I started using something better in the morning and I did not need to touch up so this one was just sitting there in the locker... now it is super old and I don't dare to use it, I imagine it is fully infested with all kinds of nasty. I am throwing it away but this one was a nice powder, it kept my oils at bay for hours, towards the end of my work day some came out to play but not much.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

 Hello,

below is my second part of September empties and they are all among smaller tubes :) There is a bunch of minis :)

First there are two Origins Ginzing into the glow brightening serums. I already had a full size and I loved it. These two mini 15 ml tubes I have received as gift with purchases and I used them up with joy. Texture is very watery, I don't need whole lot to cover my entire face so serum last a long time and my skin loves it. This one is gone but now I see similar product with a different packaging, maybe they revamped the formula?

There is another Origins product, this one is Ginzing SPF 30 daily moisturizer with slight orange scent. I tried it on my face but I found it to be too greasy on me so I just used it on my body. I have other face sun lotions that I like better so I will not be buying big tube of it. 

Next one is Smashbox photo finish Illuminate glow primer. It has peach base and slight glow but I have noticed that most of the glow came from the texture, on me it was a bit too greasy and when I put foundation over it it started to come off. It just wasn't compatible with my favorite foundation so I used it on my days off without foundation and on my neck and chest area.

Fifth mini is Lancome anti-wrinkle, firming tone evening cream. At first it felt lightweight but it left a greasy layer afterwards. I used it up at night but I didn't like the greasy feeling so I will not be buying it.

With a light blue lid there is Biotherm life plankton elixir. Light almost gel like texture and it was nice to use under heavier creams for added hydration. It was mini and hard to see if it works for me but I have already purchased a big size of it so I hope my skin will really like it (after buying the big size I have received this mini as a free gift with purchase). 

First full sized item here is Avene soothing eye contour cream. It had a nice texture, it was fast absorbing and it didn't irritate my eyes, it was nice but nothing too special. I had eye creams that I liked better.

Purple one is Balea intensive lip balm with shea butter. I really liked it, it was hydrating and on the softer side. I like my lip balms to be soft so they can just melt into my lips, I also like the glossy look and this one covered all of that. Unfortunately I have lost it and I found it now one year later, it was buried inside my couch and now it has a weird scent so I didn't used it all the way up ;( If this is still available I would get it again.

Next to it is another lip balm and I deliberately turned it away since it is no name balm with a company name written all over it. It is a promotional balm and it is generic one. Slight vanilla scent which turns plastic, after around 15 min it disappears from my lips and I have to reapply non stop and my lips were still dry. At the and I didn't even bother with it since it isn't completely finished but I don't care. I just want it gone.

Last but not least is Benefit fan fest mascara in black. It is also a mini (it has a super short wand) but the brush itself is full sized. It had a slightly curved wand and I really liked it. Usually I use rubber bristles and this one has more of a traditional wand but we got along well. I liked to put on one layer, occasionally two since I don't like clumped lashes. This one behaved well for my needs but I could if I wanted to make it more obvious. I think it is a very versatile mascara and I like that. I already put it into my online shopping bag but I can't bring myself to buy it since I have a few others that I have to go through but this one is definitely one of my favorites.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

 Hello,

my plan to be more on time failed again, but it is okay since I am making the rules I can as well break them  :) Below are my empties for the month of June... time really flies through lately

I have used up two body washes simply because I couldn't decide. They are both Balea body washes which are very inexpensive and easy to get. First one is Plum and Almond scent and second is Floral (it reminded me of Cherry blossoms the most). I really like both and I can see myself repurchasing them if they will be still available (at the moment I have plenty of body washes so I really should not buy more).

Next two Rituals items were purchased together because I mistakenly thought that it is a body lotion and I wanted to top off the scent with a matching body spray... In reality this is a nourishing conditioner with argan oil and shikakai. The body spray is also a hair mist with Indian rose and sweet almond oil. Both scents were very close to one another, conditioner was liked by my hair and it made them soft and less frizzy but the mist didn't last long so I will not get it agin. Nice scent but not worth the price for me. 

Blue bottle is Ziaja micelar water. I was using it to remove last bits of my make up but after time I notice that it did not do its job very well. Often I would wake u the next day with mascara on my under eyes. It took me forever to use it up and I won't be buying it again.

Another blue product is The Body Shop seaweed oil-control lotion with SPF 15. I bought it a long time ago and I remember that I didn't like it on my face because it left my face oily. Only recently I started to use it again but this time on my body and it did sink into my skin pretty fast... I don't know if it is just my face which reacts differently of maybe I didn't wait long enough... anyway, now it is too late since the product is gone and so it seems The Body Shop in my area.

A while ago I purchased a full set of Bloom&Blossom products and one of them is this smooth moves stretch mark oil with Almond, Argan and Jojoba oil. It has a convenient pump but the product doesn't have a nice scent. In the past I had oils mentioned above and none smelled bad as this mix. The worst part is that my PJ and bed smell like it and I really didn't like it. I am super glad to be gone and I won't be buying it ever again.

The last two items are my beloved Essence Shine, Shine, Shine lip glosses. They are the last two that I will own because they reformulated them (I have already bought two new ones and I am loving them as well, so I won't be too sad). Warm nude is called Bright on! and the red one is Strawberry Red. Nude one is more pigmented and has more shimmer but I liked the fact that the red performed more natural looking and I didn't mind the nude being more obvious. They were very smooth, smelled great and lasted on my lips a decent amount of time. They will be missed but I am excited to dig into the new tubes.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day

Empties

 Hello,

I just got back from a short trip to the beachside and managed to finish up some SPF lotions, unfortunately none of these will be repurchased since I found others to suit me better.

First item is this large, 400 ml bottle of Ziaja Orange butter body lotion. It took me months to finish it up and I'm still not sick of it. Love the convenient pump and the lotion type of this moisturizer, it spread easily and nourished my skin (no dry or itchy skin) and the scent is mild but very lovely orange blossom type. Very nice to go to bed and sleep well with it. I will repurchase it.

Next is another Ziaja product but this one is sun cream for the face with high SPF 50 in a light shade. Surprisingly the shade is not orange at all and I can see people actually match this shade, for me it was still too dark but I'm pretty pale. Putting shade aside the formula was a bit weird. At first it looks nice but since it is a bit greasy (still it is a chemical sun protection with ingredient called Diethylamino Hydroxybenzoyl Hexyl Benzonate) it takes some rubbing to get it around and then the tint starts to separate and I just couldn't get an even application no matter how much I tried. There were areas full of tint and some without, it looked weird so at the end I just used it all over my legs and even then I had to be careful not to rub them together (since the tint would lift and start flaking) or rub it against some fabric. It did survive swimming in the ocean since after an hour of being in the water the tint was still there, uneven but still. 

Neutrogena Hydro boost city protect fluid with SPF 25 intrigued me since I love their oil free face moisturizer which comes in the same packaging... I thought that this might be similar but with added SPF, a quick check at the ingredients list told me I was wrong and also the formula feels very different. It feels like a cream but doesn't absorb quickly, it also leaves a greasy residue which I don't like on my already oily skin and it is just slightly tinted light blue. It is a chemical sun cream and contains Octocrylene. I haven't used it on my face more that three times since I didn't like the feeling on my face but I used it on my body and I had no reactions or sun burns.

My tube of Skinfood Tomato sun cream with SPF 35++ is very old. I used to love to use it on my face but I was never able to finish it up, so this year I just took it with me and layer it over some other sun creams all over my body. It is a true mineral protection with Zinc Oxide and cast a white layer all over. At first it is pretty greasy but over a few minutes it tones it down (it was not matte but not overly greasy). I always put some BB cream over it (I like a little coverage even at the beach + some tint helps with a white cast). This never cause my skin to break out so I thought that it will be forever repurchased but since I found something better with no white residue so I won't buy it again.

Next is one of my favorite deodorants and it is Nivea deo beauty elixir deomil fresh option. I had different one before within the same line and would get it again but they discontinued this line of products and I was only able to get one bottle of this fresh version. It is very similar in term of scent, creamy and some what fresh, like clean laundry. Since it is a deodorant it didn't stop me from sweating but I'm okay with it as long I don't stink. This really was nice (love the creamy non-irritable texture and pleasant scent) so I was disappointed when I couldn't find it anymore.

And the very last item is The Body Shop tea tree anti-imperfection daily solution. I love tea tree products since my skin likes them and my acne not so much :) I loved using it in the evening under my moisturizer. It is a watery serum which absorbed quickly into my skin. Did it make my skin drastically different? I honestly don't know but the psychological effect felt real. Give me products with tea tree scent and I will apply them regularly with joy ;) I might repurchase it since the easily absorbed formula felt good.

Thank you for reading and have a nice day