June Empties

In my mind it's still just the beginning of the month, but the calendar says differently. June flew by so quickly! Wit each passing day my empties bag got fuller and fuller, so finally it's time to share them with you.

Let's start by looking at the masks, and the first ones are Origins Flower Fusion Orange and Raspberry sheet masks (link). I don't see much difference between the two (or any other sheet mask that I've tried from this line), but I like them a lot. These masks are very wet, but don't drip, they are also very comfortable on the face, feel a little cooling in the beginning, and they leave skin very soft, hydrated and plump. I would definitely repurchase any of them again.

I also liked using Origins Rituali Tea masks (link), but these I wouldn't buy again. I used up two single use masks. They come in a powder form and need to be mixed with water or any other liquid. I love the mousse texture that they have, they are easy to apply, feel a little tingling at times, but not in a bad way. However, once they become dry, some of mask pieces fall off of the face. It's nothing big, just like dusting, but it's inconvenient. Also, I get some red spots on my face after washing them off, so I'd rather stick with masks that don't irritate my skin at all.

I finally used my second Ellame Hydro Complex sheet mask* (link). It's a great hydrating mask that has so much serum that whatever is left in the packet can be used on the face, neck and chest after masking. The only thing that bugs me somewhat is that it has a little slime-y texture as I let my imagination work, but when I keep my mind on something else it doesn't bother me.

Another mask that I finished is Boscia Green Tea Oil-Control Mask (link). It's a peel-off mask that I've used in the past. It's an ok mask, and while I don't see much effect, I enjoy using it and it's great on those lazy evening when I don't want to go upstairs to wash off my mask. I like using detoxifying and deep cleaning masks (especially when the weather is hot).

I've received Peter Thomas Roth Cucumber Gel Mask (link) as GWP. It was a nice product, it felt cool on the face once applied, it felt comfortable, but I didn't notice any big difference in hydration. My skin felt nice afterwards, but not as nice as with some other face masks.

I think Origins Original Skin Retexturizing Mask with Rose Clay (link) was part of mini sized mask set. I've had a sample (or maybe even mini size) of this mask before and I enjoyed it enough to want to use it again. However, after this one I think I've had enough and I will continue trying different masks. There's nothing bad that I could say about this mask, but it's also not a magical product. A little goes a long way, it feels nice on the skin,and doesn't irritate the skin. It also has tiny beads in it, so even after washing it off I could feel some of them on my face when applying other skincare products.

It's probably my 10th or so package of Promise Organic Coconut Facial Towelettes (link). They were my favorite ones until I found Ecocare Organic wipes that are the best of the best. Promice Organic wipes are nice and do the job, but after this many packs I'm just not a fan of the scent anymore. However, they're good at removing makeup, they're strong and don't tear, and one wipes is enough for my whole face.

The next 3 items are from organic skin care brand Inlight (link). I've tried line softener*, night balm* and foot & leg balm* - all of them can be purchased full size or in travel sizes, which is a great way to try out the products (link). They all have very natural, essential oil based scents, and all of these 3 products have balmy texture. While oils and natural butters theoretically work on all skin types, in the long run I tend to get clogged pores from them. My skin is normal towards dry, but it can get zits once in a while and in most cases I can easily tell what caused them. Mostly makeup or skincare products are to blame. I did try line softener and night cream on my face, but only a few times as I didn't want to take the risk. Line softener feels the lightest/softest in texture out of the trio, but none of them are hard to get out of the containers. These are the products that less is more, so even the samples lasted long. Since I didn't want to take any chances with applying them to the face, I used all of them on my legs. I did spray some facial toner before application, so the balms sank into the skin well and pretty quickly. It was a long lasting hydration, and the skin was super soft. I've been eyeing this brand for a while, but after trying the samples I realized that it's not for me or at least not for my face.

Origins A Perfect World spf20 eye cream (link) and spf40 face cream (link) are two other products that I've been wanting since they came out. I can't remember where I got the samples, but I'm glad I did before buying full size products. The eye cream has nice light texture, it applies easily, gets absorbed quickly and eye area feels hydrated. However, I noticed that sometimes my eyes get itchy and irritated, and I realized that it's because of this cream. I have sensitive eyes, but usually I never get a reaction from eye products unless they are highly fragranced or have spf. Even face products with spf make my eyes uncomfortable if they get too close to them. A Perfect World face cream was nice, light in texture, easy to apply and sink in. It gave enough hydration, but I don't feel anything special about it, so I'm not rushing to buy it in full size.

I've got a mini sized Paula's Choice Resist Intensive Wrinkle-Repair Retinol Serum (link), but tried it only a few times on my face. Like I said before, oils don't work on my face skin and this was in oil form. I was ready to get rid of it, but ended up using the serum on my legs.

Laneige Water Bank Essence* (link) is a beautiful serum that has lotion consistency. I used it both as a serum and as a moisturizer as it gave enough hydration for my skin. The only complaint is that it's highly fragranced. I have a review on the whole Laneige Hydrating Kit on my blog, so check it out if you're interested.  
  
I placed my first order in the end of February, but it was only June that I finally used The Ordinary Natural Moisturizing Factors + HA (link) cream. I've heard different feedback about this cream, but for me it was great. The texture feels a little silicone-y though it's silicone free formula. It makes skin very soft, absorbs in an instant. It's one of those very basic, fragrance free, excitement free creams, but something made it special and my skin loved it. I would definitely repurchase it in the future. Besides, you can't go wrong with the price. The only downside is that it seems that it finished very quickly and barely lasted 3-4 weeks when used only at night time.

StriVectin SD Intensive Eye Concentrate For Wrinkles (link) is yet another product that I found in some goodie/GWP bag. Like most eye creams it lasted for a very very very long time and only a tiniest amount was needed for application. It was too silicone-y for my taste, but it was a nice cream for evening skin care routine. I think I used up whatever was left on my neck once I got bored of using it, so no way I would get it in full size.

While my skin can take more than needed glow/illumination, GlamGlow Glowstarter Mega Illuminating Moisturizer in Nude Glow (link) just didn't work for me. Instead of having a fresh glowy skin, I got oily looking skin. Plus the scent is too strong for me. So one use was one use too many, and it's going into the trash.

 

I color my hair blonde for as long as I can remember and I always use purple shampoos to keep yellow and brassy tones out of my hair. At first I've got a travel size and then full size of Original Mineral Conquer Blonde silver shampoo (link). This bottle lasted me a whole year. The shampoo does the job in keeping blonde hair blonde, but it is drying. If I left it in the hair for a little while, I would need extra leave-in conditioner or hydrating spray after washing my hair. The other thing that annoyed me all the time was that in some magical way the shampoo kept leaking. It has a cap on the top, but even after cleaning around it well, next time I touched the bottle the top was all covered in purple shampoo. This made it impossible to take on the trips. I even had to put it in a zip lock when I put the empty bottle into my empties pile as somehow whatever was left in the bottle leaked all over the bag. However, the best part of this shampoo was it's scent - it smelled just like lilacs!

I love Pacifica face washes, so of course I had to try other products too. I got Pacifica Coconut Damage Mask (link) for hair and I liked it. It's not my favorite scent, but the mask itself was good and really made my hair shiny, soft and tangle free. Many times I used it as a conditioner - I'd apply it to the hair and wash it out almost immediately. Like all other masks/conditioners I used it on the ends of my hair and up to half hair length.
 
It was that time of the year when I color my hair, so this time I tried Vidal Sassoon Salonist Permanent Hair Color in 10/1 Lightest Cool Blonde (link). Since I used this hair dye for the first time and because I have long hair, I used 2 packages. I really liked how simple the application was and how nice my hair felt afterwards. The color turned out just the way I wanted, the hair is very shiny and it didn't get dry, and so far the color seems to last well. It's a bummer that I can't find this brand/shade near me and have to order it online, but I will buy it again for sure.

In my What's In My Bag post I told that I constantly carry a travel sized hand cream with me. La Chatelaine hand cream in Passion Fruit (link) was one of them. The scent is amazing! The cream is just as great too - a small amount gives plenty long lasting hydration for hands. I've had probably 5 of these creams in different cents and only this one came out defective as the cap part just broke off one day. Since I couldn't carry it in my bag anymore and I didn't want to keep an open container even for use at home, I ended up using it as a body cream.

I've also used up another Molton Brown body wash (link). This time it was in Japanese Orange scent. I keep getting them in my GWP bags and I keep enjoying them. It's a nice, nicely smelling, non-drying shower gel. It's not my favorite, but it's not bad either.

Aubrey Organics shave cream in White Tea & Citrus (link) is a shaving cream that I keep coming back to. I've been using them even before the brand changed its packaging. This cream feels a little silicone-y and can clog razor blades, but running the razor under hot water right after shaving usually takes care of the problem. It is a lightly fragranced product.

Estelle & Thild Body Butter in Sparkling Citrus Bloom (link) is one of my all time favorite body moisturizers. It has a soft cream texture, a little bit goes a long way, it smells fantastic, it applies on the skin easily and sinks in quickly, it leaves skin hydrated. That's something that I will keep repurchasing.

With all the good stuff around there's one product that I regret buying - Organic Fiji Sugar Polish in Pineapple Coconut (link). The scent - yuck, the texture - yuck, the packaging - yuck. There's really nothing good that I can tell about this coconut oil and sugar based scrub. I've tried a few products from the brand in the past and I liked them, but when I received this body scrub it was hard as a rock and sugar and coconut oil parts were separated. To make things worse the protective tin foil was impossible to remove in some parts of the container, which made it impossible to heat the scrub in the microwave. It was so hard that I barely was able to get any product even with a knife, so I had to take an extra step and warm the container in hot water. Once heated it was ok to be mixed together, but the scrub would still harden up on the shelf in the shower. The smell was too overpowering and sickly sweet - I was ready to throw it in the trash after just smelling the product. I never got used to the smell. I also didn't like the texture as it left too much oiliness on my skin. I like when body scrubs leave a light film on the skin, but don't make skin oily and uncomfortable. It's also dangerous in the shower because so much oiliness makes tub greasy and can lead to slipping (which by th way happened to me when some oil was left on the side of the tub floor and I didn't notice it). No way I would buy it again.

Sensodine Pronamel Gentle Whitening (link) is just another toothpaste that I used up. I usually have a full size toothpaste tube, but I also get these travel sized ones to switch up. This particular toothpaste was good, left teeth clean, didn't taste too strong, and I would get it again.
    
I was very excited to try Keeko Activated Coconut Charcoal Powder (link), but it didn't stick in my routine. It's just too messy of a product/packaging. Good luck cleaning the counters/floor if this powder gets on any of them, and it does get spilled easily. The package is sealed tightly, but when opening I use too much power sometimes and some of the charcoal spills out. Also, I need to be extra careful when putting a toothbrush inside, because if it goes too deep in, it picks up powder on the handle too and then that powder gets everywhere. I did like this charcoal powder as a teeth product, but it's too messy to continue using. It has a couple different options when it comes to application, so I tried using it was a zit treatment. It was unsuccessful as once the paste dried out, the charcoal dust started falling off.

This Natural Dentist mouth rinse (link) tastes so yummy, and it does the job. I've been using it for over 6 years and I will continue repurchasing it.

I've used up 3 fragrance samples, and only Dior Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet (link) stood out for me though I'm still undecided if I want a full size bottle.

I'm getting rid of 4 Zoya lipsticks: Cameron, Wren, Velvet Red and Maxwell (link). I've been wanting to try them for the longest time and when Zoya had a promotion giving 4 lipsticks for free with $15 shipping, I went for it. There's nothing wrong with the lipsticks in terms of texture, application, staying power or color, but I just don't use the two lighter shades. As for the darker shades, they are beautiful! They apply evenly and stay on the lips for a long long time. However, they are the ones that are hard to apply nicely and they stain, so even if a tiniest mistake is done, it takes forever to fix the lip look. With the amount of lip products I have, I decided to get rid of these. Since they are barely used/tried, I'm going to give them to a family member as I feel bad throwing away perfectly good lipsticks.

Burt's Bees lipsticks are one of my favorite natural lipsticks. The one I used up is in color 510 Iced Iris. It was nice on the lips, but didn't apply as smoothly as my other favorite shade Tulip Tide, so they might have different texture in the line. I'm trying to go through a couple lip products in my collection before I get anything new, but this is something that's going to come back to my makeup bag sooner or later.

I received NYX Matte Lipstick in MLS28 Couture Mode (link) as part of GWP. I don't like the taste, I don't like the texture, and it's not my color, so not even trying to use it. It's going to go to a family member who likes it.

I'm not a blush person, but I keep getting one, so no surprise that Lavera Mineral Blush in color 01 Charming Rose (link) is going to trash after 2 year of using (not using). The blush had a pretty strong, but very pleasant scent, which faded after about a year and a half. It was also a very beautiful universal color, but I just barely use any blush, so this expired before I even hit the pan. The texture is on the harder side, but it was easy to pick up and the pigmentation was good.
  



* marks PR samples received complimentary