October - December Haul 2025

 So how is my low buy for 2025 going, well it is going this well:

Setting spray, toner, creams and more

Bleaching cream, balm and African black soap

Samples, cream eyeshadow, lip gloss and lip liners

Tower 28 - Daily rescue facial spray (30 ml): I had bought this facial spray for one of my friends, who absolutely loved it, and during the Sephora sale, I grabbed me the smallest bottle of it. 

The body shop - Aloe soothing toner (250 ml): A constant repurchase for me, a mild and soothing toner that does not agitate perioral dermatitis for me. 

Boots - Ingredients - Deep moisture spray (150 ml): When I was on holiday in Scotland, Edinburgh to be precise, I went to Boots of course, one of my favorite stores in the UK. And I had a few recommendations from Andrew Donaldson-Wheatcroft on Instagram, this was amongst them and in a category I do not have "too many" backups of already, so I could justify the purchase. 

Byoma - Moiturizing rich cream (50 ml): My friend recommended this cream as her daughter had discovered the brand on TikTok - and during one of my work trips to the US 

Lancome - Eau Miceallaire confort (50 ml): When me and my mom went to a promo event in Smáralind shopping center a few years ago, we each got a gift bag full of Lancome products. This was one of the products in my moms bags which she has not used so she gifted this to me to use. I loved my bottle, so this will come in handy for work and travel. 

The Edinburgh natural skincare co. - The very, very best lip balm in the entire world! (15 ml): This I purchased in the Edinburgh christmas market. It felt great, but it has a very big name claim. 

Vieve - Super skin nova - Moisture rich primer (12 ml): I spent one last night in Scotland in Glasgow, and visited the Vieve store. For how long I had wanted to visit this store, I spent only about 15 minutes in store. Well I had spotted a few items from Vieve in H beauty or John Lewis in Edinburgh and swatched a few items there. Plus I really do not need any more eyeshadows, nor foundations, so I stayed clear of temptation.

Jolen - Creme bleach lightens dark hair mild formula (30ml + 7g): This I purchased as a pure backup as I have this item, but as I was in the UK I decided to grab another, as I have never come across a bleaching cream in Iceland, and as my facial hair is darkening a bit with changes in medication recently, I see this as something I will use on the regular in the coming future. 

Balmonds - Skin salvation (50 ml): This was another recommendation from Andrew, as this is supposed to be excellent for eczema skin. So that I also grabbed in Boots.

Shea moisture - African black soap - Calm & Clearing bar soap (227 g): My favorite facial soap that manages to keep by perioral dermatitis in check, without stripping my skin. 

The body shop - Plum shower gel (sample): This came as a gift with purchase when I bought the toner.

The body shop - Plum body yogurt (sample): This came also as a gift with purchase.

Wycon - Mono shot eyeshadow - 21 brick ( ): I had a work trip to Rome, Italy in November, where I had a free afternoon in the city. So I took a stroll to the Spanish steps and Fontana di Trevi - and strolled perhaps along two of the main shopping streets between those two places. There I came across a Wycon store, which I had never heard of before. They were having a some sort of a black Friday sale, so after swatching a few items in store, and contemplating what I could justify to buy - I opted for a single eyeshadow in a brown color with a warm red undertone.

Makeup by Mario - Master mattes long-wear cream eyeshadow - Sandstone (2 ml): These cream eyeshadows were so hyped online, and this brand in general. And as I do not own anything from this brand I decided to grab one of these cream eyeshadows during the Sephora sale, where I got a 10% discount. This one is very similar in tone to my skin color though, so it is more of a no makeup, makeup look. It dries down super fast, I am not sure I would want to pick another up in a darker color, as I am not sure I would be able to blend it well enough before it would dry down on me. 

Lancome - Fix it forget it - Makeup setting mist (1.5 ml): Another item from the Lancome gift bag from my mom. I can put this in my travel makeup bag and use it up in a matter of days. 

Vieve - Super skin nova - Moisture rich primer (1 ml sample): This came as a sample with my Vieve order I placed after my holiday in Scotland.

Vieve - Lip dew glossy lip oil - Socialite (6 ml): This I did purchase in the Glasgow store, initially I had thought to buy the color supermodel, but I did chicken out as it was quite brown. This is more beige, lighter brown, but I am still not quite sold if a brown lip color suits my rosy colored lips. 

Vieve - Modern lip definer - Velvet sands (1.2 g): This lip liner I grabbed in Glasgow - after I came home it was a bit warm though, and started to have second thoughts if I should have purchased a different color.

Vieve - Modern lip definer - Aphrodyte (1.2 g): After I came home from Glasgow, oh did I hit the Vieve website, used my points for the in store purchase towards more Vieve lip liners. The aphrodyte color is right up my ally, rosy brown. 

Vieve - Modern lip definer - Bark (1.2 g): This I also ordered online, a perfect shading color to go with either the velvet sands color or the aphrodyte. 

So that concludes my shopping for 2025. 

Empties September - December 2018

Here they are the items I used up from September to December 2018, also there are included two declutters.

Empties + declutters September - December 2018

Beauty by Zazie - Nail polish remover (250 ml): a generic nail polish remover, I found this one to be very dry and hard on my nails and will for sure next time buy one more suited for sensitive, and dry nails. 

Peter Thomas Roth - Mega rich body lotion (24 ml): a small body lotion I got at a hotel some years back. It had a thin and light consistency that sunk into the skin very rapidly.

Dove - Intense repair overnight cream (120 ml): finally managed to finish this hair repair cream. Would I buy it again? Probably not

Clinique - Bottom lash mascara in 01 black (2 ml): This I bought on a whim some time ago, I found it a bit dried out from day one, and would for sure not recommend or buy again.

Lumene - Bright now visible repair, tone corrector serum (30 ml): A light creamy consistent serum/cream. Would I recommend? Yes I absolutely recommend and love everything I have tried by this brand.

Abercrombie & Fitch - First instinct - woman eau de toilette (2 ml): A nice scent but considering my stash of perfumes, I do not need one more at this time.

Gosh - Darling lashes, extreme volume mascara (10 ml): When I cracked open into this one I found out it had dried out, so this is a decluttered item. 

Boots - Ingredients - Sheet face mask, charcoal & willow bark, cleansing & purifying (20 ml): This mask had a whopping 20 ml, and after using the sheet mask inside, I was able to use the remaining liquid in the packaging for 2 more applications. It had a light gel consistency and had a minor tingling and cooling sensation when first applied to the face. 

Almay - eyeliner - 207 brown (0,28 g): This item is also a decluttered item, as when I cracked into it, it was dried out, when I broke a tip of it, it seemed to be soft enough for the eyes, but when I tried to apply it on my eyes, it turned out to be too dry and hard to apply.

Lancome le crayon kohl noir (0,7 g): this item was a roll over product from 2017 and finally I managed to use this one up this year. And considering how long this item lasted, compared to the Almay roll up pencil, a wooden eyeliner seems to have a much longer shelf life than a roll up one.

Dr. Belmeur advanced - Cica recovery cream (1,2 ml): This I got as a sample in a beauty store in Toronto, if I remembered correctly. These small samples are perfect for depotting into a small jar to take with me while travelling. 

Did you finish anything of late?

Beauty goals for 2016 - update 2 - 6 months in

So here is the latest update on my products:

Product update nr. 2

I pressed a Clinique blush into my elf blush pan (as it came in a weirdly small palette next to eyeshadows) - but as I used the pan as a reference for the length of the eyeline pencil I added it into the photo. There has been a tiny progress on the Lancome le crayon kohl noir.
I used up the depotted Clinique chubby stick in whole lotta honey finally!
And the Boots no 7 eyeshadow (depotted from a trio - a pinky purple shade) I finished in May. 

Revlon moisture stay lip tint in sheer spice 07

The Revlon moisture stay lip tint in sheer spice 07 I depotted into the same box the Clinique chubby stick was in, and there is just a tiny bit left - and I guess I will use it up in one month.

Victoria's secret very sexy sheer sexy mist

The Victoria's secret very sexy sheer sexy mist has gone a bit lower, and as I am going on a holiday, this will come with me (and hopefully be used up along the way).

Garnier roll-on anti-dark circles

Then I also finished the Garnier roll-on anti-dark circles, so from my 10 item beauty goals for 2016 - I have finished up five items, and five to go ;)

Are you on a mission?

Empties January - May 2016

So here are the products I have finished in these first months of the year

Empties January - May 2016

Penzim: serum/gel-cream I used on my face when I first was diagnosed with perioral dermatitis, it did not cure it but I know it is free from nasty chemicals and parabens.
The body shop, sweet lemon body butter: just a regular body butter from the body shop.
Dove summer glow body lotion: finally I finished this up this spring, it has changed packaging 2-3 times since I bought this one (which even has the label NEW on it). I have already bought a new version of this cream.
Sheer eau de toilette by Aerie: nice scent, glad it is finished before it went bad on me.
Garnier micellar cleansing water: love it, and in fact do not sense a difference between this one and the one from Bioderma.
Physicians formula organic wear BB mascara: it was ok, the wand was a little bit too strange for my liking, and prefer the original one in the green bottle.
Bath & Body works nourishing hand cream in fresh sparkling snow: this was a nice and nourishing hand cream, but the scent was a bit too strong for my liking. Would not buy again.
Labello caregloss & shine: too sticky, with no colour and will not buy again.
Boots no.7 eyeshadow in a pinky purple shade: finished this one finally off. Ended up using it as a blush and an eyeshadow, and eventually when there was maybe 1 month use of it left, it broke into pieces and fell into the sink - good it was not a favorite!
Elf blsuh in mellow mauve: it was a super nice blush, but I got so tired of trying to use it up, and I got sick of the colour, by using it every day for a long period of time. Will not repurchase in the nearest future. 

Beauty goals for 2016

I was not sure if I should call this post beauty or makeup goals. But as I include a perfume and a body mist - it is more beauty goals.

I have been sticking quite good to a low buy, not an official one though - and when I am abroad travelling or in a duty free it is the most difficult.

With all the free time during my Christmas school break, I have been very active at watching beauty videos on Youtube, and seeing all the holiday palettes, but incredible enough I have not been craving them so bad, but I started to crave a ridiculously expensive eyeshadow from Nars, in fact one of the dual intensity eyeshadows in Himalia... but I can tell you that much I am not willing to buy an single eyeshadow for 29 USD. After that episode, I am currently craving an eyeshadow worth 19 USD from Urban Decay, half baked as a matter of a fact, a cult favorite. Neither Urban Decay or Nars are sold in Iceland, but half baked from UD is available from feelunique and they ship free to Iceland, on everything that is more that 10 GBP (half baked fits that category).

But how on earth could I justify buying a single eyeshadow when I have more than 20 eyeshadows in my collection, and I have only 2 eyes, and don't even bother to put on eyeshadow every day?

That's where the beauty goals for 2016 come in - it is  inspired by the project pan - videos from Youtube (which I love) but with my twist on it. So my goals for 2016 are to finish 10 spesific products, and the reason I choose them is because they are well along to be finished, and just need the extra boost to actually finish them, plus some of them are turning old in my collection, so it would be good to see them used and gone from my "collection".
The incentive, or reward is then when I finish three of the following products (Garnier concealer and elf mineral eyeshadow primer excluded as they are almost finished anyway) I will reward me with the Urban Decay eyeshadow - if I still crave it at the point of finishing these three products.

Status of 4 products

The products are;

Revlon moisture stay lip tint in sheer spice 07 - a super old lip colour I bought on holiday in the US years ago - there is just a little nub left of it. I will try to dig into it also, we will see how I will manage with the Clinique left overs.

elf blush in mellow mauve - more than half of this is finished, so it is time to give it the extra push to finish it completely. Then I can also start a new blush in my stash.

Victoria's secret very sexy sheer sexy mist - a very hevy schent, untill now I have used this as a perfume on holiday, I will try this out as a body mist and try to finish it like that.

Guerlain Terracotta lip gloss in Terre d'or - this is so ancient that it does not have a colour number and the line has been discontinued, so this is probably the first gloss Guerlain did in this type, and comes in a 6 ml bottle. I remember I bought it on a plane and it cost a fortune, so I will try to use the hell out of it. Now almost half of it is gone.

Aerie sheer roll on eau de toilette in Sheer - this used to be a staple in my travel toiletry bag, but on my last holiday I could sense it will soon go bad, so now it is in daily use to finish up.

Lancome le crayon khol noir - this my friend gifted to me for x-mas some years ago, as a part of a eye-makeup remover, and mascara kit. It has dried out a bit, even though it was never super soft. And that is probably why it is taking so long time to finish, as I have been using it consistently to finish it for a year.

Depotted Clinique chubby stick in whole lotta honey - this is what still remains of what I dug out of my chubby stick, now on a mission to use up.

Boots no 7 eyeshadow (depotted from a trio - a pinky purple shade) - this actually broke when I depotted it to put into my Uni-palette and just a little bit of the corner that broke remained salvable, but as this is my only eyeshadow showing pan, and it is making a mess of my uni palette, it needs to be used up.

Garnier roll-on anti-dark circles in 02 - just a tiny bit of this remains, and I remain torn between if I should use it up or save it as it has been discontinued and it is my absolute favorite under eye concealer. Most of the time I skip foundation, and just use this under my eyes - and it looks great.

elf mineral eyeshadow primer in sheer - I have already removed the stopper from this product, I totally love this primer, but it needs to go for the other that is waiting in my stash. 

Remember less is more,

thanks for reading and happy holidays!

Empties 2012

These are not all of the empties of last year, but some of them.

Empties 2012

Orlane, Normalane astringent soothing lotion for mixed and oily skin.

- This toner was not good, didn't do anything for me, as using nothing at all.

Neutrogena, ageless essentials continous hydration face cream with 25 SPF.

- When I started to use this last summer it was ok, but now this winter it broke me out, so I have stopped using it (even though it's not emptly) not to be bought again or ever used again, new home; the trash.

- Victoria's secret, fragrant body splash in Love spell.
This I bought ages ago, and finally finished now. The smell is always as nice even though the purple colour went out of the water as I made the crucial mistake of storing the bottle in direct sunlight (in my batroom window).

Sothys Hydradvace, intensive hydrating serum.
- A great serum works really well with my Hydradvance moisturizing cream. The only downside: it contains parabens, and thus will not be bought again - even though I REALLY want to. Really good product.

Boots, Botanics skin brightening toner.
- The best toner I have ever used, really gentle on the skin and does brighten the skin. Will definetly buy again, too bad there is not a Boots store in Iceland.

The body shop, hi-shine lip treatment (gloss).
- They have changed the packaging at the body shop, this is a 13 ml tube (cut in half), now they have a 14 ml. My tube doesn't have a colour indication on the bottle, but I think it's closes to party pink in the line they have now. It was a little bit too glittery for my liking, as I could just feel a little bit of glitter particles on my lips. Plus the bottle is way too big and lasts forever. Which could be good for some, but I like to switch out my glosses more often, so smaller bottles for me please.

N.Y.C. liquid lipstick in 433A Christine.
- I don't think N.Y.C. makes this anymore, at least not in this packaging. A really nice orange colour and small enough sparkles so I don't feel them on my lips.

Have you tried any of these?

Ella