Empties May - December 2019

So there has been some time since I did an empties tally..

Empties May - December

 More empties

Sóley - Græðir hand cream (50 ml): An excellent moisturizing hand cream, rich enough to make your hands feel soft, but not so thick and rich your hands feel greasy.

Garnier - Micellar cleansing water (125 ml): One of my absolute favorite micellar water in a perfect travel size.

Sephora - Triple action cleansing water face & eyes (400 ml): An average cleansing water, still I prefer the Garnier one, but I love the packaging on this one.

La Roche-Posay - Anthelios lotion SPF 30 (250 ml): I picked this one up in Greece 2017, and managed to finish it this summer on the sundeck at my Boston hotel.

L'occitane - Verveine - cooling hand cream (30 ml): A super light hand cream, not very moisturizing at all.

Bio Effect - EGF serum (5 ml): A small sample size I was gifted. Not my favorite, as it is super sticky after you apply it to your face, but will still use up samples I am given.

Bio Effect - Micellar cleansing water (30 ml): A perfect size to take travelling, a good micellar water, not sure it is worth the regular price tag, which does not apply to me as this was gifted to me.

Avon - Moroccan argan oil (30 ml): An excellent hair oil I used in the ends of my hair, which was a part of my "beauty goals for 2019".

Dr. Hauschka - Facial toner (10 ml): This tester has totally changed my ideas about toners, it is amazing to have it in a sprey bottle, so you can forget messing around with cotton pads. You simply sprey it on and you are done. Good on the environment as well.

Lumene - Arctic spring water enriched - facial mist (100 ml): The product itself is amazing, but I do not like the mister on the bottle, as it spreys such a super fine mist, it kind of sits on top of your peach fuzz above your skin. I just put it in another sprey bottle and it worked perfectly.

Vichy - Aqualia thermal serum (30 ml): LOVE this serum, perfect for sensitive skin. The only grievance is the fact the pump straw, does not reach to the bottom of the bottle. So you have to tip the bottle over to get all the product out.

Lumene - Bright now vitamin C eye cream (15 ml): The time stamp on this product states it is good for 12 months after opening. But how on earth can anyone finish a 15 ml bottle of eye cream in one year? Certainly not me! This I have had for two or three years. Finally I manage to finish it, the only thing though is the fact the eye cream I am using now is 30 ml. Please cosmetics companies can you just make eye creams that come in 10 ml bottles?

Supergoop - Daily correct CC cream - Broad spectrum sunscreen SPF 35 (tester): I got a tester of this product, as it is a 100% mineral sunscreen. And I do in deed love it. It is a bit stiff, as mineral sunscreens tend to be, but perfect under makeup!

Sensai - Concealer brush type - SPF 15 - CB02 Medium (2,6 ml): This concealer lasted for ages, even though it only contains 2,6 ml of product, same again is supposed to be used 12 months after opening. I am pretty sure I had it for two years though. It now has been discontinued, and now comes in a different packaging, with different shade names.

Weleda - Everon lip balm (4,8 g): I completely used this lip balm up to the bone, as I scraped all of the product out from the base. An excellent lip product.

Yves Saint Laurent - Mascara volume Babydoll (2 ml): I have had a tester of this mascara before, and omg even in the tester form it is AMAZING.

Drunk Elephant - Umbra Tinte - Physical daily defense broad spectrum sunscreen SPF 30 (tester): This I also decided to try as it is a purely mineral sunscreen. I prefer this type over the one from Supergoop. Still the one from Supergoop is better if you want to use it without makeup as it is more sheer in color.

Dr. Hauschka - Rose daycream (1,5 ml): A super thick moisturizer, so thick you start to pull and tug on your skin. The cream felt good once on, but too much of a hassle to spread out.

Nature Republic - Real nature hydrogel mask - Aloe vera (22 g): This sheetmask came with whopping 22 g of product. I used the sheetmask itself, once, and poured the rest of the liquid that was remaining in the packaging into a little jar, and was able to use the remains of the product several times, just spreading it out on my skin as a liquid mask and leaving it on for a few minutes.

Skyn Iceland - Hydro cool firming face gels for smile lines (3,1 g): When I was going through my stash of testers in the afternoon on new years eve, I came across this product. And as it felt really hard in the packaging, I decided to open it up, to see if it had dried out. Not at all, what I felt was the plastic tray the mask-pads come in. So there was nothing else to do than to put the mask on for the 10 minutes before doing my makeup for new years eve dinner at my sisters house.

Shea Moissture - African black soap (230 g): This soap has totally saved my perioral dermatitis. I bought it on a recommendation from a perioral dermatitis group on Facebook. Have repurchased already. 

Did you finish anything up recently?

April-June haul

A part of my beauty goals for 2019 was no-buy January and no-buy March, which was very successful. And in February I managed only to buy 3 items.

Well from there things have been quite down hill... and here comes my haul for April, May and June:

An accumulated haul - replacements, backups etc.

I purchased two palettes

Two brushes and Inglot duraline

Vichy - Aqualia thermal hydrating serum (30 ml): As I am over half way done with my previous botle, I decided to pick up a backup, as I have really fallen in love with this product. Even though I was planning to go "stock free", but I guess I have to accept the fact that is really not my style at all.

Vichy - Aqualia thermal rehydrating cream light (50 ml): As I am getting so well along with the serum from this range I decided to grab the moisturizing cream also to use in the nearest future.

The body shop - Aloe calming toner (250 ml): as the Lumene toner did not work for me I decided to buy something tried and true, that does not irritate my perioral dermatitis so I went with this toner from The body shop.

Cutex care - Non acetone nail polish remover with coconut oil (200 ml): After I started working as cabin crew, my nails have become very soft, and tend to peeling. I have tried a few types of nail-strengthening nail-polishes, nothing showing any remarkable results. So now I decided to try a non-acetone nail polish remover, and I bumped into this one in Canada with coconut oil, so I decided to give it a try.

TanOrganic - self tan oil (100 ml): I have not tried any self-tanners for the body before, but I had gotten a tester for this oil last year, and as a matter of a fact I did like it. So I decided to jump on the o so popular self-tan train, and give this a try. Have I used it so far? No not really.

Drunk Elephant - Protini polypeptide cream (15 ml): This I got as a part of the Sephora birthday gift for 2019. I have tried it a few times and it works great for sunburned, dry and flaky skin.

The body shop - Vitamin E overnight serum-in-oil (28 ml): As the Inika rosehip oil turned out to be quite irritating for skin, again I decided to purchase something tried and true, and was this serum in oil the one I chose. I had already finished up a bottle of this product with good results for my perioral dermatitis, so I went with that again. 

Nuxe - Honey lip balm (15 g): As I decluttered the Laneige overnight lip balm, I decided to go for something more organic and sensitive skin friendly, and as a friend of mine has raved about this product I decided to give it a try.

Drunk Elephant - Beste No. 9 jelly cleanser (30 ml): This I also got as a part of the Sephora birthday gift for 2019 and am I quite excited to give it a try.

Inglot - Eyeshadow in 164 (3,3 g): As Inglot in Iceland was closing and hosting a 40% discount on everything I decided to go on a lookout for a dupe for my favorite pink eyeshadow. My favorite is from Boots, this is not a 100% dupe, but comes quite close, the one from Boots is a bit brighter and was I choosing between color 164 and J301 the pink satin color from the JLo line. But that was a bit too peachy compared to the one from Boots. It didn't take me long after I got the color home, I got a big buyers remorse. In retrospect I fell into the pit of discount offers, which was one of my goals not to fall into. Well you live and you learn.

Clinique - Chubby stick, shadow tint for eyes in 04 ample amber (3 g): This shadow I had been eyeing for over a year, or ever since Meg says raved about it in her duty free haul. It is a beautiful golden/copper color, and can be sheered out to a beautiful sheen of a color. Still I am a bit overwhelmed of the cream eye shadow products I have in my collection, which now adds up to three pencils and two pots, one of which is a part of my beauty goals for 2019. 

Becca - Becca X Khloé Kardashian & Malika Haqq Bronze, blush and glow palette - Made with love by Khloé (12 g): It for sure was not a planned purchase to buy this Becca palette, but when I saw it was on a 40% discount in Sephore, I just could not resist, and even managed to tempt my friend into buying one. But hey when a Becca face palette with 4 shades retails for 26.40 USD it is just too good of a deal to pass up, especially when you do not own any Becca products. It contains a highlighter, two blushes and a bronzer and so far it performs beautifully, not too pigmented at all.

Tarte - Maneater eye shadow palette vol 2 (9 g): This had been on my wish list for a few months. But I had not tired any Tarte eyeshadows, or any Tarte product before I purchased this palette. But with the manageable size and everyday colors, it can be the perfect everyday palette. It has a faint sweet chocolate scent to it, and have I used this as my main eye shadow palette for the month of June. It might be a bit drying on my eyelids, as after a few day wear I started to get flaky skin in my crease, but I am now trying to use an eye shadow primer first and then the shadows, so I will see if that is not working better, than applying it straight to my eyelids. 

Zoeva - 100 Luxe face finish: I had heard so many good reviews about this brush online, and as it is a mix of natural and synthetic bristles I decided to buy it. As I tend to prefer natural bristle brushes for powder products. And I intend to use it for my hourglass powder trio.

Zoeva - 230 Luxe pencil (rose golden): I opted to grab this brush also, at the same time from Beauty Bay with the other Zoeva brush, as the 100 brush didn't fulfill the minimum for a free shipping, so I actually broke one of the rules for my Beauty goals for 2019 - which included only buying two brushes this year.

Inglot - Duraline (9 ml): This I also bought as Inglot is closing in Iceland, and had all of their products on 40% off, but I have heard so many good things about this product, as it can revive dried up liquid eyeliners and creams. So I snatched one up to have on hand.

So am I planning a no-buy month coming July? No but am for sure going to keep my purchases in check, maybe, max buy 1 item. Will keep you posted.

On a sample roll

I guess you could say I am on a sample roll at the moment, as I have been taking advantage of the fact that you can get a free sample of almost any item they offer at Sephora. Which is perfect for my sensitive skin which does not seem to tolerate any given product. So it is perfect to be able to test it before purchasing.

Sephora samples

 Samples and a blush

Beauty on the fly bag  - picture borrowed from Sephora.com

Sephora mask and Skyn Iceland eye mask

I would highly recommend to anyone to get a sample of the product you want to try out in Sephora, as one of these little pots lasts for several applications, so you can get a real feel for the product. And these were the three products I was keen to try:

It cosmetics - Your skin but better CC+ cream with SPF 50+ (fair);  This one at first try I really thought would not suit my perioral dermatitis-prone skin. As I got a few bums around my mouth after the fist application, but the trick with this one is to apply a thin layer. The first try I applied way to thick of a layer as I did't know the pigmentation would be so great. This I love to apply with a beauty blender, and it is quite likely that I would like to buy this in the future, as it has a high SPF factor, given that I probably do not apply it thickly enough to get the full effect of the 50+ SPF, but it might get to a 25 or 30 with how I apply the product. Full info here.

BareMinerals - Complexion rescue tinted moisturizer (opal); I used to LOVE the Garnier miracle cream, which was a light tinted face cream with SPF 20. I think that this might be something light and similar to that one, or I could use it as a base for other foundations which do not contain SPF. Full info here. 

Drunk Elephant - Umbra tinte physical daily defense broad spectrum sunscreen SPF 30; this I thought could be a perfect first step, including SPF, before applying a foundation which does not include an SPF, which I have in my arsenal. I also have a foundation which has only an SPF 15 so this could be the perfect base. Full info here. Have yet not tried it.

Benefit - Hervana blush (7 gr); I was missing a light pink blush in "my collection" and had really wanted to try one of the Benefit box powders, so I stumbled upon this particular blush in the Benefit store in Boston, where I had my brows done as well. I would have preferred to buy it in Sephora, and get points for my purchase, but as Sephora does not carry this color anymore, I opted to buy it in a Benefit store. And I love the color, a perfect everyday color, which is the type of a color I tend to get the most use out of. 

Madara - Anti polution CC cream SPF 15 (light beige and medium beige) (2 x 2ml); I can't even remember where I heard about this product for the first time. But I was lucky enough to grab a sample in a store in Reykjavik, and got both shades as me and the sales associate could not figure out which color would suit me better. But I figured that this might suit the same purpose as the Drunk Elephant umbra tinte spf sunscreen, to be used underneath a foundation which does not contain any spf. Full info here.

Sephora - Beauty on the fly bag; I grabbed this one in Sephora as I needed a small bag under my liquid products I keep in my cabin bag on the regular (a micellar water and toner). So I opted for this bag.

Sephora - Ultra moisturizing and brightening Rose face mask: I got this as a sample with my purchase when I got the Sephora Beauty on the fly bag. A pretty good deal here to get a mask worth 6 USD with a beauty bag for 4.95 USD. Full info here. 

Skyn Iceland - Hydro cool firming eye gels with hexapeptide technology (3,2 gr - one pair); One of my co-workers swears by this, so much he gave all of the members of our crew a pair of these. It is supposed to firm and de-puff in 10 minutes, and it is recommended to use this treatment once a week. Full info here. 

Have you tried out any of these?