A long awaited empties post finally! I have been working on this one for longer than I care to mention. I have a pile of Winter empties piling up so this one can't wait much longer. Let's jump right into it!
Clinique Redness Solutions Daily Relief Cream - I purchased this when my roseacea started getting quite bad. It offerred some temporary relief but overall I didn't feel like it did as much as it should have. I have since found much better products that help me more than this. I did purchase another one of these jars though before I discovered other things so at some point I may try to use that up.
Make Up For Ever Ulta HD Foundation - I got a sample of this ages ago and I thought initially it looked good. So much so that I bought a full sized one but in another shade as the sample I had was a tad too dark and too yellow. Sadly, the one I bought was too light and still too yellow. So I bought this one - R330. It's too dark and too red. I have given up with Make Up For Ever complexion products. I know they now have some more neutral shades now, but there weren't many when I bought these two bottles. Regardless of my beef with their shade range leaning too yellow or too pink, I don't care for this product for other reasons as it turns out. I find the luminosity fades quickly and it gets dry on my face and sometimes uncomfortable. I would not recommend this for dry skin. I used this foundation mostly for Zoom and Teams meetings over the course of the pandemic to use it up. Also, that way, I didn't have to wear it for long. I still am working on my other bottle, a lighter, more yellow shade and am and using it for the same purpose.
Tarte Rainforest of the Sea Deep Dive Cleansing Gel - I believe this product has been discontinued and for good reason. It doesn't clean your face at all and it leaves a horrible, sticky film that lasts for hours. I felt dirtier after washing my face with this than before I washed my face. The bottle is only 50ml but this product lasted me forever. Very liquidy. I always had to wash my face with something else after using this. It barely took off any makeup either. Not sure why it became a mission for me to finish it, but I did. Never again.
it Cosmetics Your Skin But Better CC+ Color Correcting Full Coverage Cream in Light - I have gone through a few of these in various sizes over the years. I didn't like it at first. I thought it was thick and dry looking and tricky to apply. Also, all of the shades are so yellow. I have come to love this product though the last couple of years. If you use a really good moisturizer underneath it and a very wet beaurty blender, it can look positively glowy. I like the fact that it has SPF protection as this is my go to if I will be out in the sun. I've even found that the "yellowness" fades after it has been blended in. With my rosecea that has developed in recent years, this is one of the few foundations that seems to neutralize the redness and cover it. I am almost done with my full sized tube of this as well and will definitely be repurchasing.
Laneige Lip Glowy Balm in Berry and Peach - My lips get so dry and uncomfortable in winter. I need something constantly to put on them and lots of it. These balms are not my holy grail but they work well enough to get me through the day so I keep buying them. Nothing will ever replace the old Bite Beauty Agave Lip Mask. So sad that love story between that product and I had to die. Maybe someone will one day resurrect the brand or at least that product and restore it to it's former glory.
Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask in Gummy Bear and Mango - I see a lot of hate online for this product. Yet, good luck getting your hands on it at Christmas time in Sephora. I personally like it. I don't love it, I have issues with it not being as good as it should be, but to me it is better than the alternatives. After Bite Beauty broke my heart and reformulated Agave Lip Mask and then basically went out of business for the most part, my search to find a replacement has been on. This search has not be overly fruitful. I have tried some really bad stuff. Some were things people rave about online. For now, this is as good as I can find and at least they smell nice and work even if it is for a short period of time. Gummy Bear is my least favourite scent/flavour from the line as a side note.
skinfix barrier+ Triple Lipid-Hyaluronate Serum - I bought this to help my skin barrier because it was wrecked from my roseacea. I did find that it helped quite a bit and I have already repurchased this. I don't feel that it does anything else for me except help with my skin barrier and I don't think it really claims to anything else. At this price point though, $67 Canadian, I think I can do better. The face cream from skinfix does basically the same thing. I did like this serum under my Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream. If the other products I have to try don't work I will come back to this strictly for facial survival. skinfix has also come out with a new serum and I have a couple of samples so I will be checking that out very shortly.
Origins Eye Doctor x 2 - That's right. I have gone through two of these. I must confess that I had very little left of one jar and was using other things for ages that underwhelmed me so I finished the jar and bought another. I no longer feel that this product is doing much for my dark circles. It is so comfortable and non-irritating though. You put it on and your skin sighs. I still don't have crow's feet so maybe it works well in terms of anti-aging, although I think genetics may be at play there. My mother still doesn't have crow's feet! I have a few other eye creams I am testing out and so far nothing is working well but I will keep you informed.
Estee Lauder Sumptuous Extreme Mascara - I have received countless samples of these over the years in gwp bags and frankly, they are terrible. I used this once or twice as it was lying around when I was in a rush, but it's near useless on my short, sparse eyelashes. It's all dried out now so out it goes. Good riddance.
Drunk Elephant Sweet Pitti Deodorant Cream - This smelled like marzipan. Delicious. It worked well enough for me but I am not sure if this would withstand a full workout. It's a very wet product and it doesn't dry down much which would turn some people off and frankly it turned me off sometimes. I would consider repurchasing this but I think I have found something that works even better - my Sol de Janeiro deordorant.
Sol de Janeiro Rio Deo Aluminum-Free Refillable Deodorant Cheirosa '62 - I really like this deodorant. Not sure how much I love the smell, but it is ok and the deodorant works well all around. I wouldn't say it lasts for 24 hours but it's good for a solid 18. Good enough for me. There is another scent so I am going to give that a try. Already repurchased the same scent as that is all I could get and that is ok.
Benefit BADgal BANG! Volumizing Mascara - This must have been the third tube that I have had of this at least. I believe I only paid for one them and the rest were travel sized free tubes. It simply doesn't work for me. The wand is massive and my lashes are so short and sparse all I can get out of this mascara is smudges and zero volume and zero length. It must work for some people since it has been on the market for years but it is a pass for me.
Marc Jacobs Fineliner Ultra-Skinny Gel Eye Crayon in Blacquer - I am constantly sighing as I type this. Marc Jacobs Beauty is no more and that is so sad. They had some solid products. This was one of them. Unfortunately, I bought this eyeliner from Sephora when Marc Jacobs was going out of business and when I opened this, the liner was completely dried out and it crumbled all my hands and pants. I was horrified. What was more horrifying was that for some reason I didn't return it. I have no idea why! I think I was busy at the time, I had ordered it online and then it slipped my mind. It was also on clearance so it didn't cost much. I still regret not returning it on principle alone. I noticed at the time that a lot of people were complaining online about the same thing. Must have been old stock leftover that we got.
Drunk Elephant Virgin Marula Luxury Facial Oil - This face oil is fantastic! Already repurchased. I know this and other Drunk Elephant products have been getting dragged lately for being overpriced and doing less than expected but before I got roseacea my skin never looked better than when I was exclusively using Drunk Elephant products. My skin glowed and I had been plagued with bad skin most of my life until then. Sadly, with the roseacea now, I can no longer use some Drunk Elephant products as my needs are different. I can still use this facial oil though and it is so moisturizing and feels heavenly.
Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion - I've tried a gazillion eyeshadow primers over the years and this one works best. I am not even interested in trying any others these days. When this product first came out I think it had parabens but Urban Decay got rid of them in there awhile back so I'm happy about that and have been a fan since. I've already repurchased 3 of these! Two are almost done and will likely be in my next empties.
Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Foundation in 5 Cool - I also had this in 5 Neutral but I gave it away as it was too yellow for me. I find in general this line runs yellow. Even the 5 Cool was a bit yellow and I have neutral undertones. This foundation is very much full coverage and that is what I liked about it. However, I will not be repurchasing it as it was a bit thick even when sheered out and it lacked the glowy finish I was looking for. It comes in a glass bottle which is always a plus.
Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Pink Juice Moisturizer - This was a travel sized container. I didn't notice that it did anything for me. Since my skin is sensitive these days, I only put it on my non-sensitive areas like my forehead, nose and chin and it seemed drying. Maybe it would work better for someone with oily skin. Will not repurchase.
A La Maison Sweet Almond Hand & Body Lotion - I bought this at Winners I believe. Smelt ok. Felt a bit powdery. Moisturized ok. There are better and cheaper alternatives on the market. This company's hand soap is far better than their lotion.
L'Occitane en Provence Shea Butter Foot Cream and Intensive Foot Balm - So two products here. I decided to try the Intensive Foot Balm since I liked the foot cream so much. I didn't care for the Intensive version and found it less moisturizing than the regular foot cream. Considering the Intensive Foot Balm costs $10 more ($47!) it will definitely not be a repurchase. Sticking to the one I love - Shea Butter Foot Cream it is! Already repurchased that one.
Pat McGrath Labs LUST: Lip Gloss in Sunset Rose - Pat McGrath makes the most glorious eyeshadow ever, bar none. I love her eyeshadow and have now puchased a number of palettes. Words cannot express how stunning they are. Then there is this lip gloss. I hated it. This was a mini sized tube that I got in a set of 3. I have since tried a second one from the set and it is awful too. Pat really needs to go back to the drawing board on this one. The two glosses I have tried have almost 0 pigment transfer onto my lips. It's like they are clear glosses. This is not an issue I have ever had in my life with any lip gloss by any other brand including drug store ones. It's a bit mind boggling and disturbing. The smell is ok, vanilla I would say. The gloss feels ok on but it disappears sometimes in 20 minutes. You could probably go through a full sized tube if you used it daily and reapplied as needed in well under a month. I will use up the second and third mini tubes I have but I can't see me ever buying a Pat McGrath gloss again unless she reformulates.
Bb Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Heat/UV Protective Primer - This is one of those products that I have wondered where it has been all of my life. It's a detangler, leave in conditioner and heat protector all in one. I have spent so much money over the years on detanglers that didn't work or paled in comparison to this product. It's simply the best. Already repurchase a full size and I have two travel sizes on hand.
Kopari Aluminium Free Coconut Deodorant - I just looked at Sephora's website and it appears they have stopped carrying Kopari??? Wow. That is a shame. As for this deodorant though, I was not impressed. I don't love the smell of coconut and this was coconut overload. The product was very wet and did not dry down much. Also, I found it wore off after a few hours and was no longer working well. I can't imagine how badly it would have performed if I was hiking or working out. Will not repurchase.
So that's it and that is an awful lot! Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!
