These things are in no particular order, because the goal was to photograph them as quickly as possible and get rid of them (though I arranged them so that I could at least identify everything in the photo). I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with the empties posts after this one. They helped me to work toward my goal of getting rid of as much clutter as possible before moving, and in general to encourage me to reflect on the things I'm using without buying new shit all the time. And I've created a reference resource for myself if I ever want to know if something is worth buying again or not. I just don't know if I want to keep it up. I have a short attention span. If you do too, I don't know if you'll be able to get through this post, because that's a big pile of junk. I'll try to make it snappy.
Here are my thoughts organized from top left to bottom right of the photo (as usual, foils, shampoo, and conditioner receive no comments unless there is something remarkable about them):
Perfume samples (Harvey Prince Hello and unknown): I didn't like them. I didn't like most perfumes Birchbox sent me.
Tarte card samples of Park Ave. Princess bronzer and Amazonian Clay blush in Fearless: You can read my thoughts on the blush here. This is a good bronzer for pale and/or cooler skintones, but I rarely use bronzers, so the card lasted forever and then I gave up.
Half a dozen shampoo and conditioner foil packets
Cailyn Cosmetics IY Foaming O2 Scrub: Birchbox sample. Strong fragrance, not much else going on. Too rough for my face.
Ouidad Moisture Lock Leave-In Conditioner: Sample. This was much too heavy for my hair and has an overpowering fragrance.
Cerave Moisturizing Cream: Sample. I used this around my eyes, and it worked very well there. If the full size was packaged in a tube rather than a tub, I would buy it, but I'm not going to get my eye cream from a jar.
Olay Strawberry Mint Body Wash: Travel size. This smelled like a cheap strawberry shampoo from Suave or Alberto or something. You know what I mean. It worked ok. Nothing special.
Avon Luxury Brow eyeliner pencil: I really used this until it couldn't be sharpened anymore. It's my current favorite eyebrow product (I'm on my second one now). Reviewed here.
Live Luxe by Jennifer Lopez EDP: Don't laugh. This is my signature perfume. I'm a sophisticated lady. It just works really well for me, and I've always got positive reactions to it. I once reensnared an ex-boyfriend in part due to this perfume. It didn't work out so well, but that's not JLo's fault. Too bad the bottle looks like a clown barfed on it (and generally I roll my eyes at celebrity fragrances). Despite it being my favorite, it took me several years to finish the bottle.
Temple Spa shampoo: Birchbox sample. Gilchrist & Soames crap.
Adidas deodorant: I bought this because it doesn't contain aluminum, so it doesn't stain white shirts. It also doesn't work particularly well, and I think it's been discontinued.
Paula's Choice Clear Regular Strength BHA: Doesn't do much. Go for the extra strength or 2% BHA instead (reviewed here).
e.l.f. Makeup Remover pen: This thing works. Reviewed here. It eventually dried up!
Nars eyeshadow primer: Do. Not. Like. Also, the sample size hardly has anything in it. Stingy. Reviewed here.
Acure Organics Day Cream: Birtchbox sample. This shit has way too much orange peel fragrance in it. I couldn't stand it on my face, so I used it as hand lotion. It was okay for that purpose. A little too sticky.
Paula's Choice Clinical 1% Retinol Cream: Mini. This stuff works really well, and that tiny bottle lasted me about a month. I'm going to post a review soon. Highly recommended, though!
Shitty Gilchrist & Soames body wash: From Birchbox. I'm not going to bother to look up the exact name.
Two Paula's Choice foils
Aveeno Positively Nourishing Calming Body Wash: This is a quality body wash. Doesn't dry out the skin and has a soothing fragrance.
Jergens BB Body: I didn't finish this one. It didn't seem to do anything, and if it's not going to have any effect on my extremely pasty legs, what hope does anyone else have? Stick with regular body lotion.
Simple Cleansing Wipes: My favorite wipes. I don't think I've reviewed them here. They do the job, are soft, have no fragrance, and aren't drying.
Suave Natural Infused Strengthening Light Leave-In Cream: Mini review here. Not bad.
Tocca Bianca Hand Cream: Used Birchbox points to buy this, and it was a mistake. I didn't like the fragrance (green tea and lemon without much green tea) and it wasn't very effective. Just smelly.
Maybelline SuperStay 24HR Concealer: Mini review here, though I have to say, the longer I used it, the less impressed I was by its staying power. I wouldn't buy it again - also because the cap cracked badly, and I had to throw it out before I finished it, because it started to dry up. Maybelline packaging is some of the worst, in my experience.
Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Dark Circles Eraser: Finished it! Yay! I'd been trying to use it up for a while.
e.l.f. Essential Lip Stain in Crimson Crush: Reviewed here. Dried up.
Paula's Choice All Over Hair & Body Shampoo: This is a good clarifying shampoo (never used it as body wash), but it's not cheap. Since there are a lot of good clarifying shampoos out there, I'd only recommend this if you really want a fragrance-free body wash or shampoo, since those don't seem to be very common.
Okay, that's it! I think I did a pretty good job of eliminating things from my hoard so that I didn't have to move them with me. Let me know if you have any questions about specific things here.
I wish I had something like that in my country! I just have to throw away all my cosmetic packaging. I recycle some of the expensive, high quality packaging, like mini dropper bottles, cream shadow pots, and even a super luxe glass pump bottle (it now holds mineral oil for make up removal, how fancy!)
ReplyDeleteI lol'ed at your fragrance. My oldest bottle of perfume is now 3 years old and I'm only like 1/3 of the way through. Though I have a few so I cycle through them. I think I will take maybe a decade to actually finish a full bottle.
Apart from recycling, is there anything I should do with perfume bottles? It feels like such a waste to throw out pretty, quality glass bottles.
My new apartment complex doesn't do recycling at all, and it feels really wrong to throw bottle and paper in the garbage! I do like reusing things when possible, too, but I haven't thought of any use for my perfume bottles. They aren't really attractive enough to display as decoration or anything like that.
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