Showing posts with label Empties. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Empties. Show all posts

1 Jul 2013

Beauty Empties May and June

As promised, although I don't have much time, I still do share my - admittedly at the moment quite boring empties. During the last 2 months, I emptied/ decluttered 15 products - so, I am catching up. ;-)

Here is a picture of all products having left me in May and July:

Unfortunately, I don't have such a nice window sill anymore and have to take pictures on the carpet with worse light.

All the emptied or decluttered products are cleaning or soothing products. I didn't use up or declutter any makeup products this time. I don't have many products with me here, so I just have favourites and didn't get using them up yet. And as they are favourites, I won't declutter any of them either. 

19 Jun 2013

Beauty Empties March and April

A bit belated again but finally here it is: my beauty empties post for March and April. As I moved to the UK in March, I was very busy with becoming acquainted with my new work and finding a nice place to live and, hence, did not have much time to use (up) cosmetics products. Furthermore, I moved with a light luggage that did not allow me to bring too many beauty items with me. The only items I brought with me were an eye cream, a face cream, very few body care items (I think these were just the Alverde shower gel and body lotion shown below and they were even just both half full) and a couple of make up essentials. My skin certainly missed the extra care it got during the last months and dried out. So, I was really glad when I finally had a permanent location and a flat for myself in April and started to use more skin care again. So, have a look at what I emptied in March and April below. 

A side note: I've been in Germany in April as well and decluttered a lot of beauty items. Unfortunately, I didn't count them and also didn't take pictures because I was in a rush but I feel very releaved and it actually was nothing worth mentioning. It were products of cheap german drug store brands that didn't convince me anyway and as I am currently trying to shrink the amount of my makeup possessions to the gems I really use and adore, it was a necessary step towards a tiny beauty collection the goldilocks way. ;-)

This is an overview of everything I used up in March and April (note, however, that the Burt's Bees bodylotion was not useable as I got a really strong allergy against some of its ingredients):


2 Jun 2013

Beauty Empties February

Dear patient readers, I am really glad that you still stop by and have a look at my blog. Unfortunately, I am incredibly busy and just don't have enough time to blog much. Again, I am quite late with my beauty empties of February (and still need to prepare the one for March and April), but I still want to share. It is a very much overdue post as I even tend to forget about the products. Fortunately, I kept them in a bag ready for taking pirctures. 

In February, I prepared my move to the UK and was not that much into using up and decluttering beauty items (you'll see that it was even worse in March and April, however ;-)). So, let's immediately dive into the topic and have a look at what I emptied in February below.

Here is an overview of my empties and decluttered products in February. It is 20 items altogether and I also included 3 scented candle samples I got rid of in February as well.


28 Mar 2013

Beauty Empties January

Dear readers, as some of you might have heard via Twitter, I have moved to the UK beginning of this month. Before that, I power decluttered my belongings and tried to get rid of as much stuff as possible which was quite successful. Furthermore, I put a lot of effort into making my office paper-free which was quite successful as well although I haven't completely finished this endeavor (have a look at a picture showing a part of my scanning efforts). Hence, I did not have any time for blogging and sharing news on beauty or life style with you, unfortunately. Beauty and life style just were not so important for me in the last months, except for minimalism and decluttering. I'd like to promise that I will blog more often in the future but - to be honest - I cannot promise that. I am very busy and try to get a lot of stuff done at the moment. However, you should get at least some regular updates on my beauty empties.

Have a look below at my beauty empties of January. In February and March, I did not empty that many products due to too much stress. In March, besides living in a rather uncomfortable shared house, I also didn't take many products with me and my skin and I, we both miss body lotions a lot! ;-) So, I am looking very much forward to using body lotions again in April. The cold, british weather has dried my skin very much and I probably should also do more sports to encourage blood and lymph flow as this helps against dry skin as well. Will start to do more sports again in April as well.

In January, I did not empty and declutter that much beauty wise. Altogether only 22 products have left me and of these only 6 were decluttered. This is not much indeed - especially considered my usual mass exodus. ;-) But it still is more than I managed to empty in February and March. Have a look at the group picture of the products that left me in January:


10 Jan 2013

Beauty Empties December

In December, 40 products left me. I decluttered 18 of these 40 products, the other 22 have indeed been used up. Have a look at the group picture (only the decluttered eye shadows are missing, but you can see them below - I gave them away already in the middle of December and hence, they were already gone when I took the group picture):

A short summary and my thoughts about the emptied or decluttered products:
  • Shower gels
    • Loodus Cosmetics Spruce Shower Gel, tiny sample: smells very strong like fir. I didn't like it. The scent was too strong and the sample was too tiny to be able to judge the product - I was only able to use it for 1 leg. ;-) Hence, I won't purchase this product. 
    • Loodus Cosmetics Lemongrass Shower Gel, tiny sample: smells very strong like lemon grass. Not bad, I might purchase this one. It is not cheap but also not too expensive (10 CHF). However, again the sample was too tiny to be able to judge the product - I was only able to use it for 1 leg. ;-) Hence, I won't purchase this product that soon - maybe some day but rather not in the next months.

1 Dec 2012

Beauty Empties November

It is time for an empties post again. Again, I successfully used up a lot of stuff. Altogether, 46 beauty items left me in November. And believe it or not: I was able to use up 860 ml of body butter and body lotion last month. Hence, I got rid of all my Bodyshop items (I kept the boxes of the body butters that are gone now, however, in order to use them as fancy storage boxes for other items - see them here being cleaned and here waiting to be filled). Finally my body lotion stash shrinks - at last! :-)

With decluttering, November might have been one of my best months ever. I was able to declutter 17 make up items, a couple of them were even quite expensive but I just don't like them or don't use them (and why should I keep them then even if I like them?) or they've gone bad, unfortunately, because they are really old. So, no guilt due to the waste, just gladness that these items are gone and my drawers are getting emptier and emptier! I'm nearly swimming in space and my stash continuously keeps to shrink and I enjoy the remaining products so much more! :-)

Here is a picture of all the beauty items that left me in November: 
A short summary and my thoughts about the emptied/decluttered products:

29 Oct 2012

Beauty Empties October

This month I was able to get rid of 36 products. I went through my nail polish collection again (this is something I do quite often as you might have observed) and decluttered a lot of nail polishes again. However, don't worry, I still own a ton of them (around 30). Hence, I won't suffer of a lack of nail polishes after this huge decluttering action.

Here is a picture of all products that left me in october (my hair tint by Khadi is missing, sorry, I forgot to add it to the group picture - you can see it below though):

23 Oct 2012

Beauty Empties in September

I'm still very busy and don't have much spare time for blogging due to my thesis. I am very sorry guys. :-( However, as I still keep a journal on what I empty beauty wise for myself as a reference (besides of being a lot of fun, journaling such kinds of things also helps me a lot to discover what's best for me), I think it's not so much additional work for me to share my beauty empties with you. Some of you might also be interested in and benefit from my experiences with and my thoughts about the beauty products I try. 

Hence, I'll now show you my beauty empties of September: in September, I got rid of 52 products. It's crazy, I know. But I also decluttered a lot of stuff that I didn't want to empty anymore. At the moment, I try to shrink the amount of beauty stuff occupying my bathroom and to just keep those products I really like and enjoy using. I also used up a couple of samples that don't fit to my sex (i.e. some were for men) or my skin type (i.e. some were for combination skin) just in order to get rid of them but to not throw them away.

I also read a lot about color categories and skin color seasons in September and I also (re)discovered that I belong to the summer skin colour category. Actually, I stumbled upon the fact that I am a summer type in the skin color seasons system one or two years ago, but I somehow forgot about it. I personally found it very difficult to find out more about my skin undertone and my color type in the skin color seasons systems. I still don't know what kind of flow I belong to within the summer color category. A webpage that helped me a lot to find out that I am a summer type is the Beautyjunkies Farbtypen F.A.Q. I highly recommend to read this in case you speak german as, unfortunately, it is written in German. For english speakers, however, I recommend to read the book Colour me beautiful by Carole Jackson. As I rediscovered that I belong to the summer skin colour category and also observed that I didn't wear the colours that don't suit me anyway, I decided to declutter a couple of makeup colours that don't suit me at all and haven't been worn often anyway.

I also started to journal my teeth products again because I want to find out how fast I use these products up as well. It's just a journaling issue and shall help me to get more organized and to get a feeling for when something needs to be repurchased because it soon will be empty. In the future, I want to repurchase stuff at the right time and stop hoarding it. ;-) 

22 of these 52 products have been decluttered by me. Among those 30 products which I really emptied only 12 products were full size. The others were samples, each with a different amount of content.

Here is a picture of all products, I emptied or decluttered in September: 

1 Sept 2012

Beauty Empties August

Last month, I emptied or got rid of 35 products. However, it's a bit of cheating as 9 of the "products" were just samples and 3 of the products were makeup products that I have decluttered and not emptied (note that the lip stick is nearly empty, hence, I do count it as emptied ;-)). I also have not emptied but just decluttered 6 other products. But nevertheless, I do count them all as well. Having got rid of 35 products feels just too great! :-)

Here is a picture of all products I emptied/got rid of in August:

1 Aug 2012

Beauty Empties in July

Last month, I emptied or got rid of 26 24 products. Again, 7 5 of them are makeup products that haven't been emptied completely but makeup products are not that easy to empty and the wearability can be an issue that shouldn't be neglected. With most of the make up products the problem has indeed been the wearability. Either I did not like the colours on me or they did not fit to my kind of lifestyle. The lip gloss by H&M was just not comfortable to wear and hence, I did not want to torture myself with it. Hence, I used stuff up and also did some kind of decluttering.

Usually, I enjoy writing the beauty empties post more than writing any other kind of post in this blog because I experience using up and decluttering as very relieving. Throwing the empty bottles away after having taken photos is the best of all. :-))

Here is a picture of all products I emptied/got rid of in July:

A short summary and my thoughts about the products, I emptied in July:

1 Jul 2012

Beauty Empties June

Last month, I emptied 25 products. Well, six of them are makeup products that haven't been emptied completely but makeup products are not that easy to empty. In case I don't like them I also prefer to not torture myself and hence also don't empty them completely. Furthermore, two of the emptied products are for the teeth and I repurchase these products regularly anyway. I only wanted to include them this time in order to share them with you. Next time, I don't think I'll include them again since I don't tend to collect teeth products (and don't have to use them up in order to gain space again - which I obviously have to do with a couple of beauty product categories ;-)) and also don't change them often.
Nevertheless, I am very surprised that I managed to empty/get rid of 25 products last month. The amount of products is even bigger than in May and I've been so proud of myself in May. ;-) I am really curious what the next month will bring ... However, I prefer to not expect too much and hence might be surprised again. Let's see.
This month I have not emptied any products for feet. It's because I have often used my body butters for my feet as well. Since the body butters I used in May have been very nurturing, my feet didn't need any extra attention.

Here is a picture of all products emptied in June:


A short summary and my thoughts about the products, I emptied in June:
  • Shower Gel & Shampoo
    • Fa SPORT Double Power Körper & Haar: this was in my Pink Box of June. At first I hated it (this is also why I immediately started using it - I just wanted to get rid of it). But it's ok; it is refreshing; you can use it for hair and body yielding a reduction of the amount of products standing in your shower which I experienced as pretty relieving. The scent is not worth mentioning since it's nothing special. It's not among my favourites - it's just a useful and somewhat convenient product (because it's for body & hair). Nothing more and nothing less. I doubt that I'll purchase it soon again. But you never know. Some day I might repurchase it nevertheless since it's cheap, convenient and fastly emptied. Let's see. 
    • Some Hotel Shower & Bath Gel (30ml): This is a shower & bath gel, I got at my hotel during my short trip last month. It was a noname hotel and the product is a noname product. It was ok, nothing special and I don't miss it. Wouldn't repurchase it - but I can't repurchase it anyway. ;-)
    • Alterra Blaubeere & Vanille shower gel: This is a limited edition shower gel by Alterra from last summer. It was ok, I liked the scent in the beginning a lot but in the end it was too strong for me and the last times I used it I found it even pretty annoying. This is why I haven't bought another limited edition summer shower gel by Alterra yet and don't think I will.
  • pure Hair Products (see above products that can be used for hair & body at the same time)
    • Alverde Feuchtigkeits Haarkur Aloe Vera Hibiskus: this is a conditioner by Alverde. I like it. It's a very nice product. It nurtures the hair and it is easy to use. I think I will repurchase it.
    • Alterra Feuchtigkeitsspülung Granatapfel & Aloe Vera: this is a conditioner by Alterra and also a very nice product which I liked using. However I don't like the packaging Alterra provides to its products. Products with thicker consistencies cannot be emptied that easily in such a packaging. I have to cut the bottle open on the side in order to get to the amount for the last one or two applications of product. In my opinion this is too unhandy. Hence, I don't think I'll buy it again although I like the product. The packaging is just a pain in the ass.
    • Some Hotel Shampoo (30ml): This is also a noname shampoo, I got at my noname hotel during my short trip last month. It was ok, nothing special and I don't miss it. Wouldn't repurchase it - but I can't repurchase it anyway. ;-)
    • Anne Semonin Shampoo: It belongs to the body lotion by Anne Semonin mentioned below. Didn't like it though because it dried my hair. The scent however was as divine as the one of the beloved body lotion as mentioned in a previous blog post.

  • Body Lotions and body butters
    • 2 pots of Alverde Körperbutter Verveine, once full-sized and once as a 30ml sample: This is a limited edition for this summer by Alverde. It's a very nurturing body butter since it's for very dry skin. I liked it except for the scent. It smelled a little bit like citrus cleaning products. Hence, I won't repurchase it!
    • Lait Corps Hydratant (verveine exotique) by Anne Semonin: This is a product I got during my stay at one the Radisson (Blu) Hotels during my short trip last month. I love, love, love this body lotion. It's refreshing and quickly absorbed by the skin. The skin feels great after application. I even wrote a blog post about it and I am looking very much forward to my next stay at Radisson Blu. ;-)  
    • Bioturm Body Butter Rose: Very nurturing body butter which has come with my Pink box of June. I didn't like the scent that much (too organic for my taste) but it was ok. It has been absorbed by the skin very slowly which is a sign for a very skin nurturing product which it is indeed. The consistency is like a mousse and not like a body butter. Alltogether, the product is not bad and I might consider repurchasing it some day.
    • Weleda Granatapfel Regenerierende Bodylotion (20ml Sample): This has been a nice body lotion. I don't like this specific scent that much, but it's nevertheless a nice product. It is also very convenient for summer since it is very quickly absorbed by the skin. It's very light. Nevertheless, I won't repurchase it, but maybe another one from the body lotion line of Weleda.

  • Antiperspirants
    • 2 bottles of Balea Deospray Sensitive 48 hours (both sample sized): The scent is awfull and I am happy that it's finally emptied and I can finally throw it away. Will never repurchase and don't know how I was able to end up with 2 (!!) bottles. Fortunately, they are both empty now! Even my mother said that it stinks like hell when I visited her last time and used it there. :-)
  • Tooth products:
    • Dontodent Intensive Clean toothpaste: My favourite toothpaste. In my opinion, it cleans the teeth better than all other toothpastes I ever tried. Will definitely repurchase. 
    • Listerine Cool Citrus Antibakterielle Mundspülung: This is a mouth wash product that can be used after cleaning the teeth. I like it; it's among my favourite products for the teeth and I repurchase it regularly.
  • Make up remover
    • Rival de Loop Augenmakeup Entferner Pads: These are oily eye makeup remover pads that can also be used for waterproof eye makeup. I like these eye makeup removers a lot. It's a solid product. Will definitely repurchase.
    • 2 packages of Boots Moisturizing Nail Polish Remover Pads: These are pretty old. I bought them years ago at Boots in Ireland. I had a huge amount of backups. But now with these two packages, I managed to use them all up. The scent is nice and they remove nail polish fastly. I don't know whether Boots still sells them. If these are still available, I might repurchase them.  

  • Makeup:
    • Rival de Loop Aqua Face Powder: This powder has been sold last summer as a limited edition and has been recommended as a dupe to the MAC magically cool liquid powder. I haven't tried the MAC powder, so I cannot say anything about powders with water but this one was awfull. It made my face chalky and the cooling effekt disappears within minutes after application. Hence I don't see any sense in the cooling effect aynway. I really tried to empty this powder but in the end I was so fed up with it that I threw the rest into the bin. I like to keep the package though. 
    • H&M lip gloss cherry and H&M lip gloss apple: These lip glosses have been very drying my lips unfortunately. I have not emptied them completely since I did not like them at all. They were very uncomfortable to wear and after extensive experiments with them I decided to get rid of them. I still have an orange lip gloss by H&M from this series in use which I still want to keep for further experiments - but I doubt that it will survive the next month. ;-) I love the packages though and will of course keep them. The cute little apple, cherry and orange will provide very nice storage for little things. :-)
    • P2 Colourtouch eye pencil: Not my colour. I don't like to wear greens often and already own a couple of green eye shadows I use very seldomly but which I like much more. This one was very bright on my eyes and the colour just popped too much for my taste. It was a present that came with another product I recently bought. Since it didn't cost me anything and I didn't like it either, I decided very fastly to get rid of it. And I feel incredibly relieved without it! ;-)
    • Alterra Volume Mascara: Similar to the Alterra Mascara I got rid of in May, this one has been burning in my eyes, too. Furthermore it has not created any impressive lashes either. Especially compared with my current favourite mascara, this one hasn't really been a good mascara. Hence, I decided to throw it away.
    • Astor Quick & Go 45 sec nail polish in colour 07: I don't like this nail polish. It is okayish when you apply only one thin coat. As soon as you apply 2 coats it looks streamy. My version also has dried out a bit yielding an even more difficult application. I used it a couple of times but now I am fed up with it and since I have much nicer nude nail polishes, I decided to get rid of this one.


1 Jun 2012

Beauty Empties in May

May was just crazy! I was able to get rid of 21 products!! Wow, imagine: I now own 21 beauty products less! Isn't that great? :-D I am pretty proud of myself. I started the endeavour to use up my huge amount of beauty stuff last year in August. Before that I just constantly bought new stuff and never used it. I just found it too labourious to pamper myself on a daily basis and apply cream and all kinds of products all the time. But I found it appealing and I knew that I should do it because my skin is very dehydrated and dry and needs a lot of moisture. At the beginning it was not easy to start using all the products I had accumulated over the years. A lot of them had gone bad and so, luckily, I was able to throw a lot away at first. But some of it was still usable and I started to somehow adjust to applying cream each day. The first effects of using skin care on my dry skin were pretty amazing though. This motivated me even more to use up my beauty stuff and this is why I just kept using that stuff and even bought more of it. Since then, I was able to increase the amount of products I used up each month until now I even hit a peak I never thought would be possible.

However, to be honest: I don't think I will be able to keep up that pace of using up products I was able to manage in May. 21 products ... that's really a lot and I am pretty sure that this is an extraordinary exception! I was constantly creaming every part of my body at least once a day in May ... Imagine: I used 830 ml of body oil & body lotion last month!!! Even I myself find it hard to believe - although I witnessed that I did! :-D

Here are the products I used up in May:
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and
 and 

Since I started this blog in the middle of May, the products I have used up in the beginning of May unfortunately have been thrown away before I was able to take pictures. These products were:
  • Balea Dark Glamour Shower Gel
  • Alverde kleine Elfe Shower Gel & Shampoo (for kids)
  • Alverde Amaranth Creme-Öl Shower Gel
  • Alverde Fusspeeling Pinie & Lavasand (Foot peeling)
  • Weleda Wildrose Eye Cream 
A short summary and my thoughts about the products, I emptied in May:
  • Shower Gel & Shampoo
    • Balea Dark Glamour Shower Gel: this was a limited edition by Balea. I didn't like the smell and won't buy it again.
    • Alverde kleine Elfe Shower Gel & Shampoo (for kids): this is a nice product, especially for travelling. I used mine especially for showering after swimming in the local public pool. I might buy it again. Not sure yet.
    • Alverde Amaranth Creme-Öl Shower Gel: This was a limited edition by Alverde. The smell was not so nice at the beginning, but I got used to it. And it was very moisturizing which I liked a lot. I will probably buy it again if it will available again. 
    • Alterra Papaya & grüner Tee Shower Gel: This was a limited edition by Alterra. It was sold in a box with a body lotion (which I happened to also use up this month, see below) and a hand cream. Nothing special. Nice product, the smell was ok. It was not moisturzing. Don't know whether I would buy it again.
    • Primavera Lebensbaum Shower Gel: I didn't like the smell. Won't buy it again.
  • Body Oils and Body Lotions
    • Weleda Granatapfel Regenerations-Öl: Nice product, very moisturizing, but I didn't like the smell. Won't buy it again.
    • Weleda Birken Cellulite-Öl: Nice product, very moisturizing and nice smell. I might buy it again. Unfortunately, I don't like body oils that much. But this one was really nice.
    • Weleda Sanddorn Pflegeöl: Nice product, very moisturizing and really nice smell like fruits and oranges. I really love the smell and I might buy it again. Unfortunately, I don't like body oils that much. But this one was the best one of all body oils I tried. 
    • Weleda Citrus Erfrischungsöl: Really nice body oil. It smells fresh and the scent is very light. It moisturizes the skin but not as much as the other body oils by Weleda, I used up last month as well. Nevertheless, for summer, this oil is really great!
    • Weleda Wildrose verwöhnende Pflegelotion (30ml Sample): Nice body lotion. Didn't like the smell though. Nevertheless, I might buy it again since it was pretty moisturizing and I liked how it felt on the skin. 
    • Alterra Körperlotion Papaya & grüner Tee: Very moisturzing body lotion with a nice smell. I didn't like the packaging, it was really difficult to get access to all the product. I had to cut the packaging in two pieces as you see on the picture. I don't know whether I will buy it again because of the packaging.
    • Balea Himbeer Bodymousse: I didn't like the smell and also found it a little bit drying. Don't think I'll buy it again. But who knows, I already repurchased it one time. Sometimes I am a little bit inconsistent concerning body lotions. :-D
  • Face and Eye Creams & Make up remover
    • Cadeavera pflegende Reinigungstücher (Make up removing wipes): I love them. Will repurchase!
    • Cadeavera ölhaltige Augen Make-up Entferner Pads (eye make up remover pads): I like them and will probably repurchase them. 
    • Weleda Wildrose eye cream: great eye cream. Love it and although I constantly try other eye creams, I also always come back to it. However in Winter it's not moisturzing enough over night. But it's a perfect eyecream for the day, also under make up.
    • Lavera Wildrosen Feuchtigkeitscreme: great day cream. Might buy it again
    • Weleda Wildrosen Nachtcreme: great night cream. Love it, used a lot of those up. Nevertheless, the scent is a little bit intrusive and this is why I keep trying other creams and don't stay with this one although it's moisturzing effect has a lot of holy grail potential.
  • Foot products
    • Alverde Fussbutter Pinie & Shoreabutter (50ml Sample): nice foot butter, nice smell, moisturzing, however I didn't like how the butter felt on my skin. I think I prefer more liquid foot creams. I don't think I will repurchase it again.
    • Balea wärmende Fußcreme: nice smell, feels nice, moisturizes. But my very last application of this foot cream made my skin break out and hence, I won't repurchase this cream again! I am even wondering if the warming effect has always been some kind of skin breakout.
    • Alverde Fusspeeling Pinie & Lavasand (Foot peeling): I won't repurchase it. I actually don't need such kinds of peeling products since I have a peeling glove I really like.
  • Make up:
    • Alterra Lash Definition Mascara: this mascara burned a bit in my eyes. Won't repurchase. I also didn't use it up. But it was definitely older than 6 months and this video about makeup expiration dates has convinced me to be a little bit more careful with mascaras.