The Empties #2 | Skincare

This surprisingly is the larger portion of this empties series. As I said in my Empties #1 post which covered haircare and beauty, I have been stashing these products for well over a month and as well as this I have been making a conscious effort to finish those last few drops of products that I've pushed to the back of the drawers and using up samples and things like that. So here we have the skincare selection, some of these products I loved and have repurchased already, some were ok and some are necessities of life.

Like the last post, I'll do my best not to ramble and give you ridiculously long rambles and make things as succinct as I can!

Lush Fresh Face Masks in Catastrophe Cosmetic & The Sacred Truth: I've paired the two together because both worked well but Sacred Truth was actually for my Mum and it is catered more to mature skin if I'm not wrong. Catastrophe Cosmetic on the other hand worked absolute wonders for my pores and I saw a visible difference immediately after using this mask. Can't rave enough- love!

Lush Tea Tree Water: A toner I use in my evening routine, aimed at oily/combination spot-prone skin. There is debate over whether toner is actually necessary but I like it, I use one morning and evening and find this one is especially great after I've applied a face mask to just spritz over the skin, make everything feel super fresh and close up those pores again! This has already been repurchased and I see it being a staple in the bathroom cabinet for a while.

Indeed Laboratories Pepta-Bright: A serum that targets pigmentation and skin clarity and I did feel that this made a visible difference to the appearance of my skin. I applied it both morning and evening and once I got over the smell, I really liked it. It restores luminosity, targets dark spots, pigmentation, aids with hydration and just generally evens out skin tone. I have a few other similar products in my stash to get through but I would repurchase this in the future.

The Body Shop Seaweed Cleanser: The Seaweed range is one that I'm familiar with and have used years ago. It targets oily, blemish prone skin so it's right up my alley. After making my way through a fair amount of cleansers that I found just ok, I returned to the Body Shop's Seaweed range and thought I'd try the cleanser for my evening routine. Boy, am I glad I did. It's now my go-to, it removes the remainder of my makeup (after a cleansing water) like a dream, doesn't leave my skin feeling tight and uncomfortable and I think has helped with the recent improvement to it's overall appearance.

The Body Shop Nutriganics Drops of Youth Serum:  A sample I was given at their Summer beauty launch and a product that my mum actually purchased the full size of, I thought I'd give this sample a whirl in between my usual evening serums/oils. I applied this onto freshly cleansed skin and it sank it nicely and left my skin feeling hydrated. Only used it for 2-3 evenings until the sachet was caput but I did like how it felt. Might 'borrow' this from my mum from time to time..

GlamGlow SuperMud Face Mask: A purchase for when you're #feelingspendy, the SuperMud mask is unlike any other mask I've used before. This has well and truly done the rounds in the beautysphere so I'm sure you've seen how it works. Claimed to be used by Hollywood starlets, this mask draws out impurities in front of your eyes. You can see it focusing on blackheads, pesky spots and the like as it dries darker in those areas. When you rinse it off you can see an immediate difference and it always left my skin feeling smooth and clean. I've moved onto the newer PowerMud at the moment but I'm certain I will repurchase this in the future!

Garnier Micellar Water: Bioderma's more affordable and previously more readily available sister. Could I call her a twin? I think I could. I don't find enough difference between the two to always warrant paying double or triple the price for Bioderma. This does a great job of removing my face and eye makeup but I do always double cleanse with a liquid cleanser to ensure every single trace of makeup is gone.

Kiehl's Ultimate Strength Hand Salve: As someone who is a little OCD about washing their hands, things can occasionally get a little dry. I am generally a big fan of the L'Occitane hand creams and have always loved those but a peruse through the David Jones beauty hall lead me to Kiehl's. I felt that I needed something even stronger for the evenings and this well and truly hit the mark. It is quite thick so I wouldn't recommend it for during the day as a lot of people can find that uncomfortable but for before bed, this is a dream! Fixed up my hands within a few days.

Origins Super Spot Remover: If you're victim to a pesky spot or two then you need this in your life. I have gone through a large number of these over the years and I love it. It dries up spots quickly without drying out the surrounding skin too much. This bottle may look small but that goes along with the fact that you don't need a lot at all, just the tiniest amount applied with a clean finger overnight or even during the day if you fancy and you'll notice a big difference within hours.

Mario Badescu Drying Lotion: May as well stay on topic while we're talking spotty pals. A serious cult product, the Drying Lotion is amazing for those more stubborn spots like whiteheads or cystic pimples. You know the ones that just seem to want to camp out on your face for the next trillion years.. yeah those. Apply this with a clean cotton tip, leave on overnight and you may not see immediate results but over time (even just a couple of days) trust me, you will.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair: A sample that somehow made its way into my drawers but I have tried this a couple of times now. It gets raving reviews from beauty bloggers, vloggers and professionals and I do always like it when I use it. Underneath moisturiser, it feels like it's doing a good job of keeping my skin hydrated, improving texture and appearance. Only thing that's held me back from buying full size is the price and I've already had similar type products in my stash like the Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Concentrate.

Skinstitut Laser Aid: Not sure if this is TMI for some people but yep, I get laser hair removal. I haven't mentioned it on the blog before, not for any reason I guess there just hasn't been an appropriate post. I go to Laser Clinics Australia and have been for I think 18+months now. I can honestly recommend it and there is definitely a huge difference. I'm not at the point where I feel I can stop going completely but I do go quite irregularly now and more just when I feel the need to. If you're interested I would say wait until they have a sale on (which is a lot of the time) and buy a few sessions in one go. Feel free to ask any questions but I'm definitely no expert!

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Mat: This brand seriously made the rounds on YouTube I would say maybe 2-3 years ago and lucky for me and I happened to be travelling to France around then. I stocked up on the cult products that people had been raving about and haven't looked back since. Effaclar Mat is a more recent addition to the stash but this is probably one of the first moisturisers I've felt actually mattified my skin and kept oils at bay. I only use this during the day and generally only in the warmer months as I like to use something a bit more hydrating in winter and also don't mind as much sheen. This is fantastic and affordable- win win!

NUDE Skincare ProGenius Treatment Oil: A sample from MeccaCosmetica either with an online purchase or Beautyloop box, this sat in my backups/new products drawer for a while but when I ran out of my beloved Kiehl's Midnight Recovery, I reached for this. A pretty decent sized sample first off and I did feel like it did a good job for my skin. Didn't irritate, left my skin feeling nourished and was a good temporary addition to my evening routine. Definitely would consider purchasing in the future.

The Empties # 1 | Haircare & Beauty

In the corner of my room, I've been hoarding empty packaging of hair, beauty and skincare products for the past couple of months and it wasn't until I thought it was overflowing enough and I pulled everything out in front of me that I realised just how many products I had accumulated. So I've split this post into two parts- haircare and beauty then next up will be all the skincare empties. I will say though that I have been making a conscious effort to finish products that I've had for a while and use up samples and minis that I've been accumulating in my stash as well.

With that being said, I'll get into it! I won't write too much on each product or you'll start to see visible signs of ageing as you're reading it so I will do my best to keep things short and sweet- just a brief low down to let you know whether I loved or didn't love it. I really enjoy watching these videos and reading these types of posts; it's great to get a rounded up opinion on a whole heap of products that you can see people have actually used up and finished!

Haircare- 

L'Oreal EverSleek Shampoo & Conditioner: I've gone through multiple bottles of both shampoo and conditioner in the EverSleek range- they work really well for my hair maintaining frizz and keeping things a little more.. sleek as the name would suggest! Within the range there are two subranges- Smooth & Tame and Smooth & Repair; to be honest, didn't notice a huge difference between the two except Smooth & Tame isn't as creamy and rich so feels a little more lightweight in the hair.

John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Liquid Shine: I've done a blog post that went more in depth about this product but I purchased it on recommendation from Amelia Liana who most definitely has enviable locks and I did see a difference in the appearance of my hair and would repurchase.

Beauty- 

Urban Decay 'Chill' Setting Spray: The second bottle of this that I've gone through which says enough really. This setting spray is designed to work with temperature control in mind but not sure how it really does that, some fancy technology I suppose but regardless it does keep my makeup looking fresh all day.  At the moment I'm using the 'Deslick' spray and I think I actually prefer this one.

Bobbi Brown Creamy Corrector:  I did have a shade before this but it was too light and too old so I repurchased in a shade that actually matched me better and I am on the fence about this product. Some days I thought it was the bees knees and covered my dark circles like no other, then others I felt it looked cakey and didn't even cover that well considering how thick it is. I liked it but I didn't love it or find it holy grail like I know so many others do.

The Body Shop Instablur: This is another product that I think you can tell how I feel from the amount of times I have included it in posts or featured it on my Instagram. This primer worked really well for me and for a moment actually took the place of my beloved Hourglass Mineral Veil primer. Regardless of the seriously affordable price, this product is the bomb.com, I definitely recommend it.

Jordana Best Lash Extreme Mascara: The cheapest and one of the best mascaras I've ever used. First saw this on Lauren Curtis' channel and not that I like my lashes as big as she does hers necessarily, I'm hooked! I've lost track of how many tubes I've gone through. It works really well, keeps a curl all day and is easy to remove. I buy mine from either Beautyjoint or Cherry Culture and it's under $5.

Australis Lash and Brow Extender: aka brow gel.  May as well stay on the same trail, another recommendation from Lauren Curtis and as I'd always used mid-high end brow gels I thought it was about time I tried a drugstore offering; this does a fabulous job of keeping my brows in place, some have said it's a bit too crispy and crunchy for their liking but I don't really find that.

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer: A fantastic and affordable concealer and actually an old favourite, I remembered when I bought it more recently that I've in fact gone through a couple of tubes of this already. It has good coverage, comes in a good shade range for a drugstore product and can be used all over the face.

Too Faced Shadow Insurance: A deluxe sample that came in the Beauty Blogger's Favourites box that I was kindly given by one of my best pals. I used this after running out of the Urban Decay Primer Potion and in comparison to that, they're quite similar in texture, colour and application. In saying that though I think I prefer the UD one, it did more for me in terms of mattifying and keeping the shadows looking super fresh all day.

Simple Eye Make-Up Corrector Pen: A fantastic idea in theory but the annoying thing with this design is that you have to clean the nib after each use so not fantastic if you're in a rush or on the go because if it's not clean things can get more messy instead of fixing your mistakes but it did work well for the first few uses.

Maybelline Master Shape Brow Pencil in Soft Brown: I've gone through quite a few of these now and I really like them (well, duh). The pencil has that waxy consistency so it does a good job of putting the brow hairs into place as well as filling in the sparse areas. I did still use brow gel over the top but it was a good extra hold. Colour was a great match for my medium brown hair, only thing is that they can be a bit difficult to sharpen as the pencil itself is waxy.

Bourjois Liner Feature Felt Tip Eyeliner: To be honest I'm actually just throwing this one away because I think it's had it's day and even in it's day it didn't do wonders for me. I found it a bit dry from the beginning and difficult to use because of that. I also didn't think it had great lasting power and transferred onto my eyelids. Soo.. sorry Bourjois liner you weren't the one for me.

So there we have a quick roundup of my most recently used up hair and beauty products! Some were firm favourites, some were not so much but their appearance was appreciated in my stash. Keep an eye out in the next few days or so for my skincare empties. Let me know if you've used any of these products and your opinions on them as well.                                                                                                    

The Summer Scent | Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt

There's something just so special about a Jo Malone fragrance; the boutique nature of the brand, the unique scents, I find it all beautiful! When I saw this cologne hit the pages of beauty bloggers in the Northern Hemisphere, the scent had me intrigued. Every review said it was an unlikely pairing and not something that any of them would have necessarily gravitated to but it was very comforting. On a fairly recent peruse through the David Jones beauty hall, I stopped by the Jo Malone concession and saw it had arrived. Now I'm not really one to go full yolo when it comes to fragrance, I do like to see how it wears and changes on my skin so I spritzed the inside of my wrist and as well as a card I put in my handbag and sniffed my wrist all afternoon long (in a completely normal not weirdo way) . My handbag smelt beautiful and I really liked how it wore on my skin. A couple of weeks went by and I kept thinking about it which is usually a good indication that I really want a product (you know, because that happens so rarely...not). 

My birthday came around and I was kindly gifted a DJs voucher and I knew exactly what I wanted to put it towards. I headed back to Jo Malone, sprayed it on my wrist once more and decided on the 100mL bottle. Generally I tend to go for much more floral, a little bit sweet perfumes but this is something quite different for me which is why I think I was drawn to it. The scent is light, fresh and not overpowering. The campaign is all revolved around the English seaside which has no particular meaning to me but I do like it; the cologne is classified as one of their woody scents with top notes of Ambrette Seeds, heart note of Sea Salt and base note of Sage. 


"Escape the everyday along the windswept shore. Waves breaking white, the air fresh with sea salt and spray. Alive with the mineral scent of the rugged cliffs. Mingling with the woody earthiness of sage. Lively, spirited and totally joyful." - Taken from the Jo Malone website

The packaging with the thick rope just adds to the entire story and makes it even more special but one thing I will say about this is that I don't feel it lasts as long on my skin as my other Jo Malone colognes. My friend who recently purchased one of the cologne intense said the same.. so I'm not sure if it's just us who can't smell it on ourselves but it's a shame because at this price point and quality I would hope it has better lasting power. 

The NARS Domination Cheek Palette

Long time no post! If you follow me on Instagram then you may know that I'm currently in America and I did have a few posts ready to go but travels have just got in the way! Anyway read on for some blush-tastic fun.

I'm sure a lot of you out there will agree with me that when it comes to blush, NARS seriously knows their stuff. They're pigmented as all..everything, they apply beautifully and come in a range of shades both shimmer and matte. Each time NARS has launched a cheek palette in Australia they have sold out ridiculously quickly or just haven't even made their way to our counters so I've always missed out. Until now. One glorious day, @beautylocale welcomed a very exciting new Instagram follower- the beautiful people at @narsissist. There were squeals, an excited morning dance and a message offering a thank you gift for being such a devoted fan. Well I'm hardly going to say no am I?!

I was kindly sent the Domination Cheek palette which just made my day. The palette contains two blushes, a highlight and the forever cult- Laguna bronzer which was actually my first ever high end makeup purchase! Their two cult classics- Laguna and Orgasm blush are the larger of the four in the palette but they're the two I think I would get most use from anyway. I'd always steered away from shimmery blushes thinking they would just draw attention to any uneven texture on my skin but from a deluxe sample size of Orgasm in the Beautyloop box before last, all that has changed. I've found myself reaching for it very regularly and love the way it looks especially now the weather is warming up.

I haven't properly cracked this open for use but I did do a quick swatch for this post. No surprise the colours are gorgeous, quality is most definitely there and I have not one bad word to say about it.

Devotee, Orgasm, Mistinguette & Laguna

Source

Ps. Any Orange Is The New Black fans out there will 100% understand this picture but I just couldn't think of any better way to sum up my feelings towards this palette.