Stuff I've Used Up! Super Mega Empties Post: Skincare and Makeup

This is a pretty major empties post, because the last time I blogged about my empties was half a year ago in December last year (it was also a pretty large post, that I split into two parts, part 1 and part 2). This time around, I have even more stuff!

The nice thing about empties is that, for me, using a product up comes with a sense of accomplishment (as in, hey, I actually stuck to something long enough to use it up!) and also a sense of permission (as in, hey, I've used up a lipstick, now I can buy another lipstick)! So for a beauty junkie like me, it's both gratifying and enabling!



Obviously, there's a lot to go through, so without further ado, let's jump right in!



Firt, let's start with cleansers and exfoliators! The Biore Marshmallow Whip Facial Wash is one I have reviewed before, and I think my opinion on it is still the same as in my review from way back when in 2011. It took me forever to use this up because I pretty much leave it in my workplace and only use it before I head off for a run to remove my makeup. I know it's not quite advertised as a makeup remover, but I found it to work quite well as one.

The Biore Makeup Remover Cleansing Gel is also a product I've had lying around for awhile, and I like this much better than the Marshmallow Whip Facial Wash. I found this to remove most makeup quite well, and has a very nice gel formula that wasn't as harsh on my skin as the Marshmallow Whip Facial Wash was. I think this could be used by most skin types.

The Liz Earle Gentle Face Exfoliator is also one I've had for literally forever - my review for this product was from 2010! It's one of the more emollient exfoliators, so I liked that it wasn't too harsh on skin, but I also found it tended to leave behind a bit of a film on my skin. The slight film was fine during colder weather, but here in Singapore where it's hot all year round, I found it a bit too much. But I imagine this would be nice for mature skins or dry skins.



The Kitoko Kalani Acne Ampoule has made its appearance in multiple empties posts, as you can see here. I like it because it has salicylic acid and tea tree oil, but doesn't feel too astringent or harsh on my skin. I have exactly 2.5 mini ampoules of these left, and when they're gone, they'll be all gone because I can't seem to buy these anywhere anymore. *Sobs*

Now, finally something more recent! The Body Shop Vitamin E Eyes Cube is a product I reviewed back in May 2015, and I liked it enough to continue using it after the review. It gets used up quite fast because it's a tiny little stick, but I found it pretty handy and a great basic eye stick/cream.

The EPure Membranous Jelly Masque is one that I haven't reviewed yet, but I've posted about it on Instagram. It's pretty unique in that it's a jelly mask, so on the inside of this is a clear jelly-like gel that you scoop out with a spatula and apply on your face, and then scrape off and wash off. I liked this mask as a hydrating mask, and I liked that it had a nice cooling sensation when applied as well. In my opinion, the gel mask works better than a plain ol' sheet mask. As a bonus, the mask sachets are so large that one sachet lasted me 3 applications!



More skincare! The Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel is a nice but basic moisturizer. It's not bad, but it didn't particularly wow me either. I guess I just don't have too much to say about it.

The Hada Labo Shirojyun Cream is from the brand's whitening range, the feature ingredient of which is arbutin. I liked this, and I thought it was good as a moisturizer, and not too sticky or tacky feeling. I generally have a thing for whitening products, so anything with a good amount of arbutin gets extra points in my book!

The Filtered Skin B5 Serum is basically supposed to be a dupe of the Skinceuticals B5 Serum. They both have pretty similar ingredients, too. I actually took photos of this product for a more in-depth review, but I've just had a lot of backlog and haven't quite had the time to get around to reviewing this yet. It's pretty good, although a tad sticky in texture.



Now we finally move on to some makeup! The Pond's Magic Powder is something I've reviewed before in a short post from 2011, but don't worry, this is NOT the bottle from 2011, haha. I've gone through quite a few of these powders as they are daily staple in my loose powder. They're good, basic, and cheap, and I couldn't ask for more!

The Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion is one of the most popular eyeshadow primers ever, and it is really a pretty good brand! This is a jumbo tube I ordered from Sephora sometime back, and is now mostly used up, except for some part of it that dried up in the tube before I could get around to using it. It really works though!

I've reviewed the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer Protect back in 2013, and, with some help from my mum (who also loves this and sometimes "steals" it from me), it's now all gone! It's pretty great, it helps prevent BB creams and foundation from sliding all around, although it doesn't mattify for as long.



And now, we start looking at colour makeup! The Benefit Creaseless Cream Eyeshadow in Gossip was once mentioned in a Radiant Orchid post from 2013 (remember when that was the Pantone Colour of the Year?). It's a muted dusty lavender shade, and very wearable, with great staying and lasting power - doesn't smudge, fade, or flake. I basically didn't use this up all by myself, though - the eyeshadow just solidified and got hard, and one day the entire shadow just popped out in a big lump out of the pot! I figured I could add eye drops to the cream eyeshadow to soften it up again, but I felt too lazy to rescue it, so I just decided to call it a day. I do love these Benefit Cream Eyeshadows, and they really last forever. This is the second one that I've used up, the first one I used up was mentioned in this empties post (I legit used that one up, by the way - as in I emptied it because I used it all, rather than it hardening).

I also have two Stila Eyeshadows in Nude and Cloud that I've totally used up. Stila Nude Eyeshadow is a light beige nude shade, but it was a bit too orangey on me and didn't quite give the "fresh and awake" eyes look. But, I've taken to using it as a nude blush, and it is absolutely fantastic at that - just a wisp of colour, a little more colour than the skin, but doesn't look like I'm wearing anything. It's the perfect no-blush blush colour. I think they still make this shade, and I would rebuy it - as a blush!

Stila Cloud Eyeshadow is a lovely silvery taupe shade with a slightly frosty finish, and it's one I was wearing pretty much everyday until I used it up. I've swatched Cloud here before, together with my other taupes at the time, and as you can see, it is one of a kind - nothing is quite like it! If I didn't have a bazillion other taupe shades, I'd rebuy.



And on to the lip products! We have first, the NYC Lipstick in 416B Berry Rich. As with most things I've finally used up, this is so old it's now discontinued, but it was a lovely rosy shade, and I actually received a few compliments wearing this. It didn't feel too heavy or drying either, as it has more of a glossy finish. You can see it in three FOTDs on the blog: one when I reviewed the Kiehl's BB cream, one when I reviewed the Laura Mercier Foundation Primer and Powder, and more recently when I reviewed the Biotherm Evermoist CC Cushion.

We also have the Rimmel Stay Glossy Lipgloss in Mauve Addiction, which I've swatched and reviewed in a super old 2010 post, and is obviously also discontinued by now. And yes, I'm ashamed to say this is the same tube of lipgloss! Surprisingly it didn't turn bad or go "off" or anything at all - in fact, I stopped using this not because the lipgloss itself was bad, but because the packaging didn't hold up! As you can see, the applicator portion of the doe-foot applicator totally broke and dropped off, leaving me with basically the equivalent of a lollipop stick to apply my lipgloss with. I know I could use a lipbrush, but again, I just felt lazy and figured this meant I was probably done with it. But it was a lovely glossy everyday mauve shade though!

The Lancome Juicy Tubes in Beach Plum is also a really old product, but one that I believe is still sold by Lancome today! I'm not sure if the Juciy Tubes have been reformulated since I got this, but it is probably the thickest and stickiest of lipglosses that I've ever owned. It's also really shiny, so obviously this was launched when super-shiny lips were the trend. The Juicy Tubes have wildly varying levels of pigmentation - some shades are so super sheer as to be basically clear, while others were very nicely pigmented. Beach Plum was one of the nicely pigmented shades, and it was a deep purply plum shade, and pretty wearable for cool-toned skins. You can see it in an FOTD for the Eyeko cream highlighter (also another discontinued product - the review is from 2010, after all!), and more recently in a more recent FOTD for the Etude House Stay Up Foundation. On a side note, can I say how much I hate looking at my 2010 FOTDs together with my more recent ones? I feel like it's very apparent how much I've aged looking at these photos, LOL! But it's okay, I am cool with the ageing process - it happens, it's natural, we get on with life.

Lastly, rounding out the lip products empties is this super old Revlon Super Lustrous Lipgloss in Glossy Rose, which I've reviewed and swatched before. I don't think this has been discontinued, but it has certainly been repackaged - the tubes are now slimmer and cylindrical, rather than squarish. I found Glossy Rose to be a pretty basic shade on me - it was a basic semi-sheer neutral rose with shimmer. I do like the quality of the Revlon Super Lustrous Lipglosses, though, and I think they're pretty nice for drugstore lipglosses, although I might pick a different shade the next go-around.



Lastly, a ton of loose powder samples! These are the Coastal Scents DIY Powders Boron Nitride 30, Boron Nitride 16, and Mica and Methicone. These are again discontinued, because Coastal Scents discontinued their DIY powders section sometime last year, which is a bit strange because one of their bestsellers of all time was the Silica Powder. Perhaps the profit margins for DIY powders were too low? I know they were some of the cheapest places to get DIY powders! Anyway, you can see my haul here, where I inventory all the powders I ordered.

Boron Nitride 30, Boron Nitride 16 and Mica & Methicone are all basically sheer white powders with varying levels of shimmer, so I basically incorporate this into my DIY powder (which, if you follow me on Snapchat - I'm musicalhouses there too - you can see me making batches of from time to time). Boron Nitride 30 and Boron Nitride 16 are both boron nitride (obviously), but I believe the particle size is smaller for Boron Nitride 16, thus making it less obviously shimmery, and more glowy instead. Mica & Methicone is the most obviously shimmery out of the three. So you can tell that obviously I have a preference for the smaller shimmer particles, as I'm using up way more Boron Nitride 16 than either of the other two. I'm using up all the sample sachets first, and you can see previous sample sachets I've used up in this other empties post

So, that's it for this pretty massive empties post! Hope this roundup of products I've used up is helpful!