Empies: Sunscreen aka the Super Important Skincare Step!

Happy 2020 everyone, and hope you are keeping well in this time of pandemic! It's been awhile since I've posted, and everything's fine on my end, other than that I'm doing my best to adhere to the COVID-19 measures in place, such as wearing a mask when in public places, observing social distancing, working from home, etc. - we all need to do our part!. Life has just been busy and that's why I haven't been posting. I'm still active on Instagram as @musicalhouses however!

Anyway, since the last time I blogged about my empties (in 2018 too, can you believe that!), I've been accumulating a fresh new batch of empties, so here's a rundown of what I've been using since then! And as you can tell from the below photo, I'm starting with the sunscreens first, because sunscreen is one of the most important parts of a skincare routine, and everyone should be using a good sunscreen that works for them!

Sunscreen empties - from the past couple of years so they've been piling up!

So without further ado, let's start going through these empties, as well as my thoughts of each individual product! (And yes, I do plan to move on to the other categories of skincare and makeup empties when I do have time, haha!)

Mineral Oil Myths Explained: Cancer, Safety, and Skincare Benefits

It's been awhile as life has gotten busy! But I'm back with more skincare geekery - this time on mineral oil! I've wanted to write this post for awhile, because over my years being an amateur skincare nerd, I've noticed lots of fearmongering with respect to mineral oil. Some people believe that 1) mineral oil is bad for you because it prevents your skin from breathing, 2) mineral oil causes cancer, or that 3) you shouldn't use it because it is derived from petrochemicals. I'll be taking a look at these three myths in this post!

First though, a little bit of a primer into mineral oil itself.

What is mineral oil?
Mineral oil is a liquid mixture of hydrocarbons (i.e. molecules comprised only of carbon and hydrogen atoms) obtained from petroleum, and consists of saturated hydrocarbons having carbon numbers predominantly in the range of C15 through C50. As seen in the bottles of baby oil, it is easily recognizable as an oily transparent liquid. It's manufactured by the distillation of petroleum, and then followed by refining of residual fractions to meet the standards for cosmetic grade mineral oil.

Peel-Off Masks: Why They're Bad For Your Skin

Recently, I've been seeing a lot of press about peel-off masks, and how awesome they are. I've blogged about somewhat dubious skincare and beauty product trends when I think the hype gets out of hand (I've always been kind of terrible as a shill that way, LOL), but this is probably one of the more egregious ones I've seen lately, so I'll get to the point - I'm really NOT a fan of peel-off masks at all, regardless of brand, and I highly discourage anyone from using them.

Unfortunately, they're really popular, and seem to be receiving a lot of mainstream press as of late. A quick google search turns up the following:

What a cursory search for "peel-off mask" returns

Why are these masks so popular? In a word, it's novelty. Prior to peel-off masks becoming popular, most masks have been clay or gel masks that you leave on and wash off, and can often get messy and drippy. By comparison, peel-off masks seem so much more fun and easier to use - the mask doesn't drip, and instead of washing off the mask, you get the satisfaction of peeling off the mask like this:

Part of the a-peel (see what I did there?) of the mask is that you peel it off (Source)

And, now brands are adding to the fun and entertainment factor of peeling masks by doing things like adding glitter to them, which while fun, doesn't really enhance the skincare value of the product in anyway. But, damn if it doesn't look like the most fun to apply and peel off though!

And yes, this is a My Little Pony mask collection (Source)

But as I've mentioned (right in the title, too), I'm not a huge fan of peel-off masks. I personally find them really bad for skin, and the general formula of these peel-off masks is such that by their nature, they're rather drying and sensitizing to the skin, and it's hard to escape that fact, no matter how much glitter you throw into them. We'll take a look at the general formula of such masks, and see how the masks work, and then check out the ingredients lists of some of the more popular peel-off masks, to see how much they adhere to the general formula. It's lots of ingredients reading. But it's fun! And worth it for better skin!

Givenchy Rouge Liquide Swatches and First Impressions

Givenchy's Rouge Liquide has just hit Singapore, and this is clearly a pretty big launch here, and is very on-trend with the popularity of liquid lipsticks. All 14 shades are being launched here (yes!!), and the selling point of the lipsticks is that the packing is pretty unique - it looks like an ordinary lipstick when you open it, but what you are seeing is just the flocked applicator. To apply the lipstick, you twist the base, and the liquid lipstick will move up through the hole in the applicator.

Givenchy Rouge Liquide - liquid lipsticks with a flocked applicator

Cool, right? Above is the lipsticks when the case has been opened (you can see the flocked applicator and the hole through which the liquid lipstick is pushed up). The applicators all have the same shade of red, so you can't tell what shade the Rouge Liquide is without looking at the base to see the shade name. Just a note of caution though - the applicators can be a bit tricky to use initially. As with most "twist up to push the product out" products, you do run the risk of the twist mechanism going "click-click-click-click - no product - click-click-click-click - no product - click-click-click-click - a whole globule of product emerges that's way too much for one application". So, twist and wait the first time you're using it! You only need a little bit to cover the lips, because the product is pretty dense and pigmented. This isn't an issue after the first time you use the Rouge Liquide however.

Alright, enough gushing about the packaging, let's get to the meat of the post - swatches!

Makeup Empties: Foundations, Cushions, Primers, Eyeshadows, Lips and Blush!

We did skincare in the last empties post, so today we're doing makeup - and sunscreen! Usually it takes me longer to use up makeup than skincare (probably because there are more makeup products than skincare products under rotation at any one point in time, and I vary my makeup routine more than my skincare routine). So this is sort of an achievement!

Alright, let's start!

Skincare Empties! Serums, Essences, Moisturizers, and All That!

Another few months have passed, and with that more empties! Yes I have been trying to use up my products instead of just accumulating them (because truth be told as a beauty junkie you do accumulate a LOT after a short period of time). Anyway over the past few months, I (with a little help from some of my family members) have managed to accumulate quite the literal pile of products. Behold! My empties!

As usual, I wait for months until my empties pile up to the high heavens before it occurs to me to do an empties post, LOL

Since these are a lot to get through, they're going to be split into two parts - skincare, and makeup. We'll start with the skincare first. Basically every face product you can think of - lotions, essences, creams, masks, eye creams, are all in this post. Except sunscreens, because they're grouped with makeup this time round (mostly just to prevent this post from getting too long).

Alright, let's get to it!

Chantecaille Summer 2018 Swatches: Bronzer, Eyeshadows, Lipgloss, Eyeliner

Chantecaille's Summer 2018 makeup collection has launched, and here are swatches of the entire collection! And close up product photos! I know these aren't exactly the earliest swatches, but I thought better late than never.

The collection is inspired by vacation and beaches, and has an appropriately themed colour selection with limited edition packaging (for the bronzers and eyeshadows). The rest of the collection (Lip Sleeks, Mermaid Eye Matte cream eyeshadows, Les Perles Metallic Eye Liner) are all permanent.

Let's take a closer look at the collection.