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!)

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!

La Roche Posay Serozinc Ingredients Review and Analysis: What Does the Science Say About Zinc Sulphate?

La Roche Posay Serozinc has been making quite the waves on the blogosphere, and many bloggers seem to be raving about this product, and following a twitter conversation with Ling, who has her own blog, I got the idea that, in light of all the raves Serozinc has been getting, it would be good for me to take a more analytical approach to the product. La Roche Posay claims that the product "cleanses superficial skin irritations" on their website, and the product is promoted as an anti-blemish toner. You apply it to cleansed skin, wait for a while, and then continue on with the rest of your regime.

La Roche Posay's Serozinc is highly anticipated and highly raved (Source)

Escentual's site promotes Serozinc as "created with just three ingredients: La Roche-Posay’s ultra-soothing thermal spring water, healing zinc sulphate (0.10%) and astringent sodium chloride (0.75%). Together, these three ingredients target blemishes, marks and excess oiliness, ensuring your complexion feels fresh and comfortable at any time of day." So I guess we already know what the product is made of, and what the claims are. A lot of the rave reviews for Serozinc seem to have come from the fact that it is so simply formulated, which I suppose must be refreshing in a sea of products making complicated ingredient claims.

Serozinc is really getting a lot of hype despite the simple formulation (Source)

But before I start, I must clarify that I have never actually tried this product myself personally. Although ideally a more complete "review" (in the sense of a blog review) would have my own personal experience with the product woven in (as I do with my normal reviews), for the purposes of this post, we are looking at what the science says about the usefulness of Zinc Sulphate, which will in turn help consumers (like you and me!) decide whether it's really worth spending your hard-earned money on the product. So just take this as me doing your science homework for you, to help you make an educated decision before you buy the product! So, without further ado, let's take a look at the ingredients in the product!

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo + Anti-Blemish Cream Review and Ingredients Analysis

La Roche Posay's Effaclar Duo + is a new addition to their line of anti-blemish creams and products, and as with other La Roche Posay products, I was keen to try this out! You know I'm quite partial to European skincare brands, so I was all excited to see what this was about!

La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo +: The latest addition to the the brand's anti-blemish range.

This is advertised as an improvement over the original Effaclar Duo, as it contains "a patented ceramide" (marketed as Procerad' in the ad copies), in addition to the original active ingredients of the original Effaclar Duo. La Roche Posay's Effaclar Duo has gotten some pretty rave reviews online, so I couldn't wait to try it out for myself! And the first place I started off was with the ingredients list, because you know that's exactly how I roll.