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Empties

I love seeing other peoples empties! So I decided to make a board where people could post pictures of their empties, or just tell us about them! I'd also be interested in knowing whether you're repurchasing anything or not.

Re: Empties

@maci3434 Excellent empties. I keep hearing great things about the Summer Fridays lip balm. I have not tried it yet but recently got it in the Sephora Favorites Gleamy Dreamy Makeup Set 

Re: Empties

I personally collect a lot of lip balms I have about 30 of all diffrent brands but the summer fridays lip balms are definitely in my top 2 

Re: Empties

Ooooh, look at all these beauties @maci3434! Excellent job. I hear ya on the Grande Cosmetics GrandeLASH™ Peptide Lash Enhancing Serum 0.10 oz/ 3 mL. It gives some great results but you pay a price for it, for sure. I'm currently working my way through a tube and looking forward to thicker, longer lashes! 

Re: Empties

Nearly two months since my last batch, so I've got a big pile today! YTD 190

 

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Spoiler
Zoya Remove+: all time fave, have more and will rebuy with a good sale

Butter Matte Top Coat: Perfectly fine

Glisten & Glow cuticle oil: lovely formula, nice and thin, soaks in quickly. Grossly overpriced though at $7 for 2mL

Sassy Sauce Caviar sample: nice hand cream, soaks in well without being too oily

Little Barn Apothecary Body Oil: divine scent and nice formula; if Ulta still carried it, I'd absolutely consider more

Hempz Lotion (Peppermint Vanilla Swirl): I love vanilla and I love peppermint, but this was not my fave mashup of the two...a bit overly sweet with next to no detectable mint

BBW Body Wash (Capri Seaside Citrus): I have *finally* finished off all of my BBW body washes in the old bottles. When did they make the change to the current ones...7, 8, 9 years ago? Maybe more? 😳 At least now you know they last forever lol

L'Oreal Everpure Bond Strengthening shampoo & conditioner: I can't say a thing about bond strengthening, but I really liked this for my fine, wavy, thinning, oily hair. It cleansed well without stripping, lathers insanely well, and makes my hair feel great. Wella Fusionplex is still my all time fave, but I liked this enough to buy full sizes to use intermittently as well.

Coco & Eve Like A Virgin hair mask: perfectly fine, no real like or dislike here, just a decent mask for whenever I clarify, and it works well enough for that.

Bumble Don't Blow It: this was one of the first things I tried when I started dabbling in haircare and trying to play up my curls a little. It does a nice job of reducing some frizz and is extremely low effort, both of which I greatly appreciate. I've got more in the cabinet, but also have some other samples and such to work through too. I stray from this one a good bit, but always appreciate it when I come back to it. 

Not Your Mother's Plump For Joy dry shampoo: eh, didn't do much as a dry shampoo, so I just used it as a volumizer on my bangs.

Exuviance Vitamin C Capsules: this was my fave vitamin C for a long time, and I still think it's an outstanding product, but perhaps not for me...cutting it out helped decrease some congestion on my cheeks, so I finished it off and won't be rebuying. (If you are a fan of it, No7 has a near-perfect dupe for half the price!)

Clinique Moisture Surge 100H Hydrator: lovely stuff, I could see myself making this my daily driver if it didn't come in a freaking jar, ugh. Soaks in well, doesn't leave me feeling sticky or like I've got a film on my face, plenty of moisture. 

CeraVe Acne Control Cleanser: not a large enough sample to see if it actually helped with my congestion, but all in all it was a perfectly fine as a cleanser.

Tula The Cult Classic Cleanser: all time fave, regardless of the scent lol

Peach & Lily Glass Skin Water Gel Moisturizer: good, but always leaves wanting to try something else, still looking for that perfect moisturizer. It is lightweight and soaks in well, but isn't always enough for me.

Peach & Lily Wild Dew Treatment Essence: perfectly fine. I go back and forth on whether an essence even does much for me, but keep trying them out because I know more moisture is better than not enough. I like that it's unscented, and it soaks in well, playing nicely with anything else I ever put on top of it.

This Works Deep Sleep Pillow Spray: love the scent of this stuff

Brooklyn Ellis Myth: perfectly lovely; I used this one as a pillow mist, and recently found a second one that I've been using on me, an I have to say, I'm smitten with it of late.

Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille EDP: perhaps my all time fave scent? I desperately wish Ulta carried this one so I could buy one with points, but my sis got me a small bottle for xmas, so I finally made myself finish this vial off (I bought it something like 4-5 years ago, I've been hoarding because I never wanted to run out lol)

assorted lip balms: all fine, basic daily drivers. I will sorely miss the now discontinued Smackers Dr Pepper balm and Ulta SPF balm!

 

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Spoiler
Candles:
-Ulta Fresh Start: lemon peel & coriander make a lovely clean scent. Not the strongest throw, but I still got decent whiffs of it here and there. Good for subtle freshness when you don't want overwhelming.
-Ulta Florence, Italy Gelato + Watermelon: fun scent, nice watermelon tone without being overly sweet, good throw.
-Aldi Pineapple Peach Margarita: divine fruity scent, not too sweet, nice pineapple note. Burned ok-ish...left some up the sides, but it's a fairly thin layer that's left. Good throw.
-Sand + Fog Saddle & Cardamom: interesting scent, leather prominent in that brand new leather way, smelled about like walking into a Wilson's Leather Outlet. I would have preferred it to be a bit deeper/richer, but it was a nice change of pace compared to the other stuff I've been burning lately. Decent throw.
-Homeworx Sparkling Cinnamon Stick: one of the rare winners from the brand in my experience. I've bought one or two more as backups and may never forgive myself for buying this after I'd sworn off them after a long string of disappointments, ha! Great throw, burned well, and it's a rich and spicy cinnamon, savory, not sweet. All around lovely.

Eye gels: I rarely think about eye masks, but have been trying to make a concerted effort to finish up some of the many I've somehow collected over the years. There were mostly fine, minus the Wilma Schumann, which made my skin tingle and burn nearly immediately. I found that super weird, as I'm not typically sensitive to much at all. 

Sephora foot mask: perfectly lovely, nice moisture and a fun treat. I typically prefer mint scents for foot stuff, so I'm not looking for more of these right this second, but would use more if I had them.

Ulta Aromatherapy Shower Tablets: true love, and this is my fave scent. Basic staple that I'll probably finally run out of this year and that makes me very sad.

Clinique TTDO Wipes: worked well, no scent. I don't use wipes often, but like having a few on hand for the ultra lazy nights, and will buy more of these if/when I find a nice deal.

 

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Sheet masks, mostly fine. I didn't like the bubble one, the serum was oddly thick/slimy/gooey feeling...the bubbles didn't pop, just thickened up into a weird texture, like honey crossed with marshmallow fluff, and I couldn't wait to wash it back off. 

Re: Empties

Great empties @RGbrown . I am taking note of the Zoya remover.

Re: Empties

@Mellmars1185 

It's excellent stuff! Works pretty dang close to as quickly as plain acetone, but it's not nearly as drying. 

Re: Empties

Ahhhh, beautiful empties @RGbrown! That Zoya remover is amazing - you introduced me to it and it's my favorite nail polish remover. Whoa, you finished a matte top coat? Brava!! That's impressive. Is the Butter London matte top coat one you would repurchase or is there another brand you like more? 

Re: Empties

@itsfi 

Remove+ is some amazing stuff, love it!

 

For mattes, I've tried Butter and OPI. I did a test mani at one point a couple of years ago to see if one was better than the other, and literally could not tell the difference between them. I got curious recently and read the labels on both of them, and it turns out they're exactly the same formula (no wonder I couldn't tell them apart lmao), so I just combined both half empty bottles and tossed the obnoxious-to-use Butter mini 😂

Re: Empties

Good researching work and smart idea to transfer the matte top coats into one bottle @RGbrown! I have this thought that I have a mini China Glaze matte top coat somewhere. Making a note to do some digging - it may be part of the bin I kept with me when I packed the others away for a little bit. I do have this recollection of seeing it recently and thinking "oh, I should try this..." 😀

Re: Empties

Great empties @RGbrown I am a fan of the scent of Tula's classic face wash 🙃  I like the powdery-ness of it. I can totally see it not being everyone cup of tea and to be fair, it is pretty heavily scented. 

Re: Empties

@CynthieLu 

Baby powder is near the top of my most disliked scents of all time, unfortunately 🤨 I dunno if they changed the scent or my nose changed, but when I first started using it 2-3 years ago, it didn't smell like powder to me...everyone else said it did, but I caught a weird herbal scent that I also wasn't keen on, but I liked the cleanser enough to power through my olfactory displeasure and use it anyway. But now my last two tubes have been very strong with the baby powder scent and I wish I could go back to the weird herbal scent lol. But I love the cleanser!

Re: Empties

I knooo alot of people that really dislike that powdery smell @RGbrown it is a super solid cleanser thou. I wouldn't be able to wiegh in on any changes, I only discovered this last year. I wonder what changed in it or in your nose scent perceptors. 🧐 I love that it is so good you power through the unpleasantness. Maybe it'll change again,  hopefully to something you can tolerate or even enjoy 😉 🤞

 

I have a perfume I love with definite powdery notes, so many people don't care for it by but I'm sold 🤩

Re: Empties

YTD 143 🗑

 

I've been bad about not coming back and posting my notes (I really should get better about that), but I am always happy to answer any questions if I can (I've also been bad about letting my empties pile up too long lol, so I may not remember much about some of these, whoops 😬)

 

Notes below!

 

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Spoiler
L'Oreal Pure Clay Mask: I've liked pretty much all of this line for a budget clay mask. This one has some grains for exfoliating, they're fairly gentle, mostly rounded, not sharp and scratchy, and it does a nice job of soaking up excess oil. Would buy again if I came across it (though Ulta has stopped carrying this variety in particular, so I may never see it again lol)

elf Hydrating Water Essence: lovely budget pick, sadly discontinued, though I've been using the same bottle for literal years as I tend to stop and start essences on a whim. Kinda looking forward to trying some others though, and may be crushed this is gone at some point.

H2O+ Beauty Milk Mousse to Oil Body Moisturizer: this is the coolest stuff I have ever used in my life, it's a moussey foam that melts into a fantastic body oil as you apply it, and it does an excellent job at keeping my skin hydrated and happy. I was sadly not a fan of the scent of this variety though, it's a fairly strong floral that turned me off; I had another variety (Sea Salt, I think it might have been called?) that was more pleasing to my nose. Long discontinued though, so it's not like I can run out and buy more anyway.

Matrix Total Results High Amplify Dry Shampoo: not my fave, though not the worst I've ever used either. Left flaky build up if I used it more than once per wash cycle, but that one use did a decent job at making my hair look fresher. Falls into the "would reuse samples" category because I can't help myself when it comes to freebies lol, but not looking to buy it.

Paula's Choice Resist 4% BHA: I've been on an off-cycle with this for a while, mostly just using my 2% and forgetting I had this in the cabinet. I've noticed an explosion of blackheads in the last few months and pulled this back out, but it hasn't been helping...am wondering if it might be ineffective because it's expired (quite possible). I have a new bottle I just opened a couple of days ago, so hopefully that gets me back in decent shape soon, otherwise I may be lost 😕

Peach & Lily Water Gel Moisturizer: lightweight moisturizer that soaks in pretty quickly and mostly leaves me feeling nicely hydrated; on days where I need a little more, I add a couple of drops of oil on top. No scent, good packaging. I'm not sure it's my all time HG, but I have a few more of these travel sizes, and will be more than happy to use them between trying some others.

FAB Ultra Repair Cream (Candy Cane): Used as a foot lotion, where I love the minty scent. Not my fave formula for the purpose, but I still love getting this scent from time to time

LRP Toleriane Purifying Foaming Cleanser: does a great job at cleansing without stripping my skin. I have lots of cleansers I like, so I'm not really committed to buying any of them because samples are always piling up, but I'd consider buying this one if I ever needed to buy something.

Urban Veda Purifying Exfoliating Facial Polish: way too strongly scented, loaded with essential oils with an overall "herbal insecticide" scent. Tried it a couple of times and liked the product performance wise, but the scent was just too off-putting.

Philosophy Fresh Cream body wash: I love the Warm Cashmere variation of this scent, but this one didn't float my boat...I got "leftover milk from overly sweet marshmallow cereal" from it, and while I love me some Lucky Charms, that's not the scent I want in my body wash lol. Not a big fan of the brand's body wash in general though, I find it doesn't lather quite as well as BBW does for me, and I frequently have to reload my loofah halfway through my shower.

Peach & Lily Power Calm Hydrating Gel Cleanser: this was not enough for me as a main cleanse at night...might have been better suited to a morning cleanser for my oily skin. Wound up with a few breakouts while using this, and as soon as I swapped cleansers, that all stopped.

Philosophy Purity Cleanser: the cleanser I've used for literal years and have never paid a single penny for, ha! Samples of this were so free-flowing at one point that I built up somewhere around 60 packets (and dozens of small bottles). It gets used a couple of times a week, and I'm happy enough it to keep using it until I run out (if that ever happens lol).

Ulta Lip Oil (Sugar Plum): basic staple for me, I use a lip oil over my lip mask every night. Have more, and will continue to repurchase as needed

Fragrance samples: used as pillow mists because I cannot be bothered to remember to use fragrance on myself, ha! 

 

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Spoiler
The Ulta and Aldi candles were all moderately ok, medium-ish throw, wish they were stronger, but I've had much worse, so I was fine with them for a gentle freshening instead of a fragrance assault lol. I am mad at myself over this Homeworx candle though. I have been disappointed with nearly every single candle I've bought from the brand over the years, and keep telling myself not to buy more, they just aren't worth the money, and I've been pretty vocal about that in all my empties posts too. But nooooooo, I can't stop, because the first one I ever tried was flat out amazing, and I keep hoping I'll find another one that's equally amazing. Welp, here it is, this one is *fantastic*. I loved it enough that I went back and bought two more (one to burn, one to keep forever 😂). If you like smoky fireplace scents, you will adore this one, and it has amazing throw, scents up my whole place. Love!

Spa Naturals Shower Fizzies: total waste of money (I didn't have high expectations as they came from Dollar Tree), no scent in the shower.

Ulta shower tablets: much better, I have a stash of these, and will be sad when they finally run out.

Cala peppermint foot mask: I like these enough that I keep a small stash of them on hand for a little treat

TonyMoly Changing U Magic Foot Peel: I am just as happy with my results from this one as I am from Babyfoot...I find that wearing it longer (about 2.5 hours this time) really helps with the effectiveness, and the occasional foot soak 'n scrub while peeling helps dramatically. Also, I avoid foot lotion until the peeling has stopped...no sense in trying to soften the dead stuff, I want it to be dry and flaky lol. It took about three weeks from start to finsh, but that's the same for me with any foot peel, so I'll happily pay just a few bucks for this one instead of big bucks on more expensive ones.

 

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Sheet masks, all good except Global Beauty Care hydrogels. Another Dollar Tree experiment, big time fail. They smell like burning rubber, are way too thick and heavy to even consider doing anything besides laying down while wearing them, and are just wadded up in the pouch, coming out a wrinkly mess that won't lay flat. Don't waste your time and money on these; I tried two, and just tossed the third out of frustration. I also got a couple of non-gel sheet masks from the brand, and they're actually ok (I think one was in my last batch of empties, and I still have one waiting to be used). I go to DT like once a year, so they won't become a staple for me or anything, but I'd be willing to pick up a couple more of those next time I go (if they have them again, DT is always hit or miss on what they stock...I was actually hoping to find some Freeman sheet masks I'd gotten a couple of years ago, but no luck there)

Re: Empties

Look at the bevy of beauties!! Nice work @RGbrown. 👊🏼 You went through a lot of the Philosophy cleanser. Wow! How’s the Matrix dry shampoo (if you remember)?

Re: Empties

@itsfi 

Somehow I managed to accumulate something like 60 packets of that philosophy cleanser over the years, but set them off to the side and forgot all about them, so I've been doing my best to use them up. When my bottle in the shower gets low, I dump a bunch back in it all at once lol. Almost done though...currently working through my last few!

 

The Matrix is ok. It does a decent job of making my hair look much better, but I can only use it once per wash cycle or else it leaves me looking flaky. I'm trying to cut back on how much dry shampoo I use anyway, so it wasn't the end of the world, but I have better faves (Redken Deep Clean, and Matrix Biolage All in One)

Re: Empties

@RGbrown Excellent empties!!

Re: Empties

@Mellmars1185 

Thanks so much! 

Re: Empties

@RGbrown you finished the e.l.f.!  What a shame it was discontinued.  I have about half a bottle left.  Have you found anything to replace it?

Re: Empties

@greeneyedgirl107 

I've got a mini of the Peach & Lily essence going now, and have a bottle of the elf essence they released after this one in the cabinet as well. Pretty sure I've got 2 or 3 others to try too lol, really can't remember what all is in the cabinet right this second. I hate it when favorites go away! 

Re: Empties

@RGbrown I've stayed away from the P&L due to the eucalyptus.  What's the name of the e.l.f. essence that came out after the Water Treatment?  I think there are too few essences out there in general and even less good ones.  The e.l.f. and Paula's Choice (loved that one!) Are the only ones I ever liked.  I'm thinking about trying Good Molecules at some point.

Re: Empties

@greeneyedgirl107 

Ahhhhh, I was thinking what I picked up was closer to the original than it really is (it's been so long since I bought it that I forgot the details)...looks like I've got the Pure Skin Toner, which isn't as similar as I had been thinking. Still looks like a good product though, several ceramides and glycolic acid, no added fragrance.

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