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I know we all talked about this but I need it in writing to hold myself more accountable! I have picked out around 28 foils that I am hoping to get through by the end of Feb. that’s 1 foil a day unless I decide to stack more than one! Here’s what I’ve picked randomly!
@itsfi Great job! I agree with you that you need more than one foil to really develop an opinion. I’ve often tried a foil and dove into a full size and it wasn’t exactly what I expected. But I think if there’s multiple it gives a better gauge of the product! I have the K18 oil and I used it the other day but I don’t know if I can really give an opinion after one use. I am getting my hair done Thursday so I’m not using product this week so it doesn’t interfere with the highlights I’m getting. I’m excited to try it out more!
Oooh, fun @ather. It'll be nice to get your hair done.
Yeah, I'm going to try to get a minimum of 2 or 3 foil packets for new-to-me products for testing purposes. It may mean it takes longer for me to try out a particular product because I'm aiming to not buy things as frequently or as much as in previous years but it's okay. I'd rather have a good test sample so I can be sure (or as sure as I can be) that a product is a good one for me before I pick up a full size.
A weekend visiting friends and playing with our dogs was a great opportunity to use up some foils.
LANEIGE Mini Water Bank Blue Hyaluronic Cream Moisturizer for Moisture Barrier Repair 0.67 oz / 20 m... is a repeat for me. Nice standby.
bareMinerals Skinlongevity Long Life Herb Anti-Aging Face Serum 1.7 oz/ 50 mL and eye creamwere a first time product for me. Need to try again
Tatcha The Dewy Skin Cream Plumping & Hydrating Refillable Moisturizer is a favorite my mine.
Oribe Hair Alchemy Strengthening Mask 5 oz / 150 mL is a repeat. Nice product
Oribe Gold Lust Liter Shampoo & Conditioner Set are new. Very nice standby products. If I have a foil I will bring it while traveling.. I will stick to the foils as this is out of my price range.
GUERLAIN Abeille Royale Double R Renew & Repair Advanced Serum 1.7 oz / 50 mL new one to me. Need to try again.
Youth To The People Mini Superberry Hydrate + Glow Dream Night Cream + Mask with Vitamin C 0.5 oz/ 1... was in the YTTP birthday gift. I really liked it. My skin was soft and refreshed when I woke up.
That Tatcha Dewy Skin is a beauty @CorgiMommy; that entire line is great for dry skin.
December foils!!
I was on vacation a few times in December so sorry for the multiple pictures. I didn’t want to bring things back!
I enjoyed all the fouls but I am not sure I found a fav in them. Most times I need to try them a bit longer to know if it would work better. But I did enjoy them all!
@ather, completely understand not wanting to bring back foils you've worked through. There's just a great feeling when your TSA liquids bag is lighter, has more space in it. Or, in my case, it's easier to zip up. 🤣 Nice work on your samples!
@itsfi I agree!! I accidentally put an opened foil into a travel bag and it leaked all over. It was a mess. I try and be a bit more careful with them now!
@ather going away is a great way to use up foils. You have done great products in the ones you posted
@CorgiMommy Thanks! I don’t have any more trips booked for now so I will just have to use them at home for a bit!
December 2023 Foils
@itsfi Wow!!! You really went out with a bang this month! I wonder why you washed your hair so much this month? Maybe travel or parties? The SC hair mask sounded like a great way to relax! I can’t wait to see what you accomplish next year!!!
Thank you @ather! This year, I've been taking photos of my foil usage, and empties for that matter, on a weekly basis, instead of keeping everything in a bin or bag and then documenting it at the end of the month. I've done it more out of practicality - month end / beginning of the month have a general tendency of being busier times for me, especially when they fall on a weekday. Having a lot of product to cull through and lay out can be a "to do" item that can be tedious and time consuming depending on how many products I have and, at that point, I'm more inclined to group products together based on how well I liked them - that's how I previously went about my foils and empties and it really is a great way to catalog it and visually it's nice to have all the loves, likes, mehs, and no's in their own photo, but it just got too much for me to do it all at once.
Doing it weekly is simpler for me; most of the time, I just grab what's in my empties and foils bin/bag the night before trash pick up day, lay them out on the table, take a photo, then place those items in the appropriate recycle, compost or trash bins. Or place them all in a bag to drop off at one of the bins in a Sephora store. It makes for a less cohesive photo thematically when posting, but it's more convenient for me based on my schedule. It also helps when I'm traveling - I take a quick shot of my empties and foils the morning I leave and I don't bring back empties with me. Yes, there was a time when I would bring back my empties with me so I could keep the products I loved in one shot, the likes in another frame and so on.
I'm taking a slightly different approach to foils next year, but I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of it.
Oh about the shampoo and conditioner foils @ather, I do think travel played a role in more of them being used this month. I also spent more time outdoors and there were a host of factors associated with that that meant more instances when I wanted / needed to wash my hair - if I spent the day, or most of it, walking and my head became sweaty or sweatier, either because I was wearing a hat or I was just sweating more, I'd feel better if I washed my hair. Also, there were several times I was walking along a beach where the salty ocean air and sand would get in my hair and well, I needed to wash my hair afterwards. The Barbara Sturm shampoo and conditioner didn't work well for my hair and I did feel the need to wash it again the next day, so that's a contributing factor.
An average of 15 foils per month is really incredible @itsfi . Any loves at first use?
@CorgiMommy, my knee-jerk reaction when I did the calculation was that average seemed high for me (I feel like my regular cadence would be 6-10 foils per month), so I went over my foils for the year and it seems the higher-than-expected average is probably due to a few factors -
(1) being overly eager & enthusiastic about going through my foils the first month of the challenge;
(2) having a couple of opportunities this year to go through multiple packets of the same product (the 14-day trial of the Eadem serum as a gwp promo, for example); and
(3) uptick in travel this fall and winter where I packed more foils than I might otherwise.
I didn't have a ton of new-to-me products in terms of foils this year; in years past, definitely, but less so of late. Many of my foils were either of products I loved or liked. Base on this year's foils, loves at first use would be Sol de Janeiro Beija Flor™ Renewing Body Wash 13 oz / 385 mL and Moroccanoil Shower Gel Cleanser Spa du Maroc, both of which I now have in full sizes. 😀 The amika Normcore Sulfate Free Shampoo 9.2 oz / 275 mL and amika Normcore Hydrating Conditioner 9.2 oz / 275 mL were also great but I have far too many full size shampoo and conditioners in varying stages of use to justify purchasing another set at the moment.
There were a few loves the second time around; those include Josie Maran Whipped Argan Oil Body Butter and Pureology Strength Cure Shampoo for Damaged Hair and Pureology Strength Cure Conditioner for Damaged Hair. Full sizes of both will be picked up at some point next year, after I work my way through similar products in my current rotation.
The foil challege this time around has been different for me. All instances where I've participated in the foil challenge have been good ones - the pre-covid challenges, around the time I was participating more in the threads was really about trying to get a better handle on my foils stash, and I did. I also learned some new and valuable approaches and habits to having a more manageable supply of foils through those past challenges. 💗 This year's challenge was a nice way of seeing those lessons learned of years past put into practice, in a very visual way with actually documenting my foil use (thank you for creating a space for that @ather) and causing me to be more methodical, in some ways, with both how, when and why I pick up foil samples as well as how and when I use them. There were some good takeaways for me from taking part in the challenge this year, ones that I'll put into practice next year. 👍
@itsfi You have definitely taught me tons of tricks this year too! It’s always nice to see a different perspective from others! I learned that I don’t need to take foils if there’s none being offered that I am interested in. Although it does happen when you don’t get the foils you selected!! But an overwhelming amount of foils is also not great! So lots learned this year!!
@ather, I love that we can all learn from each other's experiences. lol, passing up on samples at checkout took me some getting used to. I was so used to picking out samples. For the longest time, I would give foils that I didn't have time to use or that were just sitting to a coworker of mine at the time. She and her husband moved and I visited them once when I was in their area and in her guest bathroom was a drawer full of the samples I had given her over the years - she said I gave her so many that they couldn't use them all so they kept the extra in the drawer to pick from and for their guests. That was a ton of "extra" ather! 😲 A very sobering experience.
@itsfi It’s a smart idea for her! My mom didn’t pack much skincare in hopes I had some. So I had a DS of Estée Lauder day/night and eye cream for her to use! I said she can pull from my foils if there’s anything else she needs! I love the idea of using the guest room and having extra. I think your friend might have had too much extra tho!!
omg @ather, way too much extra. When I saw the drawer I thought 'oh, those look familiar'; I was a little (read: A LOT) embarassed that it was all the ones I had given her. 😱 That was years ago and it was one of the things that moved me to reassess my sample stash.
How did your mom like the EL cream and eye cream? I've heard good things about that EL day/night.
I'm looking forward to doing up the guest bedroom when I can move back in. It's actually my-niece's-room-slash-my-home-office-slash-the-guest-bedroom. In that order. It's really more like my niece's play/hiding room that she'll loan out to me to use as a home office, or if needed, a guest bedroom. 😂
I can’t remember what sparked me to purchase the Josie Maran body butters @itsfi . My husband became scent sensitive about 8 years ago so I had to give away most of my colognes to my coworkers. That was the only scented product that he could tolerate me wearing and they offer some amazing scents. I really wish that she would offer the strawberries and whipped cream scent again because that was one of my all time favorites and I am unable to find it.