Foil Challenge

[ather]

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! 

 

[Mellmars1185]

May Foils = 3

I have been MIA for a while but now I am back and it feels amazing!

 

[itsfi]

@Mellmars1185, we're glad you're back! How did you like the scent on the Moroccanoil shower gel and body lotion?

[Mellmars1185]

@itsfi Thank you 💞🙏. To be honest the shower gel smell ok but I wasn't noticeable after showering. I wasn't much of a fan of the lotion. It smelled 'off' to me. I prefered the texture of the body souffle over the lotion. I found the lotion a bit runny.

[ather]

@Mellmars1185  Good job!! Welcome back! 

[Mellmars1185]

@ather Thank you!

[itsfi]

May 2024 Foils  

Only a handful of foils this month @ather. 

Product Details: 

Spoiler

🙅🏻‍♀️  Botanist Botanical Shampoo Iris & Freesia - the scent is subtly floral and that was about the only thing that worked for me for this shampoo. It made my hair feel stringy and dry. No bueno. 

🙅🏻‍♀️  Botanist Botanical Treatment Peony & Berry - Even when I'm not fond of a shampoo, I usually like the corresponding conditioner. That was not the case with this after shampoo treatment. I thought perhaps it was because the shampoo made my hair feel so stringy that this conditioner was already handicapped before I even got to using it. Not so; I tried it after a well-liked shampoo and same results - my hair didn't feel hydrated or moisturized and working the product through the length of my hair was much more challenging than I expected or prefer.

👍🏼  I had forgotten but I've used Charlotte Tilbury Magic Cream Anti-Aging Moisturizer with Hyaluronic Acid  (x2) a few times a while back. I recall liking it then, and I like it now. It's not necessarily a product I feel like I need to run out and purchase, but it is one that I would be happy to use if I had it lying around.

🙊 innisfree Cherry Blossom Dewy Glow Jelly Moisturizer with Niacinimide 1.69 oz / 50 ml is a lightweight gel moisturizer. It's nice but too light (not moisturizing enough) on its own for my skin type (normal-to-dry). It would be better suited for those with oily skin types

Emoji Key:

🐐 = GOAT = Greatest Of All Time (have gone through at least two of the particular product and other comparable items)

😘 = Chef’s Kiss = Outstanding 

❤️ = Love 

👍🏼 = Like 

🫤 = Okay; “It’s fine.”; “meh”

🔬 = Undecided = “Still looking into it”

🙊 = Not for me / my skin type

🙅🏻‍♀️ = ❌ = “No, non, nein, nyet, …” 

Foils Dashboard:

Month-to-Date = 5

Year-to-Date = 43

[CookieGirl1]

@itsfi what a bummer about the Botanist samples!  I've actually given Botanist the side eye for awhile and have toyed with the idea of trying out their products but you're the second person in the last week that's mentioned how drying their products are.  I totally appreciate your review because I think maybe that's convinced me to pass on trying the brand.

[itsfi]

Ohhh, I'm sorry @CookieGirl1. It could just be that my hair wasn't a good fit for the shampoo and conditioner, and same for the other person, maybe? I was actually surprised by how this S&C duo performed - my hair has responded either well or very well to about 80-90% of Japanese or Korean shampoo and conditioners that I have tried. This Botanist combo though, ouch! fell flat. I went through both foils so 2 full uses and each time, I had to follow up with one of the shampoo and conditioners in my regular rotation. It made it easier to stick to my shampoo-and-conditioner-no-buy though. Ha!

[ather]

@itsfi  Great job using up some foils. It’s to bad they didn’t work out but better because there’s so many 🐐’s out there. No need to waste time on not for you! I think I have one of those CT moisturizers kicking around. I haven’t tried it yet I don’t think. 🤔 

[itsfi]

So true @ather! They can't all be 🐐🐐, right?! Right!! The CT moisturizer is fine - I know many folks enjoy it. There are just other moisturizers I like more and would choose over the CT. I've decided that moving forward, if I have a foil sample that I'm just not feeling wowwed about trying, I'll put it in the "things to be donated" bin. That way, someone who could use the product can do so and it'll help clear out products that I wouldn't otherwise enjoy or want to use. 

[ather]

@itsfi  Such a smart idea!! 

[itsfi]

Thanks @ather! It's the most practical solution I have at the moment when it comes to foils. That, combined with trying very hard to only pick up foils of products I really want to try or that I know I will use / reach for. 

[caitbird]

@itsfi  sorry so many of your foils this past month were misses for you! Those shampoo & conditioner scents sound so nice too, what a bummer that the rest of the formula didn't work out. Still, if you're going to have a product be a dud, better for it to be a foil or sample than a full size!

I think I might have tried that innisfree moisturizer, or possibly a previous version of it - if it's the same one I'm thinking of, anyway - and it actually made me break out, which was very surprising since I don't have sensitive skin and I've never had that problem with a product before.

[itsfi]

Thank you @caitbird; you win some, you lose some, right?! They can't all be amazing, and the subpar products make us appreciate the good stuff even more when we come across them, yes?! I've given away most of my samples and the ones I have left are, for the most part, either tried-and-true beauties or products I've been wanting to try. 

Oh no, I'm so sorry that the innisfree made you break out. 😣 I wonder if it was the fragrance in it or maybe just an ingredient that did not suit you. I tend to do fairly well with innisfree products but I knew going in, the consistency of the moisturizer would be too light for me. I probably should have included it in the batch of samples I donated. Lesson learned. 

[caitbird]

@itsfi  that's very true, the products that don't work for me make me appreciate my favs even more! I really need to go through my samples and pull some more out to donate - I don't have that many makeup samples at the moment, but I have skincare samples coming out of my ears, it seems like. Some of them are products I've been wanting to try, but others I could probably part with and not miss much.

I'm pretty lucky in that I haven't had a bad reaction to very many products, out of the many I've tried. Just something in that moisturizer didn't agree with my skin.

[itsfi]

That's awesome @caitbird that your skin can handle a lot of different products. It makes it even more fun to try different skincare products. 😁 

[itsfi]

April 2024 Foils  

April was a very slow month for foils and sheet masks alike @ather. We have two of each. 

Spoiler

❤️  Oribe Hair Alchemy Strengthening Mask 5 oz / 150 mL - I was able to get in 2 generous applications witht this packet and have been happy with how nourishing and restorative (?) this made my hair with each use. I'm good with hair masks but I'll definitely consider this one when it comes time to picking up another hair mask. 

👍  Shiseido Benefiance Wrinkle Smoothing Eye Cream 0.51 oz / 15 ml has a lovely balmy, but light, consistency that applies and absorbs smoothly and quickly. Strangely I was only able to get one use from this packet 🤔 - in the past, I've been able to get multiple applications, even with being generous with how much product I use. The one use isn't going to yield any noticeable results (and to be fair, my undereye area is not the area of my eyes that have the fine lines and wrinkles), but this did make my under eyes look more soft and moisturized the next morning. 

Spoiler

🫤  Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare DermInfusions™ Lift + Repair Eye Mask is okay. I didn't experience any irritation, but I didn't see any noticeable results either. There's also a smell to this mask that was off - it had a slight chemical scent to it. 

😘  I have two favorite cica-centered sheet masks. The Creme Shop Cica Mend Animal Face Mask is one of them. It really is outstanding, and my goodness, how cute is the actual print on the sheet! 🐯 

Emoji Legend:

Spoiler

🐐= GOAT = Greatest Of All Time (have gone through at least two of the particular product and other comparable items)

😘 = Chef’s Kiss = Outstanding 

❤️ = Love 

👍 = Like 

🫤 = Okay; “It’s fine.”; “meh”

🔬= Undecided = “Still looking into it”

🙊= Not for me / my skin type

🙅🏻‍♀️ = ❌ = “No, non, nein, nyet, …” 

Foils Dashboard:

Month-to-Date = 4

Year-to-Date = 38

[caitbird]

@itsfi  great job! That Creme Shop mask is so cute - they have some really cute ones! This reminds me I have a growing collection of foils that I haven't made a dent in in some time...I have been more focused on the full size products I'm working on for this year's Pan It! challenge, but I'd like to get back to using up some foils as well.

[itsfi]

The line that this sheet mask is from has a lot of cute designs and the sheet masks are good too @caitbird. They make wonderful gifts - for yourself or others.  I don't use many masks from The Creme Shop anymore (or that many in general), but this particular one is one I always pick up if i happen to run across it in Marshall's or TJ Maxx. 

Completely understand. I am aiming to have less foils in my stash in general. I was doing pretty well and then I discovered a bunch of them! 😬 They're primarily makeup so I'll put them to good use during Samples Week for the Capsule Makeup Collection Challenge that will happen in late summer. I may be able to put together a full face with all my samples - that's both scary and intriguing at the same time. 😆

[caitbird]

@itsfi  out of curiosity, is there a particular reason why you have moved away from using sheet masks as much? Do you find they don't work for you that well? I like them myself but despite having an extensive stash I never remember to use them (hence making weekly sheet masking one of my Pan It! goals for this year).

I feel like I have so many foils and, at the moment, I have not been using the ones I have and yet I can never resist GWP and free samples, so I have more coming in all the time! 😅 I really need to inventory what I have and set up some sort of plan for using them regularly. Do you have a system in place for keeping track of your foils stash and pulling from it? Or is it more free-form for you?

[itsfi]

The gwps and free samples have a way of sneaking up on us, don't they @caitbird? Before long, I have a pile of foil samples I didn't even know I accumulated. Hahaha! I know for myself that it's those gwp promos where they give you a bag full of samples that get me if I'm not on top of it, if I don't sort through them divvy them up into foils I want to keep and foils I should pass along. Easier said than done though, as evidenced by my continually growing pile of foils. 

For the last few years, my primary way to track foils was to keep them in containers or organizers of some sort. This helped me to manage the sheer number of foils I had on hand and the types of foils I had. Also, now that I try to make an effort to not just picking up samples for the sake of picking them up (or, put another way, only pick up or request samples of products I want to try), I have started to only keep track of / make notes for the following:

• products that I love/am interested in picking up a full size - this goes on my wish list (and if I know of a sale when it would be a good time to pick it up, then I note that (the sale and the general time of year it happens) on my list as well
• products that I definitely want to remember to never pick up or keep around because my skin does not respond well to them (for example, the innisfree cherry blossom gel moisturizer or the Botanist shampoo and conditioner from my May foils)
• products that I find myself having a tendency to pick up time and time again but never seem to remember that it's a good but not great product (for example, the CT cream - it's good, but I have products I like better).  

For me, doing it this way (vs keeping a list of every foil I have or have tried) is a lot easier and more manageable. Ideally, products in the latter two categories shouldn't make their way into my stash, but if/when they do, having a list of them makes it easier to just put them into the "things to be donated" bin. 

Here's how I kept track of my foil samples in 2022 ⬇️- tracking was more about number of foils - no more than 100. I managed to work my way through them that year, but sure enough, they found their way back here and I have more to work through. lol

This was my foils storage for most of 2023 and it's a system I'm hoping to get my way back to ⬇️ Right now, I have more samples than I can fit into, but they are mostly makeup samples and my plan is to work through most of them this summer, including a samples makeup capsule for the Capsule Makeup Collection Challenge and to declutter any duplicates of products that end up not being a good fit for me.

Top drawer: Single foils of products I've never used before

2nd drawer: Single foils of tried-and-true products 

3rd drawer: Foils that I had multiples of, whether they were for products that were part of a 5/6/10/14 day trial promotion or whether they were of tried-and-true products I saved up for travel purposes.

Bottom drawer: deluxe sized samples or promo sized samples

In the photo above, the top and 3rd drawers have far too many samples than I prefer having on hand at any one time.