November 2021 Empties

 All my monthly trash on display for you to see. :P

1. Kiss Lash So Wispy Lashes in Pompadour x2: These are a pretty, voluminous wispy lash. They're very lightweight and fairly easy to apply which I appreciate.

2. Bumble and bumble Bb Hairdresser's Invisible Oil Heat/UV Protective Primer: I love this product so much! It's great as a lightweight leave-in conditioner, a heat/UV protecting spray as its name suggests, and a hydration booster for dry ends, or to add a little extra hydration and smoothing on humid days. In my personal opinion, it smells really fantastic as well! I'm sad to have finished it up.

3. Shea Moisture 100% Virgin Coconut Oil Daily Hydration Crème Coffee Scrub w/ Coconut Milk & Acacia Senegal: Honestly I really liked how hydrating this exfoliator is but I also found it to be more lotion-like versus scrub-like. The gritty bits in here are dispersed in this lotion-like fluid and thus aren't as consistently gritty as I personally prefer. I felt like I ended up applying too much of the product hoping to get the exfoliation that I was after. This also has a scent that I'd describe as being odd, it smells super toasty but isn't distinctly coffee or coconut which, frankly, is disappointing because I really love coconut coffee especially as cafe cot dua.  Overall it was alright, especially for providing hydration but I wouldn't get it again.

4. Odacite 552M Argan+Coconut Shampoo Bar: Honestly I really enjoyed having this shampoo bar. It lasted a long time, I want to say maybe around 6 months of me using it regularly. This has a delicious lemongrass scent and leaves my hair feeling clean, lightly hydrated, and very shiny. It foams absolutely beautifully despite being soap free which I'm sure can be attributed to the sodium cocoyl isethionate that is contains and is an alternative to SLS. 

5. now essential oils in 100% pure lemon: I really love this lemon essential oil for my diffuser - it has a nice, sweet, uplifting lemon scent. 

6. Trader Joe's Toasted Marshmallow Body Butter: I enjoyed this body butter - it has a nice thick, yet not overly heavy, texture that is very hydrating and nourishing to my skin. It has a soft, sweet scent that I would say does have a hint of toasted marshmallow but is mostly just sweet and sugar; due to its softness it's not an overpowering fragrance, a quality which I personally like.

7. Trader Joe's Exfoliating Sugar Cube: I honestly wish this was a permanent body scrub in their lineup because I liked it so much! This has that nice scrubby, gritty sugar texture that I enjoy and also has a really nice green tea fragrance. 

8. Fourth Ray Beauty Face Milk in Matcha: Honestly I found this to be just ok. It does an alright job o of being a lightweight moisturizer that still provides enough hydration for my dry skin. That being said I was hoping it would have a prominent matcha scent and that just wasn't the case. 

9. Virtue Curl-Defining Whip: Overall I found this mousse to be a disappointment. Now, it did define my curls but I found that it left this plastic- feeling residue in my hair. The residue would wash out in the shower but my hair just felt weird with this in it. In addition, the mousse dispenser just completely died on me, there's still maybe a quarter or even a third of this bottle full of product (I'm guessing just based on how it feels) that I cannot get out because it simply will not dispense out. Given its price point of $36 I genuinely feel like those issues shouldn't have existed in the first place. Overall I love Virtue and I'm sad to be saying unpleasant things about one of their products but I feel like a lighter weight formula might be able to solve both those issues.

10. AMNH Skincare Unicorn Dreams Whipped Body Butter: Unfortunately this was just way too heavy for my skin. Its base is mostly coconut oil and Shea butter so as you can imagine, in colder conditions, this would solidify and was a bit of an effort to spread and worked a lot better when my bathroom happened to be warm. That being said, this was still too heavy for my skin and just sat on my skin without really absorbing. The only spot on my body that this was genuinely helpful on was, yes, the soles of my feet. I feel like there needs to be some sort of compromise though where a body butter or lotion works well both on my legs and on my feet. This smelled really lovely, it has a sugary sweet-tart type of scent. 

11. Addison & Gates Lemon Verbena Soap: One of my friends gave me this and honestly I really loved using this. It has a lovely lemon verbena scent, felt hydrating, and produced a nice lather.

12. m-61 PowerSpot Clear: Alas I have finished the last of my backups of this. As I've mentioned many times I really liked this spot treatment because it really brought up all the gunk to the surface and helped clear up acne and its associated inflammation, irritation, and overall bumpiness and redness.

13. COSRX Aloe Sun Soothing Cream SPF 50 PA+++: I loved this sunscreen because it's lightweight, absorbs quickly, and provides my skin with moisture adequate enough to where I don't feel like I need additional moisturizer. As someone super pale, I appreciate its high SPF. 

14. Dove refreshing cucumber & green tea nourishing body wash: I've mentioned many times that I really like these to shave with and I have to give it a shoutout that when I had an eczema flareup in my groin region and was trying to use another body wash to shave with - I felt like it irritated the eczema whereas this soothed it. That being said, it's probably ideal to use the fragrance free one on eczema patches and avoid shaving the eczema-afflicted area altogether. In my personal defense, body hair really bothers me and makes me itchy, I shave it all the time for myself because I personally prefer feeling smooth and I feel like eczema treatments can better take care of my skin without hair interfering and acting as some weird barrier between the cream and my skin.  

15. Fourth Ray Beauty White Peach Body Milk: This body moisturizer smells really good but, in my opinion, it isn't hydrating enough. It's alright for my legs in the summertime but other than that I personally prefer something with a thicker, more hydrating, consistency. 

16. dermalogica redness relief essence: Unfortunately I didn't find this to have much of an effect on my redness. It boosted my skin's hydration nicely, which I appreciate, but I don't feel like it has its intended effect on my skin.

17. No 7 Laboratories Line Correcting Booster Serum: I really enjoyed the hydration boost that this serum gave me as well, but again I don't feel like its intended purpose was served here. I don't have much in the way of facial lines (thankfully!) so I can't say how well it would work on someone with significant lines going on.

18. Trader Joe's Frosted Cranberry Body Butter: Now this is an amazing body hydrator. This smells so good and has a wonderful texture that leaves my skin feeling hydrated, smooth, and silky. I wish they sold this in full-sized tubs.

19. Laneige Multi Cleanser: I think this is a really good basic cleanser if you're a fan of creamy, foaming cleansers. That being said, I personally like something with just a touch more hydration to it so while this did the job and I'm not mad at it; it's also not my favorite cleanser ever.

20. Garnier Whole Blends Repairing Shampoo - Honey Treasures: Frankly, when I don't do anything special to my hair, this shampoo can be a little bit heavy. That being said, when I had bleach in my hair I find that this really gives my hair the hydration it craves. I also find its scent warm, sweet, and comforting.

21. beauty 360 Original Nail Polish Remover Pad: Personally I wish that this was more saturated with nail polish remover but overall it worked really well and stayed moist enough for me to remove the nail polish from both my feet. 

22. Trader Joe's Peel-Off Charcoal Face Mask: I really wish this wasn't a peel-off mask because it has really good anti-inflammatory ingredients in it. That being said, this being peel-off really irritated my skin.

23. e.l.f. Halo Glow Setting Powder: I really wanted to love this powder, especially because I heard that it was a dupe for the Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powders but, unfortunately, I just can't say that I agree. It looks nice on the face, like I'm not mad at it, it gives the skin a subtle glow. That said, I really wanted this to work well as an under-eye setting powder and it just creases like no one's business even when I use the trick of using a sponge sprayed with setting spray to keep it under my eyes. If anything, that trick makes this crease even worse. 

24. beauty 360 Strengthening Nail Polish Remover: This nail polish is nothing to write home about but it does the job. I realized that I personally prefer using straight up acetone because it really isn't more drying to my skin than any other nail polish remover but makes much quicker work of removing nail polish. 

25. now essential oils 100% pure tangerine: This oil smells wonderful and like a tangerine rind but unfortunately it really stains my diffuser orange. Just a heads up for any of you diffuser users out there.

26. Mario Badescu Rose Body Soap: This body wash smells so delicious! It has a rose scent that's a nice balance between floral and sweet. It did a good job of cleansing my body. 

27. Ariose Monde Ocean Bliss Bath Salt: This is a rather grainy bath salt and I don't super love its scent but it worked ok in my foot soaks to soothe and relax my feet.

28. Colourpop Hourglass Blending Sponge: I was really not the biggest fan of this sponge. It's easy to hold on to but it's not the best shape for blending makeup in my personal opinion, it's very hard to work around the eye area with this sponge.

29. Trader Joe's Chai Shimmering Body Wash: I have to start by saying that thankfully this body wash didn't leave me glittery in any way. It has a subtle chai scent that almost reminds me of spiced apple cider, without the apple note. Almost gingerbread-like. I think it smells yummy but it's not a scent that I personally want to smell like, so I appreciate that it's subtle. This foamed up nicely and left me feeling clean.

Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

Disclaimer: I purchased all of the above with the exception of the Bumble and bumble, Odacite, Addison & Gates, dermalogica, No 7 Laboratories, Ariose Monde, and AMNH Skincare products.