November Empties

The other day I was chatting to Liz from Beauty Reductionista about my growing obsession with emptying things, and how there's probably a reality show in there somewhere - sort of the opposite of Hoarders. She does empties posts when she's used up 10 items, whereas I like to do mine monthly, so there's always a bit of tension towards the end of the month about whether the dregs of something will be gone by the time the month is over. I don't allow myself to cheat and use double the amount of something I normally would or anything like that, but I have to tell you - it's tempting. Yes, I know. It's weird.

This month was a concentrated effort to use up some samples - some I gathered myself, and some that were sent to me by various enablers like Jade and Su. Noodle Arms and I went through all of my samples one afternoon - she chose what she wanted (hair products and body lotions), I chose what I wanted (anti-ageing stuff, hand cream, foundations and primers), we threw out a bunch of things that were of indeterminate age, and sent a bunch of other things off to a couple of people to play with. I won't comment much on the samples as there are quite a few of them, and I've already spoken about the Silk Naturals ones here, but I will say I loved the Paula's Choice Resist Daily Smoothing Treatment, and if I wasn't currently obsessing over Silk Naturals I'd be all over a full bottle of that. It made my skin feel as smooth as a baby's. And Noodle Arms loved the Garnier Body Intensive body lotion - the samples were from Jacquie, who received them in one of those monthly boxes, I think. Noodles definitely has that on her wishlist for Christmas.

MAC Cleanse Off Oil: Yet another cleanser that Jacquie bought and didn't like. It was okay, nothing bad but nothing special either. I accidentally used it on my eyes once and it made them sore and stingy for a couple of days. I'm not that big a fan of MAC so I wouldn't bother buying this myself.
L'Oreal Gentle Eye Make-Up Remover: I think I like the normal one better - I feel like I had to do a bit more work with this one, and I don't like having to rub around my eyes. Also, the packaging is crap - when you try to tip some onto a cotton pad it goes everywhere. Very wasteful. I wouldn't buy this one again, but I'd consider the normal one if they fixed the damn top of it.
Dove Foaming Make Up Remover: Everyone loves this stuff - I hated it. As soon as I put it on my face I could feel it drying my skin, and I couldn't get it off fast enough. It was like paint stripper. I ended up using it to shave my legs, and even then I had to slather them with body lotion immediately afterwards.
La Biosthetique Conditionneur Douceur: Beauty Heaven sent me a bunch of random stuff a while back for no apparent reason, and this was one of them. It was okay, nothing special. I liked the pump packaging, though. I wouldn't repurchase, especially since it's about $40.
Lacura Renew Multi Intensive Serum: This is Aldi's brand, and we don't have Aldi here in Adelaide. Apparently everyone went nuts for this when it was featured on A Current Affair or Today Tonight (judging all of you who watch those shows) and it was impossible to find for ages. Jacquie's mum, who lives interstate, kindly bought this one. It's a really nice moisturiser, but it ain't no serum. It doesn't particularly do anything other than moisturise. But at $10 I'd probably buy it again just for that reason.
Elizabeth Arden Sheer Lights Tinted Moisturiser: This is a chucker - it's probably still 1/3 full, but I've had it for at least 2 years, maybe closer to 3. Time to go. It never did much anyway - extremely sheer and barely any coverage to speak of.
Palmer's Cocoa Butter Formula Line Smoothing Eye Cream: It's not only cleansers Jacquie buys and then decides she doesn't like - she also does it with eye creams. I have at least three that she's passed on to me (score!), and this is one of them. I really liked this, not least because it doesn't have that hideous fake chocolate smell that most Palmer's products have. It's very rich and it felt lovely on my eyes, though to be honest, I don't know that it did any line smoothing. It just felt nice. I'd buy it again but I have tons of eye creams and gels and serums.
Palmolive Naturals Milk and Shea Butter: This is a staple purchase for me, but I'm going to move more towards natural products next year so I might leave this for a while. I have a bottle on the go and when it's finished I'll start checking out some other brands like Sukin, etc.

Haus of Gloi Absinthe Sugar Exfoliant: This is pretty old - it's in one of their smaller jars. As I've mentioned before, I use these little jars of scrub on my hands, and I regularly buy Haus of Gloi ones because they're a great brand with excellent products and even more excellent customer service. The jar isn't empty at the moment because it's got some sunscreen that Jacquie gave to Noodles to sample in it.
A.S.A.P. Gentle Cleansing Gel: This came from Beauty Heaven in the same package as the conditioner - it was a trio of cleanser, tinted moisturiser and scrub. I didn't really like this - it was a bit too soapy.
Dermalogica Clean Start Wash Off: Noodles used to use this line but it stopped working for her, so she has a lot of bits and pieces floating around. She used the face wash just to get rid of it.
Unknown Mascara: Another Noodles one - she got it free with a Dolly magazine. Just some cheapo thing.
Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Mascara: This came in one of the Lust Have It boxes (I cancelled after the third one - there was too much emphasis on tanning, nails and hair, none of which really interest me, and it seemed stupid to pay for samples each month when I already had a drawer full of them that weren't being used), and I wanted to like it because it did make my lashes look longer and thicker but it flaked and smudged like a mofo. It was like the L'Oreal ones all over again.
Silk Naturals samples:

• Kiss Cleanser x 2
• Apricot Cleansing Oil
• BHA Toner x 2
• AHA Toner
• Vitamin C Peptide
• Super Serum
• Firming Moisturiser

These are all definite repurchases (as previously mentioned, I've already bought full sizes of most of them).

Me:

• Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Hilma
• Paula's Choice Resist Daily Smoothing Treatment x 2
• Paula's Choice Resist Optimal Results Hydrating Cleanser
• Paula's Choice Moisture Boost Hydrating Toner
• Paula's Choice Skin Revealing Body Lotion
• John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Shampoo and Conditioner

Noodles:

• Primaria Bath of Life for Coloured and Dry Hair
• L'Occitane Shine Mask for Dry and Damaged Hair
• VO5 Silky Smooth Conditioner
• Paula's Choice Beautiful Body Butter
• Paula's Choice Comfort Shave Gel
• Terax Miele Shampoo
• Aveeno Daily Moisturising Lotion
• Garnier Body Intensive 7 Days Ultra-Softening Lotion x 2
• Palmolive Naturals Hair Repair Shampoo and Conditioner