All Used Up February 2018

Another month is over and actually… it took me more than half a month to post the results… again. Anyway, here we are, my empties of the month february:

Balea Handcreme zur Oktoberfestzeit. It’s me, dandygal. Of course there is empty handcream. This one smelled of orange blossom and vanilla so it was quite a winner for me. The texture was on the dry side but not too dry. Obviously this was LE so no repurchase possible.

essence camouflage make-up & concealer: this little thing is the best foundation I have come across so far and it costs like 3 €. Already repurchased because with essence you never know when they’ll discontinue your fav item. Downside of this foundation: it comes in exactly three shades, all of which are light. Boo. Review is here. I liked it even better the more I used it, the issues with it separating from my skin in heat did not happen again last summer.

Yves Rocher Monoi de Tahiti hair & body wash: Yves Rocher only sells this during summer months. Last time I ran out of this I missed it so badly that this time I stocked up on like four bottles to last me the year. It’s one of my favorite shampoos. Repurchase likely but first I must use up the stash, haha.

Dior J’Adore L’Or: Yeah this was just a tiny sample but I liked it a lot. Not enough to shell out for a full bottle though. Review is here.

Olaz dark circle correcting swirl eye: that’s a mouthful. I liked it a lot. It promises instant effects and like always, when a product says that you know there’s going to be fine shimmer in it and there was. It was not too strong though, you could wear this and not put makeup on top and it looked fine. I might repurchase this in the future, but for now I have something else. In part because when I went to the drugstore they didn’t have this anymore. This happens to me with Olaz products all the time, they pop in and out of existence. Then I think they’re discontinued but months later it’ll be there again. Idk.

And last, more Balea stuff. You’re going to see this turqouise design a lot. This was from their advent calendar, which was full of skin care. Therefore, all products in this design were LE.

Let’s start with the body lotion: it claimed to have Chai Latte scent and it did smell like that. The texture was sticky and too liquid so while I liked the scent I wouldn’t repurchase the lotion (if it weren’t LE). It was nicely moisturizing, though.

Then there were two face masks. Both are the kind you put on and later on wipe off with a cloth. I washed them off because tbh it feels gross when you don’t. These made me realized again why sheet masks are just that much better. The After Sport mask was okay (although – does anyone ever use a mask after sport? Really? When I’m done in the gym a shower is the most I can manage. I don’t even use body lotion afterwards, much less something as fancy as a mask). However three days after use I got small pimples. I used it again and the same thing happened so I dumped the rest. I think it’s because there was a lot of alcohol in it (which on the other hand helped a lot with the texture).

The Verwöhnmaske on the other hand was just plain awful. It burned and we’re not talking the kind of tingling you get when using AHA. I washed it off after three minutes and did not try again. DO NOT RECOMMEND. It claims to have jasmin and chai tea axtract which is the sort of thing you’d put into a perfume, not put it on your face undilluted!

Those were my empties of last month. Thanks for reading. Expect more handcream next month. XD

All Used Up May & June 2017

I had empties in may but I kept forgetting to post them long enough that it’s now a combined post.

essence all about matt! oil control paper: These paper things are a must @ work when the weather is hot. I liked the paper but the packaging was a bit annoying so I repurchased the Catrice ones instead.

Batiste dry shampoo sweetie: The packaging is so cute with the little russian dolls. The smell confused me a bit because it smelled like pineapple to me and that didn’t really go with the look. Apparently it’s supposed to be raspberry, not pineapple. Okay. The scent lasted only ten minutes which is good because it would be annyoing to smell all day. The spray itself works well and fluffs my hair up nicely. Will repurchase but probably in a different scent.

Garnier Micellar Water: still a fav cleanser of mine, not too expensive and just works. I thought about getting the Bioderma one instead but it’s more expensive so I got another bottle of Garnier by now.

Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey Pure Body Lotion: I’ve already reviewed the perfume here. The body lotion smells nice, but is not a very good lotion overall. Does not give enough moisture and leaves me sticky at the same time. Would not buy in full size.

Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir body lotion: Oh yes I can see why this scent is popular. It’s fruity but also deep and resinous and the scent lingers for SO LONG on skin! This was also a much better lotion than the Issey one. Would still not purchase a full size of the body lotion but would certainly not say no to the perfume! Was that too many negatives in one sentence?

Dior Lip Glow: This was a LE coral version. I’m not sure if it’s still sold. Colorwise it ends up pink anyway so if I repurchased one it’d be the regular pink one. However, I like the Givenchy ones a tad better even if this was a good balm and pretty color.

Bioderma Sebium Global: This is a serum with a high amount of citric acid and some salicylic acid and zinc, so basically an all around product for when you’ve got acne. So far I always concentrated on BHA alone but I found it’s the combination of both AHA and BHA (plus niacinamide, more on that later) that really works. I guess the pores aren’t just clogged from sebum (BHA helps) but also dead skin cells (AHA helps) so from now on I’ll always use both.

List of ingredients for Bioderma Sebium Global. I went back to repurchase it – only to be told “we are not carrying Bioderma anymore, sorry”. WHA! So I got some Dermasence poduct instead. I could’ve bought the Bioderma at another place – but the one I usually shop at gives the best discount so for now no more Bioderma for me.

Olaz Total Effects Serum: Gel cream with lots of niacinamide. You can always count on Olaz/Olay to bring the niacinamide and I have found that this ingredient (in combination with the acids mentioned above) gives the best results for my skin. I bought this one here at TK Maxx. When I went to check the item at the drugstore I found that the name was similar but packaging and ingredients differed. Later I bought another one at TK Maxx, but it was again different from the others. So either they keep reformulating them or idk.

List of ingredients for Olaz Total Effects Serum.

The cream comes out gel-like but feels a tad oily on the skin, but that doesn’t last. I liked the results very much – I hope the new one can compare. The version I found at the drugstore contained lots of alcohol so I would not purchase that one. The ones without alcohol I’ll take.

I used this one at night after the Bioderma one. My new bottle has SPF 15 so I’m not yet sure if I’ll use it as a day cream or keep using it at night…

And the very last item, used up on the last day of June and therefore barely squeezing into the post: Colab Dry Shampoo Paradise. This is my first ever Colab dry shampoo. And it really does leave no visible residue. unlike every other dry shampoo I had before! It does leave the hair feeling a bit sticky, though. Sadly it did not work quite as well as Batiste when it came to making my hair fluffy and keeping it there.

However, guys, the scent is godly! (And I do mean godly, it smells like Estee Lauder’s Bronze Goddess Eau Fraiche!) The scent is great but intense so it can battle with your perfume if you wear one. Also, the scent just lasts and lasts all day! Not sure if dry shampoo or hair perfume, really. You can tell Ruth Crilly loves a good scent, they did not skimp on the budget in this point. So on the one hand, Batiste works a bit better for me. On the other hand compared to Colab Batiste smells just so cheap. It’s a toss up, I’ll be repurchasing both brands.

Big recommendation for the smell!!!

And that was my empties for the last two months. I super miss the two face creams already in fact I am having a bad break out right now, boohoo.