Empties Roundup: September 2016

It’s the end of the month, and you know what that means: Empties Roundup! It’s the end of September, and I’ve got a lot of stuff to share. Let’s get started!

La Lavande French Triple-Milled Soap in Gardenia

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So obviously this wrapper has been empty a long time, you can’t really use a bar of soap without wrapping it. But yes, I did hang onto this wrapper longer than I want to admit just to photograph it and then write about it. It was really nice soap; it lathered well, had a strong gardenia fragrance, and didn’t dry me out. It took me a couple months, probably, to use the whole thing. I replaced it with another soap bar from my shamefully large soap hoard.

L’Occitane en Provence Shea Butter Hand Cream, 30ml tube

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I love this stuff. I love L’Occitane. This was the last tube from a L’Occitane hand cream sampler from Sephora and I’m so sad they’re all gone now. They all made my hands feel so soft and moisturized, and they were the perfect handbag size. My new handbag lotion is Pacifica’s Tuscan Blood Orange because it was on sale at Target.

Model City Cuticle Oil in Cactus Flower

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I’d been using this for so long there’s practically no label left. Believe it or not, I bought three of these bottles and this is the last one. It lasted forever! It did a fanastic job of moisturizing and smelled wonderful. I’m now using an oil from Smokey Mountain Lacquers from my expanding cuticle oil stash.

CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion

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Here’s another product I use on the regular. I know it’s for dry skin, and as such, it makes me feel a bit oily after a while. It doesn’t break me out, so I just deal with it. I’ve decided to try a new one though, Cetaphil’s daytime moisturizer lotion. I’ll probably come back to it if the new one doesn’t work out.

Revlon’s Photoready Powder in Translucent

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Project Pan has its first casualty! This was actually most of the way used-up when I started the project, so I don’t think it counts, but it is nice to use up something. I’m actually undecided on whether I’d buy this again. I really liked it over BB cream; it helped smooth out imperfections that weren’t 100% covered, and made me look more done-up than I was. On the other hand, it wasn’t a setting powder, which was really what I wanted. It didn’t make me feel finished, it felt pretty creamy a long time after applying. For now, I’m using another powder from my stash, Benefit’s The Pore-fessional Agent Zero Shine.

Bath and Body Works’s Butterfly Flower Shower Gel

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Another month, another empty shower gel. I forgot how nice this fragrance was! It’s pretty strong in the shower, but after drying off, it’s really subtle. Of course, lotion in the same scent helps with a fragrance’s staying power, but sometimes I don’t want to smell like a perfumery. Also I’d used up the lotion months ago.

Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day hand soap in Peony

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I’m so glad I finally tried these! I was complaining to a friend about how hard it is to find a good hand soap. Antibacterial ones break my hands out so bad, and they’re bad for you in general, so I spent a lot of time looking for The Soap. A friend recommended I try this brand out and when I saw this at Target, I scooped it up. I’ve since replaced it with another Mrs. Meyer’s soap, this time in Geranium.

Shea Moisture Manuka Honey & Mafura Oil Intensive Hydration Hair Masque

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I love Shea Moisture products, and their hair masques and deep conditioners are products I always rebuy. I probably use them more than I do actual conditioner. This one made my hair feel very soft and easy to detangle. It also smells lovely! I loved it, but as I like to try new things, I’ve replaced it with Carol’s Daughter’s Sacred Tiare restoring hair mask.

Lubriderm Advance Therapy Lotion

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This is my favorite lotion. It moisturizes, it smooths unhappy skin immediately, and it doesn’t have any fragrance. The fact that it’s fragrance-free is probably my favorite, because I can use it with any bath product. I hate it when fragrances compete! I have three bathrooms in my house and there’s a bottle of this in each one. That’s kind of a lie, because I haven’t replaced it right away. I bought a JĀSÖN lotion this time because it was on sale at Target.

MAC Prep + Prime Skin Primer

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Another Project Pan casualty that doesn’t quite count, because it was basically empty when I pulled it out. I didn’t expect to have to replace this AND the Revlon powder at the same time, but here we are. I’ve been thinking of trying another foundation — maybe NARS or Kat von D — and so I don’t want to buy another primer until I’ve decided on a foundation. For now, I’m using a backup Smashbox sample I’ve had bumming around, but I’ve already had to cut the tube open, so I’m kind of running out of time. It’s also the last empty I need for a Back 2 MAC lipstick, so I’m not too sad about it.

And there you have it, nine products that have gone to the big beauty counter in the sky. I wonder if I’ll ever have an Empties Roundup this large again. What did you use up this month?

I bought all these products myself.

Hawaiian Beauty Haul!

Hey guys! Today’s post is something new, because I don’t typically post about things I bought and haven’t used yet. However, because I didn’t post for two weeks, I feel like I need to make up for the time I took off. Also, because all these products are locally made in Hawaii, they’re new and exciting to me, and I want to tell you about them, too! These are all the beauty goods I bought while I was on vacation.

First I’ll talk about Island Girl nail polish. This was the one product I knew I’d be buying ahead of time, because I’ve seen so many other people on the nail polish internet wearing it. It’s also the only one of these you can buy on the mainland, as ABC Stores, the carrier of Island Girl, also has stores in Las Vegas. I won’t talk too much about these, since these are pretty popular items, and I’ll be swatching one this weekend for Swatch Sunday.

The teal is called Aloha Paradise, and the neon pink is called Mahalo Color. The three glitters came in a three-pack and, for some reason, are missing their shade labels.

The teal is called Aloha Paradise, and the neon pink is called Mahalo Color. The three glitters came in a three-pack and, for some reason, are missing their shade labels.

I bought the polishes on the last day of my trip, but I bought this cuticle oil at the beginning because my cuticles looked like garbage around day two. I liked that it came in a large one ounce bottle, and the colorful little flowers in it. The scent is strong, floral and fruity. The oil itself is a blend of mineral and safflower oils, and may not be the most nourishing oil blend, but it really saved my cuticles while I was travelling. And it’s so cute!

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I also bought these solid lotions to use as cuticle balms, but they got buried in the shopping bags and I didn’t get to them until I was home. I’ve only opened the plumeria one; you can see the aloe one is still sealed along the edges. It was left in the hot Hawaiian car for most of the trip, and so it melted and can’t be removed from the tin easily, so I’ve just been digging in with my finger. It works really well as a cuticle balm; it absorbs quickly and doesn’t leave shine and grease behind. The scent is strong but very natural-smelling.

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I haven’t used any of these soaps yet, but they smell so delicious that I’ll probably open them up soon. All three of the Indigenous soaps have very earthy scents, scents like patchouli, ginger, and camphor. They’re all recently made, too, as each bar has a “born on” date stamped on the label. The very natural ingredients list is something to behold as well.

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I didn’t even want to buy this guava glycerine soap. I knocked it off a display, and when I picked it up, it was dented and I felt like a jerk just putting it back. The presentation of this soap is beauitful, though; the raffia ribbon and cowrie shells really say “Hey, I came from Hawaii”, probably moreso than any of the other things I bought. The scent is citrusy and floral (pikake is a jasmine variant).

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More soaps! These are from Garden Isle Bath and Body, based in Kapa’a, Kauai. I haven’t used these yet, but they smell amazing!

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These lotions, also from Garden Isle, are the real reason I ended up buying the soaps. I actually just wandered into the store to kill time before a kayaking trip, but I saw the after sun creams and bought a few, expecting to have an epic sunburn by the time the kayaking was over. I didn’t, thankfully, but now I’ve got some really nice creams. These were on the pricy side — $6 for the lotion tubes, $10 for the after sun jars — but the quality seems high. They’re very fragrant and very moisturizing, as well as handmade.

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Left: Ginger Blossom; Right: Sandalwood

Left: Ginger Blossom; Right: Sandalwood

Ingredients

Ingredients

I’m a little surprised I bought so few beauty items! Usually those are my favorite. I bought a lot of jewelry and rum and books. And SPAM. I hope I don’t come across like a braggart writing about stuff I bought, but I love these products, and I hope you’re interested in trying them! Here are some links.
Sarah’s Sweet Scrubs
Indigenous Soap
Garden Isle Bath and Body
Kauai Gems

I bought these products myself.