Empties | August

This was a pretty light month, empties-wise.

Empties | July

There's something incredibly wonderful about these sample entries. For me, anyway.

It always freaks me out how much I have and have yet to use. It's why I'm always incredibly excited every time I post a Sample Selection Saturday.

With empties, I'm always super excited to see those empty jars pile up. You have no idea how excited I am when I take all those empty bottles to the recycling bin.

Seriously. You have absolutely no idea.

1. Lush Herbalism: Gentle. Natural. Playful. Green. It was nice using a cleanser that was so much fun to use. The ground almonds were fine enough that they didn't tug, pull or nick at my skin and provided a coarse graininess that gently exfoliated my skin.

2. L'Oréal Ombrelle Face SPF 45: The absolute best chemical sunscreen that I've tried yet. It doesn't make me ashy, lasts a long time, doesn't irritate me and doesn't feel heavy on my skin. Best of all, it provides ample moisture. It's amazing.

3. Coconut oil. This is one of the few HGs I can own up to. This jar was pretty full when I first mentioned it, but I use it for so many things including cooking. On the beauty front, I use it for oil pulling when it's in its liquid form (whiter teeth is just one of the benefits), as a daily moisturizer, as a hair treatment and as a makeup remover.

Pro tip: Coconut oil has a multitude of uses, including helping to speed up healing from bites and minor irritations. This has been hit and miss with me and mosquito bites, but when it does work it's amazing!

Sample Selection Saturday empties

4. Weleda Wild Rose Body Lotion: My nose hurt so bad after wearing this. Not only that, but it left me feeling a bit dry. All around, total let down.

5. Lush Mask of Magniminty: Amazing! It kind of looks like mint chocolate ice cream. I love the mint smell and it left my skin a bit calmer when I used it. Strike that, markedly calmer. Don't think those were chocolate bits though, I think those were beans based on Lush's ingredient list.

6. The Face Shop's Intevia Emulsion: Ugh. I don't normally like slamming products, but this was all sorts of bad. Well, not really. But any good that this product was is eclipsed so totally by what's bad.

7. Innisfee Eco-Science Skin (toner): Unlike the previous sample selection, this is part of a line that you can still purchase. It took me forever to realize this sample was toner, as opposed to serum. It's runny, but a little thicker than toner. It smells refreshing and was gentle on my skin.

Empties | June

Another month, another empties post!

This month, I finished a couple of items I've already reviewed and am in the process of replacing and repurchasing.

1. Thayer's Witch Hazel with Aloe toner: This has two of my favourite products to calm and moisturize my skin: witch hazel and aloe. This toner is great at toning my face and picking up leftover makeup and dirt that cleansing leaves behind. It's also great at prepping my skin for my serum and regular moisturizer and can be used as a spritzer to refresh skin throughout the day.

Thayer's toners can be found at Whole Foods, natural health stores and online.

2. Aromatica Rose Absolute First Serum: This is more of a two-in-one product because it feels like a toner and a serum. And, if you're so inclined, you can even use it as a moisturizer for the warmer months. I like almost everything about this product – it calms my skin, is gentle, has natural ingredients, chic packaging, multiple uses and it lasted a long time. What I don't like about it now is its cost and accessibility.

Outside of Korea, it can only be bought online at a small number of retailers.

3. Coconut oil: I love coconut oil! I've forgotten which brand this used to be – the label got rubbed away by the oil – but it doesn't really matter. What does matter is that the oil has to be cold-pressed and organic. I've used this as an allover moisturizer, face cleanser, hair treatment, eye makeup remover and to keep my teeth super white (oil pulling). I could go on, but I love coconut oil's many uses so much it deserves its own post.

Can be found at most grocery stores.

4. Nature Republic pearl de caviar cleanser: I talked about this cleanser before. It was a pretty good cleanser and had good value. This is a deluxe sample size (50 ml) and it lasted an insane amount of time. Several months, with twice daily usage. I didn't need to use a lot of product because it foamed up really well. And I really loved the scent. It didn't smell so much to be overpowering; it was just enough to leave a subtle scent which washed away pretty quickly.

Pearl de Caviar cleanser is sold in 150ml bottles at Nature Republic stores and online.

5. Skinfood 40 percent shea butter body cream: This really helped to soothe and moisturize my dry skin last winter. I mostly used it on my hands and took it everywhere with me. The tube, which is so convenient, lived almost exclusively in my purse. It's a nice, rich cream that left my skin moisturized even hours later.

Skinfood can be purchased online.

Empties | May

One of my skin resolutions this year was to use up my products.

Like, completely.

It's usually very hard for me.  I buy something, I fall in love, I obsess over it for a minute and then the love is gone.

Half of the product still intact. Untouched. Casually tossed over for the next new thing I've fallen in love with.

I'm over it.

So I'm really excited! This month I finished off 5 products!