Empties #17: January 2015 – Part 2

Welcome back everyone, to part 2 of my January 2015 empties! I’ve got a few makeup items this time round, and a lot more skincare products, so let’s cracking on!

Empties #11: July 2014 – Part 1

Hi everyone! It’s empties time again! Another large empties post – managed to accumulate A LOT of products; some completed, and some too old and needed to be thrown out. I routinely check through my stash every few months and toss out items that are bad, expired or opened for too long.

I don’t always follow the expiry date for makeup – I toss it if it’s no longer in good condition/quality and sometimes if it’s too old, but I’m quite strict about doing so for skincare products. I don’t know why, since it all goes onto my face! Anyway, let’s see what empties I have this month!

Review: IOPE Air Cushion XP SPF50+/PA+++ in N23

I’ve been using this product for quite a while but procrastinated on writing a review for it because I have too many thoughts on this product – the IOPE Air Cushion XP in shade N23; it took me quite a while to piece my thoughts together and I really wanted to put everything down. So if you’re interested in this product, I hope you will take the time to read through the whole post, because be warned, it will be very long!

Empties #8: April 2014 – Part 2

Welcome back to Part 2 of my empties post for April – I’ve used up so many items this month that it’s pretty shocking! Following the 16 items that I’ve mentioned in Part 1, here are another 13 more!

17. Bourjois Healthy Mix Foundation in 53
I love the staying power, smooth texture and medium coverage of this foundation; I also really like the sweet fruity scent. I would definitely pick another up, although in a much lighter shade as I have lost my tan.

18. Himalaya Herbals Gentle Exfoliating Walnut Scrub
Reviewed here. Not a fan; way too rough for my liking.

19. Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstain in 150 Tender Rose
Got this a few years ago in the US; I really liked how natural it looks and how lightweight it is, although the staying power is rather weak for a stain. I’ve never seen this sold since then so I won’t be replacing it.

20. The Body Shop Tea Tree Skin Clearing Facial Wash
A small facial wash that I bring along to the gym; my bf is very loyal to this face wash, but I’m just pretty neutral about it mainly because I really dislike the scent of tea tree; I will use it, but won’t go out of my way to buy it.

21. Renew Rose Hip Oil
Reviewed here. I love this oil and it works wonders for my dry skin.

22. IOPE Super Vital Extra Moist Cream
Mentioned here. This cream is so thick that it’s practically solid; if not for the heavy fragrance, I think this works well as a a really hydrating night cream for really dry skin but feels way too heavy for oily skin.

23. Stella by Stella McCartney Eau de Parfum
24. Paul Smith Optimistic Eau de Toilette
25. Lancome Tresor in Love Eau de Parfum
A few sample perfume vials that I keep in my purse in case of ’emergencies’. I really like the Lancome one – very feminine and floral. I like to spray perfume on my legs so that the scent doesn’t overwhelm me.

26. MAC Cream Nail Lacquer in Hanging Loose
Used about half the bottle but it’s dried out. I loved this when I first got it because the formula was nice – 2 coats for opaque color and was not streaky for a cream color, and looked so dainty and ladylike on the nails.

27. IOPE Super Vital Extra Moist Eye Cream
Mentioned here as well. I like the texture – creamy but sinks in easily.

28. Belif Hydra Sebum Control Essence
Something that I just throw on after showering at the gym. From the name I don’t think this is targeted at my skin type but it doesn’t feel too dry for me.

29. Kiehl’s Clearly Corrective Dark Spot Solution
I don’t see any difference from using this product but I also don’t have a lot of dark spots and this is a really small bottle. I love how it feels – just like nothing. Because of how light it is, I tend to mix this with other serums, especially the stickier or thicker ones to make them easier to apply – I feel like I am “powering up” my other serums by using them this way.

And this rounds up all the empties for this month! A grand total of 29 items! I love writing empties posts – it really encourages me to use up my products and because of that, I am also taking much better care of my skin as I am more consistent about using the skin care products daily.

Have you used up any items this month?

Empties #7: March 2014

This month I tried to clear out a lot of the sample/travel size items that I have been accumulating – whilst I love having them available for holidays, I don’t actually go on that many holidays so I definitely had to downsize a bit!

1. Simple Cleansing Facial Wipes
2. Biore Cleansing Oil Cotton Facial Sheets
Cleansing facial wipes are a gym essential – I cant bring myself to exercise with makeup on! The Simple wipes are very nice; they are a good size wipe with no sting, and removes makeup easily. I used to love the Biore ones because of how wet and effective they are, even with waterproof mascara, but now I’m a little frustrated with its small sheet size; it takes a few sheets to wipe my whole face so it’s quite wasteful and expensive that way.

3. Dermal Bee Venom Collagen Essence Mask
4. My Beauty Diary Bulgarian White Rose Mask
These are by no means the only facial sheet masks I’ve used this month; somehow I remembered to keep the wrapping for these. I love sheet masks and am not too fussy about what brand or type as I don’t find them to be so different in terms of efficacy, so these worked well.

5. Dior Diorskin Nude Compact in 030 Medium Beige
Got this sample from the Dior counter and have been using it on the go in my small Z-palette – I do like this; the powder is very smooth, feels light on the skin, but does not look powdery. Would consider purchasing.

6. Cosmetika Compact Powder in 302
A powder I received from a subscription beauty box that I didn’t use much; the texture is quite hard and dry, plus it got ‘bumpy’ after a couple of uses. Throwing it out because I won’t be using it any more.

7. Elizabeth Arden Ceramide Plump Perfect Ultra Lift & Firm
8. Astalift Whitening Cream
The Elizabeth Arden cream is meant to be an all night repair for face and throat; for nights that my skin feels extra dry this came in very handy – slap on a good amount of this cream before bed and wake up to very well hydrated skin. The Astalift cream paled in comparison – it’s not bad, just nothing outstanding except for its orange tint.

9. Murad Essential C Day Moisture SPF 30 in 3 Hydrate/Protect
Quite like this; this has a faint citrus scent, and absorbs very quickly into the skin. I find that it worked very well under makeup even on a hot day!

10. Shiseido White Lucent Brightening Cleansing Foam
11. Sulwhasoo Snowise EX Whitening Water
12. Dior Addict Eau Delice
A few items that I’ve been using at the gym; not too many thoughts on them because all I want is get clean, smell good and go home/out quickly.

13. IOPE Super Vital Extra Moist Softener
14. IOPE Super Vital Extra Moist Serum
Mentioned these in a post recently. Bought a trial set of IOPE items to try; unfortunately the scent was too overwhelming for me so I didn’t really like most of them. The serum was not bad though. Won’t purchase.

15. Sensodyne Pronamel Daily Toothpaste
16. Watsons Nail Polish Remover
A couple of mundane but must have items. Sensodyne is my favourite toothpaste brand; they don’t taste too strongly of mint like most other brands, so that’s a big plus for me, and my sensitive teeth feels good with them. I’ve finished so many bottles of the Watson’s nail polish removers – mainly because they’re so cheap and does the job fine.

So that’s it for my empties this month! So I cheated a little bit with the facial sheet masks and all the mini/travel size bottles, but I have a few bigger bottles that I am almost done with and I can’t wait for them to be on next month’s post! Have you used up any items this month?

Midweek Peek #7: Sample Testing with IOPE skincare

Recently got my hands on a trial set of IOPE Super Vital skincare range – with Softener, Emulsion, Serum, Cream and Eye Cream. I’ve gone crazy about Korean skincare lately; I think a lot of Koreans have gorgeous skin. I’ve heard that Koreans have up to 10 steps in their skincare routine!

IOPE is quite a popular skincare brand in Korea, and owned by the giant makeup and skincare company AmorePacific. The products are pricey so I recently bought a trial set online from the Super Vital range to try it out! Just a really quick overview on this set; I think the trial sizes are too small to truly give a review on the efficacy and impact it has made on my skin but I really wanted to do an “initial thoughts” or “first impressions” update on this.

I liked the Softener as it made my skin feel really moist, but the scent is so intensely overpowering. The emulsion feels light and great for day time, even under makeup. The serum is a very lightweight yellow fluid that sinks in immediately and my personal favourite out of the 5 products. The cream feels too thick and heavy; I would say might be better in a cold winter but sadly it’s hot all year round where I live. The eye cream is nice – it’s rather thick but sinks in well without feeling oily.

In all, I thought that this was a rather good set for anyone with dry skin as I do feel that my skin feels well moisturised and soft. However, the one big turn off I had was how almost all of them are so heavily fragranced, especially the Softener. I won’t be purchasing the full size because of how intensely scented the products are – it might not have caused any skin allergies, but it did give me a headache from how strong it smelt!

That’s all for this week’s midweek peek! Have you tried IOPE too?