November 2011 Empties

Hello Everyone,

I've had a decent month for empties, although most of these products are not that hard to use up.

1. L'Oreal Absolute Eye and Lip Make- up remover - It does its job, and I will probably buy it again (when there is a sale on it ;P).

2. Simple Radiance Brightening Eye Cream - Simple is my favorite skincare range, and I will always come back to it. I liked this cream, but as I always say I didn't really notice much difference in my skin. Maybe my skin is in good condition, and that's why I don't see any changes (yay for me). I do appreciate that it doesn't have any alcohol and scent free, especially after some other stuff I've tried.

3. Sally Hansen Vita-B Lip Moisturizer - I love this stuff! It moisturizes extremely well, and the packaging is so much cuter than the regular balm. I've bought several others from this line, and I will keep buying it.

4. Boots Tea Tree + Witch Hazel Exfoliating Face Scrub - Can I say I HATED the smell? But my husband liked it, so go figure. I think it's an ok scrub, but I will stay away because I can't stand the smell. To me it's just too nasty.

5. Radox Shower Smoothies Spirit Booster - it's pretty hard to get a shower stuff wrong, and this shower smoothie is no exception. It does smell good enough to drink (and the tube has a big warning not to drink it lol), it lathers well and it cleans well. I will buy it again in a heartbeat.

6. elf Complexion Perfection powder - it's very similar to Rimmel's powder, and I liked it. I'm not sure I will bother with buying it again (or ordering anything else from US elf's website), because it takes so LONG to get to me. I'm a patient person, but waiting almost 2 month kills the excitement even in me.

7. Batiste Dry Shampoo in Blush - oh Batiste, you are still my love. I don't know how many bottles of this stuff I've used up now, but this is my first one in this huge size. I love it and will buy it again and again!

8. Aussie Take the Heat Shampoo - it's my 2nd bottle of this shampoo, and I love it enough to buy again.

9. Clinique Clarifying Lotion for Combination Oily skin - this crap deserves its own photo (ok, I just forgot to include it , so had to run back and add to photos). I've bought it in a neat little gift set, figuring it's a good way to try some Clinique without spending a lot of money. I had high hopes for it... now I will never buy it again.

This is supposed to be a step 2 in Clinique's famous 3 Step System, which is "comfortable, non-drying exfoliator that helps create clear, glowing skin". I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to exfoliate, but even my skin felt noticeably drier and tighter. I'm convinced that it's main purpose is to completely get rid or ANY kind of oil on skin! I get that it's for combination oily skin, and guess supposed to control oiliness but I'm scared to even imaging how their stuff for an actual oily skin feels like! Also, as all Clinique stuff, this is 100% fragrance free. What they neglect to tell you, is that while it doesn't have any typical smells, it is full of alcohol! To the point that it REEKS of it. The smell of alcohol is overwhelming, and pretty nasty. Just because my skin is a trooper and nothing gets to it, doesn't mean I want to use cleansers full of alcohol on it. After using this, I appreciate Simple stuff just that much more.

10 & 11. No7 Exceptional Definition Mascara in 01 Black & 02 Brown/Black - I actually forgot I've finished these a while back, but they were hiding in one of my storage cups. I like these mascara, but I think for a drugstore they are a little on a pricey side. I will buy again with one of Boots No7 vouchers though.

12. Eyeko Graffiti Eyeliner Pen in Navy - oh the memories! This was one of my first felt tip eyeliners, and pretty much what started my love with them. Sadly this one completely dried up, and I found out about it while trying to use it. Although it is not surprising, because I've had it for almost a year. Sadly, Eyeko completely revamped its brand image and products, so I don't think these are available to buy anymore. While I'm sad a little, there are plenty of other felt tip eyeliners to try and I won't miss these much.

13. Tarte Lights, Camera, Splashes Mascara - this was a mini size mascara in one of the Tarte gift sets, and I love it! I just bought a full size version of non-waterproof one.

14. Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion - another sample size that came with one of the palettes I have. I have a striking suspicion that there are more primer left, but I can't be bothered with trying to cut the bottle open and depot. Plus, I don't have any appropriate containers, it's going to dry up fast, and I just bought a full size primer. Other than the bottle, this primer is great.

15. Benefit PosieTint - (seriously, I keep forgetting stuff! This is the 4rd time I'm editing this post LOL. Well, this is the last staggler, I promise) this is a 4ml size that came with one of the magazines during summer,  and I quite like the size because it means I can actually get though it! I like the natural rosy flush PosieTint gives me, and you can see it pretty often in my FOTD. I'm glad I got to try it, but I won't be buying the full size because I don't love it THAT much to spend the amount of money it costs.

Have you used any of the stuff I listed?

~ Lyuba

July 2011 Empties

Hello my Funky Readers,

I can't believe it's time for another empties post! I get so ridiculously excited when I finish something, especially if it's a makeup item. I have two items right now where I've hit the pot, and I can't wait to finish those too although it will be a good several month before I do. :( But anyways, here are the stuff that I've finished in July!

1. St.Ives Energizing Citrus Moisturizing Body Wash - this is the 2nd or 3rd time I've used it, and every time I think that it smells so much better in the bottle than when used on the body. Will I ever learn?

2. Garnier Fresh Essential Cleansing Milk & Toner - you can read my review here. I love those and already started on backups.

3. Garnier Fresh Essential Eye Makeup Remover - it sucks. You can read why here.

4. Batiste Original Dry Shampoo - That's the one that came with June's GlossyBox. I love Batiste, and will buy this over and over again.
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5. Simple Radiance Brightening Moisturiser SPF10 - you can read my full review here, but just to sum it up: I love it, but wish for higher SPF.

6. Rimmel Stay Matte Pressed Powder in Transparent -  it's great and I'm on my 2nd one right now. I see myself buying it again.

7. The Body Shop Peppermint Intensive Foot Rescue - I got one of these for my mom when I went to visit last year, and she swears by it. I on the other hand think it only works as preventative. Which it is, according to the package. So it works very well for me in winter, but the second I start wearing sandals again my feet turn into dry nightmare no matter how much I soak and scrub them. I am not sure if I will buy it again because I'm not loving the scent much, and I've only bought it because it worked so well for my mom.

What did you finish this month? :)

~ Lyuba

June Empties

Hello my Funky Readers,

I don't have a lot of empties this month, so here are is my measly amount of empties.

1. Simple Kind to Skin Vital Vitamin Night Cream - full review here, for all you noisy bunch, but I can tell you that although I absolutely love it I won't be repurchasing it.... because I found something better! Also by Simple. I think I'll do a full review on it in the next couple of weeks or so.

2. bareMinerals Well-Cared For Brush Conditioning Shampoo - I don't really know what to say about it. It cleans, it cleans my brushes well, but at £8 for tiny 120ml it's a little too expensive for me, as I use a good amount to clean my brushes. I'll just stick with baby shampoo from now on, if it's gentle enough for a baby butt it is sure gentle enough for any brushes in my opinion.

3. Bourjois Express Eye Makeup Remover - you can read all about how much I love it here. I will be buying again, once I go through some other stuff I got. And definitely will be stocking up on it before I live UK.

4. Botanics Purifying Face Scrub for Normal/Oily Skin - it was too gentle for me, to the point of not even feeling like it was doing anything so I won't be buying it again. But I think for those of you with sensitive skin, it might be good.

Let me know what you finished this month, I love reading posts like that.

~ Lyuba

THREE Month Worth of Empties

Yup, you read it right! THREE MONTH worth of empties! I barely had any in March, then a lot in April, and now it's the end of May, but since I wasn't blogging for the past 2 month I have quite a stash going.

1. TRESemme Instant Refresh Dry Shampoo (2) - love this stuff, it's a real life savior.

2. Batiste Dry Shampoo in Blush and Diva - Blush is my favorite and I will buy and buy again. Both TRESemme and Batiste work the same for me, but Batiste is about half the price of TRESemme. Guess which one I'll buy again lol?

3. Simple Kind to Skin Soothing Facial Toner (2) - my go to toner, 'nuff said.

4. Almay Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover Pads - they used to be my go to eye makeup remover pads, now I like to try new stuff. But I will always come back to them, although I prefer oily ones (bought oil-free by mistake lol).

5.  GOSH Velvet Touch Foundation Primer - love this stuff. I will stock up on it before I leave UK.

6. Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid Foundation in Ivory - it looks like there is a little left, but no matter how much I try I can't get it out. So I consider it finished lol. So far this is my favorite foundation, I will stock up next time I'm makeup shopping. :)

7. Ukrainian  Lipbalm "Tender" with jojoba oil and vitamin E - one of the best I used. I wish I had an easy access to Ukrainian stuff, because as of right now I have to wait till I go visit again :( And my friend will have problems mailing those to me because of stupid people at Ukrainian post offices that don't read rules and just refuse to mail stuff.

8. Simple Repair Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream - well it promises to visibly reduce fine lines and wrinkles and it does none of it. My main concern is fine lines under my eyes, which drive me crazy and I was hoping this would help reduce them at least a little? Tiny bit? But it did nothing. It still hydrated my skin, and didn't irritate (but nothing irritates my skin) so I MIGHT buy it again. Or I could try another eye cream from Simple line that doesn't promise to reduce wrinkles, so I won't be disappointed.

9. Simple Radiance Brightening Eye Make-Up Remover Pads - review coming soon, I just need to buy a new package so I could photograph it (shame on me). But I can say I love it, with very minor cons.

10. Maybelline Instant Anti-Age The Smoother Skin Retexturizing Primer - I reviewed it before. I simply love the packaging, so I'm going to keep it for something else.

11. TRESemme Healthy Volume Shampoo & Conditioner - I used it, and used it, and used it some more for several month but finally I had to say enough. Even if they are almost half full still, I couldn't keep using them. They are CRAP!! My hair was always so tangled that it felt like I didn't brush it for several days. Other than that, I guess they did a decent job of cleaning my hair, but tangled hair is a big pet peeve of mine so because of that I will never ever buy them again. So even if they are not technically empty, they will be hitting a trash can right after I'm done writing this post.

12.  Softsoap Juicy Pomegranate & Mango Infusions Moisturizing Body Wash - this is the stuff that I keep coming back to whenever I can't decided which body wash to get. Since all of them do the same job on me, I go by smell as the deciding factor and this smells simply divine! I will always buy it!

13. Spa Paradisa Revive Your Skin Watermelon & Pink Grapefruit Shower Wash - it smelled great so I got it. :)

14. The Body Shop Cranberry Joy Body Scrub - it smelled divine, so I was very happy when I picked it up half off after Christmas. Not so much after I actually used it. It felt like spreading a non-seedless jelly over your body, except that I think real jelly would exfoliate better. It did nothing! I didn't see or feel any improvement in my skin. I will never buy it again, no matter how nice it smells!

What did you use up in May? (or April & March ;P) Let me know in the comments below, I love reading these kinds of posts.

~ Lyuba

P.S. Blog sale is coming tomorrow! :)
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January and February Empties

Hello Ladies,

I'm sorry for the long absence. I could say that my recent beauty blogging drama kept me away, but  that's not true. It's more like I'm going through my every-few-month low right now, and I should be ok in a week or two. I mean, I haven't wore makeup AT ALL in over a week! Got ID'ed at Waitrose though, so maybe I should go makeup less more often huh?

So to get myself back on track I'm posting something nice and easy and what doesn't require too much of thinking, otherwise known as finished products post. I got myself a new storage thing for the bathroom so now I can keep track of all the empty bottles much easier, and now they just seem to pile up so fast!

Mittens is investigating the new smell

1. DeadSeaSource De-Tox Seaweed Salt Scrub
Love this stuff. Can I say that again? LOVE THIS STUFF!! Sadly I can't use it when my husband is around cuz the weirdo hates the smell. I really don't get why, he was right there with me when I bought it and approved the smell, but when I actually used it he said it makes him gag. *sad face* So I can only use it when he is gone. Next time he goes away for few month I'll be buying another one. I love it because not only it scrubs very well, but afterward it leaves my skin feeling very moisturized and soft. I think it's because of the oil that's in there, and because of that I usually tap the moisture off with the towel instead of rubbing. I love the smell too, regardless of what my husband says lol.

Mittens is at it again :)

2. VICHY Purete Thermale One Step Cleanser
Boots is having their 3 for 2 sale again and I'm having a hard time resisting buying more of this and other thermal water stuff. Sadly, being unemployed I gotta watch how I spend, plus I also have other cleansers that I need to use first. But fear not, once I ran out I will go out and buy more of this because it love it. It removes the makeup very well and leaves my skin feeling very clean and fresh.

3. Simple Kind to Eyes Eye-Makeup Remover
I am on a quest to find the perfect (for me) eye makeup remover and I bought the sample size to try. I'm not that impressed. It removed my eye makeup, but I think it could be better so I'm still on lookout for something else.  Even after holding cotton pads to my eyes for over a minute, I still had traces (a lot) of eye makeup and I don't even wear anything waterproof.

4. Batiste Dry Shampoo in Tropical and Boho
I regret not buying more of those when Superdrug had their sale, because these are lifesavers for me! I will be buying and buying them, although I don't particularly care for the ones above because of their smell. I like Blush the most so I'll just stick with it from now on.  

5. Aussie Take the Heat Leave-in Spray
Another product that I will be buying over and over again. It smells great and doesn't weight my hair down and protects it from heat. Perfect in my book :)

6. Botanics Soothing Eye Makeup Remover
After reading raving reviews about this eye makeup remover I decided to give it a try. To me it's OK, it's about the same as Simple Eye Makeup Remover except this works a little better. Still I will be looking for a better one, but if I'm in a pinch I can always come back to this.

7. fcuk Body Polish
Am I the only one that starts giggling when first glancing at the brand name? I bought this on offer along with Ted Baker Sugar Scrub a while back, but just now got to use it up. And I used the whole thing up in one time, but guess that's not that surprising. Entire thing is only 50ml and it supposed to cover my whole body. So I gave myself a nice 'polish' and pamper. I didn't notice too much of a difference, maybe because it is too fine and I like a good scrub. I might buy it again.

8. Ted Baker Invigorating Sugar Scrub
I used this as a facial scrub, although I suppose it is not. But it didn't say not to use it on face, only said not to get it in my eyes. I love the subtle smell and the texture. It gave me a great scrub and didn't irritate my face (but things rarely irritate my face to be fair). I will definitely buying it again, but I really wish it came in a bigger size. No matter how many Boots I check all I see is this travel size tube.

9. Simple Regeneration Age Resisting Eye Cream
I guess it worked because I didn't notice much difference in my eye area but I'm not sure what the "age resisting" part supposed to do. I think my under eye area was moisturized, but that's about it. I won't be purchasing this again since I'm trying other eye creams from Simple right now.

10. AHAVA Mineral Foot Cream
Ever since my cousin brought me AHAVA's hand cream from Israel I've been in love with everything AHAVA. I had this travel size tube for over 2 years but it was lost in my kimono room and only recently found. I love everything about this, the smell, how it sinks into my skin without feeling oily and how soft it makes my feet feel. Too bad it's on the expensive (for me) side, but given a chance I will buy more.

So what stuff did you recently finish? Leave a link to your blog in the comment, or just tell me. I would love to read about it :)

~ Lyuba

Finished Products: December

Hello everyone!

December found me finishing up quite a lot of products. For me it's an accomplishment, considering that up till few month ago I didn't even have that many products. I still don't, as I try to use stuff up before buying anything new, but I definitely see my space filling up!

1. Simple Soothing Facial Toner
I'm on my second bottle of this and I love it! For the price, it does a wonderful job at making my skin clean and fresh. Definitely will be buying more of it in the futures. 

 2. Almay One Coat Dial Up Mascara
 I needed a new mascara and I decided to step away from my safe and trusted Maybelline one and try something different. This mascara is supposed to help you create 3 different eye lash looks, from day to night. I am not sure how the first two 'clicks' work as I always kept it on 3, and it did a pretty good job. I'm not sure I would re-purchase it though as I wasn't that impressed with it. Even on 3 I didn't see that big of a difference between this and other mascaras I tried. It does have one good point - after using it, I'm no longer afraid of silicone type applicators.

3. Black Pearl Day Moisturizer for Young Skin (program for under 25 years old) 
In April I visited Ukraine for the first time in 9 years, and being myself the first thing I did was hit up Ukrainian drugstores for some Ukrainian & Russian makeup. This was one of face creams that I bought for myself, and I wish I was able to buy more! But due to luggage weight restrictions and stupidity of Ukrainian postal workers mailing restrictions (not sure which ones, British or Ukrainian) I was not able to mail myself any of the makeup and had to get only what would fit in my luggage. BUMMER as this was a great moisturizer which had everything I've been looking for in one. Next time I go to Ukraine I will stock up, and try several different post offices in hopes that postal workers will allow me to mail stuff back to myself.

4. La Roche-Posay Hydraphase Eyes
I tried this brand after reading several great reviews, and overall I like it. I am not sure if I will buy this particular product again because I didn't notice that much difference in my eyes. It hydrated my eyes just fine, but I didn't see any de-puffiness. Probably because I do not suffer from puffy eyes to begin with.

5. Revlon ColorStay Mineral Blush in Roseberry
This is my first blush that I used in a long time, I got it after I decided that I probably should use a blush. I would not be buying it again because the staying power was pretty average, and I can find cheaper products that deliver better results.

6. Simple Kind to Skin Hydrating Light Moisturizer (not pictured)
I forgot to take a picture of it, but I'm sure most of us know how it looks like. This is my go-to moisturizer, I've been using it before my Ukrainian one, but then went back to it after other one was finished. I use it every day religiously, and since my skin is not dry it is perfect for me. I love how it absorbs within seconds! I will be buying this over and over again.