EMPTIES: MAKE UP ITEMS I'VE USED UP

 As you can see, I nearly had a concealer crisis as I managed to use up every concealer that I owned, not too far from each other. I now feel that buying in excess is completely justified as that was a scary time, when I didn't know if I'd be able to cover those dreaded dark circles and blemishes. Luckily, we can all sleep easy again as I am now back to being well stocked and ready for anything - phew!

While on the topic of concealer, I ran out of an old favourite - MAC Pro Longwear. A really great concealer for under the eyes and other imperfections that lasted for ages! I did repurchase this concealer and it's one that I like to have in my collection, although the Urban Decay Concealer (review here), has now taken the favourite spot. Another good concealer was the Maybelline Eraser concealer in shade light; it's a really good product for brightening under the eyes as it's quite yellow toned. My issues with this concealer are that it didn't seem to last long at all and I am now left with what appears to be a lot of product in the tube that I cannot get out. One that I wasn't so keen on was the Maybelline Fit Me Concealer; I bought the lightest shade but it still wasn't very light at all and quite orange toned. It was disappointing as others seem to love this concealer. The MAC Prep & Prime brightener in Radiant Rose and Bare Minerals Stroke of light 1 products are both very similar. They are light pink in colour and are great for counteracting darkness and brightening the under eye area. I have repurchased the MAC one over the Bare Minerals, as it lasted so long with me using it every day. The Bare Minerals product seemed to run out a lot quicker. It must be something to do with the packaging as the MAC one only has 3ml of product, while Bare Minerals is 5.5ml. I trust the ingredients of Bare Minerals more but for how much longer the MAC one seemed to last, I have to favour it.

On to foundations both by Bourjois. I managed to use both of these foundations up as it was when I first started abandoning fake tan and gradually getting lighter and these two were the lightest ones I owned at that time. I think they are fairly similar in terms of coverage and longevity. I would say they are a light-medium coverage that evens out the skin tone completely, yet you would still need more coverage for bigger imperfections if you wanted it. They both feel and look very light on the skin. The only different that I can really think of is that the Happy Light foundation is obviously a lot more dewy and radiant looking than the Healthy Mix Serum. 

The L'oreal Volume Million mascara was a repurchase as I used to love it but this time round it didn't impress me as much. The formula wasn't 'wet' enough for me to build the lashes well and get a lot of volume from it. I want to try other L'oreal mascara's as I have liked some of them but this one I wont be repurchasing. I now only use powder products for my eye brows as I don't actually own any pencils now that I have used up the Bare Minerals Frame & Define brow pencil. It's a very thin, twist up product so you only need to twist the tiniest amount up, otherwise the product snaps off pretty easily. It is a good product; great colour and really good at adding definition but it just seemed to run out too quickly for my liking. As I'm pretty happy with just powder products I don't feel that I need to repurchase this product but I'm definitely not ruling out brow pencils in the future! 

On the other hand, a product that lasted for so long was the MAC Prep & Prime Skin Base Visage. It's a cream formula face priming product, with little shimmer particles to make your skin look more radiant. I found it really great for when my skin felt a little drier as it is so hydrating, yet very light weight so works great as a base for foundation. I've got a full review of the product 'here.' At the moment I don't actually use any face primers any more so I don't need to repurchase this product but I would still recommend it. 

The final product is MAC's Give Me Sun, which I repurchased even before I had run out of this one. It's an amazing bronzer, with so much pigmentation. It's a lovely warm tone so really works for making your skin  look more healthy and warm very quickly. It works on my now very fair skin really well and also when I have a dark tan so I think it's a good all rounder - as long as a lighter hand is used in times of the fairer skin! The bronzer lasted so long, even though I used it every day that I actually started to wonder why it wasn't hitting pan and wishing it would, in a strange kind of way. 

SKINCARE EMPTIES: PRODUCTS I'VE USED UP

Here are the skincare products that I have managed to use up over the past... well lets face it probably a fair few months - to say the least, as I have three moisturisers there. I like to hoard all of my used up products until I have a decent amount to show and then I can happily chuck them all away and start on some shiny new products. 

Lets start with moisturisers as there's a few there. I already said in a previous haul post (read it here), that I wouldn't be repurchasing the Ponds face moisturiser as it contains parabens. I used it anyway and it did the job well but wasn't anything special. The Body Shops Vitamin E cream was a bit disappointing for me as It smelt lovely but seemed to be too thick/heavy on my skin and seemed to cause break outs. I ended up using it as a neck cream, just to finish up the product. On a more positive note, I did really like the Bare Minerals Purely Nourishing Moisturiser; It felt light weight enough, yet still offered the perfect amount of moisture and hydration to the skin. I'm not sure if I will repurchase straight away as there are so many others to try, but it is one that I would be happy to repurchase at some point. 

Another Bare Minerals product that I managed to use up was the Renew and Hydrate eye cream. I really liked using this eye cream as it has a lovely, creamy consistency that applies to the delicate eye area so easily. It lasted me a really long time too. Unfortunately Bare Minerals are discontinuing this eye cream and replacing it with Mineralixirs Eye Nourishing Balm, which is a shame as it was a really good product. I may try the new balm at some point, but right now I have a Clinique one eagerly waiting to be used. 

If you've read my 'hyped products that I'm not in love with' post, you'll know I'm not a fan of the Lush fresh face masks. This mask was used up before I wrote that post, so I haven't gone back on my word. I really don't find that any of the masks do anything for my skin. They're fun to use and sounds and smell good but in reality there are much better masks out there that do make a difference to your skin.

I enjoyed using the Trilogy Hydrating Mist Toner, it felt lovely on the skin and did seem to do a good job at hydrating. I haven't repurchased it as I want to try out some different hydrating toners, so if you have any recommendations let me know! 

I only really like the B.Pure Micellar Water for when I'm feeling lazy or have the last traces of make up to remove. It does the job and is pretty good at removing eye make up but it isn't anything special so I wont be repurchasing it. Likewise, The Body Shop Seaweed Clarifying Toner is very refreshing on the skin but it's not something I feel like I need in my routine. It's also for more oily skin, which I don't particularly have so I'm weary that it may be too much for my skin and in turn result in my skin over producing oil...  eeww? 

So there we go, another load of empties done and dusted! I've got some make up empties to show in the near future so keep an eye out if you're interested in seeing and hearing about a lot of different make up products that I have used up.

EMPTIES: THE BODY SHOP

The fact that there are not one but three empty body butters in this post kind of demonstrates just how long I've been hoarding what most would call rubbish, in my bedroom. I recently moved in with my boyfriend and upon finding my bag of 'empties' his response was, "is that something people actually want to read about? Is it like OMG I actually used something up!" I guess I can see his point...

I have been working hard to decrease my beauty products stash, from looking like the stockroom of Boots to a more reasonable size. I'm pretty proud to say that it's been hard not buying five extra face cleansers and moisturisers, just in case... but I've finally managed it. Going off topic a little there but my point is, I've managed to use so much up that it was too much for one post so I'm going to break it down a little, starting with The Body Shop. I actually never shop in The Body Shop - okay rarely ever, but the body butters are just too good to ignore. 

My boyfriend bought me the Moringa body butter and I repurchased it for that reason as it was cute that he picked out a smell that he liked. It always reminds me of Summer as it's a floral but fresh scent that just screams sunshine. The Rasberry body butter was given to me by my sister as I was suffering with really dry, sore skin and like me, she has a tendency to 'collect' beauty products, so could spare me this one. This worked so well and smells gorgeous. I was a little apprehensive of the Coconut shimmer body butter and it wouldn't be something that I would have chosen myself but my mum bought me it for Christmas last year and I really loved it. I like the smell of coconut anyway but surprisingly also grew to love the shimmer effect it left on the skin. The shimmer is noticeable but still subtle so don't worry if resembling Edward Cullen isn't your thing, you're fairly safe. I would repurchase all three as they all smell gorgeous and left my skin very hydrated and as for the shimmer, well who can say no to looking a little prettier all over. 

I bought the Camomile cleansing oil before it became a hyped product and I would repurchase it again. It's great at removing make up and leaving your skin feeling really hydrated, soft and fresh. It also lasted quite a long time as you don't need to use too much for it to be effective. I'm currently using a different cleansing oil, but I much prefer this one, so it would definitely be the one I would repurchase. The Camomile eye make up remover came in a set with the cleansing oil - I wouldn't normally buy eye make up remover from the body shop as I tend to just get the cheapest. What can I say, it took off my eye make up easily, it did its job - there really isn't anything interesting to say about eye make up remover. Finally, the Hemp Hand Protector, hand cream formulated for very dry skin. This is where it all goes down hill. I did not like this hand cream at all; considering it is for 'very dry skin,' when I used it when my hands were quite sore it didn't seem to do very well. It feels okay on normal conditioned hands but then that isn't what it's apparently intended for. Another annoying aspect of the hand cream was that it looked empty after a couple of uses and I'm sure I only used it no more than 10 times before it was empty. Which brings me onto moaning about the packaging - as who can put on a fiddly screw top after applying hand cream! To top it off, I don't like the smell.

I can now finally chuck these products out for good! What are your favourite products from The Body Shop and which do you find yourself constantly repurchasing?