Empties - Products I've Used Up #3

I realised that I haven't done an empties post since May, and since my "empties" bag was really full so I thought it was about time to do one now. I don't know about you but I love reading empties posts, it's a great opportunity for the bloggers to share their complete opinion on a product. So let's start because it's going to be a long post!

Avene Cleanance Gel Cleanser

I'll start first with some of the skincare products that I've been using for a long time, Avene's Cleanance gel cleanser was my one and only cleanser for many many many years, it's great for oily and acne prone skins. But recently I've stopped using it because it became too harsh for my skin, I think with age our skin changes and mine became more sensitive and dehydrated, so I stopped using it, but if your skin is oily and can handle harsher cleansers you should definitely try this one, it's the least harsh from all the ones that I've tried that are targeted for oily and acne prone skins.

La Roshe Posay Physiological Micellar Solution

This micellar water has got to be my HG one! I've tried lots of pharmacy micellar waters, Vichy, Bioderma, Avene but this one is the best for my skin. It doesn't irritate my skin like Bioderma did, doesn't leave a sticky residue like the Vichy and Avene did. But just so you know, I don't use micellar lotions to remove my eye makeup because they tend to dry out my eye area and I don't like that. In my opinion the Physiological Micellar Lotion is one of the best out there. I've already repurchase it in the huge bottle.

Sephora Waterproof Eye Makeup Remover

I've mentioned this eye makeup remover in the past a lot, it's one of the best  eye makeup removers that I've tried. I think it works really good, it never irritated my eyes and it's not super oily like some of the high end ones I've tried, such as Clinique. I only wish it was cheaper that's why I don't buy it that often, I always use drugstore ones in between, but once in a while I love buying a bottle of this one.

Johnson's Face Care Gentle Eye Make Up Removal Lotion

This eye makeup remover is an old favorite of mine, it's propably the best drugstore one out there. It reminds me a lot of the Clinique Take the Day Off Eye but it's not as oily. I think it's better than the L'oreal duo phase eye make up remover, and way better than the Garnier one. I think it's available only in Europe though, but if you can find it you should definitely try it.

La Roche Posay Thermal Spring Water

I love using thermal water sprays, especially in the summertime and in the winter too, whenever my skin is very sensitive because of the cold. I've tried this one from La Roche Posay, it's OK but not my HG for sure. What I didn't like the most about this thermal water was how it sprayed all over my clothes but always managed to miss the main target, my face! It's not a bad one, it's just nothing too special, save your money for the next one I'm going to talk you about.

Avene Thermal Spring Water

I've tried lots of pharmacy thermal water sprays, and I'm telling you that if there's one that really worth the money it's this one from Avene. It does exactly what it says, it soothes the skin and it's anti-irritating, it even helped me whenever I had sunburns. And it's the only one that calms my skin whenever it's itchy from the cold. 

The Body Shop Seaweed Mattifying Day Cream

I've used this product a lot when my skin was more oily and not dehydrated, it's a light moisturizer for oily skins, that's all, but if you want it just for that it's perfect. If you want to know more about it, I've done a review post about it here.

Nivea Soft Cream

I've already talked about this cream, my mother and I used this cream so much last summer, that we've gone through two tubes of this one, actually one of them was the big one but I threw it away so I'm now showing you only the small one. If you like a lightweight but mosturizing body cream that doesn't feel like pure silicone on your body then this is the one for you. I hate when lightweight body moisturizers have that silicone feeling, I just can't stand it. I also used it on my face once because it was very dry from the sun, and it really helped. I will forever repurchase a tube of this one for sure!

Dove Go Fresh Shower Gel with Blue Fig and Orange Blossom

I never thought that I would show you a shower gel, because mostof the ones that I'm using they're kind of meh, nothing to special to talk about. But I changed my mind when I used up this one from Dove, I have to tell you how awesome it is, mostly about the scent. It has such a summerish scent and I can't really describe exactly what it smells like but to me it's summer, and beach and sun and........I don't know why, but it has to be the blue fig Please smell it next time you'll be in the drugstore or the supermarket, you will love it!

Sunsilk Conditioner for Straight Hair

Sunsilk is one of my HG hair drugstore companies, especially when it comes to conditioners and leave in creams, it never dissapointed me and this conditioner is not an exception. It really does smooth my hair and it makes the straightening process way easier. I really want to try all of their conditioners, from all of their lines and decide which one I like the most, but I've only tried this one and the one for curly hair and loved them both!

L'oreal Total Repair 5 Conditioner

This is also a conditioner that I really love, I think it's a high quality drugstore hair conditioner that really helps my hair feels stronger and healthier, I've already repurchased it. Next time I want to buy the hair mask too because I've heard really good reviews about it.

Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Hair Mask

Herbal Essences is the only brand I use for shampoos because they don't irritate my scalp, I've tried so so many products from this brand and I've come to the conclusion that I absolutely love their shampoos, I absolutely hate their conditioner and I love love love their hair masks. The Hello Hydration hair mask smells divine, like coconuts and summer! The best part is that it actually hydrates my hair, I don't really love hair masks, I rarely use them but if I find a good one I stick with it, and that's the case with this one! I'll definitely repurchase it in the future!

 Apivita Creamy Face & Eye Foam Cleanser with Olive and Lavender

I mentioned that I stopped using the Avene Cleanance gel cleanser because it was very harsh on my skin, so I replaced it with this one from Apivita, and I haven't regret it. It's an amazing cleanser, it has a creamy and not a gel texture, it's perfect for conbination skintypes! This is the mini bottle that I recently used up and I have repurchased it in the full size already.

Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment

I have had this for way too long, I used to like it when I first bought but then I was kind of meh about it, I realised that it didn't control the frizzyness on my hair at all, I had flyaway hairs everywhere. If I had to compare it with other high end hair oils I have to say that Moroccanoil is way better, but I have to say that  prefer the Macadamia's scent, it's more tropical.

Benefit Hello Flawless Powder Foundation 

I've talked about this powder in my blog many times, it's one of the best powder foundations in the market, it leaves a silky finish on my skin, never looked powdery which is the main problem with powder foundations in general. The only problem is the price, it's way to expensive for the amount of product you get, it's 36 euros for only 7 grams!

Garnier Anti-dark Circles Roll-on

I didn't had the chance to finish this product because after one an a half year it went bad so I had to stopped using it. When I first got it I hated, it did nothing for my concealing my under eye circles, after a few months I decided to give it a second chance, I liked the refreshing and cooling sensation it gave under my eyes, but that was it, I still didn't like it because in terms of concealing any darkness , it was awful. Overall no, I didn't like this product and I would never buy it again.

Maybelline The Rocket Mascara

This is one of Maybelline's most famous and beloved mascaras, I liked the volumizing look it gave to my lashes but I hated the formula, it's too heavy for my eyes. You can read all about it in my review here.

L'oreal Volume Million ashes Excess

With this mascara I have the exact opposite opinion of the one that I have for the Rocket, even though I absolutely adored the formula and the texture of this mascara the results were mediocre. I've done a blog post about it here.

So those were all the empties that I gathered for the past 5 months, I really hope my next one won't be that long, and I'll do one much sooner! Let me know if you've tried any of these products, I really wanna know your opinions about them.

My First NYX Haul.

A few weeks ago, Cherryculture had a really good offer, you could purchase any product with 40% off, and it was a great opportunity for me to try out for the first time some of NYX's products. One thing that I have to say is that Cherryculture's international shipping rates are ridiculously expensive, I think I paid 14 US$ for these few items, so if you want to order from them in the future you should definitely wait for an offer like this one, so you could save some money. Also with my order I was lucky to receive one of their lip balms of my choice as a freebie, so I chose the Raspberry one, and it's delicious! So let's see what I got!

I'll start of with the products that I wanted to purchase the most from NYX, and these are some of their lipglosses. Generally I'm not a lipgloss person, I rarely use them and I rarely buy them, but I've heard so many good reviews about their lipglosses so I was really curious to try some of them. I knew I wanted to purchase some of their Butter Glosses, so I chose 2 shades that I knew I would wear the most, I went for the Apple Strudel and the Creme Brulee. Apple Strudel is a light coral peachy-pink shade, which I absolutely adore, I think it will be perfect for spring and summer time, and Creme Brulee is a light muted pink, perfect for an everyday look. I have to say that I didn't expect their texture to be that sticky, they're almost as sticky as Mac's lipglasses, but they apply really well on the lips, they don't create any milky lines which I hate. They don't have any shimmers and they give that glossy- "J.Lo" wet lips, I really like that look because it makes my lips look more plumpy, I only wish they weren't that sticky.

One more lipgloss that I really wanted to try because people on youtube and blogs keep raving about it, was the Mega Shine Lipgloss in Beige. This lipgloss surprised me so much, I didn't expect liking it at all, but seriously is the only lip product I've been using on my lips since I got it, I think that says something! First I'll talk about the formula, which is amazing, it doesn't contain any shimmers and it's not as sticky as the Butter Glosses, but also it's not watery, it has the perfect "in between" texture, and it's also very pigmented. The shade is not beige at all, I don't know why they called it like that but anyway, it's a medium pink with purple undertones. I'm telling you that if I had to choose one lipcolor to use for my entire life I think it would be this one, I'm definitely going to try more of these Mega Shine lipglosses because I really love their formula.

 Here's a picture with all the swatches, from left to right are, Mega Shine lipgloss in Beige, Butter Gloss in Apple Strudel and Butter Gloss in Creme Brulee.

Besides the lipglosses, a NYX blush has been forever in my wishlist, but when the moment came to choose only one between all of their shades it was really hard, so I chose a shade that would be better for the fall, so I went for the Espresso Blush, and I think I did pretty well. Espresso is the perfect neutral shade for the fall, it's something between rose, brown, beige and little bit of peach, I know my description is not helpful at all but it's a cross between all of these shades. The texture is very good, it melts onto my skin, it's not powdery at all. I want to try more of NYX's blushes in the future for sure.

Lastly I picked up 2 lip pencils, NYX has an amazing huge variety of lip pencils, and it's very hard for me to find here light pink shades, it seems that I only find light beige or light brown ones, but never light pink. I chose the shades Pale Pink and Nude Pink. both are light pink shades, Pale Pink is a mauvish light pink and Nude Pink is a little more pigmented warm pink. I love them both, and I'm really happy that Pale Pink is the exact dupe of my beloved but discontinued Essence Soft Rose . I only have to say is that they're not soft pencils like the Essence ones are, they're more on the hard side. 

Overall I'm very happy with all the things that I got, I know it was a small haul, but these were the only stuff that I wanted to try from NYX right now, but in the future I definitely want to try more, especially the Mega Shine lipglosses and the blushes.

Let me know if you've tried any of these products, and I'm very curious to know what are your opinions about them. Also if you have any other NYX recommendations, please feel free to tell me any of your HG NYX products!

Collective Drusgstore Haul (Essence, Apivita, Maybelline, Frezyderm)

For like 2 weeks I've been hauling drugstore products like crazy. I had a few of them in my wishlist for like a really long time and I decided to purchase them all at once! They're mostly some of Essence's new products, and a few skincare ones. So let's see what I got!

Essence All About Matt! Oil Free Make Up

I never thought that I would buy a foundation that costs only 4 euros, but I read really good reviews about it so I said why not? I have nothing to lose. I got the shade 20 Matt Nude and I guess this is a really popular shade since I got the last one that was left in the store, which is really closr to a Mac NC25 shade but more beige and less yellow. I thought that this would be a matte foundation, but it's not. It gives a dewy but not greasy look, it doesn't have the traditional matte finish like most matte foundations have, it's like a dewy but oil free foundation, which actually surprised me. At first it feels a bit sticky but after you apply some powder on top you're good to go, and it doesn't get oily throught the day. If you don't like matte foundations but you have oily and combination skintype, you should give this one a try!

Essence All About Matt! Fixing Compact Powder

I've been reading so many good reviews about this pressed powder and it made me really curious because I wanted to find a cheaper version of my HG Mac Blot Powder. What exactly is the All About Matt! Fixing Compact Powder? Is a translucent powder, and as you can see it looks completely white, but don't worry, once this powder melts into your skin it's like you put nothing on your face. I have to agreee that it mattifies really well, without feeling or looking cakey or ashy, which is a problem I have with Mac Blot Powder. But it doesn't leave my face oil free for a long time, maybe an hour or two but that's it, while Mac's Blot Powder leaves my skin oil free for a really long time. I've only tested it out with 2 liquid foundations, the Essence All About Matt! and the Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum, but I'm going to test it out with more foundations to see if it performs any better.

Maybelline Fit Me Concealer in 20

I've been testing out concealers like crazy lately,my mission is to find the perfect one, which I know that's inpossible but I'm doing it anyway! Most of the ones I have are either too dry or have the wrong shade. I read that the Maybelline Fit Me concealer is one of the best selling drugstore concealers and it's actually hydrating. First of all I like the fact that for a drugstore concealer it doesn't cost a fortune, only 8 euros while most of the drugstore concealers here in Greece retail between 11 and 15 euros, which is very expensive in my opinion. Now to the actual concealer, I really really like it, it's not drying at all, actually it's really hydrating which is very hard to find even in high end ones. It has a medium coverage, not as much as I wanted to provide but it's rare to find a liquid foundation with really good coverage. Actually it's really similar to my beloved Seventeen Ideal Cover, but more hydrating and also more yellow, which I don't really like that, I prefer the beige shade of the Seventeen Ideal Cover. Overall I think that the Fit Me concealer is definitely going to be my HG for this fall and winter!

 

Essence Stay Matt Lip Cream in Velvet Rose

I saw these Lip Creams at the Essence counter a few weeks ago, at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to purchase one because I'm not a big fan of matte lipsticks, I have dry lips and they don't look good on me, also everytime I wear one I have the need to apply a lip balm or something on top of it because otherwise I keep licking my lips, don't ask me why I do that, I really don't know! Anyway after a week I decided to purchase it just because I was completely in love with the shade. Velvet Rose is a very light neutral pink, very cute and flattering color in my opinion. I've tested it out a couple of times, I really like the texture when i first apply it but after an hour or so it starts to become very dry and creates a thin line on the inside of my lips, not a very flattering look trust me, I look like a sick person. So I have to remove it really well and reaply it, but before I have to use a lip balm, and as you can see it takes lots of work to apply just a lip color. 

Essence Silky Touch Blush in Life's A Cherry

You all propably know by now my love for the Essence Secret It Girl blush, for I don't know how long, about a year or so? It's the one blush that I always reach for, my go to blush, so I decided to expand my Essence blush collection. I saw that they released two new shades in their permanent line, Life's A Cherry and Sweetheart. Last week I only found Life's A Cherry but yesterday I managed to find the Sweetheart also so I grabbed it, unfortunately I took the pictures a few days ago so I only have Life's A Cherry to in the pictures. It's a really beautiful strawberry pink shade, I tend to avoid pink blushes especially the cool toned ones, but this one it's warmer and it looks amazing for the fall. Also it's crazily pigmented, you can see in the swatch picture down below exactly how pigmented it is.

On the left is the Life's A Cherry blush and on the right the Velvet Rose Lip Cream. Can you see how pigmented the blush is? And it's only one swipe! The Lip Cream for some reason looks more orangey in the picture, but in real life it's more of a beige-pink shade.

Apivita Creamy Face & Eye Foam Cleanser with Olive & Lavender 

I don't know how many of you remember, but two months ago I bought a mini version of this cleanser just to try it out, and all of a sudden it became my HG cleanser. My skin had been through so many changes last summer, and I figured out that most of them were caused by my face cleanser, my face became very dry and I had constant break outs for no reason. It was hard for me to realise that my cleanser was causing me so many problems, because it's the one I've been using for more than 15 years, but I guess as we get old our skin changes, so did mine. I've used the mini bottle of the Apivita cleanser for a little over a month, and my skin completely changed, no more dry patches and itchy skin. So when I run out, I went and got it in the full size, but I chose the really big, 300 ml size, which I guess it will last me for a while since I only need a tiny bit of this for my whole face, not even a full pump. If you suffer from dehydrated oily and combination skin, please try this cleanser, you won't regret it.

Apivita Purifying Tonic Lotion with Propolis & Citrus

I rarely use toners all over my face, I just use the Clinique #2 Clarifying Lotion whenever I have break outs around my chin area, and it works, it's the only one I've been using for many years. But since I was at the Apivita counter to get some stuff I told myself to give this toner a try because I like the natural ingredients it contains, and I want to use it all over my face. I've been using it for 2 weeks straight, I can't really say if it has done anything for my face so far, but I like the fresh feeling it leaves on my face, and the light citrus smell it has.

Frezyderm Eye Balm

I was in desperate need for a hydrating eye cream, the one I've been using, the Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Eye Cream, has done nothing for my undereye area, it doesn't hydrate and it hasn't help with the fine lines at all, so I went for a simple hydrating eye cream this time. This one from Frezyderm, is a very lightweight hydrating eye cream, which unfortunately doesn't hydrate as much as I wanted to and also it has a very runny texture. It would be a great eye cream for the summertime, but for the winter I think I'll need something heavier for sure. I'm gonna use it all but the search for the perfect eye cream still continues!

Apivita Radiance and Revitalizing Mask with Pomegranate 

I was looking for a face mask that will give my skin some kind of glow. I don't use face masks that often, I used to use oil control masks when I was younger but not anymore, I can't stand the tight feeling they give to my face. Now I prefer the more hydrating or cooling face masks, this Pomegranate one from Apivita it's really good, it has a really thin and non sticky texture, when I first applied it on, my face felt so cooling and refreshed, and after when I rinsed it off, I was left with a very bright and clean face. What this mask does is giving your face a really bright and clean look, an instant pick me up whenever you feel awful and your skin looks stressed and dull. I got this mask in the 2 pack packaging but I'm definitely going to purchase it in the full size in the future.




So that was all for my drugstore haul, sorry if it was a really long post but I wanted to share with you my first impressions of all the products. I have one more haul to saw you with all the NYX goodies I ordered from Cherryculture a few weeks ago. Until then tell me, have you tried any of these products? Do you like them? Let me know!

September Favorites.

Unfortunately last month I wasn't too much into make up, with the exception of a few times that I did a full face make up and used mostly the basics, so my monthly favorites this time won't be anything too special, I'm sorry. But anyway, let's see what I liked the most last month even if they're only a few.

For my face make up I decided to start using my Mac Pro Concealer in NC20 but not as a concealer because I hate it, but as a foundation mixed with the Benefit Hello Flawless Oxygen foundation. The Pro Longwear concealer is too yellow and thick for my face so I had to mix it with a darker and more watery foundation, and the Hello Flawless is just perfect for that, I'm really pleased with the result.

As for my concealer pick last month I chose the Seventeen Ideal Cover, again! This is my go to concealer, I always come back to this and I think I've gone through like 3 tubes of this stuff. Right now I'm trying to use it all up and start using again my other concealers, but I really love this one.

For my eye make up Urban Decay's Naked palette was my safe choice the whole month, I was just using a mix of Virgin, Sin and Sidecar all over my lids and that was it, as simple as possible. Another thing that I enjoyed doing was using eyeshadow on my brows instead of pencils. Naked is just the perfect shade for me, is exactly what I wanted Mac's Omega to be but failed because it'a almost invisible on my brows. Naked a is a tone darker than Omega, and still cool toned which is something that I love, I hate warm toned eyeshadows and pencils on my brows, they just don't look right.

One more product that I really love using on my brows and got recently, is the Essence Lash & Brow Gel Mascara, it keeps my unrully brows in place. It's very light, I can barely feel it on my brows, and it's very inexpensive, only 2 euros. I think everyone should own this.

For my lips I decided to skip the peaches and corals and go for something more pink, Mac's Haute Altitude is one of my HG pinks along with Way To Love. It's a medium neutral toned pink, highly pigmented and creamy and that's because it's an amplified, unfortunutely it was a limited edition shade that came out last year with a collection. On my lips it looks way more pink than it looks on my hand, but I took a hand swatch picture for you anyway.

And lastly something non make up related, The Body Shop's Honeymania Body Butter is definitely my top body product of the month, I've already mentioned it in one of my previous post. The smell and  texture of this body butter has really surprised me, it's lighter than the rest of the Body Shop's body butters that I've tried and yet it moisturizes really well. And the smell is a heavenly mix of flowers and honey, really warm and cozy, perfect for the fall.

Well that's all for my September favorites,  I know they're not anything too fancy, they're just basic stuff but these are what I enjoyed the most, and actually I still do.  Let me know what were your September favorites, and if you've tried any of the products that I mentioned.