Empties - Products I've Used Up #5 - Part 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, this is the second part of my latest empties, all the make up products that I've used up lately and some more skincare stuff of course. I was going to write this post a bit earlier but I've been sick for the past 5 days and I was pretty much like a zombie inside my house all that time so please excuse the delay. OK soooo let's start!

Avene Eau Thermale Spring Water

My HG thermal water spray for many years now, I've used up so many of these bottles! An absolute summer must have for me, I can't not have this in my beach bag and when the weather is ridiculously hot is a life saver! Also it's perfect for those with sensitive skintype, it calms all the skin irritations.

 Clinique Anti-Blemish Solutions Clarifying Lotion

I've been using the Clinique #2 Clarifying lotion for almost seven years, and even though it's a product that many people hate, I actually really like it. It's not a product that I use everyday, I like using it whenever I'm having breakouts, I find that it really helps. I really like this one, the Anti-blemish Solutions, it's a little stronger than the #2  that I usually buy but it's great for when I'm having really bad skin days. I don't know, I may repurchase it again, propably in the summer time.

Frezyderm Moisturizing 24H Hydrating Cream

I know I know.....you've seen so many empty bottles of this moisturizer this past year, I've mentioned it countless times already, it's my HG moisturizer, the one that I always come back to. I'm not going to bother you anymore with it, if you want to know more you can read my full review on it here.

Frezyderm Eye Balm

When I first got this eye cream I used to hate it, it didn't  moisturize my under eye area at all, but that's when my skin around my eyes was super dry. I decided to give it a second chance around June when my skin became more oily again, I didn't have any problems with really dry and itchy skin around my eyes, and I was surprised that I actually really liked it! I've been using it in the summer and I found it very refreshing, it never felt heavy or greasy. I would definitely repurchase it but only for summertime. I have to mention that it did nothing for my under eye circles but then again I don't expect anything like that from an eye cream since my problem is genetic and nothing ever helps with that.

Clinique Repairwear Laser Focus Eye Cream

I don't know what possessed me into buying this eye cream since I don't have any problem with fine lines, propably it was a "late twenties" life crisis I had back then I don't know, but I absolutely hated this eye cream! It made me eyes super dry, the least I'd expect from an anti aging eye cream is to help with moisturizing the skin around the eyes becasue as we get older the skin around our eyes is becoming more dry. Such a dissapointing product from Clinique, I don't recommend this to anyone!

Kiehl's Creamy Eye Treatment with Avocado

OK to be honest this is a "forgotten" empty, and by forgotten I mean it was completely empty in my fridge for about.....two years.... please don't judge! If you want a super moisturizing eye cream then this one is definitely for you. It's so heavy that I could never used it under my concealer, for me it was a night eye cream only. If you want to know more, I've done a full review on it here.

Apivita Express Beauty Face Mask with Pomegranate

One of my HG Apivita face masks along with the Propolis one. It instantly gives a glow to my face, it makes me look more awake and fresh even many hours after I've used it. I've tried many masks that promised to give a "glowy" face but failed completely. This one is an absolute gem!

Sephora Smoothing and Brightening Concealer 

For a year now I've been really into the highlighting concealers, I prefer these over the regular ones even though I have really bad dark eye circles, they make me look more awake. This one from Sephora was really good, it's the #05 and it has peachy undertones which is perfect for my dark circles problem, it's quite similar to the Mac Prep n' Prime Highlighter in Bright Forecast. If you want to know more about it, read this post I wrote a few months back about my concealer collection.

 Clinique Even Better Make Up in Ivory

Two years ago this used to be my HG foundation, along with Mac's Pro Longwear, it's almost full coverage and it gives such an amazing flawless and glowy look to my face. It's not long lasting, it transfered after a few hours of wearing it, but that's not the main reason why I don't want to repurchase it again, it's because I'm over the whole thick and full coverage foundation phase now. I still love Mac's Pro Longwear foundation because it's not as thick as the Even Better, but the Pro Longwear is my limit, I won't buy a foundation that is thicker than the Mac one.

Maybelline Dream Pure BB Cream

Αctually this is not an empty product, more of a half empty product I would say, but I had to throw it away because it really broke me out and I wasn't going to use it anymore. Even though it's targeted for oily skintypes I find it quite dewy for my combination skin and I was using it at winter. The Garnier BB cream for oily skins way better than this one!

Maybelline The Colossal Go Extreme! Mascara

This one is propably my favourite Maybelline mascara, from all the ones that I've tried of course. It gives a feathery-soft look, perfect for everyday! You can read my full review on it here.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Urban Decay's Primer Potion was the very first eyeshadow primer I've ever tried back in 2006, it was sent to me as a gift from a friend in the UK and back then I had absolutely no idea what an eyeshadow primer was! But this one completely changed my mind about eye make up in general, when I was using it even the cheapiest eyeshadow looked amazing and lasted for hours. But even though it was my very first eye primer, I have to say that I love the Too Faced Shadow Insurance more because of the texture. This mini primer potion I was using came with the Urban Decay Naked palette I bought two years ago.

Mac Studio Finish Concealer NW25

I've tried almost all of the Mac concealers and this one was by far the one that I enjoyed using the most, but not anymore. When I first bought it I got it for my under my eyes, and back then I didn't have dry under eye area, so it was perfect for covering my bad dark circles. But after my skin became really dry I started using in on spots, pimples and stuff but the orangey shade was so wrong for my skintone, also it transfered like crazy, that's why I'm not going to repurchase it again.

Escada Cherry In The Air Perfume

I don't know how many of you love the summer limited edition Escada perfumes, or maybe I'm the only one? They're so fresh,fruity and summerish! This one, Cherry In The Air was a birthday gift from my mother last year and I've used it all up within a year.

Essence Get Big Lashes Waterproof  Mascara

One of my most favourite mascaras, even though it's waterproof I really loved it this summer, plus it's super affordable! You can read my review here, if you want to know more about it.

Essence Get Big Lashes Triple Black Mascara
As much as I loved the waterproof version of this mascara, this one I absolutely hated it! It irritated my eyes, and when Ι was wearing it it was like I had no mascara on. For me it was a real disappointment, I don't recomment buying it, get the waterproof one instead.

Loreal Mega Volume Miss Manga Mascara
This mascara was a bit meh for me. The very bendy wand it was really annoying, it didn't really give any volume or length to my lashes. You can read my full review on it here.

So that's everything, all the empty products that I've been collecting for a few months now, and please excuse the really long post, but I like giving you my full opinions on the products that I've used up. 

Have you tried any of these products? Did 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. 

March Favorites.

Yep it's official, March is over, and I was thinking what should I include in my monthly favorites this time, and honestly it was so hard for me to find products to show you because I didn't have that many favorites this past month! So you will only see six products this time, but for sure these six are the ones that I really enjoyed using within March. So let's begin!

La Roche Posay Physiological Micellar Solution

I only got this a few weeks ago but it became my favorite already! Its formula is very similar to my other HG, Vichy's Purete Thermal Micellar Lotion. I think it's perfect for oily skintypes like mine, whenever I use this to remove my face make up there's no need to cleanse my face right afterwards, because it doesn't leave my skin sticky, like the Vichy one does. I think it's the perfect micellar lotion for the summertime!

The Body Shop Shea Body Butter

Shea Body Butter from The Body Shop was actually the first body butter I've ever tried from them when I was still a teenager, and many years after it's still my favorite scent from all the ones I've tried. It has a warm buttery scent, that sometimes makes you want to eat it, and not that vanilla-buttery scent but more of a nutty-buttery one, which is mush better because it's more mature and less nauseous. I opened the jar at the beginning of March and I've already used 1/3 of it. I seriously love it, even though it's very thick, I don't mind that!

Urban Decay Buck Eyeshadow

Buck it has become my HG crease eyeshadow, it totally replaced my love for Mac Cork. Buck is a little darker and warmer, and goes well with all my neutral eye looks. This and Smog are definetely the only eyeshadows I'll definetely purchase in full sizes when I'll hit pan on my Naked palette.

Foltene Eyelash and Eyebrow Treatment

This product is a pure miracle! I noticed the good results even only one month of using it. My eyebrows look definetely fuller, and it fixed my problematic left eyebrow, which has always been the weakest one, now it looks way more fuller and I cannot tell a difference between my left and right brow. Love it!

Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector in 02 Apricot Shimmer

I never thought that I would ever include this product in one of my monthly favorites, and that's because when I bought it last year I immediately hated it! I didn't like it at all, I thought it was sticky and nothing too special! I don't know what got into me and when I saw it in my make up stash I decided to give it a second chance. I was using it for a few days until I decided that I really like it, and now I can't stop using it. Most of the times I use it alone with a neutral pink lipliner. But I'm not sure if I'll repurchase it again because it's very expensive!

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Top Coat

This has totally replaced the fast drying top coat I was using from Poshe. It does the exact same job as the Poshe one, but it's thinner and also doesn't shrink my nail varnishes. I'll definitely repurchase it but only if I'll be able to find it in a reasonable price here in Greece. 

Non Beauty Favorites

Justin Timberlake - The 20/20 Experience

This is my only non beauty favorite for this month. I love Justin Timberlake's songs since I was a teenager, and I was waiting for him to release a new album for seven whole years! Overall I don't think this is his best album so far, but it definitely has a more mature sound and  I really love 3 songs from it, the Tunnel Vision, Don't Hold The Wall and Mirrors, I can't stop listening to them for days!

I hope you enjoyed my monthly favorites this time, even though they were only a few!
Have you tried any of them? Do you like Justin Timberlake's new album?
Let me know!

Top 12 for 2012

I was planning to do a 2012 favorites at the end of this month, showing you all my beauty favorites, make up, bodycare and haircare for this year, but I was tagged by the lovely Irene from Blushing Loves to do a top 12 for 2012 post, and I decided to this one instead. It was a challenge to find only 12 favorite products to show you but I think I did it pretty well!
 Some of the products I include are old faves of mine that I kept using the whole year because I love them so much, and some are new discoveries within the 2012. So let's start!

Clinique Even Better Foundation

I was a little bit torned on which of the two foundations I love the most to choose as my top one for this year, Mac's Pro Longwear or this one, but I think this one is the one i loved the most this year, Pro Longwear it's an older love of mine anyway. I used to have Even Better foundation in my possesion for a few years but I refused to use it, I thought it was terrible, and around March I discovered how wrong I was! It's an amazing foundation if you apply it with the right brush, I prefer flat top kabuki brushes, they give a flawless look on my face.

Seventeen Ideal Cover Concealer

If you follow my blog for quite some time now, you'll propably know how much I love this concealer. It's my most used concealer of the 2012 for sure. It's not very expensive, it covers quite well, not only under eye circles but also blemishes, and it brightens my under eye area.

Benefit Hello Flawless Custom powder Cover-Up

This is propably one of my biggest discoveries within 2012. A powder foundation that provides amazing coverage that doesn't look powdery or cakey. It's like you apply a liquid foundation on your face only that it's not liquid, the best brush to apply it is with a flat top kabuki one that it's not super dense, the ELF one is the best one I've found so far! I've used it the whole summer, about 4 months straight, without using a liquid foundation at that period, I even hit a pan on it and bought a new one, I think that one says a lot!

Mac Fleury Blush

This is for sure my most used blush of the year, and I bought it many years ago with a Mac's limited edition collection. It's very smooth and blendable, and the peachy pink shade suits almost every single one of the looks I go for. I'm a sucker when it comes to Mac blushes, I've tried lots of them, but this one is propably my HG one!

Mac Nubile Paint Pot

Yeah I know a neutral beige colored paint pot, soooo boring! But for me it's the best neutral beige cream eyeshadow I've tried so far, it suits really good with my natural lid color which is brown, and most of the colored eye bases I've tried made my lids look weird! I also noticed that the texture is way creamier than Soft Ochre which I hated! I only wish Mac would make this permanent!

L'oreal Mega Volume Collagene 24H Mascara

This year I've tried lots of good mascaras, L'oreal Lash Architect 4D, Maybelline Mega Plush, but this Mega Volume Collagene 24H from L'oreal was my HG! It makes my lashes look fuller and longer, seperates them amazingly well, it doesn't smudge on my lower lashlines and the best part is that it's soft, doesn't make my lashes hard, and I hate when a mascara makes my lashes hard, that really hurts my eyes!

Too Faced Natural Eye Palette
Best neutral eye shadow palette out there, hands down! I have it for 2 years now and I always reach for it. One of the best quality eyeshadows I've ever used, way better than Mac, even the matte ones!
The shades I use the most are: Heaven as my browbone shade all the time, Silk Heavy on the inner part of my lids for brightening my eyes, Push Up is my HG shade from the palette, it's a medium bronze shade perfect for all over the lids, Cocoa Puff a deep shimmery chocolate brown for the outer half and lastly Sexspresso a dark matte brown shade that I use all the time as a liner.

Urban Decay Naked Eye Shadow Palette
Yes another eye shadow palette, just because I love neutral eyeshadows so much that I couldn't choose between the Too Faced's Natural and this one, I decided to include them both in my top 12 of the year!
I have it since May but still I haven't use all of the shades, I mainly stick to the ones I'm most comfortable with. The ones that I really love are Naked, Buck and Smog, but I also like Darkhorse, Toasted and Sin. I think that the eyeshadows have amazing quality, and if I ever run out Naked, Buck and Smog I'll definetely purchase the full size ones! That's the best part about Urban Decay Naked, all the eyeshadows in the palette come in full sizes too.

Mac Way To Love Lipstick
That's the lipstick I rediscovered in my make up stash this fall. I have it for a few years but I just started using it more and more, and I absolutely love it! It's a medium pink with neutral undertones, it's neither cool or warm toned, it's something in between. It's one of the good Lustres Mac has released, and I say that because there are some Lustres that were horrible, but this one is very smooth and glossy! Too bad it was limited edition. 

  Dior Addict Lipstick 343 Miss Dior
This was my HG lipstick at the warmer months, it's a super glossy peachy shade with golden shimmers. Dior Addicts in my opinion are one of the best high end lipsticks in the market, along with YSL Pur Couture. They feel something between a gloss and a lipstick on the lips, but also very moisturizing like lip balms. There are many dupes outthere like Revlon Lip Butters but they can't beat the Dior Addicts, the texture and color variety is way better. I promise to myself that within 2013 I'll try more of these!

La Roche Posay Cicaplast
I found one for my HG skincare products this year and that is La Roche Posay's Cicaplast. That cream really saved my skin when I had itchyness from allergies or when it was really dry from the weather.
It has that silicone texture, very lightweight, it can also be worn under foundation, mostly on the problematic and peeling areas. It's also very good if your skin around your nose is peeling after you had a cold, and helps with chapped lips.

  Sunslik Perfect Straight by Yuko Leave In Cream
Also a great discovery for this year, this time for my hair, Sunsilk's straightening leave in cream.
I used to love John Frieda's Frizz Ease Extra Strength Serum for almost two years, but it's very expensive and the quantity is very small, so I gave this Sunsilk leave in cream a chance and I realised that it was giving me the same exact results with John Frieda's serum, maybe even better. Also on my hair I prefer the cream texture over the silicone one that serums have. Plus it's super cheap, only 2.5 euros, you cannot beat that price!





I hope you liked my top 12 products for the 2012. If you have try any of these let me know what are your opinions on them! And for anyone who hasn't done this tag yet, I tag everyone! I wanna know what are your top 12 beauty products for this year, let me know!
I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Sophia
xoxo

September Favorites.

I still can't believe September it's over, the weather here it's so hot that it feels like August, and I think that we won't have any fall weather at all we'll skip right into winter! Anyway, I didn't have lots of favorite products this month, especially new ones, most of them are rediscoveries from my make up stash.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in 35 On and On Bronze

This was my go to eyeshadow when I was feeling extremely lazy to do a full eye make up, I was just using this with some mascara and I was done. I love the taupe bronze shade, and when the fall weather will come I'm going to use it even more!

Mac Paint Pot in Nubile

I've tried lots of Mac Paint Pots and I didn't like them, but this one has the exact same shade that my eyelids have, it doesn't make them look white or yellowish like Soft Ochre did, plus it's super creamy, I only wish it wasn't limited edition

Urban Decay Naked Palette

I have this palette for several months but I just start using it, I'm not in love with all the shades (yet!) but the ones that I just can't stop using are Naked, Buck and Smog. I'm pretty sure that when I'll hit pan to these 3 eyeshadows I'll repurchase them in full size!

Garnier Roll-On Anti-Dark Circles

I got this one last March, and when I first tried it I seriously hated it, I didn't think that it covered my dark circles at all, so I left it in my drawer and not using it for several months. But last month I run out of my Seventeen Liquid Concealer and I didn't want to buy a new one so I gave this one a second chance and I actually changed my mind. This time it worked because I put two layers of it and that way it works. It still doesn't cover as well as my Seventeen one but it does a decent job.

Mac Sunny By Nature Mineralize Skinfinish

This was a limited edition Mac MSF, it was released with the Color Craft collection in the summer of 2009. It's a gorgeous non shimmery and non glittery MSF that I use as a bronzer when I want to look a little more tan than when I use my regular Estee Lauder one. It's propably the best MSF I've own so far.

Essence Silky Touch Blush in 30 Secret It-Girl

I'm really impressed with this blush, it's very cheap, costs only 3 euros. The color is a light orangey peach, the texture and the pigmentation are very good, super smooth and not powdery at all, I didn't use any other blush last month and I keep using it everytime I do my make up.

Chanel Aqualumiere lipstick in 61 Santa Monica

I just love the name of this lipstick, it makes me think of summer and beaches! Santa Monica is a very sheer peach-tangerine shade but very very pretty. I have it for a long time and I actually forgot that I had it until I was searching in my make up drawer and found it. I think the Aqualumiere line was discontinued a long time ago, that's too bad because the texture is very good, especially for those who like sheer lipsticks.

Chanel Chance Eau Tendre

The perfume I was using the whole September and still using is the Chance Eau Tendre, I have it for almost 2 years and I just want to finish it. It's a very cute perfume, light and flowery but for some reason I wouldn't repurchase it, propably because I'm not that into flowery scents.

Korres Olive Stones Deep Cleansing Scrub

I run out of my Korres Pomegranate scrub which I absolutely love, and when I saw that Korres released this one I decided to buy it, I think I've repurchased it years ago but they discontinued it and released it again in the mini skincare series. It's almost as good as the Pomegranate one, it does a very good exfoliation without being harsh, I don't think it's a deep cleansing scrub while the Pomegranate one is, but the smell is divine! I love the fresh smell of olives on my face, especially in the monring.

So have you tried any of these products? What were your fave products of the month? Let me know!

Sophia

xoxo

Collective Haul (Urban Decay, Clinique, Clarins, Moroccanoil)

This is a collective haul I did in the past two weeks, and I have to say I did some damage!

So here's what I hauled:

• Urban Decay Naked Palette
• Moroccanoil Treatment
• Clinique City Block SPF25
• Clinique High Impact mascara
• Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector #2 Apricot Shimmer

  Urban Decay's Naked Palette is a product that I wanted for such a long time, from the first moment it was released but I always avoid buying it because I have so many neutral eyeshadows. But I had a 10% coupon code at BeautyBay,  and I told myself, why not? So I got it. It's so pretty, seriously!! I chose the first Naked palette over the 2 because it has warm tones and they suit me the most. I still haven't used it or swatched any of the eyeshadows, but I'm pretty sure this palette will be in one of my next month's favorites!

 Also lookfantastic a few weeks back had a 10% off of all the Moroccanoil range, so I decided to try for the first time the Moroccanoil treatment, in the small size. I've already used it 3 times, and I have to say it does an amazing job, specially for blow drying and straightening your hair, but I think it's a little too heavy for my fine hair. I have to try it a few more times to be sure.

At the Clinique counter I got the High impact mascara, an old favorite, and I decided to try a new sunscreen, the City Block SPF25 since I think the one from La Roche Posay I have it's breaking me out. I hope this one won't break me out too, it seems like every susncreen I try breaks me out! This has also a light tint, but it doesn't show up on my face.

And from Clarins I got the famous Natural Lip Perfector in #2 Apricot Shimmer. It seems like everyone had this already, and I really wanted to try it. Even though it says apricot, it's mostly a light milky pink shade, it reminds me so much of Korres cherry lipgloss in light pink, an exact dupe I would say, but I like Korres texture way more. The thing that I don't like in the Clarins Lip Perfector is that after a few hours it creates that milky ring on my lips, which I hate! But I have to say that I love the vanilla cake taste it has, way better than the artificial one that Mac has.

Have you try any of these products?? Do you like them? Let me know!!