Tada ~ my first ever "empties" post! Before getting into this whole makeup and skincare addiction business, I've never emptied anything other than facial cleansers, nor have I hit pan on anything other than powder pacts. Which is why creating a series dedicated to product empties and "hit pan" products is quite a feat for me. Since the first half of 2016 just ended, I thought it would be a good idea to show which items I've managed to use up! Some of these took years to finish, but hey, that's still an achievement! ( •̀ᄇ• ́)ﻭ✧
Bought this as a replacement for my Etude House cleanser, but I never actually finished it until now. I read somewhere that this won best cleansing foam in one of Get It Beauty's Blind Tests from 2011. As a second cleanser, it was okay–gets the job done and doesn't irritate my skin or break me out, but other than that it's nothing special. The best thing about it? It doesn't hurt my eyes! Unfortunately though, according to the r/AsianBeauty cleanser pH list, this cleanser's pH is 7.5, which is way too high. (I want something that's in the 5-6 range, at least.)
An impulse buy, but only because I was ordering a bunch of stuff from BHappywithMe and she had this on sale for P99. Like the Nature Republic cleanser, this was okay, but I actually prefer the former because this one had a citrus scent that reminded me of toilet cleaners, wtf.
Picked this up after reading about it on Project Vanity. I have really dark knees and elbows, so I kept an eye out for it. It was sold out for a while but I got to try it eventually. It's SO GOOD. I didn't keep track of my whitening progress, but if you look at my last post you'll be able to see what my knees look like now. I used to lighten them with Photoshop (heh), but other than a couple of scars, I didn't touch them at all! Much amaze. I highly recommend it! Last time I checked at Watsons, there were other interesting variants like citrus and coffee, too.
Not an empty, but I'm throwing it out anyway. I bought this because I saw a Filipina reddit user on r/AsianBeauty claim that it was in the 5.5 pH range. I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy it, so I looked for reviews and saw this one fairly well-known blogger say how good it is. Well, after using it myself, I felt like I had a weird film left on my face, even after rinsing for two-three whole minutes, blargh.
I bought this at the start of the year, and used it up until the first half of June.. which, apparently, was not a very good idea. As you can see, the color of the serum is already a dark orange, which means it had already oxidized long before I stopped using it, ew. This product worked SO WELL in lightening a lot of my older acne scars, but the thing is, once a Vitamin C serum has oxidized it's pretty much useless. The general consensus is that you're supposed to stop using the OST C20 once it turns even just a tiny bit yellow. Meaning, in about two to three months. While the results I got from this serum were great, using a whole bottle of product worth ~P900 in two to three months doesn't sit right with me. I still need a good Vitamin C serum in my routine though, so I'm thinking of getting the Melano CC instead, since I hear that it's much more stable than the OST C20.
This is actually the second bottle of this stuff that I've used up. Right now I'm using the Arbutin version of this lotion, and I think I prefer the Gokujyun version overall. The Arbutin seems to help a little bit with my hyperpigmentation issue, which is great, but it's not as hydrating as the Gokujyun so it's kind of lacking for me as a daytime toner. Will repurchase this soon! Hopefully, I can find someone selling refills, since I keep the bottles anyway.
I got this mask AGES ago, but only got to finish it recently! To be honest, I was actually about to throw it out; it's been sitting in my drawer for so long I'd already assumed that it's gone bad. I was surprised to see that the expiration date on the packaging was April 2016, so I was able to use it all up before the said date. I stopped using it for a while because I actually developed scarring because of this.. I got too crazy with the scrubbing at one point and the consequences were pretty bad. I probably won't repurchase this; instead I'll try the new Strawberry version!
My first ever LUSH purchase. I knew that it had a high rating on Cosme, but I almost never see it in stores, so when I saw a pot while I was checking out stuff in the LUSH store at ATC, I bought it immediately. I like peppermint-scented things A LOT, so this was really pleasant to use! Technically, it's supposed to be a deep-cleansing facial wash, but I found that it worked well as a mask and helped calm down my skin whenever I had breakouts. I bought this last year and ended up using it way past the best before date, haha. I only stopped using it when it dried up in the jar.
My first ever shampoo bar! I got curious about shampoo bars after reading about them on Jenny's blog. I initially wanted to get Soak and Float, since I get little scabs in my scalp a lot for some unknown reason, but decided on Jumping Juniper after reading reviews saying that it helps with extremely greasy hair. My hair is extremely greasy, but my scalp is dry and flaky. I'm pretty sure it's not because of over-shampooing, since I only wash my hair every other day. If I go two days without shampooing, my hair turns into an disgusting, oily mess, with flakes and all. This shampoo bar did a great job with the grease, and made my hair look really healthy, even. The only thing I had an issue with was that it didn't do anything for my scalp problem. I'll still repurchase when I get the chance, but with a separate product for my scalp, probably.
Long-time readers of my blog would know that the Revlon Colorstay has been my HG foundation for YEARS. Aian also uses this, in the exact same shade as mine, so you can imagine how many bottles of this stuff we've gone through over time. I was using it for years before looking to try something else. I recently switched to VDL's Perfecting Last because of its lighter formula, but I still love the Colorstay and will repurchase soon.
Received this as a gift from when Heroine Make first arrived in Manila. It has decent coverage, but because it has SPF, it has a strong white cast and appears too light for my skin. It couldn't completely cover my dark spots, but I still wanted to use it because of its SPF50+, so instead I used it as a base. I stopped using it after I got my hands on my Biore sunscreen though. Will try to use this more during the summer, just so I can finish this tube.
My favorite concealer out of all the ones I've used so far. Aian and I also use the exact same shade, so we just share this one jar. I use it for dark spots only. I can't use it for my undereye area since it can be a bit drying, so I'm still looking for a separate concealer for that.
Got this from a relative in the US. It's an okay powder, helps keep my skin matte a bit longer than usual, but I rarely use it as I prefer using my MAC powder foundation for added coverage to problem areas. I like using this with BB cream for normal days though.
Originally, I bought this to use as a foundation for days I'm too lazy to do my usual foundation routine. That was way before the whole cushion makeup trend even started. Sadly, applying this on my whole face made fine lines and pores seem 10x more visible, so I've since just used it as the last step of my foundation routine - on my cheeks or the sides of my face, where a lot of my acne scarring is.
Bought this in early 2013, and retiring it only now. It's a cheap yet decent neutral palette for daily looks. A lot of beauty bloggers like this palette because the shades are said to be dupes for MAC shadows, but I didn't like them much, so I only ever used the middle one.
This was my first ever decent neutral eyeshadow quad, and for a long time, my go-to eyeshadow quad. Similar to the Wet n Wild palette, I've had this since 2013. There's still a lot of the third color left, and to be honest I'd rather keep it until I've used it all up. But I don't think using eye makeup that I've had for more than 3 years is a good idea, haha _(┐「ε:)_
My first ever cream blush, given to me as a gift by Tomoko of Prettyfab. Prior to receiving this, I'd only heard good things about this particular Canmake product, so I was excited to try it out. Needless to say, I wasn't disappointed. This particular color is perfect for me as well. I only hit pan and won't probably finish using this until the end of the year, but I'm thinking of getting another one soon.
Retiring this for the same reason as my Majo Majo quad—I got this in 2012, wtf. Way past its life span, so I'm retiring it. There was a time that I got very addicted to MajoMajo products, so when I chanced upon a Buy 1 Take 1 promo happening at Watsons, I bought their mascara on impulse. I very rarely wear mascara though, as I prefer eyeliner, so I ended up not being able to use this much.
My favorite lip balm, forever and ever. SUPER CHEAP and makes my lips look soft and glossy and cute, especially with lip tint.
Pasalubong from Japan. It's a really good liquid eyeliner that's waterproof yet easy to take off. It's not super waterproof like say, Heroine Make's, but it stays put even when I'm sweating buckets, as long as I don't touch it.
And that's it! Generally, I liked most of the stuff I used up. Usually when I don't like something, I either sell it or pass it on to family and friends after a while. For skincare, I guess I'm lucky because my face is super hardy and doesn't break out easily, so I get to finish most of my skincare purchases. For makeup, most of these items were my beauty staples, which is why I managed to use up / hit pan on a lot of them. That said, even though I liked a lot of these products, not everything is being repurchased. I guess with my newfound knowledge of what I like and don't like in a certain type of product, I'm able to experiment and try new things a bit more. Right now, the only definite repurchases are the LUSH Jumping Juniper, the Canmake cream cheek, and my favorite Baby Lips. The Gokujyun lotion too, of course, but not until I finish up my Shirojyun.
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