Empties January 2018.

Well January has simply flown by! 2018's Empties pile got off to a promising start and I managed to finish up eleven full sized products and seventeen samples.

Skincare.

I  used up five full sized skincare items this month.

Dr Dennis Gross Color Smart Cleanser and Mask worked fine as a cleanser but I wasn't keen on it's chemical scent and it was so messy to use. It is an orange coloured cream that has quite a thin consistency and it ended up everywhere (tiles, shower curtain etc etc) as well as making a terrible mess of my washcloths!

Vichy Mineralizing Thermal Water is something I use as a hydrating or refreshing facial spray. I like to layer this between products to give my skin a little extra moisture. There are plenty of these French pharmacy type of water sprays out there and they are all pretty interchangeable for me. I did notice that this particular one was more 'minerally' that some of the others though and there was a build up of salts around the nozzle from time to time that I needed to brush away.

Darphin Hydraskin Essential is a great basic moisturising face cream. I prefer to use the light version in warmer weather but this regular one is perfect for the cold and to use as a 'topper' over serums etc either at night or when my skin is feeling very dehydrated. I like that this is lightweight feeling but very hydrating.

Kypris Beauty Elixir 1 is a lovely facial oil that smells of roses. I had been keen to try this so I was excited when it was in a Caroline Hirons Cult Beauty Box last year. I found that I only needed to use a tiny amount of this as it is quite a thick oil, if I used too much it didn't absorb very well. I liked this but I didn't love it. I'm happy to have tried it but I wouldn't get it again as there are so many other oils out there that I prefer that are also cheaper.

I was so sorry to come to the end of my pot of Omorovicza Deep Cleansing Mask. This clay mask not messy so it was easy to use and it didn't make my skin feel dry. It removed easily with a wet washcloth and left my skin looking clear and radiant and soft to the touch. Without doubt this is an expensive mask but I got a lot of masks out of this big pot and it was so good that I will most likely repurchase this in spite of the cost.

I also used eight samples of skincare.

Eve Lom Gel Cleansing Balm and Kiehl's Midnight Recovery Botanical Cleansing Oil both worked well but didn't 'wow' me enough to consider buying them. If you are a lover of Eve Lom products I think you will like the new cleanser though! I's lighter in feel than the original one, very reminiscent of their Morning Cleanser but without the mineral oils that that one contains. The Kiehl's Cleansing Oil has quite a strong lavender scent so it was nice and restful to use at night, if you like lavender this may be for you.

Clinique Moisture Surge Facial Spray is one of the first facial sprays I ever used. It's very refreshing and not too expensive. I like to keep these small sprays to refill and use when traveling.

I used a small sample of Rodin Olio Lusso. This is one of my favourite facial oils - it smells so good and reminds me of the Sarah Chapman Overnight Facial Oil.

La Roche Posay Redermic R Intensive is a night time retinol. I didn't use this for long enough to notice results but I did like it. It managed to feel quite gentle but I could tell that it had a bit of a kick to it. This definitely felt like a pharmaceutical product rather than a luxury beauty product - it didn't smell too great and was more of an emulsion than a cream. I was happy to use this but I don't know that I would part with cold hard cash for it! 

Dr Dennis Gross C + Collagen Vitamin C Serum is a gel serum that layered well with other products and felt very comfortable on my skin. This sample lasted me for a good amount of time and although I didn't notice my skin looking much brighter it did look plump and smooth. I really liked this as a daily serum!

I like Algenist Complete Eye Renewal Balm a lot - so much that I recently bought a full sized one! It's actually a cream rather than a balm and it addresses pretty much all of my eye area concerns. It does a very good job of smoothing out my under eye area and is nourishing without being greasy feeling or irritating to my eyes.

Nurse Jamie Dermalase AHA Exfoliating Mask had a fun stretchy jelly consistency and smelled fresh and fruity. I got quite a few masks from this sample and I liked the product a lot, it was a gentle exfoliating mask that was quick and fun to use.

Haircare.

I managed to use three haircare items.

This month I finished my bottle of Jo Malone Shampoo. Like the conditioner last month, I thought that this was a little underwhelming. It smelled gorgeous but it didn't leave my hair super soft or shiny or anything. I also used a mini bottle of Sachajuan Scalp Shampoo. I don't have any scalp issues but I have been wearing a hat all the time of late as it has been so cold and this cleaned my roots and scalp well and left my hair looking and feeling great.

I also used another bottle of Herbal Essences Hello Hydration Conditioner. This is very often in my bathroom. I think it is an excellent drugstore conditioner that is great value for money and I often grab a couple of these when I see them on sale.

Body care.

I used up four full sized and two samples of body care.

REN Moroccan Rose Otto Body Lotion is a truly lovely body lotion. It feels very luxurious and has a light rose fragrance that isn't too sweet. My skin feels soft and soothed when I use this. I like it so much and will certainly buy more if I find it on sale again.

I'm still plowing my way through my Space NK Life body product stash! This month I used two tubes of the Ultimate Unwind Lotion. I like the light fresh scent of these and I find it to be quite creamy without being greasy. It's simply a very good daily body cream.

I used up a full sized Crabtree & Evelyn Hand Cream for a change - it's usually the minis of these that end up on my empties posts! I love the formula and feel of these. This one was in the scent 'English Honey and Peach Blossom' which I must admit is probably my least favourite scent of the range.

I loved L'Occitane Almond Supple Skin Oil! It was a dry body oil with a natural almond scent, very soothing and softening and I only needed to use a tiny amount of it too.

I found OUAI Rose Hair and Body Oil to be too heavy to use on my hair, it left it looking limp which I found very odd as I have used the normal oil from OUAI before and liked it a lot. I re purposed this as a body oil and I thought it was okay but nowhere near as good as the L'Occitane oil.

Make Up and Perfume.

I finished a mini Benefit They're Real Mascara. I was a little disappointed with this mascara after having loved Benefit Rollerlash so much last month. I'm a bit scared of having hard plastic brushes near my eyes and I found the formula of this to be on the dry side. It applied easily but didn't add much curl to my lashes and I found that if there was even a touch of humidity that it became a little clumpy

I also used up five perfume vials, three of which were samples of Replica Jazz Club EDT. At first I thought that I quite liked this as I like masculine scents, but it wore a little too sweet for me and also had rum notes which I'm not fond of. I didn't dislike this but I was quite happy to have finished these samples!

The new fragrance from Gucci called Bloom is a heady white floral but I find it to be a bit too sickly and sweet for my tastes. Costume National Soul is an unusual Oud based fragrance. Somewhat sweet with warm notes of amber and vanilla, I quite liked this unisex scent even though it wasn't my preferred heavily wooded Oud type of frangrance.

I'm pleased with how many items I managed to finish in January and although February always seems such a short month I've quite a few things that are already almost finished so I think that next month is going to yield another healthy looking pile of Empties.