People who visit me at my house must think there is something wrong with me because I keep a pile of trash in a Selfrigdes cloth bag for months without emptying it out. The thing is, I hold off on writing empties posts for far too long and end up accumulating way too many empty containers, yet I’m not bothered enough to explain to them that I’m not nuts, just lazy.
First off, there is a selection of brands in these empties post that I have previously written a dedicated review on. For the sake of time saving, I’ll redirect you to the brand reviews I’ve written that include all of these products: The Inkey List, U Beauty, Barbara Sturm, and Avant.
As far as repurchasing goes, out of all of these, the only ones I’m seriously consider repurchasing is The Inkey List’s Niacinamide serum and the Peptide Moisturizer.
The rest is either not my favourite or too expensive for what it is, but here is the list from left to right just so you now what you are looking at:
- The Inkey List Niacinamide serum
- The Inkey List Peptide Moisturizer
- The Inkey List Retinol Eye Cream
- U Beauty The Super Smart Hydrator
- U Beauty Resurfacing Compound
- Dr. Barbara Sturm Glow Drops
- Avant Glycolic Acid Rejuvenating Face Exfoliator
- Avant Pro-Radiance Brightening Eye Final Touch
Now for things I haven’s mention yet:
Skincare
- The Cerave Facial Moisturizing Lotion with SPF25 (52ml) is the never ending story of facial SPFs. It’s thick, not the easiest to spread, so you end up using more than you would with a fluid lotion, and yet it lasts for centuries. This took two years to finish off. It’s a good product, with good ingredients (niacinamide, antioxidants, ceramides – all the good stuff) and cheap, but the thick, heavy texture that makes skin look and feel oily makes me not want to repurchase it (although I intend to repurchase from Cerave – the brand seems pretty solid and inexpensive);
- SVR Hydraliane Legere Intense Moisturizing Cream (40 ml) was a heavy moisturiser I used at night that despite the texture and hydration power, it did not feel too heavy. It’s nice, not too expensive and does the job, but I have come to enjoy moisturisers that have a more comprehensive concoction of active ingredients, so it’s not likely I will repurchase.
- Gallinée La Culture Hydrating Face Cream (30ml) is an interesting product. They focus on probiotic skincare but use a blend of pre, pro and post biotic ingredients, which is how you should use it in order to get the most benefits. It also contains antioxidants and a lot of hydrating ingredients. I used this at night because they don’t advertise any SPF in it, but they do have sunscreen ingredients in it (instructions say to apply morning and evening, but sunscreen at night feels redundant). Am I repurchasing? Not sure. But it is a brand I’ll be paying attention to.
- Drunk Elephant Protini Polypeptide Cream (5ml) was a sample I used up when I was travelling, and I can only speak about the texture because 5 ml isn’t enough to make a difference on my skin. It was lightweight and easy to spread, and fortunately the full size comes in a type of jar that protects the cream from air and light, as it should, because it preserves the ingredients a lot better, and by god are those some nice ingredients. I’m very impressed by the cocktail of goodness in this formula, and I’m likely going to purchase a full size of it.
- The Filorga Age Purify Intensive serum (7ml) came in a subscription box and I was eager to give it a try because I’ve been interested in the brand. However, I was left very torn: this serum is packed full of good ingredients, but it has alcohol and fragrance very high up in the ingredient list. I felt no big difference on my skin from using it, but my skin has been in great shape for a while now so improvements at this point are going to be very residual. The perfume and alcohol did not seem to irritate my skin either, but I rather not have them on my products and for that reason I won’t purchase a full size of this.
- Elemis Pro-Collagen Marine Cream is something I have used before and my opinion hasn’t change. I actually used this on my body because 1) contains fragrance and I rather not put that on my face, and 2) the jar packaging ensures any active ingredients that are sensitive to air and light deteriorate very fast and I won’t benefit from them for long anyway. Won’t be repurchasing.
- I wrote a dedicated review on The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%, and long story short, it’s the most effective vitamin C product I’ve ever used, and I will repurchase it.
- I also have a review for Ecooking’s Neck and Décolletage Cream, that is in the picture below because I forgot to photograph it with the rest of the empties so it ended up getting a spotlight on this post for no reason. The formula is nice but I rather have air-tight packaging on my moisturisers, so I won’t be repurchasing.
Hair and Body Care
- The AHAVA Smoothing Body Lotion Kale & Turmeric (40ml) was a fine body lotion, easy to spread and pleasant enough to use, but wasn’t a fan of the scent. I won’t purchase a full size.
- Elemis Skin Nourishing Milk Bath (60ml) is a bath soak meant to help with excessively dry skin and it has one of the best scents I’ve ever smelled on a bath product. It’s comforting and soothing and sooo much more relaxing than lavender could ever be, and I wouldn’t repurchase this specific product because its purpose isn’t really suited to my skin type, but I would buy the body cream if it has the same scent.
- Clarins Tonic Moisturising Balm (8ml) was a body lotion sample that surprisingly, was enough for one and a half uses for my entire body – and I’m not stingy with application! Still, not memorable enough for me to want to try the full size.
- The HUM Hair Sweet Hair gummies is something I’ve actually repurchased in the past because having a sweet is a sure way to make me take vitamins, but I as pleasant as they are to take, I prefer to have a more well rounded vitamin complex than this one if I am going to take something, so I won’t repurchase more.
- NatureLab Tokyo’s Clarifying Scalp Scrub (44g) was the scalp product I most enjoyed using so far – it felt refreshing, easy to apply and easy to remove. After I go through all the scalp-targeting hair products I own, I might consider repurchasing (more for the pleasant experience than actual results, honestly).
- With BeautyWorks Argan Oil Mask (50ml) I didn’t notice much of a difference on my hair, which was disappointing. Products with argan oil usually make my hair softer and shinier, but this did nothing. Won’t repurchase.
- Innersense Hydrating Hair Mask (118ml) is a very new age-y hair mask, if such a thing exits. It doesn’t have a “how to use” section, it has a “hair ceremony” section that tells you to “feel the restoring presence” when you apply it. More importantly, I felt like it didn’t do anything for my hair, so I won’t repurchase.
Damn, was this a mammoth of a post to write. I finally can throw out all of these containers, that will be so satisfying. Hopefully I won’t take this long to write my next skincare empties post because I’m tired. Too much stuff. Nonetheless, hope it was useful.
