Last Empties of 2017!

It’s hard to believe 2017 is over! It feels good that I have been keeping track of my empties for over a year and now I have spent a full year tracking the monetary value of the items I have used up! Let’s jump right in, shall we?

Not a whole lot in the top tier this month, but I did love all of these very much! I brought the Benton toner on a work trip to Chicago in November and then kept using it after I got home. I loved this toner. Not only was it hydrating, it helped smooth out my skin since I can get a decent amount of texture. I will definitely be looking into a full size in the future.

This is the old formulation of the Biore watery essence SPF. Of course, I fell in love with it just as it was becoming unavailable. Everyone I know who’s tried the new formulation said that it’s not the same and disappointing. I have one tube of this left and I will treasure it. I am in search of something I love as much as this. The Benefit Goof Proof Brow Pencil was nice. It was almost triangle shaped to help you get the correct shape for your brows. This sample wasn’t very big, but it was 1/3 of the full size and worth $8! That’s why I could never buy this, but it was so nice. My brows looked so natural.

My friend on Instagram got several of these huge tubs of the Mizon gel cream for free, but couldn’t use them all, so she sent me one. I received it only a month and a half before the expiration date. I used it as much as I could, but I didn’t want to go too far past the date. This was a lightweight gel cream that absorbed beautifully in my skin. The gel has little moisturizing beads in it, but they broke open so easily, I never felt them on my skin. The tub is 10 oz too, the most generous size I have ever seen! If I ever make it through my stash, I would love to pick this up again! Especially for the summer, this would be perfect.

I got this sample of the Candy Panda foaming sugar scrub in Who Loves the Sun? It smells VERY beachy and suntan lotion-esque. The scent wasn’t my favorite, but the scrub itself was awesome. It was a foaming soap and scrub in one, so there was no greasy feeling left behind and the scrub did well to remove dead skin. I prefer the foaming sugar scrubs from the Scented Squirrel, but this was good. Finally, I finished the No 7 eye serum! This was a thicker style serum, almost a light cream. I really only used this at night to make sure I wasn’t putting too much product on my eye area. It did absorb well and helped keep my skin hydrated without weighing it down. I do have a backup already ready to go.

Lots of stuff in the middle section this month. This Ulta hand soap was better than the other one I used up, but was still a little too much for me. I just want a basic, fresh lemon soap! It took me most of 2017, but I FINALLY finished this eye makeup remover! It was pretty good, but I don’t like the oily feeling the dual phase products leave on my eyes, even when I do a second cleanse. I like micellar water for my whole face or a cleansing oil instead for my first cleanse.

The Benton High Content skin felt nice and absorbed quickly. It did hydrate my skin, but I am not sure if it really did much of anything else. With the pricing for Benton products, I want to get more out of it. The Secret Key milk toner was also nice. It did a good job cleaning off any left behind dirt and oil on my skin. It helped my face feel refreshed and a little hydrated. No drastic brightening, but I still liked the toner. If I could get a good deal on it, I would get another bottle.

I won a giveaway on Instagram and got the new coconut line from Too Cool for School. It had this body wash that also has coconut oil in it as a moisturizer as well. It did work to leave my skin soft after the shower, but I don’t think my skin enjoys coconut oil very much. If I used it too often, my pores would get clogged. Also, this little bottle is $20 at Sephora. I think I will stick to the Soap and Glory body washes with built in lotion. I received this Toulon foaming wash from Amazon really cheap to review. It’s a really thick cream and you need to add a decent amount of water to get it to foam. It was ok, my toner would sometimes take off some leftover dirt and oil after I used it. I doubt I’d buy again.

Medicated Blistex, it’s a classic. It does help in the winter, but I feel like it won’t do much for me if I use it more than once a day. So it’s not terrible, but Carmex is a better medicated balm for me. I used up another sample of Purity Made Simple. I still really like it, but still won’t pay for a bottle. The Bunratty shampoo and body wash were the last samples that I brought back from Ireland. They were both just ok, but it was nice to think about Ireland when I used them.

I used up a jar of the cult classic Carbonated Bubble Mask from Elizavecca. It’s fun to wear and it does help to clean out my pores… but holy crap, is this hard to wash off. I have tried everything I can think of, using sponges to help clean it, using a sheet mask to help, it is still a bear to remove. I do like the mask though. I can’t help it. I used another sample of the Peter Thomas Roth shampoo. It does do a good job of making my hair soft. That price tag though!

The whomp whomp products of the month. The L’Oreal lip palette was something I received free to review and I hated it! The colors are streaky and not opaque. The color also doesn’t last long, so are the expecting people to travel with this thing? In the trash it went! It felt good to finally declutter something from my makeup collection. I will try to declutter more in 2018.

The Unite curling cream was decent. I paid almost $30 for it and I feel like the L’Oreal curling cream I got for less than $3 works just as well as this one I got from a salon. So, that made me disappointed in this product. The Sensodyne toothpaste never really made my teeth feel truly clean. Also, it had a weird taste and an aftertaste I wasn’t a fan of. I am glad this wasn’t a big sample.

This Too Cool for School Coconut Body Scrub was a prize in that same giveaway with the body wash. I thought this was going to be such a good exfoliating body wash. It had a good grit and left my skin soft, without feeling greasy. However, once I began using it twice weekly for a monthly or so, I had breakouts popping up on my stomach and back. I stopped using this and they went away. I tried to use this again and within 3 or 4 uses, the breakouts came back. Once I stopped using it, they haven’t come back. Also, this is $20 for an even smaller bottle than the body wash. I like a lot of TCFS products, but this one is a hard pass for me.

I used to hold up the Mitchum gel deodorants as a HG product. They’ve been disappointing me lately. I think this was the last one I had, I am going to avoid them for now. I just don’t feel as fresh as I used to at the end of the day. The Boho hair mask was also an item I got cheap from Amazon for review. It had a weird oatmeal-ish scent that I did not like very much. It also worked the same as a bargain conditioner would. Not impressed one bit.

The Korres mango shampoo is really pricey and it has good reviews, so I was excited to finally have a deluxe sample to try. It smelled like mango too, which made me happy. However, it didn’t do anything for my hair. I was beyond disappointed. This Dermatologica face wash was way too intense. It was the wrong kind of minty and as soon as I applied it to my face, my skin would pulsate. It was not a pleasant experience and I tried using it several times to see if it changed over time. Nope. Especially for the pricing of this brand, I thought the quality was terrible. It didn’t even do anything special for cleansing my skin or clearing up any issues.

I have some 7 Wonders masks from Leaders expiring within the next couple months, so I use then as a second mask on many night to try to use them up. With how cold it has been, my skin can use the extra boost of moisture. I do love these masks, but I bought too many of them when they were crazy cheap. Their new style of biocellulose mask was really nice too, I hope I find more when I go to Marshall’s again.

A lot of these masks are repeats and the ones that are not, I have reviews on my Instagram page with details. I used up a lot of Ariul masks since they were expiring at the end of December. I got them for around $1 a piece from Memebox and I feel like they’re worth that price. I see them in CVS K-beauty sections for over $2 each now. To me, that’s a little steep for the quality of mask.

My wax and ta for the month! Still loving all of my Nerdfelt teas! Alexander Hamiltea was amazing and I will re-purchase. I have purchased full sizes of the Groot and Rocket tea and the Elvish tea was such a nice hibiscus tea that I want the full size of too. The Drax tea was good, but I have minty teas from her that I like better.

Lots of wax this month. My sinuses became very inflammed and irritated and it was triggering migraines for me. This sinus blend helped me so much to sleep at night. It’s like Vicks, but less harsh. Peace of Mind from the Scented Squirrel was a nice lavender and sea salt scent that helped me to relax while I had the headaches as well.

I was surprised at how much I liked the blend of cotton candy and sweet lavender in the Gio & Turner wax. It actually did help me sleep. Humble from LoveLee was a nice scent, but the throw didn’t last for as long as I would like. The other 3 plastic bags were samples sent to me by someone in a wax group. The Donatello scent from Super Tarts was way too strong and not that pleasant. The other two were form Sweet Sage Scents and they were ok, I wasn’t very impressed.

I used up two cups from Zainey Laney Wax! These were two of the personalized scents, one created by Laney and one by her husband Corey. Laney’s was blackberry, lemon and black tea… AMAZING! I love this scent! I also love Corey’s scent, So Fresh and So Green Green when I am going to sleep. It is Kiwi, Strawberry and Lemon Lime Soda. It is so fresh and cozy. Their new Star Wars box this month has been out of this world!

I forgot to take a photo of the box before I recycled it, but I also had an advent tea calendar from Nerdfelt Teas. Every day was a different single serving of a tea she sells. I was able to try some new types of tea that I hadn’t tried before. It was a really nice treat for the holiday season and I will be getting it again next year if she offers it!

Hard to believe 2017 is over, but I am not sorry to see it go. I used up $380.99 to finish off the year! At the beginning of the year, I was hoping to reach $1,000 of used products. How did I do for the year? $3,373.08 is my total use for 2017!!! I am so impressed with myself! I guess my goal for next year will need to be $3,500!! I am so excited that I focused on using up products and not doing as much product jumping. I am hoping that I will be able to continue this trend and become even more focused over the neat year.

Thank you all for joining me on this journey. I hope that I will be able to bring you even more varied content and in depth product reviews on this blog in 2018. Is there anything you’d like to see from me in the coming year? I appreciate all of the love and support I have gotten from blog followers as well as my IG family. Let’s make 2018 great! Until next time, stay beautiful!