Beauty addicts thread: share empties, chucks and mindful buying tips

[Experiment627]

Welcome back (or welcome in!) to our little corner of beauty bliss, where shelves are full, wish lists are longer than ever, and there’s always something new to try.
This thread has been around for ages (since at least 2015), and many of us have even tamed our beauty-buying habits thanks to the wisdom and support shared here. We post our empties and chucks, helping each other make smarter, more satisfying choices next time we shop.
All beauty product addicts welcome!

@MsMarchyou are a cleanser fan after my own heart 💓 I love a cleanser. Definitely my fave part og skincare routine although of late I have been very lax in my cleansing. <Hangs head in shame> I often find myself using a baby wipe or cleansing wipe.
I do like the Heimish balm but recently tried the Simple cleansing oil - loved that, also love L'Oreal Age Perfect anti-fatigue smoothing cleansing milk. Also really like The Inkey List oat cleansing balm - have that on the go at the minute. Really like the Murad AHA cleanser too.

Ha, I’ve nevertheless used face cleanser; just whatever soap is at hand near the sink. Never had any issues.

im determined to use up all my travel or sample scents before any new purchase.

Silly auto text…never. Not nevertheless!
here’s my fragrances…

@TryingToFindMyStyle I am so impressed that you made it through 5l of handwash! I get bored with mine before I’ve refilled it once, so that must have been a feat!

@MsMarch I understand the cleanser thing. I used to do this but have limited myself to two - one for the shower and one for the sink. My sink is totally drowning in all my other “collections” though and I am trying to get through them.

@mdinbc Good job with the fragrances.

I just finished another bottle of Thierry Mugler’s Aura. I would totally repurchase but the bastards have discontinued it. I can’t find anything close. I feel like I am the kiss of death for fragrances.

@Francestein I felt it deserved a celebratory photo of its own 🤣 I think the use by date on the container was 2022 but it didn’t appear to degrade. I wouldn’t bother including an empty Carex refill bag in my count as I regard that as a household basic.

Looking up Aura, I’ve never seen rhubarb as a top note! You might go to frangratica and look that up for similar.

i gravitate towards fresh citrus/green scents, especially tea scents. My samples are all a variation on a theme, straying from EA Green Tea which has been my daytime staple for years.

I love tea scents too @mdinbc EA ones are great for work. I looooved Valentino Greenstravaganza (worth a sniff) but I sloughed through it. Aura was just a bit juicier and more aromatic. I have “borrowed” my DH’s Rhabarbe Ecarlette from Hermes and I ham going to experiment with layering.

@Experiment627 I am horrified by your cleansing currently!

Admittedly, I'm sstill sort of notorious among my oldest friends because when we were at uni, it didn't matter how late we got in (or how drunk we were, or whether we came in alone or not.... ) but I was famous for ALWAYS taking 5 minutes to clean my face.

I am absolutely convinced that decent cleansing is almost more important than anything else. And while I cannot support a PP (can't find who it was now) who just uses soap on her face, I'd actually say that's better than not cleaning or using poor cleaners (unless your skin is super dry like mine - if I used soap I'd be a mess!). I always think between make up, products, pollution, food, sweat etc, our faces must be pretty manky by the end of the day and sleeping with all that on can't be good for us.

Totally with you on that @MsMarch - I have only once in my entire life gone to bed without fully removing all makeup and moisturising, even at festivals! Used to get teased about it, but it always felt like a tiny investment for long term benefit

My people!!!!

Empties!

I don’t have many pictures this time:

Usual regulars: aveeno body wash x2, huggies wipes, head and shoulders 1litre apple, and normal ( come with a pump which is great).

Gruüm melting sleep butter. It’s meant to be used for the bath in the water, but I used it directly on my legs after showering. Great scent in chamomile and lavender. Relaxing and nice.

DD has been working on her lipbalms, used up a nivea original, a nivea light blue, a freebie from sanitas unscented, and from Müller one with rose but can’t remember the details. She loved the last one the most. Might rp at some point.

Finished a face cream by Frudia, bright citrus with vit C. Loved the jar in which it came and the scent was pleasant. I can’t tell though if it did any for me other than moisturised my skin.

From frudia too the accompanying serum. Was fine, same scent, lasted a while. Probably won’t rp.

l’oreal men expert. Bought this for DH bit he did not touch it. I was left to use it on me. Took me more that a year to get through it. I have another one but won’t rp after that.

aquafresh toothpaste. Does the job

plus 3 perfumes:

Glacier for men from Deliplus. Smelt lovely and fresh.

so? Vanilla body mist. dD loves this

plus a body spray from so too. Can’t remember the name. Too sweet and cloying for me

@MsMarchI know, I know 😞 I still always cleanse my face but am sometimes a bit lax - I blame the perimenopause and being a geriatric mum! I am getting back into it - especially after replacing all my manky fave cloths with lovely microfibre ones.

SOUND THE BELLS! I finished my awful Elizabeth Arden Prevage face cleanser.

I HATED it. Stings, itches, the microbeads are scratchy and get everywhere. Absolutely not. I used it as a body wash and even that was a trial. Not a repurchase, never ever ever.

@mdinbc I have a sealed Green Tea, would you like it?

When I had DC in my late 30s, I definitely found my skincare fell through the cracks. At the time, I was using cleansing milk and toner and honestly, the EFFORT. MIL actually, inadvertently, set me on the path to cleansing with balms as she suggested that rather than faffing about with cottonwool etc, why not just put the milk (I used a clarins creamy one) and then wash it off with a hot damp cloth. And then I liked that, and then moved to oil-cleansing with almond oil and then eventually to balm cleansing.

I do sympathise. The wipes make my skin feel so awful that I can't even imagine using them but if you can only face that, I agree its 100x better than nothing.

@TragicMuse

Am I supposed to be using a cloth & hot water with a cleansing balm? I try and wash it off with water like a face wash but that takes a while and didn’t feel quite right but I hadn’t thought of hot cloth.

I feel like I have a team of skincare experts on hand 😎

Yes, attempting to just splash it off is a disaster! :) face cloth wet with warm water (I lilke it a bit hotter but I don't think that's the proper recommendation!). That causes the slight emulsfiying effect, and you can wipe away the dirt and the muck and all the balm itself.

Thank-you so much, I nearly threw the balm away as I just wasn’t getting on with it and it felt like there was water everywhere by the time I felt my face was clean 😂

I have a thing called a halo which is a little microfibre pad which is good for makeup removal and washing off. I always feel lovely and clean after that or a muslin cloth…

This seems to be a good time to ask all the cleansing experts to suggest a new balm cleanser for me - empty number 56 is a Wild Source cleansing balm (only 20ml) I got in a beauty drop box - I liked this and would use again, equally I don't feel compelled to race out and buy it. Previous ones I've tried are the ubiquitous Eve Lom one - not a huge fan, mainly just not loving the smell, the Neom one which smelt amazing but wasn't a solid enough balm and Emma Hardie Moringa Cleansing Balm which I loved - slightly lighter texture than the EL one and much nicer smell. I currently have an unopened Elemis Cherry one in my stash but I was thinking of putting it on eBay because it smells of Cherry slush puppies - very artificial and slightly nauseating! I'd be particularly interested to hear any opinions on the Tatcha indigo balm or the Inkey List Oat Balm if anyone has tried them?

I have the Inkey List Oat Cleansing Balm. I have been working my way through other rinse off cleansers but will come onto it soon (if you can wait!)

So far really like - Elemis original smell balm, Kate Somerville goat milk moisturising cleanser

quite like - Byoma jelly cleanser (but not really a balm!)

don’t like - body shop camomile balm, the lid comes off too easily and the smell is meh especially when it has gone on everything else in your washbag!

And empties 57 and 58 are both minis I've finally polished off after taking them travelling - a Sunday Riley CEO serum (8ml) really liked this in terms of smell and texture, it's slightly thicker than the Medik8 one. Unfortunately because I was using the Medik8 one before taking this away and it's just a sample size I couldn't really tell how well it did as a vit c serum. Also finished up an Augustinus Bader 7ml soothing cream - I misread this little tube and thought it said smoothing cream, so was a bit unsure what it was for exactly, exfoliator maybe? Anyway, my impression was that it didn't do anything really - which made a lot more sense when I actually read the tube properly 😂

Thank you @SheilaFentiman I've heard so many people compliment the Kate Somerville Goat milk one, but I'd never actually realised it was a balm cleanser! Somehow (given all the edits, GWP's etc) I've never had a sample of this, and because it's in a tube not a tub I just presumed it was a face wash. So I'm looking forward to trying that one out now, might see if there are any bargains on eBay.

@MsMarchxxx my son is 7 and I am in my early 50s... having the energy to handle my Duracell bunny is often hard but I would not change a thing.
Except I shall step away from the wipes 🤣