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!

Are you looking to buy something or use something you already own?

You could maybe try ditching everything and just using a barrier repair cream for a couple of weeks.

This is a good one. They also have a cleanser and essence in the range.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/AESTURA-ATOBARRIER-Moisturizer-Hydration-Hypoallergenic/dp/B09YDCCJBJ?th=1

Minis of the cream have been in a few gwp so you might get a small one on Vinted.

I wouldn’t buy it because of the price but it’s been in lots of gwp’s so if you have any in Your stash, A Bader soothing cream it’s great for situations like this. I think it was designed for post treatment and it helped me after a run in with vitamin C. It took about 3/4 days to fully settle.

Byoma has a good skin barrier repair range. Dr Althea and Pyungkang Yul do good barrier creams too. I've used them all and had good results!

Beauty spend so far in June: £46, hmm!

Empties

CB sample of Discotheque Call for a Good Time - liked this, similar to the Angel Dust

Lancaster spf 50 serum - from the boots sun beauty box, this was tiny and fine on the face for a couple of days but not a RP

Lumene Nordic Hydra intense hydration moisturiser- from the badvent, nice enough at night but not a RP

@DidILeaveTheGasOn
😪
I did this not long ago. I used the cicaplast. My skin is combination and its quite thick but definitely hrlps the barrier repair.
It took awhile to calm and im impatient so i tried actives again and then set it off again. 🙄
So id wait a few weeks until fully recovered.
I saw this earlier and thought it was helpful. My skin cant cope with actives as regularly as many people can so im going to stick to this and se how I go.
Avene are gentle as well. If you have a dtash of gwp esmdits etc you may find something to calm it as they appear in lots of edits.
Good luck 🤩

Oh ouch 😔 I did this earlier this year so I feel your pain. How I mended my skin was with no7 cream cleanser, bioeffect EGF serum, Augustinus Bader the rich cream on a night and la mer moisturising cream on a morning. I know they're quite expensive if you've not got them in your stash already. I would recommend looking through what you have, make a list and then ask chatgpt to make you a plan to repair your skin barrier.

@DidILeaveTheGasOn I like things with CBD in for this. boots Botanics used to have some CBD products.

And now M+S have given me a £5 e-gift-card because the bras were late being delivered, even though they were only a day late.

It's ironic that this was a rare purchase where money off wasn't actually an incentive because I needed new ones!!

Latest empties:

Clarins Velvet Cleansing Milk - 100ml. Don’t know why this is called a milk, as it’s pretty thick. Liked it, felt creamy and luxurious to use.

Murad AHA/BHA cleanser - 200ml. Holy grail face exfoliator. Leaves my skin so soft.

Axis-Y Daily Purifying Treatment Toner - 200ml. Probably not really meant for me skin type, but I quite liked it anyway. It has tea tree but also centella and it felt soothing rather than astringent.

Clarins Purifying Toning Lotion - 10ml. Also not meant for my skin type and definitely less hydrating than the Axis-Y, but it was ok.

APLB Glutathione Niacinamide Ampoule - 40ml. This is great. Doesn’t cost much and does seem to have a brightening effect (very noticeably in the sheet mask version but the serum is good too).

Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Face Cream - 15ml. I’m not really a fan of rose scented skincare, but otherwise fine.

Clarins Total Eye Lift - 7ml. I like this eye cream, it’s lightweight but still moisturising.

Perfume samples - Valentino Donna Born in Roma and Kayali Maui Sweet Banana.

Ishga Hebridean Sea Salt Scrub - 50ml. Smelled great but the scrub itself was very sharp and scratchy.

Korres Santorini Grape shower gel - 250ml. I like the formula of these Korres shower gels. Not my favourite scent but it was ok.

Bath & Body Works In the Stars body lotion - 236ml. My favourite body lotion formula.

Daeng Gi Mel Rj Gold Premium shampoo - 50ml. Really like this, makes my hair super soft and smells lovely too.

Pureology Color Fanatic leave in spray - 200ml. The best leave in I’ve tried but it’s expensive and I seem to get through a bottle fairly quickly, so I’m on the hunt for a cheaper alternative. Now trying the Aussie Hair Insurance which seems pretty good so far.

Biossance set - face cream, serum and eye cream - really meh. Face cream is your typical barrier cream, fairly heavy, serum is oily. I did like the eye cream though- might even buy it again on its own.

Drunk Elephant - cleanser, and 2 serums - cleanser is my favorite ever, I always have one in. Serums are not my thing at all - really sting and smell funny, almost like self tanner 🤔

Living Proof full shampoo and conditioner- both minis but I did like them. To be honest though, I think you can get the same results with L’Oréal and such.

Eborian cc red correct - not my thing. I dislike all colour changing make-up.

Elemis face wash, Kerastase oil, Estée Lauder mascara, YSL lipstick mini - all repetitions.

Lush shower gel - amazing scent. Does actually smell like rose jam - the edible kind.

Samples - nothing impressive.

@DidILeaveTheGasOn another vote for the RP Cicaplast B5 balm. I’ve got a bunch of minis left from my radiotherapy, PM me if you’d like me to pop one in the post for you to try.

Thank you guys for the help - such a lovely bunch and I really appreciated it because I felt like a proper knob. I didn't really think skin barrier damage/sensitivity was a 'thing' (how I have repented at my leisure) because my skin previously was pretty tolerant of everything.
I've got the Cicaplast B5 balm, I ordered it last weekend so I was relieved when you guys said it would help, and I also ordered some Round Lab Mugwort calming masks but not sure if they are a gimmick - my daughter and I like doing masks together so they won't be wasted.

I think the issue might have been caused by combining Good Genes with various other actives. I think my face coped well with me trying different things for ages and then it finally had enough!

@Fillybuster Thank you so much for the offer, much appreciated. I think I should be ok but such a nice thing to offer.

@Doglover73 That routine looks great. I think I might try to adapt some of the products I have to that, I think @JoRaRaRa said to ask ChatGPT for a routine using those, I just logged into my ChatGPT account and apparently I asked for a routine months and months ago! Oops. I'll ask for a barrier recovery one now.

Finally have a few minutes to write up my May empties, whilst conscious that the June stack is already starting to build 💫

Two groups: 1) actual empties 2) really dislike and am going to chuck and/or older than Methusalah’s great aunt and need to go in the bin

Group 1:

L’Occitane Shea butter handcream 100g : the absolute OG of hand creams. Have been buying on repeat for years. Not RPing yet, as have a stash to get through, but nothing else quite hits the spot

Neils Yard Wild Rose hand cream - smells lovely, nice to use. Got 3 in the JL cracker sales along with mini balm tins to work through.

Clinique foaming cleaser : was my ride-or-die for nearly 30 years but I think I’m over it now. Foams up beautifully but a bit drying. There are better out there, esp for the price.

Aussie SOS shampoo : love this stuff. Not allowing myself to buy more until I’ve worked through the stash, as I’m a sucker for a 3 for 2. It’s clearly not going to disappear from stores, so I’ll RP when I’m actually in need!

Lush rub rub rub scrub: received as part of a gift set. Really disliked the smell and consistency. Chucked half out. Will not rp

Darphin rose hydration nourishing oil cream: gorgeous stuff. Bought in the SNK sale. Would rp if reduced.

Rituals Karma foaming shower oil: disappointing. I used this one faster than the gold bottle (which lost its foaming capacity about half way) so it kept on foaming until the end but I just didn’t like the smell much. Wouldn’t rp this one but overall still quite like the product.

NYX dewy finish fixing spray: fab stuff, does the job, great finish. Wasn’t in stock when I went to RP, now using one from SK but would definitely rp.

L’occitane shower gel & conditioner : working through my minis stash on business trips. Love both but probably wouldn’t ever actually buy.

Kate Somerville goats milk moisturiser 15ml : a great reminder of how much longer products last than you expect! Took it with me when I went away for 2 weeks in Feb, didn’t manage to finish it until May (admittedly, wasn’t using it daily once I got back, but used surprisingly little whilst away when it was the only option). Nice enough but wouldn’t rp

Sunday Riley CEO moisturiser 5ml : liked this a lot, but probably won’t rp

Shiseido bio performance cream 5ml: again, liked it, but not enough to rp

Cerave eye cream: love this. Have already RPd. Two more in stash!

Soaps of Provence: 9 lovely soaps. Have enjoyed using. So many soaps in stash that I have banned myself from buying any for a long time

APLB Collagen Peptide mask: pleasant enough. No obvious benefit. Would not rp

Group 2

2 bags Dead Sea mud : purchased 20 years ago when I thought it might be fun to do them with small dcs. Said DCs all now large teens. Bags feel pretty solid.

Lansinoh nipple cream: see age of DCs above. Doubt my nipples are going to need it anytime soon. Also feels pretty solid.

Lancome comfort toner: I’ve never purchased Lancôme products so this will have been nicked from my DM at some point. I’ve not done that for over 20 years. Product has separated weirdly in bottle.

L’occitane cooling leg gel. Given to my by Dsis when I was pregnant with dc1 and my ankles were enormous. Based on age of DC1 (21) this is going in the bin.

Ralph Lauren Woman hydrate gel body cream: I went through a very brief phase of wearing RL Woman perfume around the time I got married. That was 25 years ago. Definitely going in bin. Still have a bottle of the perfume somewhere which probably also needs throwing out when I find it!

Boots eye makeup remover pads. Bought for a festival last year, remainder have dried out.

A few more empties…

The Nue Co Supa Thick - having a nightmare with my hair at the moment because of WLI and I do think this has helped. I’ve already RP.

Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Cream - I’ve bought this a few times over the past decade. This particular one was a Boots £10 Tuesday purchase. It’s a great straight forward moisturiser and I always enjoy using it. I’ve got a backup in my stash.

Like @Fillybuster a couple of these are chucks and the rest are empties

1. Nuxe Huile Prodigeuse - I love this stuff and will definitely RP, I have the perfume as well because I like the smell so much
2. The Kure intense repair hair mask - love the smell and how soft it made my hair, hated the tube. It was very thick and so stopped coming out of the tube very early on. I will see if they sell something similar in a tub!
3. badvent Lumene Clay to Foam cleanser. This was neither clay nor foam! But it was a perfectly nice rinse off cleanser. I won’t RP as I have other cleansers in the stash but I wouldn’t be sad if it turned up in my life again.
4. chuck - The Inkey List Oat Cleansing Balm - this completely separated in the tube as others have found and I could only really get the oily part out. I didn’t want to cut it open as it’s such a big tube so I decided to bin
5. chuck - OPI red - this was in a beauty box and it was fine when on but really was a pain to take off. As I have lots of lovely polishes, I’m binning it.

@user593 how are WLIs affecting your hair ?

@SheilaFentiman It’s falling out! Luckily I had a lot to begin with but it’s still upsetting.

Oh no!! That’s very distressing 😔

It does get better. Mine was awful for about a year after WLI but I don't loose much now. Granted it's not going back to what it was when I was younger but rapidly approaching menopause is partly to blame too.

Thank you, that’s encouraging. I’ve always had fine hair but a lot of it, so even though I’ve lost a lot it doesn’t look too bad (yet), but I decided I’d rather be healthy (I really do need to loose weight for my health) so I’m trying not to focus on it/ worry about it too much until I’m finished with the WLI, after which I’m really going to try and focus on getting my hair back to a good condition!

Couple of empties this morning

Elizabeth Arden retinol & hpr capsules- have more in stock

Avena cherry almond shampoo - this dried my hair won't rp

Clarins rose radiance cream sample - like this, might look out for this on Vinted

Gucci Flora Gorgeous Orchid sample - like this but doesn't stay long on my skin

Given away
No 7 protect and perfect day and night creams - skin breakout for me with these

Disppointed with Noted Aromas body lotion - I wear their Portofino scent so bought the matching lotion and shower gel. Haven't tried the shower gel but the lotion dies not really fragrance my skin and has a chemically scent.

Is it bad that I am proud that my beauty stash has been whittled down to fill a reusable supermarket bag? The moving truck is coming tomorrow am and it’s all packed up.

Awesome progress 👏

My stash is slowly whittling down but it’s going to be a long time until I get it down to products used regularly with a small number of new to try. I realised I’m very susceptible to hair products that I abandon when they don't perform miracles with my fine, tendency to frizz hair

I’ve got some more to add! Nearly at 100 so far! Nos 85-91

Innisfree Green Tea Ceramide Milk. 15ml. Nice and gentle, I’ve used it as a 4th step after serum. I would rp, but have lots of other things so not at the moment.

Skinsense ceramide 24 recovery support night cream. Smells like pudding. And is a sort of light brown colour. So it feels a bit like putting some kind of caramel mousse on the face. Quite nice. Non itchy. Not sure I’d rp, I’m not wild about it and couldn’t escape feeling like I’ve got pudding on my face.

The Nue Co skin filter serum 10ml. I thought it was ok but then everything pilled so I stopped using it. And no pilling when I didn’t use it so that confirmed it was the serum which is now definitely NOT a rp.

Round Lab birch juice moisturising tone-up sunscreen 2ml sachet. I love Round Lab but this does leave a bit of a cast to rub in. Hard to tell effectiveness from a sample but probably not a rp as I have others I like more.

Garnier coconut hair food 400ml tub. The teen and I use this kind of thing fairly frequently. A standard rp.

Ren gentle cleansing gel 150ml. I loved this! So gentle and effective, no stinging on the eyes at all. If REN were still going I absolutely would add this to my regular routine.

Dr Althea 345 relief cream 10ml sample. I really liked this. Gentle. Something like a cream gel texture. Really soothing and easy to absorb. I would rp if I needed new moisturiser and didn’t have a stash to work through.

I am really enjoying working through my stash!