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!

Carolina Herrera La bomb! Everytime I wear it people ask me what it is, shop assistants, bar staff etc. it’s the nicest perfume I’ve ever had

Hrt is a game changer, I live in fear my gp will stop prescribing. Symptom tracker sounds like a good idea.

i haven’t used as much up as I expected the last couple of weeks. I’ve put aside a hand mask, last foot dry skin socks and under eye mask to use up later.

I have used used up

• Molton Brown pink pepper shower gel, was a gift, I like a regular change in scent for shower gel so won’t RP
• Elemis pro collagen spf 30 I liked this will probably RP sometime but it’s most cost effective to buy a Rocca Box with a spf day cream when they pop up. I had a different day cream in my stash that I’m using next
• Omorovicza night cream 10ml bought off Vinted after recommended here. Nice I liked this but didn’t notice any difference in my skin. It’s very hard to tell how much any one product is doing when you’re using lots of different products. Possible RP, I’ve started my last pot Elizabeth Arden Good Nights Sleep

These take me to 130 products used up this year.

But my cupboard is still full, feels like it’s now mostly body cream, cleansers and makeup removers that take time to use up especially now I rarely wear makeup.

I am just popping in to say that when it comes to HRT (esp oestrogen) please don’t allow yourself to be dismissed or told to wait until your bloods show that you have stopped ovulating entirely. That’s very old school and not the new way of thinking. Menopause isn’t the time after you stop ovulating. It is literally that instant. Your symptoms after that are indicative of being post-menopausal. HRT is shown to be more effective if begun during perimenopause as it helps with so many more of the symptoms and health problems associated with post-menopause.

Catching up after falling off the thread for a few weeks. I do have some empties to report, but will have to wait until I have time to write properly. Appreciate off topic but needed to come on to say that I’m in the same boat as others meno / HRT-wise.

@DidILeaveTheGasOn & @Minnie123456 if it helps, my gp practice have been happy to prescribe monthly following letter from (private) gynaecologist referral. So it might be possible for yoy to do the same even if the initial appointment is paid for privately.

Funnily enough after around 5 years of the HRT really working for me, I’ve noticed massive increase in brain fog, rage, hair loss, subcutaneous cyst-like spots etc and corresponding decrease in libido over the last 6 months. My mirena isn’t due to expire until Feb. but I suspect my oestrogen levels have fallen off a cliff recently and this morning finally got around to arranging an appointment with my gynaecologist earlier today. Let’s see….

@Fillybuster- after 4.5 years all my symptoms returned and felt worse than before, even contemplated resigning from my job - and my team are fantastic but I just felt terrible and all my confidence just evaporated. Saw a female health lead and she’s rejigged all my HRT and within 3 weeks the difference has been incredible. I had started tracking all my symptoms on the Balance App about six weeks ahead of the appointment which helped me to feel more confident with approaching the Dr. I guess the point is if it starts to feel like it’s not working, don’t put off booking the GP appointment. Good luck with your gynaecologist.

@Fillybuster I was having a lot of bleeding, which I never have, 8 months before my mirena was due to be changed so they changed it early and said it will be giving a lower dose now. 🤷

Menobrain in play. I couldnt recall when thread id posted about meno on the other day and have just come across it. 🤣

Definitely go on hrt,if poss, before full meno starts as someone said above. It helps with other things but I still have discussions with friends about all the negative bad press it had. I intend staying on it forever but do worry theyll stop it.
😬
Ive seen many say thats what should happen or as soon as you stop all your symptoms start. I fet like i was losing my mind! 😪

It’s nearly time for masks and minis month 🙂

Woohooo. Today I’m going to count up the number of products I have in the form of advent calendars joining my stash in December and that will be my aim. I did give myself a head start and focus on minis more over the last few weeks. I have a bundle of empties to post when I get 5mins to photograph them. I’m also at that annoying point where I have a lot of products coming to the end so I keep thinking I will wait but some of them appear to have secret reserves to help them to keep going.

I hear you! The Byoma milky toner (which I do like) is being topped up by pixies in the night, I swear!

Sounds like The Ordinary glycolic toner, I’m still not over how long it took to use that up.

I need to gather up my empties today and get ready for masks and minis month!

I love the idea of masks and minis month and actually started this morning as yesterday I finished a seemingly-endless tube of Clinique's DDM which I don't love but took the started-so-I'll-finish approach with. First out of the minis box was Emma Lewisham's Supernatural cream which felt appropriate at Hallow'een.

That’s brilliant, @CinderellaParker

I was trying to use up my tube of Kiko Brightening Mask but when I cut it open after applying today, there’s at least one more application in there, so I’ll finish that before I start the sheet masks!!

When I moved, I opened all my samples and minis and filled a nearly empty moisturiser tub. I’m getting close to the end of it. It’s an interesting colour, but the textures is lovely. My frankenmist thickened up and was totally unusable, so was binned. I think the ingredients separated or curdled. The bottle of mixed okayish samples and minis created an okayish toner that smelled questionable. Bin. I have one sheet mask to contribute to masks and minis.

I was all set to start masks and minis before November to get ahead but as usual, I’ve procrastinated, and I’ve only used up a grand total of 1 sheet masks since then. So I guess November it is 😅

I finished a mini DKNY perfume the other day thats been knocking around a while. I’ve still
got the large one to finish now, it’s the green apple. I’m trying to use up that and an M&S perfume as I’ve got 2 perfumes I’ve had since last Christmas I’ve not even opened yet!

Inspired by this thread I’m going to use up some of my mini shower gels and shampoos I’ve collected from various hotels over the next month before I move onto some larger ones.

Recent empties in preparation for masks and minis month!

The Inkey List Niacinamide serum - quite nice but came out of the bottle too fast
Rodial Snake Oil serum - in some box or other - fine but nothing special
Shieseido SPF 50 from Boots box - v nice handbag side, felt a bit odd on the face so used on hands and neck
Prai neck cream - big tub, fine, trying the ROC retinol stick and a Formula neck cream now

Last of Oct empties before mask and minis Nov. Will do as many sheet masks as poss, and dig out the minis today😁
The est value is £345 and 20 empties for Oct.

212. Lush Scrubee. I like the scrub it gives, but they dont last very long. I love the moisturing side too. Leaves me silky soft.

213. Color wow dreamcoat. Gone through multiples of this. Keeps my hair looking glossy and frizz free. Have another in stash from an AC last year.

214. Ouai thick hair shampoo. Oh man, ive really fallen for expensive shampoos😫 It smells lush, my hair looks so clean and healthy. I have RP a full size.

215. Amika anti frizz shampoo sample. Wasnt fussed on this

216. Laniege cream skin mask. This was very creamy, so if you dont like wet sheet masks i wouldnt recomened. I liked it, i like the cream skin range and this is no execption. Now the heatings cracked on, i wont super nourshing masks. These are £5 on SNK, so i ordered on a K-beauty site, and spent more than if o just bought one for £5🤣

217. Maybelline lash sensational. Really great mascara. Gives me nice full lashes and doesnt smudge. I have far to many masacra get through, so will repurchase in about 4 year😂

I’ve got a mini shower gel to start and am going to do a mask this evening.

Hurrah for masks and minis November!

Almost used an eye mask this morning while I was getting ready but wasn’t sure if I’d have time. By the time I’d finished my hair, I definitely would have had time. So there’s a lesson learned, hopefully - use eye masks whilst drying my hair.
Still need to post my empties but once again find myself snuggled on the sofa under a cat, how does this keep happening? It’s terrible, honestly…

I finally finished quite a few things in October.
• being shampoo and conditioner- made my hair soft and a bit more manageable but the tubes are so awkward to squeeze the product out so not sure I’d repurchase.
• John Freida purple shampoo - regular purchase for me
• Olaplex conditioner- again made my hair soft but cheaper alternatives.
• Sisley hair rituel mask - did the same as much cheaper masks so definitely not a repurchase at that price!
• Fable and mane holiroots hair oil - used this on my hair line and parting, didn’t notice a difference.
• Mitchum deodorant - regular purchase, just hate how much product is left over.
• Roundlab dokdo cleanser - loved this, foamed nicely and didn’t dry out my skin. My kids must agree cos they ended up using it too. Have another in my stash but trying some other cleansers first.
• Kate Somerville exfolikate cleanser- one of my favourite cleansers, love the smell and doesn’t dry my skin.
• Elemis Green fig cleansing balm - at first I didn’t like the texture, thought what kind of balm is sloppy? Then I came home from Corfu and realised the heat made it that way 😄 really enjoyed it once it had
solidified, lovely scent.
• Ouai scalp and body scrub - I don’t like scrubs on my scalp so just use for body. Massive fan of Ouai, love these scrubs and their scents, really moisturising.
• L’Occitane Amande sublime shower oil - love these oils, have the Aldi dupe to try so will see how it compares.
• Augustinus Bader the eye patches - used these before my dad’s funeral and they were great, actually made me look less shocking. Much too expensive to repurchase, but maybe if they were on offer and for a special occasion.
• 111skin cryo de-puffing facial mask - same as above, made a real difference but there are cheaper ones out there that are almost as good.
• Dr Reju-All advanced PDRN rejuvenating mask - this came with a piece for the neck as well which I’ve not had before, was a slightly thicker milky serum. So moisturising, absolutely loved it, still felt the effects after double cleansing in the evening. Define repurchase.
• Reome hydra-plasma veil mask - fidly as hell to open the mask up, fidly to apply as it was so big so didn’t fit my face right and did bigger all really. Absolutely rubbish for the price!
• Freemay yellow vitamin ampoule mask - brightened my skin and
made it feel soft. Not sure if I’d repurchase as it came from my sonagi subscription.
• Nip & Fab hyaluronic fix jelly eye patches - these were ok but towards the end they started drying out as there wasn’t much serum in the tub. Have the beauty of joseon ones to try next.
• Elemis papaya enzyme peel - ended up squirting out the last quarter as it had been sat opened for over a year and on last use made my face sting. It is a good mask though, leaves my skin lovely and soft, I was just terrible at remembering to use it.
• Sisley velvet sleeping mask - besides making my skin soft I didn’t notice any other difference to my face so wouldn’t repurchase as it’s far too expensive.
• Sisley harmonie sleeping mask - same as above.
• Trinny the elevator- think I’ve come to realise that it’s gonna take more than a cream to sort out my neck!
• Somebymi retinol intense eye cream - this lasted forever, didn’t notice much difference but I don’t have eye wrinkles so might have been wasted on me.
• Byoma phyto mucin glow serum - this was very sticky and kinda gross so I struggled to get through even this little tube. Doubt I’d repurchase.
• Byoma brightening serum - did what it says, made my face brighter but again I found it a little sticky. Good budget serum.
• Skinceuticals C E ferulic- wouldn’t repurchase just for the smell, which is a shame as it did give my skin a lovely glow.
• Emma Lewisham supernatural vitale face elixir- nothing supernatural about this, hasn’t done anything noticeable. This stopped pumping out product a week ago, after 7 days of scraping the remains out I’ve given up and chucking it. Have another in my stash which I might sell.
• Summer Fridays cloud dew gel cream moisturiser- not usually a fan of gel moisturisers but I loved this, nice and hydrating, no stickiness and made my skin feel soft. Would repurchase once I’ve got through my masses of moisturisers.
• Augustinus Bader the cream - really like this, calmed my skin when it was a bit sensitive and make up went on great over it.
• Erborian cc crème- this and the bb cream are my holy grails, already had another in back up, although I’m not happy that it now has 5ml less.

Wow @JourneyToHappiness what a haul to use up, I’m impressed!

And condolences on your fathers passing 💐

Current day me is frustrated that my bathroom cabinet is still completely packed with toiletries bought in the past to improve my appearance (and abandoned without using) despite the now 134 items I’ve used up so far this year. I’d like to go browse and buy some new products but mustn’t as many more to use 😱

Although a lady I met last week asked me what skincare I used as my skin was good (she didn’t add for my age but that was the subtext 😂) I admitted I’m using up random products bought in the past so the products must be doing something except I don’t really know which are working well, and maybe it doesn’t matter, maybe what makes the difference is using them diligently.

My latest empties

• Scholl dry foot mask, last in the cupboard (I think) won’t RP will keep using random body lotions
• Starskin eye mask, liked this, might RP if I want a treat
• BeautyPro hand therapy, surprised by how much difference this made, might RP when I’ve used all my body lotions and hand creams
• VO5 hot oil won’t RP still 2 in the cupboard

A few more from me.

33. Imperial Leather mallow and rose milk bubble bath - nice cheapie - always have a few in different flavours
34. Neom bathtime hero bath foam scent to sleep - nice but the bubbles disappeared quickly
35. O’Keefe’s overnight lip repair - good but currently using some bargainous Penhaligon’s balms overnight so won’t RP for a while
36. Garnier body intensive 7 days softening lotion, coconut milk - a summer staple
37. Huda Beauty easy bake intense perfume sample - very nice - a pleasant surprise - would happily receive it in an edit or calendar
38. Erborian skin hero au ginseng bare skin perfector - not sure it did anything. Second one of these I’ve used and felt the same the first time
39. Erborian BB creme - prefer their super bb as it has better coverage

I was hoping for 100 by the end of the year - perhaps masks and minis will help! Currently using a travel shampoo from a hotel and have got a mask out for before bed this evening.

Currently wearing a mask and drinking wine, all I need is some cucumber slices for my eyes and I'll be in a spa.
Need to be using up a sheet mask but I just feel so ridiculous wearing one. And I have SO MANY.

Okay I'm using a sheet mask. My other half just described sheet masks as the worst version of when your mum spits on a tissue to wipe your face. UGGGH