Welcome to my November 2020 Empties!
We are in the home stretch, entering the final month of 2020! November was a bit of an interesting month, with lots of ups and downs, to say the least. Not to say that it wasn’t a great month but I always look forward to December every year for many reasons. And although it’s likely going to be a different holiday season, I’m striving to make the best of it.
In terms of empties, I finally decided to tackle my foundation drawer. The fact that I even have a drawer unintentionally dedicated to foundation and concealers is a bit much. But the time has come to toss out the old and when I say old, I truly mean it. As the saying goes: out-of-sight, out-of-mind. There are bottles that have been sitting in the back that I haven’t touched in ages. With that said, there were a few I couldn’t let go (yikes, talk about hoarding) and many that are still within “new”, let alone haven’t been opened. So this empties post will mainly be a handful of foundation reviews, alongside the usual categories of empties.
HAIR and SKIN CARE
Herbal Essences Naked Volume Shampoo and Conditioner (Product Review)
I had finished the full size Herbal Essences Naked Volume Shampoo and Conditioner in July and now the sample size. There’s not much to include as it’s echoing what was previously mentioned. I love this shampoo and conditioner duo – my hair felt cleansed, volumized and soft.
Olay Fresh Effects Shine Go Away! Shine Minimizing Cleanser
This cleanser has been sitting around my beauty stash for years and I remember putting it aside after not enjoying how literally squeaky clean it felt on my skin, plus I didn’t have much of an oily skin type. Fast forward to earlier this year, I figure I might as well get it over with, finish it and never look back, unless it really didn’t work well. That being said, this time around I had an okay experience, I don’t have an oily skin type per se, but it didn’t seem to cause too much trouble on my skin. The product turned foamy when worked into a lather with water and had a light freshly sweet scent. It strangely didn’t leave a squeaky clean feeling after rinsing (which is a good thing, by the way), and my skin actual felt fine and cleansed afterwards without striping the oils and drying out my skin.
Biore Baking Soda Pore Cleanser
This wasn’t my favourite exfoliating cleanser out there. The scent was a bit strong – it was like a very sweet perfume scent. It was a very gentle cleanser with tiny beads to help exfoliate and when massaging with water, it had a bit of a foam. In the end it didn’t feel like the cleanser strip the skin, which is always a good thing! That being said, after one use, I couldn’t continue using this cleanser on my face because I’m not a big fan of having baking soda in my skincare, so instead of wasting product, I used the rest as a body scrub.
Biore Deep Cleansing Citrus Scent Pore Strip (Product Review)
As satisfying as they are, I don’t use pore strips all that much. But once in a blue moon, I like to take out a strip and have it remove the whiteheads from my nose. As mentioned under my product review, these scented strips are no different than the classic Biore Deep Cleansing Pore Strips besides the scent.
Jack Black Moisture Therapy Lip Balm SPF 25 Mint (exact product not shown)
NOTE: I previously cut the lip balm tube in half to scoop out and transfer any remaining product into this jar. This is my holy grail lip balm, hands down! That doesn’t mean I don’t have, use, or try other lip balms, it simply means if I have to only pick one to use for the rest of my life, it’ll be Jack Black lip balm in Mint! This is the only lip balm that truly works and heals my lips, especially when they’re dried and sometimes chapped, leaving them moisturized and smooth. And I especially love it in mint because of it’s cooling effect and mintiness.
L’Oreal Revitalift Moisturizer (Product Review)
I loved using this moisturizer every morning from the face down to my neck. It was a lightweight cream that left my skin feeling very moisturized and hydrated. The scent was mildly sweet but to me, it was the perfect calm scent to start off the day.
MAKEUP
Essence Colour Correcting Liquid Concealer – Anti Redness – 30 pastel green
When colour correcting first hit mainstream, I was intrigued. At that same time, my skin developed redness and hyperpigmentation and no amount of skincare products or makeup coverings seemed to help. When I heard about colour correcting, I had to pick one up to see if the technique will actually help. Everyone I knew raved about Essence makeup because of their quality and prices, with a lot of mentions of the colour correctors. From the two colour correcting products (liquid and stick concealer), I ended up with the liquid. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as much as I had hoped and I just left it in my drawer for all these years.
Maybelline Dream Fresh BB 8-in-1 Beauty Balm SPF 30
Who remembers when this Maybelline BB Cream was THE biggest trend and the start of BB creams (at least in the Western part of the world)? Everyone was raving about it, I had to get my hands on it. I believe that time was 2012-ish!? To be completely honest, I tried to like it but in the end, it didn’t do much to my complexion in terms of blurring the look of imperfections and complimenting my skin tone. It did feel hydrating and lightweight.
The Body Shop Extra Virgin Minerals Liquid Foundation
I believe this is THE oldest foundation sitting in my drawer! How? Because this was the very first foundation I had ever purchased (and that was over a decade ago). Before this, I would use my Mother’s Lancome foundation – which was good but I needed my own, so I opt for The Body Shop since I had a coupon or discount of some sort. I wasn’t a big foundation wearer back then – I would use it as a concealer (lack of makeup knowledge does that) and sometimes all over my face. I remember liking it and had no problems with it. The shade was the perfect match, it was lightweight and I think the coverage was medium. Although this particular foundation is long gone, I think I might pick up a foundation from The Body Shop in the near future, seeing how much I remember liking the product.
Almay Smart Shade Skintone Matching Makeup SPF 15
I found this foundation to be so interesting when I first heard about it (like 2015-ish) and still think so today. The product comes out white with tiny spheres but as the product is worked into the skin, it adjusts to a shade that matches the skin tone. This lightweight foundation gave a really nice natural-looking glow with a buildable light-to-medium coverage. I just searched this product and found out they changed their formulation and people aren’t happy – bummer, because I quite enjoyed using it when I was using it back then.
Almay Wake Up Liquid Makeup
I barely used this Almay foundation. When I was going through the stash, I was trying to think back as to why I didn’t use it and I suddenly remembered that I ended up getting a bad reaction on my face the next day after using it. But before that, I didn’t quite enjoy the foundation. It didn’t provide any coverage, dry patches stood out like a sore thumb and the foundation made my face very shimmery – I’m all for a nice glow but this was not it. So when I woke up the next morning to see my skin flare-up big time, that was pretty much the final strike. I gave it another try a few weeks after that initial trial, once my skin went back to normal and the results were the same. Don’t know why I kept it in my drawer.
Physicians Formula Super BB #InstaReady Beauty Balm BB Cream (Product Review)
This BB Cream was a tad darker than my skin tone so I never really had the chance to use it. I was hoping to get some colour during the summer so I could use it but I think by that time, I completely forgot about it, whoops! That being said, when I was reviewing the product, I LOVED the way it photographed, it truly made my skin look flawlessly smooth and evened out my skin tone. Perhaps I’ll pickup the shade Light, if it’s still available.
What are your thoughts on my November 2020 empties? Have you tried any of the products featured? Did you have any empties this November or went through an old stash of products?