Empties Post: Volume II- September 2012

I should preface this post by stating that I made a concerted effort to work my way to the bottom of lots and lots of samples this month. With real determination, I managed to get through a great many little vials, jars, and bottles. I have a rather frightening pile of samples that I have been testing, and the first on my hit-list were those that were partially used. Also in fairness, many of the full-sized products were getting pretty close to empty, but not empty enough to make it into my August Empties Post. 

Skincare Products: Lots and lots of Suki Skincare empties this month! I finished up a full-sized bottle of Suki Renewal Bio-Resurfacing Facial Peel (fantastic, but probably too active for those sensitive skin), and piles of the small glass vials of travel sized Suki products. Since they are natural products, I figured that I should use them up before they went bad- most of them were partially used up- so it took very little effort to empty them. There were a few Sunday Riley empties this month as well. Also lots of little jars of various creams, lotions and cleansers. I also made my way through two Shiseido sunscreens samples, a Tatcha Gentle Rice Enzyme Powder (this stuff is extraordinary!), several packets of Sponge products (a truly magical line that has stolen my heart), there's also a Tata Harper sample, and then finally a full-sized jar of Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base- which was a really lovely oil-free lightweight, but moisturizing cream that works very well under makeup.

Body Care Products: The Erno Laszlo Hydra-Therapy Bodyskin Cream was a great moisturizer, but sadly it was one of the many things that they seemed to recently discontinue (hopefully they are planning on bringing it back). The Kiehl's Creme de Corps Soy & Honey Whipped Body Butter is awesome! It took very little time to get through the sample jar, but I still have a huge jar- so I am quite happy about that! I wouldn't usually even include a regular hand soap in my line-up, but all four that I featured were fantastic and worthy of mention. First the Green Tea French Milled Soap from Whole Foods is wonderful, and I will definitely repurchase it. The two Shannon's Soaps were lovely down to the last scraps, and definitely worth replacing. The biggest surprise was the In-Kind Natural Hand Soap that I grabbed from Pavilions (AKA Vons, Safeway) because it was on sale. It was a lovely moisturizing soap that I will definitely pick up again. The 80 Acres Verde Hand and Body Cream was a wonderful and delightful smelling and feeling discovery, and thankfully I have one of their soaps to try next. I made it through the small sized bottle of Shave with Benefits, and am now working my way through one of the full-sized bottles-- I love this stuff. Not that crazy about the Tom's unscented deodorant, but I am happy with the Lemongrass version that I am currently rotating with my Kai Deodorant (pure awesomeness). The Nourish Deodorant is a super natural deodorant made with Shea butter, cocoa butter and all sorts of emollient ingredients, but I found that it worked nicely.

Haircare Products: The Living Proof hairspray sample was quite nice, but I'm not much of a hairspray kind of girl. I loved the Oribe Signature Shampoo-- it was quite hydrating, smelled divine, and made my curly hair happy! The Davines Defining Paste was a great product-- I did dilute it with water in my hands and found that it gave me really nicely defined curls without feeling heavy or crunchy.

Makeup & Lip Balms: I made my way through a few more makeup items this month (which makes me very happy)! The Tarte emphasEYES inner rim eye pencil did not wow me in the least bit-- it was stiff and kept crumbling. I'm not big on wearing liner on my waterline, but it was too hard to use in that application. When I tried to apply it to my upper or lower lids- I would eventually get it to apply, but not without lots of wasted product. I really liked the Clinique Quickliner for Eyes, and was actually pretty sad when it was gone. The empty square pan beneath the pencils was a Trish McEvoy Mineral Foundation- it was another gift from my mom. It was pretty meh on my skin, and despite the fact that I have combination skin I found it a bit drying, but I did use the entire thing up. Yes, I actually finished both the EOS and the Suki lip balms, but let's all be clear that they were both well worn. All of the sample jars were either foundations, tinted moisturizers, or loose powders-- I was pretty pleased that I tried them all for a few days, and then the jars were empty.

Fragrances: Fresh Vanilla Eau de Parfum and Fresh Heperides Eau de Parfum were both lovely scents that I finally finished up (they were getting pretty old). To the right of the Fresh bottles is an empty reed diffuser that lasted quite a while. Of course I also have a nice pile of empty perfume samples, and as always if I don't like the way that they smell on me- I use them as room sprays near the kitty litter box. The only sample in this pile that resulted in a purchase was the kai perfume oil.

Almost Empties: I am absolutely determined to finish this pile of makeup. The MAC Eyeshadow Duo is getting pretty close- which is so exciting. The Trish McEvoy Blush & Eyeshadow pans are also almost done-- these were both given to me by my mom, and I have pretty mixed luck with Trish McEvoy makeup in general. These two products are okay, but nothing special for me. The two MAC eye pencils (Uniform and Feline) are nice, but won't likely be replaced because I have plenty of other eye pencils to use up first. I do believe that I have a backup of Feline though- so I will have to pull it out and use it once this one becomes a stub that can no longer be sharpened. The Shu Uemura lip pencil is really lovely, and while it is nearly gone I also have a backup of this beauty.

I am finding that my partially used makeup is serving as a source of motivation to really use what I have. I haven't set any sort of moratorium on makeup purchases, because that will only make me feel deprived- which will make me want to buy more makeup. Instead, I am forcing myself to be far more selective about my makeup purchases because my stash is already bursting at the seams. That said, skincare is my weakness, and all bets are off there. If I see something that really intrigues me- it will, in all likelihood, end up in my stash.

Did you manage to finish anything up this month? Have you tossed anything out because you didn't like it enough to keep using it? Did you return anything that was a total fail? Are you imposing any buying bans on yourself? Do tell!