Quite a bit late to this month’s empties post and I haven’t been posting for the last couple of weeks – because I’ve been travelling around on vacation! It was a truly wonderful rest with breathtaking scenery; we were cut off from the world, because it was so remote that there was no reception at all but that was a great experience for us.
Anyway, it was quite a long vacation, pretty much the whole of August, so many of the items are actually finished on the trip and the photos are taken in random toilets which explains the many different background and lighting. I’m actually amazed at how many items I’ve used up during the trip and during the limited time that I was actually home.
1. Briogeo Don’t Despair, Repair! Deep Conditioning Hair Cap System
A conditioning hair cap that you put on and wait for it to work while in the shower; while it did leave my hair really soft, I didn’t like the squishy feeling when I had the cap on.
2. Nature Republic Snail Solution Mask Sheet
I actually use about 10 of these sheet masks a month but because they can be quite wet, I don’t usually keep the used packaging around. I don’t see many differences between sheet masks – they’re only left on for about 20-30 minutes anyway; I think it’s more important to use them consistently rather than buying the most expensive ones so I usually just buy affordable but decent ones.
3. NuFace by Carol Cole Prep-N-Glow
A dual sided cloth to remove makeup and impurities with microdots for gentle exfoliation; it reminds me of those old style makeup remover wipes that you use it in the bath.
4. Fresh Rose Face Mask
5. Dr Belmeur Ato Salt Cream
6. Qiriness Radiant Eye Contour Mask
7. L’Herboflore Aqua Plus Moisturizing Exfoliating Gel
8. MoonPearl Vitalizing Cream
A few sachets and single use items; I’ve been trying to draw down on my huge stack of sachets and they’re only enough for one use so I don’t remember much about them.
9. DHC Deep Cleansing Oil
My favourite cleansing oil; it removes makeup really well, leaves the skin feeling really soft and supple, but doesn’t leave an oily film behind because it emulsifies with water.
10. Colgate Toothpaste
I dislike the taste of Colgate toothpaste but I ran out of my Sensodyne ones, so I stole this from the husband because he prefers Colgate.
11. Gillette Satin Care for Sensitive Skin
I’ve been wondering if people have stopped shaving these days because it’s really hard to find these shaving creams! I like these creams because they are really soft and pillowy, which makes the shave so much smoother and not itchy.
12. Biore Cleansing Wipes
I’ve used a ton of these; I actually don’t like it because the sheets are very small so I have to use a lot just to wipe off a face of makeup, but it’s nice to have during flights when you don’t want to have to wash your face in the airplane’s tiny toilet as the packaging is so small.
13. It Cosmetics Our Skin But Better CC+
This is my most recent favourite foundation. Even though it’s called a CC cream, I find it to be closer to a true full coverage foundation than the real Korean CC creams which are much more lightweight and light in coverage. I love that it has SPF50 but still photographs well and isn’t very thick, and has fantastic coverage. I have already repurchased.
14. Sephora Triple Action Cleansing Water
This is quite nice actually; it removed makeup quite well and didn’t sting or blur my eyes.
15. Kora Organics Cream Cleanser for Dry Skin
Got this as part of a set that I bought off Sephora. The cleanser is quite nice – feels nourishing for my dry skin especially since I was using it during Winter in a cold country.
16. Kora Organics Foaming Cleanser for Oily/Combination Skin
I don’t have oily or combination skin but a friend gave the set to me and I thought I’ll just try it out. It’s not bad really; it wasn’t as drying as I thought it would be.
17. Jelly Pong Pong Goji Blush
I got this in a Beauty Box; the colour is quite pretty – a soft pink with some shimmers, but what I really love about it is how flat the packaging is. Because of the size, I bring it everywhere when I have to save on space – and I’m a little sad now that it’s used up.
18. Penhaligons Vaara
One of my favourite Penhaligons scents – I have several of these in various sizes, mostly in tiny vials like this or roll-ons, because I’d cry if I broke a full bottle as it’s so expensive!
19. Real Techniques Sponge
Had this for so long that the sponge is breaking up – still, it was actually still working well and I really like how soft and bouncy it is.
20. Elf Professional Eye Shadow Brush
One of my favourite eye brushes, probably only behind my MAC239 – it’s really affordable and the bristles are nicely packed and picks up and deposits eyeshadows well.
21. Bifesta Cleansing Sheet Moist
My favourite cleansing sheets – the cloths are huge so it doesn’t take so many pieces to remove a full face of makeup; it’s also a lot wetter than most cleansing sheets that I’ve tried – which I like, but I know some people hate that wet feeling.
22. Innisfree Jeju Volcanic Pore Cleansing Foam
I’ve used up a full size of this before; this leaves the skin squeaky clean – which is nice once in a while but too dry for me on a daily basis.
23. Astalift Essence Destiny
24. Astalift Jelly Aquarysta
25. Astalift Moist Lotion
I love Astalift’s Jelly Aquarysta because of its wobbly jelly texture and it somehow also made my skin feel really nice and smooth the next day. I got the minis with purchase of a large jar in Japan – which is great as I got to try out other items in the line. I like the essence – it’s a rather watery orange liquid that isn’t sticky on the skin, but the lotion was less memorable.
That’s all the empties for August! It’s actually quite a fair bit more than usual, even though they’re mainly mini sizes. I love keeping the minis to bring on holidays because I can throw them out along the way, which makes space in my luggage to buy some new local items.
Technology is such a huge part of our lives that we barely think about the negative impact it has on relationships – we weren’t aware that we would be cut off from all communications but we’re grateful for it, because I got to spend such a wonderful quality time with my husband – we chatted, we laughed, we played board games, and read books together. As a couple I think we do quite well in terms of not letting technology get in the way when we are together – no phones at the dinner table and no computers or TVs in the bedroom – but when you have no access to it in a place where there aren’t any shops or pubs open nearby, I’m so happy that we didn’t miss the technology and we weren’t bored for a second.
That was a really random thought but it’s something that I really wanted to write about – I live in a developed city and everywhere you go, people are always on their phones, even during dinner. I always see people staring at their phones even when out in a group and it makes me sad. Sometimes there are two people in a fine dining restaurant busy taking photos of the food instead of making a proper conversation with each other or enjoying the taste. Times like this makes me wonder about human evolution and what future relationships would be like, and right now it seems dim.
Anyway, that’s all for now! Have you used up any items recently? And would you be willing to travel to a really remote place with no contact with the outside world except your travelling partner for weeks?
The Good Life Bunny 