When you read this, I will be recuperating after my 30th birthday celebrations, but because I am DILIGENT and CONSCIENTIOUS I made sure to write this far in advance! Aren’t I good? We’re diving back into the bin to look at what I’ve used up over the last few months — I have somehow started releasing these empties posts quarterly, which looks planned but absolutely isn’t. My face keeps a schedule, seemingly.
I was feeling pretty spicy when I wrote this, so… prepare yourselves.
Kate Somerville Age Arrest Anti-Wrinkle Cream
First of all, I hate the term ‘anti-wrinkle’ because nothing is really ‘anti-wrinkle’ except Botox. This is a nice moisturiser full of peptides, algae, hyaluronic acid, and something called Telo-5 technology — I looked it up, saw that it had something to do with the caps on the ends of strands of DNA, and promptly short-circuited. I do believe in science and skincare but sometimes… anyway. The product was suitably moisturising, my DNA is probably unaffected, I will carry on regardless.
I had never used a cleansing oil before this one (more of a balm gal) but now I’m fully on board. It removed every bit of my makeup without drying out my skin. A simple, effective first cleanse.
I ran out of Vitamin C and thought this would do the job, but friends, it did not do the job. Coenzyme Q10 is an antioxidant naturally present in our skin that protects it from pollution and those cool-sounding-but-evil free radicals. It’s often packaged with Vitamin C in skincare and has been proven to work, but this product just didn’t give me what I like. I bought the Pestle & Mortar Vitamin C 2-Phase Serum to replace it and my skin brightened up almost immediately. I will never be without a Vitamin C serum again! It cannot happen!
Ultraceuticals Ultra UV Protective Daily Moisturiser SPF 30 Hydrating
It’s often said that Australians make the best sun care, since they get quite a lot of it and all. Ultraceuticals is a cosmeceutical (cosmetics/pharmaceutical) brand from Oz that launched here a few years back — I like a moisturising SPF for the speediness of it all and, on application, this appeared to give plenty of hydration. However, my skin would start to look greasy as the day wore on, which doesn’t really happen to me anymore (age! It giveth and it taketh away). Not my favourite out of the many, many SPFs I have tried.
Origins Clear Improvement Mask
There’s nothing like a clay mask for your nose pores. The Origins one is often touted as one of the best, and I can’t disagree. I apply this to my T-zone, leave it for a couple of minutes, rinse, and admire my cleared-out pores. There’s something very old-school about clay masks in this time of rubber masks and bubble masks and whatever you’re having yourself, but they’re probably the most hardworking of the bunch. Go on ye little grey good tings.
Elixinol Skin CBD Eye Contour
The more I think about this eye serum, the more I realise what I actually liked was the cooling effect of the rollerball applicator. This was light — almost too light to feel like it was actually achieving anything. Next time I’ll just put cold spoons under my eyes. (I actually can’t seem to find this brand for sale in Ireland anymore, hence the lack of links.)
L’Oreal Elvive Dream Lengths Wonder Water
I bought this after seeing SEVERAL beauty journalists raving about it and… I’m not wholly convinced. It’s a liquid conditioner that claims to “resurface hair fibres for hair that is 10x smoother with a glassy shine and silky touch.” My hair did feel soft, but it didn’t look particularly smoothened. I wonder if my hair is just too powerful, like Hermione Granger or a pre-makeover Mia Thermopolis. She does not obey the water or listen to its gimmicky promises. Like a wild horse, she runs free.
Elixinol Skin CBD Cleansing Balm
I rarely hate something on the first try but I hated this. I managed to use it twice before its overpowering fragrance, thick texture, and general ineffectiveness had me relegating it to the empties bag. This did not remove all of my makeup — in fact, it laughed in the face of my mascara, which I found quite rude. I didn’t even try to pass it on to someone else because it was just irredeemable. This never happens to me!
Charlotte Tilbury Magic Away Liquid Concealer
...Until it happens twice in one post, LOL. Let me open this by saying that the product itself is fine. It’s a thick, full-coverage concealer, which is sometimes required. I generally prefer the It Cosmetics Bye Bye Undereye for those kinds of jobs, but this still works. However, the packaging! Charlotte, if you are reading — the packaging, a twist-up tube with a foamy applicator, is a joke. I have used and liked the Maybelline Eraser, which has a similar applicator with a thinner formula that’s easier to draw on.
The Tilbury concealer is just too thick for this type of messing — and that’s if you can actually get the lid off first to access the product. I have full use of both hands and I found it absolutely impossible to remove, so I can’t imagine that the packaging is accessible for anyone with arthritis or mobility issues, for example. I’ve seen other people comment on this, so I know I’m not the only one. As you can see, I found it frustrating enough to not finish the product. I think maybe CT should slow down on the new releases and try to perfect its core products... but that’s just my opinion.
Too Faced Born This Way Foundation
Okay, let’s have a little positivity here for a change. I bought this foundation truly, truly ages ago. I should not have hung on to it for as long as I did, but it genuinely looked good until the day it died. It claims to be ‘undetectable,’ which I will dispute — we all know I’m wearing makeup, Mary — but it does have a beautiful, skin-like finish for a higher-coverage foundation. This was my ‘going out’ foundation for a long time, and while it has been unseated by Armani Luminous Silk, I can see myself going back to it in the future. An underrated product from a brand that has otherwise become Benefit 2.0!
A person’s taste in mascara is very personal. I cannot know for sure that you will like this mascara in particular, but I did. It has a huge, proper mascara brush, which is very important to me. I don’t like the plastic comb-y ones — even though I am currently using not one but three plastic comb-y ones. Do I actually like plastic comb-y mascaras after all? Anyway, this one gives you veeeeeerrrry biiiggggg lashes. Add this to my newly-lengthened iGlow lashes and we’re talking scraping-the-lenses-of-my-glasses big. I love it. I don’t put on mascara to be subtle, to be honest. Give me volume, length, AND curl, all day, all the time.
La Roche-Posay Purifying Hand Gel
Just a small segue into the waking nightmare of our New Normal! I don’t know why I photographed this as part of my empties, but anyway, it’s a good hand sanitiser. I decant it into a smaller tube. It doesn’t smell very strongly, nor does it turn my hands to sandpaper. So, you know, two bacteria-free thumbs up.
And we’re back in the room. I’ve mentioned this before and my thoughts are the same: Love it, can’t get enough of it, will repurchase it. A great shower wash.
I’ve also mentioned this before but I’ve recently gotten into it in a big way again. Love it, can’t get enough of it, already started another tube of it. Ten out of ten!
The Inkey List Caffeine Eye Cream
I tend to be on Team Eye Cream. It might be a swizz but isn’t everything, in a way? This one is affordable and very nice indeed. I love the gel texture, which feels just right on that fragile area. Caffeine is an antioxidant and diuretic (translation: it makes ya pee) and, in skincare, helps to reduce puffiness. Look, I’ll take it.
Fresh Black Tea Kombucha Facial Treatment Essence
Oh, here’s a lovely bit of faff! Facial essences are basically pre-serums: totally unnecessary but kind of nice, I guess. This one contains antioxidants and hyaluronic acid — I pressed it on with my hands and then, while my skin was still damp, applied my serum and moisturiser. It smelled gorgeous and felt lovely but I can’t say if it actually did anything, and as such I will not be repurchasing.
This is a companion to the SA Smoothing Cleanser, as you might have guessed, and I love it for the old hammy skin. My legs can’t even see a razor without coming out in red bumps, and this helps to sort them out. I would love to know if any of you guys have bad reactions to shaving — what do you do about it? Have you found a better method of hair removal? I am considering laser because I just can’t do this anymore yet I am not strong enough to give up hair removal completely. What is a lazy, bumpy, hairy gal to do? Seriously.
Elizabeth Arden Prevage City Smart SPF50 Hydrating Shield
Now for an SPF I loved! This is a really nice one — it actually feels hydrating and has a peachy tint that makes your skin look unreal. Seriously, I would feel happy to slap this on and call it a day. I have two issues with it, however: The pump started acting up after a few uses, and towards the end of its life it was a real chore to get any product out. Secondly, it’s €65 for 40ml, which is quite expensive for something you’ll use up in two months or less. Saying that, my other fave (Skingredients’ Skin Shield) is almost as expensive for just slightly more product, so maybe I should shut my damn mouth.
Thank you for reading Vanity Project! I really love doing empties posts so I hope you like them too. I’m already cooking up another post (she’s in a creative mood it seems) so I will see you very soon!