Empties #3 | Products I've Used Up + Mini Reviews

Hellooooo! I have a big empties for you all. It's a couple of months or maybe even more, worth of used products. I have been using these until the last drop or it's finished and have been keeping them in a bag aside. So I was really ready to get rid of these because it's basically trash. So here we go!

☆ Pantene Dry Shampoo - This has become my favourite dry shampoo. It's very inexpensive, doesn't leave white cast on darker hair which is amazing and I like the shampoo smell it gives my hair.

☆ Clean & Clear Facial Cleansing Wipes - I love these wipes. I use them all the time, the cloth is really soft and gentle on my sensitive skin, really saturated with makeup remover. Doesn't sting my eyes and totally love them.

☆ Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser and Moisturizing Lotion - I like the cleanser. It's gentle on my sensitive skin, doesn't break me out, cleans my face and leaves it feeling smooth and clean. The moisturizer i wasn't a big fan of. I got tiny bumps when I used this so it might have been a reaction even though this claim to be for sensitive skin, I didn't enjoy using it and also, it wasn't enough moisture for my dry skin. Absolutely no scent in either of these which I loved but like the cleanser, not the moisturizer unfortunately.

☆ Loreal Voluminous Mascara, Benefit They're Real Mascara and two of Tarte Lights Camera Flashes Mascara - I loved all of these 3 different type of mascaras. the wand is all plastic which is my favourite kind. As long as the want is plastic, I will like the mascara most of the time. In this case, it was the same. I really enjoyed using these three. didn't smudge, or irritate my eyes. Separated my lashes and no clump which I hate clumpy lashes personally.

☆ Yves Rocher Felt Tip Liner - I really like this eyeliner. It has a marker type felt tip instead of a brush and it is very stiff which I enjoy because if it moved around a lot, it would ruin the straight line of my liner. Over all, I like this and it's a normal black liquid felt tip liner. yea

☆ Tarte C-Brighter Eye Cream - I have used 2 smaller size and 2 regular sizes of this eye cream. I really enjoy it. It has vitamin C which is my favourite to use on my skin. It moisturizes the eye area, doesn't sting or make my eyes water, which some eye creams do. It hydrates and overall, a really good eye cream in my opinion. 

☆ Bath and Body Works Body Lotions in Country Chic and Amber Blush - these both have a more sweet scent so I prefer to use them in winter or colder months. In warmer months or summer, I enjoy more fresh, beach-y scents. Both of these smelled great and I love them during winter. But I have to say, these are light moisturizers and I have extremely dry skin during winter and I felt like it wasn't enough moisture for my skin. So I would either put on multiple layers of them on and use it with a more thicker lotion for my body. I love these so much, but unfortunately it's just not enough for my dry skin. I will keep using them but maybe more in the summer months or just use it with other moisturizers.

☆ Clean & Clear Soothing Eye Makeup Remover - I love this one so much just like the wipes. I use the wipes on my face, this on my eyes because it removes the eye makeup so much better than a wipe would specially mascara. This is two parts, one makeup remover, the other is an oil which I mix then remove the eye makeup. It's very gentle yet removes the makeup so easily there's no need for tugging or rubbing the eyes. I will always go back to this.

☆ Urban Decay Chill Makeup Setting Spray - I believe the packaging has changed again on these... the packaging keeps on changing and changing, I had the old white packaging and now I am actually trying out All Nighter which is still white for mine, maybe they changed it right after I had bought mine, I don't know. By now I have used the de-slick, chill and all nighter, and I have to say, I will go back to Chill setting spray after I am finished with all nighter. Chill was so amazing and cooling yet, hydrated my dry skin and I remember loving it. Now I don't know if the ingredient is any different on these or maybe it's my imagination, but I prefer Chill over the other two.

☆ Avalon Organics Vitamin C Renewal Cream - I love vitamin C but this started to break me out so I used it on my body during winter because the cream is thick and my skin loved it. it's not a body lotion or moisturizer or anything but I didn't want it to go to waste skin my face didn't approve. 

☆ Spectro Cleanser for dry skin - I got a small sample of this from my dermatologist and really liked it and bought the bigger size and I love it, even more than the Cetaphil. Both of them are found in the drug store and have become my two cleansers that I switch between. I feel like when I use higher end skin care, my skin can't handle the extra ingredients so I have decided to stick to simple skin care from drugstore and my skin has been liking it a lot.

So there you have it, a mini review of all the products I have used up. The products piled up because I hadn't had the time to write a post about them, but now that I am back at blogging, I don't think the next empties will be as big as this one. Hope you enjoyed, let me know what products you have used up lately and leave your comments in the section below.

Don't forget to G+1 and follow my blog for more reviews to come. I'm always happy to have more blogging friends!

Empties #1 | Products I've Used Up + Would I Repurchase?

So this is officially my first empties post. I have seen a few of these types of topics on YouTube, and since I don't do videos, I thought why not share them here with you, on my blog. I'm not calling these monthly empties because these are not from one particular month. I hate trash, who doesn't, and I can't for the life of me, understand how people can keep a bag full of empty beauty products just to share them in a video or in my case, blog post. So yes I tried, and I kept those I remembered to actually keep. One funny thing is that, the videos I have seen on this topic, is like monthly empties and there are so much products, so I am like, how many things do you go through in a month? I don't know maybe it's just me, but I don't go through products that fast, even the ones I use on a daily basis.

1. Clean & Clear Persa-Gel 5 & 10 : This is an acne medication with Benzoyl Peroxide. I would use a dot of it on wherever I have a breakout, or even feel one coming on. This stuff used to work really well for me, it would dry out any breakout, but after a while, I guess my skin either got used to it, or it wasn't enough, because after a while I just didn't see results anymore. So I stopped using it and it took so long that it has expired. It's going into the trash and I'm not repurchasing it.

2. Clean & Clear Invisible Blemish Treatment : This is another acne treatment but with Salicylic Acid. This never really did anything for me. After a while I realized Salicylic Acid does nothing for my breakouts. That's why I tried the cream I mentioned above with Benzoyl Peroxide. I have nothing to say about this really. It didn't work for me, so I stopped using it. Now I'm getting rid of it, because it has been sitting in my drawer for too long for it to be any good.

3. Freeman Feeling Beautiful Diamond Mineral Risk Mask : I used this mask during the month of December mostly, a little into January. I have a full post on this which I will link here. I loved using this, It makes my skin super smooth afterwards and I loved how calming and non-irritating it was. It did a little exfoliation as well because of the small "diamond" particles. I really liked it, and I hope my store starts carrying the full size of this, because I will definitely buy it again.

4. Selsun Blue Anti-Dandruff Shampoo : I have very mild, "dandruff" if you could even call it that. I used to use the Head & Shoulder, but it didn't really work, so I somehow found this shampoo in my drugstore. This works, but I find that it can get a little harsh if used frequently. If I use it frequently, I find that it takes all the moisture from my hair and scalp specially, leaves it a little tight if conditioner isn't used, which then results in my hair produce excessive oil to make it not as dry. So I would say, I use it once, maybe twice in a week, then definitely follow with conditioner, and I get the best results. I will definitely repurchase this, but I don't need to do it that often, since I use very small amount of it each time.

5. Mario Badescu Drying Lotion : I did a full post on this a while back which I will link right here. This is pretty famous for acne treatment. It's a spot treatment, and has been the most effective product I have used out of all the acne treatments you can get from different brands (excluding medication dermatologists prescribe). This stuff works wonders. I truly love it. I would use it at night and leave it on during my sleep, take it off in the morning. It wouldn't fully make my acne disappear, but it would speed up the process. So for example, if it would take a week for a breakout to go away (minus scarring), this would make it a day or two. I would repurchase it if the shipping wasn't so expensive. The cost of this product would be less than the shipping sometimes, I wonder why, since a lot of companies have free shipping nowadays. Not this one for where I live apparently. Also, I don't know any store that carry this either. So yes, I would repurchase this, but I haven't since I finished this bottle and it sort of dried out on me at the end of it.

6. Lancome Youth Activating Concentrate : I was gifted a couple of different Lancome products from my friend, and this little deluxe sample was one of them. It's basically a serum that brings out the youthfulness on the skin. It was a nice serum and it didn't irritate my skin at all. It made it smooth. It was a good, okay serum, but didn't see that much of huge difference to be honest. I still was grateful to have had the chance to try it out. This stuff is pretty expensive, so I don't know about purchasing a full bottle, but I wouldn't mind using another deluxe sample! haha

7. NUDE ProGenius Treatment Oil : I got this at the Sephora checkout, but I didn't use any of my points on it, they just put it in my bag. It's a decent size for sample. This is a face oil. It doesn't have any particular fragrance to it, it smells like oil I guess. I guess this was a little too much vitamins or something for my face. The skin of my face wasn't too fond of this, it got irritated and tiny whiteheads appeared, but I didn't want to get rid of it completely, so I used it on the back of my hands and it works just like any beauty oil I guess. My hands love this though, and it made the skin super moisturized and smooth. This is another expensive skin care item that I wouldn't mind using if I got it as a sample, but I wouldn't purchase a full bottle of it.

8. Nivea Hydro Care Lip Balm : I love this lip balm with all my heart. It's hydrating and moisturizing at the same time. I never have dry lips when I use this stuff after exfoliating or just by itself. I love how thin it is, because I hate thick lip balms for during the day, I love to use thicker lip balms for night time when I'm sleep so my lips can bathe in them. During the day, I love to use this. It's not super thin that it doesn't last long or fades or anything. It's just comfortable on the lips and lasts a for quite some time. I use this even under any lipstick, and it works as an awesome lip primer. It has a very faint sweet scent but nothing too overwhelming, and it's not vanilla or sugar smell, I don't know. I just know that it smells good, works more than great and I will definitely repurchase this again. In fact I have a new one waiting to be opened by me.

So that's it guys for this empties post. I'm really proud of myself to have kept all these to do a post about it. It just irks me to keep empty products, when I can just get rid of them and not occupy any space for them. I will still try my best to keep my empty, used beauty products and share them with you in a future post.

What products have you used up lately? You are more than welcome to share them with me in the comments down below.

Don't forget to G+1 and follow my blog for more reviews to come. I'm always happy to have more blogging friends!

Lots of love,
Dina
♥

Moroccanoil Hair Treatment - Review

"A unique formula rich in antioxidant argan oil that instantly absorbs into hair to immediately enhance manageability, shine and deliver long term conditioning without leaving residue."

Winter weather equals dryness, on every level for me. So I brought back out this Moroccan oil treatment to give my hair some pampering, if you will.


This hair treatment comes in a pump like glass bottle. It's rich and oily in texture. It smells amazing, I absolutely love the smell. They should come out with a perfume if they haven't already haha. I like to apply this to my hair right when I get out of the shower, so my hair is wet and I like to keep it towards the end rather than the roots to keep my hair from getting oily. I recommend using it on wet hair because it distributes so much easier, rather that on dry hair. A little of this goes a long way and I don't even use a full pump, maybe not even half a pump for my length of hair. This makes my hair smell amazing, it tames frizz if it gets humid outside, which it rarely happens in winter, and tames the flyaways. My hair tends to get sort of staticky sometimes during the colder months, so I find that this oil treatment helps a lot to prevent that from happening. I'm pretty sure this can work as a detangler as well. I personally don't have tangles in my hair, so I don't have that issue but I imagine it would work great for that.

Since I mostly reach for this during winter, and when I do, I use a little amount, this oil treatment has lasted me quite a while. I totally love this and I recommend it to anyone who likes to use hair oils.

Do you use any treatments like this on your hair? What are your favourite hair products?

Post your comments down below, I will be more than happy to read them and reply.

Don't forget to G+1 and follow my blog for more reviews to come. I'm always happy to have more blogging friends!

Lots of love,
Dina
♥ 

John Frieda Frizz-Ease Miraculous Recovery Crème Serum - Review

Happy Thanksgiving to all Canadians out there. I had an amazing long weekend and I hope you did too!! Now back to business haha

Today I'm doing a review on this Miraculous Recovery Crème Serum by John Frieda Frizz-Ease. As much as I am into makeup, skincare and beauty in general, I don't really buy or try out a bunch of different hair products. My guess is that is because I don't have much issues with my hair. I think it manages to look how I want it without hair products really. The only "issue" I could think of is my hair can get frizzy when humid. Now where I live, it does get humid in the summer sometimes, when it's overcast or rainy or whatever. Those days I don't even mess with my hair, I just throw it up in a ponytail or bun or something, so it's out of my face and I don't notice the frizz. That's for when I have long hair. but short hair, no ponytail or bun is doable. So that's when this product comes in. 

This product claims on the packaging to: 

-Transform dry frizzy hair to silky smooth

-Tame frizz

-Repair damage and split ends. 

*Can be used on wet or dry hair, formulated for medium-thick, wavy-curly hair, all levels of frizz*

The creme serum is like a creamy milky texture, smells really nice, a little goes a long way since I have shorter hair now. I apply after shower on damp hair from about my ears down. It does make my hair smooth and somewhat controls the frizz. I don't have frizzy hair everyday, as I said it gets that way when it is really humid. On the days that are not humid, this product works great and smooths my hair which is great. On the really humid day which my hair is like a frizzy mess, this didn't really tame anything for me. Now maybe it's just my hair that this product doesn't work for that much? because I have heard some people that like this product and works for them perfectly. I don't know. I will keep using it and finish it of course. Since it works when the humidity is lower. I'm not sure if I'll repurchase it again. I might want to try something else.

What is your favourite hair product for frizzy hair? post your comments down below. I will be more that happy to read them

Lots of love,
Dina
♥

Biosilk Silk Therapy Hair Trio - Review

Personally, I am a big fan of the Biosilk silk Therapy hair oil, so when I saw this trio, I was more than happy to try out the shampoo and conditioner as well.

shampoo, oil, conditioner

I have to say, if you are a fan of the smell of the hair oil, the shampoo and conditioner have the same scent which is really great. I noticed that the smell of the hair oil lingers, but when I use all three in my routine, my hair has the scent for a longer amount of time.

The shampoo lathers really well and not a lot of product was needed for my shoulder length hair to get that foamy lathered feel which I love. The conditioner was good as well, and the hair oil as I said before is one of my favourites and a pea size amount is more than enough for my hair. The smell is great as well, I think most would like it but it doesn't hurt to smell it before purchasing in case it's not the scent for you. It has like a sweet smell? I'm bad at describing scent honestly but what I can tell you guys is that it does not have that minty fresh shower smell like most shampoos do. So I recommend smelling before purchasing!! :)

I actually am very pleased with this trio. I think it would also be a good gift as well if you could find it to buy it! haha
Since it includes the tree steps for hair. If I see this trio, I might purchase it again, but then I wont go out of my way to get it either. I have the hair oil bottle not even halfway used, so I'm just going to use other shampoo an conditioners I have for now.

Have you used any of the Biosilk products? What are your thoughts on it?

Lots of love,
Dina
♥