Used & Abused – Product Empties

It’s been a while since I did one of these posts so I’m long overdue.  As you can see from the picture above, I’ve been hanging on to all these empty and used up products for a while and it was time to finally throw them out – and share my thoughts on them with you!  I’ve combined products into categories for ease of reading.

HAIR PRODUCTS

Batiste Dry Shampoo:  I’ve used up 3 bottles of this (possibly more – I may have inadvertently thrown out a couple) so I obviously like it.  I’ve tried others, and they just don’t compare.  I can get away with only washing my hair 2-3 times a week versus every day (my hair is fine and greases up easily).  It absorbs oil and gives me a little bit of volume and it smells great.  I used to be able to get the Cherry scent here but for a while now I’ve only been able to find the floral, fresh and tropical scents.  The fresh scent isn’t my favourite – reminds me of laundry soap.  I don’t mind the floral version, but out of the 3, the tropical scent is my favourite.  Lastly, you can’t beat the price of these – I typically purchase them at Winners or Homesense and pay $6.99 a bottle.  A bottle typically lasts me 2 weeks, which given how much I use it, is impressive.

Repurchase: Yes

Amika Undone Texture Spray: This past summer I visited the Birchbox store and made my own Birchbox.  I included this in my box and was really excited to try it out.  My first impression of this wasn’t great and unfortunately my opinion didn’t change after I finished this up.  It kind of clumped and tangled my hair together and left it a matted mess.  You can read the review here.

Repurchase?: No

Aveda Color Conserve Shampoo:  The salon I go to is an Aveda exclusive salon (meaning they only use Aveda products) and my hairdresser uses this shampoo on me every time I’m in for a cut and colour.  This isn’t the first bottle I’ve gone through – I’ve used this off and on over the last few years.   I’ve usually been pretty happy with it but going through this last bottle made me realize that it dries out my hair. And my hair already tends to be dry given that its colour-treated and subjected to heat styling each day.  So I finished this up but I don’t see myself purchasing this again.

Repurchase: No

Kenra Volume Spray Super Hold Finishing Spray 25: This is another product that I’ve been using for quite a while – at least two years  I think.  I bought it after hearing Kate Bryan from the Small Things Blog (one of my favourite bloggers who has the most fabulous hair) rave about it and highly recommend it.  And when I first started using, I did like it.  It’s a very fine finishing spray that provides a medium to strong hold.  It takes a lot to get this to build up and feel stiff or sticky.  Which is a good thing!  But my hair is weird and after a while products just seem to stop working for me.  Which is what happened with this.  About halfway through this can, I just couldn’t get it to hold my bangs in place, or my style in place.  So I finished it up and looked for something else.

Repurchase: No

Living Proof Prime Style Extender: This is the first product I ever tried from Living Proof.  Initially I was intrigued by this because my hair tends to fall flat with even the slightest bit of humidity or with a tiny gust of wind.  Given that ‘stye extender’ was in the name, I thought I could benefit from this.  And it definitely does work.  I’d apply a dime size of this to freshly washed hair before any using any of my usual styling products and then I’d style as usual.  Despite adding an extra product to my lineup, I appreciated that doing so didn’t add any buildup or greasiness to my hair (which I’m prone to).  And, my style definitely lasted longer (although it wasn’t completely fool-proof).  The only thing I don’t like about this is the price.  Unfortunately none of Living Proofs’ products are cheap and the full-size of this runs for about $25.  I always purchased the travel size for $15 and it would last me about 6 months.  So given that this lasts a while, I can justify the price.

Repurchase: Yes

Living Proof No Frizz Shampoo & Conditioner:  I picked these up for travel purchases and because I wanted to give their no frizz line a try.  I typically don’t experience frizz when humidity hits – my hair just goes flat.  This specifically stated it blocked humidity so I was interested to see if it would work for me.  Unfortunately I didn’t find it worked great for that particular purpose.  I still suffered from flat hair on humid days.  I did notice that this made my hair feel noticeably smoother though.  So perhaps if frizz is your nemesis, this may work great!

Repuchase: No

FACE PRODUCTS

Sephora Collection Triple Action Cleansing Water: I did a full review on this earlier this year and nothings changed, I still love it.  This is my go-to makeup remover and I’ve been using it for years.  It’s a little pricey but it’s gentle on my skin and so effective!  I use it daily.  Love that it comes in pump form too!

Repurchase: Yes

St. Ives Even & Bright Pink Lemon & Mandarin Orange Scrub: This was one of products I first reviewed on my blog and at the time, I loved it.  It smelled so.freaking.good, it was just the right amount of scrubbiness and the price was right.  Then I discovered (surprise, surprise!), it was causing breakouts.  Seriously, sometimes it feels like there’s nothing I can use! So I stopped using it on my face and used it in the shower instead, just to use it up.  I honestly think if you can use this and not breakout from it that its one of the best drugstore scrubs out there though.

Repurchase: No

L’Oreal Sublime Soft Gentle Micellar Solution: When I ran out of the Sephora makeup remover/micellar water noted above and I couldn’t make it to Sephora, I picked this up at Shopper’s Drug Mart to hold me over.  I didn’t really expect to like it but I was pleasantly surprised.  I felt this performed similarly to the Sephora option, although it didn’t quite take off my eye makeup as well.  In addition, I hated the packaging.  There’s no pump, so I had to “pour” it onto a cotton pad and rarely did it always go where I intended, or distribute as much (or as little) as I wanted.  I think I got this on sale for $6.99 but I definitely wouldn’t pay more than that for it – if you’re comparing it to Sephora’s version , this actually ends up being more expensive so I probably wouldn’t re-purchase this unless I was in a bind.

Repuchase: Yes and no (explanation above)

BATH & BODY

Bath & Body Works Deep Cleansing Hand Soap (Bourbon Street Buttercream): I love BB&W hand soaps but I won’t purchase the deep cleansing type any longer.  I didn’t realize these contain polyethylene (aka microbeads), which if you weren’t aware, are super bad for the environment (read more about it here).  I now only purchase the foaming hand soaps and hopefully B&BW will take action to remove microbeads from all of their products soon.  FYI this scent is no longer available but it was nice but nothing special – similar to a vanilla cupcake.

Repurchase: No

Bath & Body Works Body Scrub (Vanilla Bean Noel): This is by far, my favourite BB&W scent.  I love it so much that last year, I purchased this body scrub.  I didn’t realize this had glitter in it – which at first I thought I would hate but it didn’t stick to my skin so that wasn’t an issue.  Unfrotunately this also contains polyethylene so I won’t be repurchasing it.  Which is too bad because I actually felt like it worked pretty well.  Not worth sacrificing our oceans for though!

Repurchase; No

Cake Supremely Rich Bath & Shower Gel (Desserted Island): I’ve spoken about these bubble baths/shower gels previously and how much I love them.  I find these giant bottles at Winners or HomeSense for $14.99 and they last me months of religious use.  They work really well as a bubble bath or as a shower gel but I mainly use them for bubble bath.  Using just a dollop in the bathtub results in a generous amount of frothy bubbles that last a while.  Plus these all smell amazing – this particular scent smells slightly sweet and of coconut.  Highly recommend these guys!

Repurchase: Yes

HAND LOTIONS

The Body Shop Almond Hand & Nail Cream: If you can’t tell, I go through a lot of hand lotions.  This one was a bit of a letdown for me.  First impression was that I liked it – it seemed moisturizing and the scent was pleasant.  But the more I used this the more I realized how overpowering the smell of this was. It’s supposed to be almond scented, but in my opinion it was more perfume-like.  Plus, I HATED the packaging – I could never get the cap back on and when I neared the end, trying to squeeze the last drop out of this squishy foil material is next to impossible.

Repurchase?: No

L’Occitane Shea Hand Cream: This is a classic hand cream that I always end up going back to…because it actually works.  It has a very light, pleasant scent and the shea butter moisturizes my hands without feeling greasy or oily.  You can’t go wrong with this.

Repurchase: Yes

EOS Hand Lotion (Berry Blossom): I’m not a fan of EOS lip products so I’m not sure why I bought this.  Figured it would be easy to throw in my purse I guess.  And it was.  And it smells good.  But that’s where the positives ends.  This could possibly be one of the worst hand lotions I’ve ever used.  It had such a thin consistency that I barely felt like I had put hand cream on; plus it had zero moisturizing benefits.  I hated the hard plastic bottle too – guaranteed there’s still product in there but it’s so hard that you can’t even squeeze it out.  Wouldn’t recommend this.

Repurchase?: No

The Body Shop Coconut Hand Cream:  I love coconut scented things and this was a pretty good one!  It smelled authentically like coconut but it was a light scent, nothing too strong.  The lotion itself was light but it absorbed well and left my hands feeling soft and moisturized – for a couple hours anyway.  I wouldn’t say it’s the most moisturizing lotion I’ve ever used but it was a good one for the summer when I don’t need intense moisture.

Repurchase; Yes

Soap & Glory Hand Food: Soap & Glory is not a widely available brand around these parts; a few of the Shopper’s Drug Marts close to me have a small selection of their products, usually situated on an end of an aisle. I came across this travel sized hand cream in the clearance section and it sounded interesting so I bought it.  I think I paid $4 for it which was reasonable.  What I loved most about this was the scent – it smelled like sparkling lemonade.  The hand cream itself was pretty good too – it was thicker so I definitely noticed a difference after using this.  This did take a bit of time to absorb into my skin though. Despite that, if I can ever find this again, I’d definitely re-purchase it.

Repurchase?: Yes

Nivea Smooth Replenishing Hand Cream : Another travel sized version to throw in my purse.  This to me was just your everyday drugstore hand lotion.  Had the slight perfumey scent and was pretty basic, despite having macadamia nut oil in it.   I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it.  Don’t see myself picking it up in the full-size though!

Repurchase?: No

MASCARAS

Maybelline the Colossal Volum’ Express: I did a review on this back in the Spring (read it here) and I don’t really have anything new to report.  I still think this is a really good mascara, the only thing I don’t like about it is that it can flake off a bit and it has a scent (which confuses me).  You don’t get intense volume or length with this but it its a good everyday mascara.

Repurchase: Yes

Maybelline the Mega Plush Volum Express: Another decent mascara that I reviewed back in June (review here); in short I wasn’t too fond of the flexible brush but overall it got the job done.  This didn’t give me mile-long, super thick lashes by any means but I like having mascaras like this on hand when I just want something fool-proof and easy to apply.

Repurchase: Yes

LIP PRODUCTS

Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment (Rose):  I’ve gone through a few of these tinted lip balms over the years and I must say that I do like them.  They are super moisturizing and they add a nice hint of colour to your lips (in this case a light rosy hue).  I think they’re a good thing to have in your purse, in the event that you forgot your lipstick or other lip product.  What deters me from buying these regularly is the price – I just find $26 steep for what this is. Plus it annoys me that the lettering rubs off.  And I didn’t like the rose scent of this.  Still, I’ll probably continue to purchase these once or twice a year – usually as an impulse buy.

Repurchase: Yes

Lancome – Baume In Love: I have no idea why I purchased this or even when.  Am I the only one that does that?  I think this may be the only Lacome product I’ve ever owned, perhaps ever own.  It’s not a brand I tend to gravitate to – but maybe I’m missing out?  Anyway, this was another sheer tinted balm; don’t see myself re-purchasing this one though.  It left my lips a slightly toned down version of a hot pink so I wasn’t fond of the shade.  It provided okay moisture but I feel like I must have had rocks in my head when I decided to pay $32 for this.  I can get similar results with something way cheaper.

Repurchase: No

And that’s all of it!  Phew, that seemed like a lot.  If you tried any of these products let me know how they worked for you!  And if you read right until the bitter end or even if you just skimmed through, as always, thanks for reading!