Empties: December 2012

Hello, 2013! I hope everyone had a great New Year's! Of course I'm starting the New Year with an empties post. In the past year, I have finished 180 products, which is kind of ridiculous. I'm still debating as to whether or not I will continue doing empties posts this year. I started doing them because I thought it'd be interesting to see how many products I finish up in a single year, but unlike many others, I'm not doing it to reduce my product consumption. I may continue to do it just as motivation to finish products that I have no interest in using anymore, but we shall see! This post is, of course, dedicated to the original Beauty Reductionista, Liz. Without further ado, here is my empties tally, collected from December 1 to December 31:

• Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Honey Drops Body Cream (238 g)
• Glysomed Hand Cream (50 ml)
• Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Conditioner (675 ml)
• L'Oréal Elnett Satin The Finest Hairspray — Strong Hold (365 ml)
• Boscia Blotting Linens — Green Tea (100 sheets)
• Origins Have A Nice Day Super-Charged Moisture Lotion (50 ml)
• MAC Lightful Marine-Bright Formula Serum (30 ml)
• Chanel Hydra Beauty Serum Hydration Protection Radiance (30 ml)
• Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex (7 ml)
• MAC Haute & Naughty Too Black Lash Mascara (9 g)
• Method Hand Wash — Juicy Pear (355 ml)
• Method Foaming Hand Wash — Waterfall (300 ml)
• Shiseido Facial Cotton (80 g)

Total: 13 products (12 full size, 1 sample size)

Bodycare/Haircare:

Elizabeth Arden Green Tea Honey Drops Body Cream (238 g) — I actually bought this a few years ago during one of Elizabeth Arden's Buy One Get One Free sales. I was mildly obsessed with this cream back then, and I totally forgot that I had bought this because it was buried in my "overstock drawer." But I finished the tub in December and fell in love with it all over again. It's a rich cream with little beads of honey in it for extra moisturization, and it smells amazing (if you've smelled Arden's Green Tea fragrance, that's what this stuff smells like). Makes my skin feel and smell fantastic.

Re-purchase? Yes, but only during their BOGO sale.

Glysomed Hand Cream (50 ml) — My hands get extra-chapped in the winter because on top of being a smoker in cold weather, I also sanitize my hands a lot and I am also eczema-prone. My hands get so dry that they start peeling, cracking, splitting, and ultimately bleeding. Yes, it is painful. None of my fancy hand creams seemed to be working to repair the damage, so my mom told me to use Glysomed because that's what doctors prescribe. And what do you know? Mom was right. I use it overnight and by morning, any cracks and cuts are visibly healed. I can't recommend this enough for people whose hands suffer like mine do in cold weather. And get the scented version; the unscented one doesn't work as well.

Re-purchase? Yes! And it's cheap to boot!

Pantene Pro-V Aqua Light Conditioner (675 ml) — Bought this on sale at Wal-Mart with one of Janetta's coupons, so I think I got this massive bottle of conditioner for like, $3. I find the scent a touch overwhelming, but it's an otherwise amazing hair conditioner. The Aqua Light formula is fantastic at detangling and making my hair feel soft but not weighed down. Pantene still wins out as my favourite drugstore hair line.
Re-purchase? Yes. 

L'Oréal Paris Elnett Satin The Finest Hairspray — Strong Hold (365 ml) — I believe this marks the first ever can of hairspray I have ever finished. It took me like, two years, but I did it! There is a lot of hype over Elnett since it became available here a few years ago, and it has spawned many new lovers and haters alike, but I am firmly in the love it camp. I use it to hold my hair when I'm wearing it up and it literally does not budge when it's in. But when I want to wear my hair down later in the day, it brushes through beautifully and easily, and doesn't leave a residue. This one does have a fragrance, which I am indifferent to, but they make a fragrance-free one now.
Re-purchase? Yes, I just bought a new one.

Skincare:

Boscia Blotting Linens — Green Tea (100 sheets) — My favourite blotting sheet of all time.

Re-purchase? Yes, I always have a back-up.

Origins Have A Nice Day Super-Charged Moisture Lotion (50 ml) — I bought this at the Origins store when I was in New York in September. I have combination-to-oily skin, so my T-zone is insanely oily and my cheeks are dehydrated (not to be mistaken for dry; my skin has enough oil, but not enough water). I had been looking for a new day cream, and the beauty advisor there suggested this one. I love everything about it — the lightweight texture, the fast absorption, how it feels on my face, how it makes my skin look, how it sits under make-up — except for the packaging. It doesn't have a pump and it's in a screw bottle which makes it annoying to dispense. That in itself is a dealbreaker.

Re-purchase? No, not unless they change the packaging.

MAC Lightful Marine-Bright Formula Serum (30 ml) — Amazing at evening out skintone. You have to use it to believe it. All the redness in my face was much less noticeable even after a week of use. MAC's Lightful line is essentially their "whitening" line, so it's meant to fade dark spots and even out skintone. I don't know if my beauty marks and freckles are any less noticeable, but it really does help with skintone.

Re-purchase? Yes.

Chanel Hydra Beauty Serum Hydration Protection Radiance (30 ml) — I was looking for a new hydration serum in the early fall, as I like to add another layer of hydration to my skin as the weather gets colder (I have an oily T-zone but the rest of my face lacks water). I decided to try out Chanel's new hydration serum since I had used their older version and really liked it. I love the smell and the texture of the serum, but I didn't find that it made my skin feel or look much more hydrated. I really wanted to love it, because Chanel hasn't let me down yet with the skincare I've tried, but this one just wasn't enough for me. My cheeks still felt tight and was still prone to flaking. I'm sticking to my Dior one.
Re-purchase? No. 

Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair Synchronized Recovery Complex (7 ml) — As much skincare as I buy and use, I credit this serum as single-handedly fixing all my skin problems. I thought it was just for old people with wrinkles and dry skin (the opposite of what I have), so I was totally wary of using it... but within a week, my skin was clearer, smoother, more radiant, more hydrated. It makes pimples heal and scars fade faster. My skin's texture has never been better. Seriously a skin saver, if there ever was one. I've accumulated a ton of deluxe samples of the stuff from all their GWPs, so I'm going through all of them first before getting a new bottle.
Re-purchase? Yes. 

Make-up:

MAC Haute & Naughty Too Black Lash Mascara (9 g) — Still my favourite mascara to date.
Re-purchase? Yes, I always have two back-ups.

Miscellaneous:

Method Hand Wash — Juicy Pear (355 ml) — I generally switch to Method's hand washes during winter because I find them a bit less harsh than Bath & Body Work's Anti-Bacterial ones. My hands get insanely dry when the weather gets cold, and I have found that the B&BW ones make my hands significantly worse. The Method ones still clean really well and smell amazing but are a bit more gentle. And Juicy Pear smells exactly as it sounds, which is amazing.
Re-purchase? Yes!

Method Foaming Hand Wash — Waterfall (300 ml) — Read above. I switch between the foaming and non-foaming versions. Waterfall is one of my favourite scents by Method, and it's appealing to both sexes. While Juicy Pear is obviously more sweet and fruity, Waterfall is more fresh and you know, ocean-y.
Re-purchase? Yes!  

Shiseido Facial Cotton (80 g) — Best cotton pads, ever. Ridiculously soft and fluff-free, and holds product better than any other cotton pad out there, so you end up needing less product. And before you think $9 is too steep for a package of cotton pads, think again. In terms of cost per pad, it's about the same as your typical drugstore brand. Also amazing to use to remove nail polish, because it holds remover like no other so it's always soaked.
Re-purchase? Yes, I always buy two packs at a time.

This marks my one-year anniversary of doing empties posts! Yay!