July Empties {v13}

Justen and I have started the task of apartment hunting (YAYYYYYYY!!!!!). I’m a little overwhelmed with the thought of packing everything up and moving out, but I’m also really excited. Honestly, it will be the best thing to help me declutter. It’s one thing to see hundreds of things and decide to keep or put back or organize or something, and it’s another thing to start with an empty space and have to choose to make it cluttery. Cluttery is a new word I just made up, fyi.

Coming to Nashville, I brought a bunch of small sample products so that I could use up more of them while I’m here. I’ve been keeping them in a little drawer in the bathroom and the drawer was getting hard to open, so I figured it’s time to share what I’ve used up in the past two months. I’m trying to do these once a month for a year, so get used to seeing my garbage more often, haha.

I’ve decided to start allowing myself to just THROW THINGS AWAY if I don’t like them. I’m not sure why that’s so freaking hard for me, but it is.

Derma E Scrub
This is one of my favorites. I decided to try a new Derma E scrub after I received a sample of it in Birchbox, but I would and will always recommend this scrub as a product to always have on hand.

Trusted Health Products Amazingly Beautiful Moisturizing Body Serum
I won this from a blog giveaway awhile ago. I’d actually previously won another product from them, which I LOVED and was so excited to win and try. I really love these products. This had an orange scent to it (which Justen noticed and liked, which was a plus!) and it lasted for like… idk… EVER.

Taylor Swift Incredible Things Body Scrub + Body Wash
A few months ago I found this little Taylor Swift gift pack for $4 at Goodwill. Brand new. FOUR DOLLARS. I LOVE the Wonderstruck scent Taylor Swift makes so I assumed I’d like this but… nah. Not really that great. It had kind of a cleaning product scent to it. I’ve used it consistently (just to get rid of it, haha) and it never grew on me.

Simple Micellar Cleansing Water
I got this in a limited edition Birchbox I had ordered, and it had exploded everywhere! I was really looking forward to trying this product so I e-mailed Birchbox and they sent me an entire replacement box! Anyway that’s a random piece of info. I liked this! It was really effective and it lasted a long time. I really love this whole micellar cleansing water thing. Anybody have any tried + true micellar cleansing waters that you’d highly recommend?

Kiehl’s Ultra Facial Oil-Free Gel Cream
Okay so this could be a HUGE coincidence but when I started using this, my face got REALLY dry around my mouth. I’m not sure if it’s because of some other factor, but once I used this up and started using another cream on the dry patches, it healed up. So who even knows.

Vasanti Brighten Up Moisturizer
This was in my string of moisturizers – I liked it. Nothing great. It moisturized and did its job and there you go.

Origins Original Skin Renewal serum
Oh I liked this serum – it wasn’t greasy at all, and it was a little bit tinted which I loved because it wasn’t as obvious if I didn’t rub it in completely. I really like this.

Jurlique Soothing Moisturizing Cream
This stuff was really thick and felt really good applying it, but the smell was awful. Maybe I’ve had it for too long (QUITE POSSIBLE) but yuck. I can’t stop smelling it on my face and I need to immediately wash it off.

Ponds Rejuvenate Wrinkle Cream
I’ve never been able to commit to a moisturizer, and so I’ve supplemented breaks in getting samples from Birchbox with these travel sized Ponds tubs and then I realized that THIS IS AN ANTI WRINKLE CREAM, not just a moisturizer. And again, I’m allowing myself to just throw it away so GOODBYE WRINKLE CREAM THAT ISN’T ACTUALLY A MOISTURIZER.

Those two lipsticks on the left are ones I’m giving to someone else that can rock the bright, bold lipsticks.

Coastal Scents Revealed2 Palette Sampler Ballerina
I actually have the full palette of this! I’m definitely a light/nude/gold/rose gold eye shadow kind of girl, so I used the two colors I love the most and realize that I’ll never use up the last two colors, so I’m just going to toss it here and now. I love this palette because it’s full of really natural colors.

Root G3.5 Pearl Powder Mineral Foundation Sample
The last time I posted an empties recapping the zillions of products I’d been hoarding, I shared that I’d purchased a color of this powder but discovered it wasn’t as great of a match as I’d originally thought so I bought a sample that sealed the deal.

3 Perfume samples
This is from what I’ve written in the Notes app on my phone.

MMM… – Kind of spicy, earthy tones. Has a kick to it.
TokyoMilk – Creamyish scent that I didn’t like.
Other one (I can’t tell what it is!) smelled like cleaner.

Hard pass on all of them.

The Beauty Crop Fabulous Flocking Lashes
I wanted to love this mascara so bad. It’s pink with flamingos, it’s like everything you could ever want in a mascara… oh, except the actual mascara part itself. It was clumpy and then it literally turned into a big swab of mascara – you couldn’t even see the wand. So disappointing.

Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream
I bought this probably way too long ago when I first got into BB Creams and I was traveling and forgot my trusty Dr. Jart+ at home. At first it was too greasy and bronze-y looking, but as I started blending it with other BB creams to tone it down and then eventually started using the Root Pretty powder over it, I actually really started to enjoy this! I won’t buy it again since I LOOOVE the Root Pretty stuff, but I did eventually enjoy this!

Alright y’all, this is month 1 of 12 months of Empties posts. Let’s deplete my beauty sample stash over the next year!

Previous Empties posts here.

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