October Empties

Another month, more empties! I'm really happy that I'm sticking to getting a monthly empties post in, instead of hoarding trash for months at a time. As always, lots and lots of skincare. This month has a decent amount of hair and body care as well. I go through makeup less frequently, but there's a couple of items that I finished up in October. Read on if you're interested in some quick thoughts on the products I finished.

February Empties aka Hoard My Trash!

In an effort to use up things that I have, I started keeping track of products I finished throughout the month. Hoarding my trash in a bag in the bedroom was really weird and somewhat annoying, but I am shocked and impressed at how much I used up!

If you haven't noticed, I LOVE sheet masks! I used up a whole bunch last month. Here's a quick rundown:

• TonyMoly I'm Real Rice
• Tosowoong Pure Aloe
• Tosowoong Pure Green Tea
• Tosowoong Pure Propolis
• The Face Shop Real Nature Mung Bean
• Etude House I Need You Tea Tree
• Etude House I Need You Olive
• My Scheming Mandelic Acid
• My Scheming 7 in 1 Brightening
• Benton Snail Bee
• My Beauty Diary Black Pearl

My favorite that I used this month was the My Scheming Mandelic Acid, which I waxed poetic about in my monthly favorites. All time favorites are the Benton Snail Bee, and the Tosowoong Pure Propolis and Pure Green Tea. I'm also fond of the Black Pearl mask!

Here are some cosmetics, samples, and another sheet mask that I forgot to include in the other photo. 

• Nature Republic Green Tea
• Alterna Caviar Instant Repair Shampoo & Conditioner
• Drybar Texas Tea Shampoo & Conditioner
• Bumble and Bumble Surf Shampoo & Conditioner
• Tatcha Cleansing Oil
• L'Occitane Amande hand cream
• Dr. Dennis Gross Extra Strength Alpha Beta Peel Pads
• Inglot #77 gel liner
• MAC Prep and Prime Lip
• Too Cool For School Pumpkin Sleeping Pack
• Performance Colors lip balm
• Tarte Lights Camera Flashes mascara

The Inglot liner I've already repurchased - I didn't really finish it, it's just all yucky and old now, so I got a new one! It was well over a year old and needed Duraline to reconstitute it. The Pumpkin Sleeping Pack was nice, but I hated the overly floral scent of it. I LOVE the Dr. Dennis Gross peel pads, and I use and abuse Sephora promo codes to get them since I refuse to shell out big $$ for them, even though they work really well for me. The Tatcha oil was a solid meh, which was a relief - it's also expensive!

I've already repurchased this Tigi conditioner, and this is my nth bottle of in shower lotion. The Cosrx A-Sol is a product that seems to be hit or miss for a lot of people - it's a definite hit for me. I used it as a toner whenever I sensed some trouble brewing under the skin, and I found that it really kept things in check. I've repurchased this as well!

Look at all these empty jars! I really am impressed with how much I was able to finish. What we have here:

• Haus of Gloi body emulsion mini in Cozy Sweater
• Alterna Plumping Strand Expand
• Haus of Gloi whipped soap in Eggnoggin'
• Banila Co. Clean It Zero
• Sunsets and Seas sugar scrub in The Crunch
• Vice and Velvet lotion in Honey Trap
• Haus of Gloi whipped soap in Pumpkin Queen

I've gone ahead and repurchased the Alterna plumper because I really do feel that it makes my hair thicker. This was my second jar of the Clean It Zero, but I've picked up a different cleansing oil to try next. I love Haus of Gloi's whipped soap! Eggnoggin' didn't smell like too much, but I am obsessed with Pumpkin Queen, and have about...oh...three or four more jars of that scent in whipped soap form. I wish Sunsets and Seas would restock their sugar scrubs, as I loved the consistency of this one - it was like a pudding, almost.

I'm happy to have made a dent in my huge hoard of beauty products last month. I hope to keep it up this month and find new favorites and get through some eh products. 

Haus of Gloi Valentine's Haul! (it's all First Blush...)

Last year, I did my very first indie perfume review. That scent was Haus of Gloi's First Blush, from their Valentine's collection. As a quick refresher, First Blush has notes of Tahitian vanilla bean, white tea, lavender and peach. In other words, it's lightly fruity and slightly floral perfection. I fell in love with the scent, but I had only ordered a bottle of perfume oil, and a mini sugar scrub. Haus of Gloi has been becoming more and more popular, with more and more releases getting cleaned out. Which is amazing for them, but it makes it harder to get the things you want! This year, I got snowed in on release day, but managed to snag all the goodies I wanted when I finally sat down to order. Here's the damage:

• First Blush Hair Oil
• First Blush Whipped Soap (2x)
• First Blush Sugar Exfoliant (2x)
• Aether Body Emulsion
• First Blush Perfume Oil sample
• Rose Gold Lip Tint
• Chamomile Oak Butterbomb

I HAD wanted a Pink Champagne butterbomb, but I'm happy to have even gotten one at all! I liked the pumpkin one I picked up in the fall release, so hopefully this is just as nice. The whipped soap formula from the Haus is pretty high on my list of favorite whipped soap formulas, so I made sure to stock up. (I did not make the mistake I made with my fall order...where I bought five Pumpkin Queen whipped soaps. No ragrets.) I prefer the Sugar Exfoliant to the Haus Bubbling Scrub, so I made sure to get two of those. I really like the hair oil, and I needed a lighter scent than my wintery Cozy Sweater one. 

Instead of the ever popular Pumpkin Butter, I bought a full size bottle of the Body Emulsion. The emulsion is lighter and sinks in much more quickly than the heavier butter, which I prefer. As an added bonus, the emulsion comes in a squeeze bottle, which (to me) is better than the scoop out tub. Unfortunately, Haus of Gloi only releases their seasonal scents in the Pumpkin Butter formula. To try and get my First Blush lotion fix, I picked up a perfume sample and dumped it into the lotion bottle. To me, it seems like the perfect amount of scent for the amount of lotion, and I've been using it often! I can definitely see myself picking up another bottle or two of the body emulsion to keep myself stocked.

I did notice that this year's First Blush scent is a little different than last year's. It isn't bad in any way, and I still love it, and it could be that my perfume oil has aged a year...but the scent is a tiny bit different. I still recommend it, though! First Blush is a lovely springtime scent, and I'm very glad I loaded up!

Sunsets and Seas Haul!

Sunsets and Seas is a new bath and body shop from Christine, the mind behind Hello Waffle Cosmetics. The grand opening is on August 28th, but Christine was nice enough to let me put in an order a few weeks early to try out the new items! They arrived with a few days to spare before the shop opening, so I wanted to post up some first impressions.

I picked up the following from the shop:

• Body Lotion (2 oz.) in Vanille
• Dry Body Oils (2 oz.) in Forever Young and Let's Go To The Orchards
• Bubble Bombs in Candied Pears and Raspberry Lemonade

And some extra goodies:

• Half of a Bubble Bomb in La Mer (which I used before taking a picture, oops.)
• Perfume Oil samples in Blush and Lace, Fleurs, For Your Dreams, Haunted Hay Ride, and Vanille

The Body Lotion in Vanille (A rich and deep vanilla. Slightly boozy yet creamy. Sweet but not at all gourmand. Divine.)  has a light sent of vanilla sugar with a hint of coconut. When I sniffed out of the bottle, it smelled just like coconut cream! I really like the lotion formula, it's not very heavy, almost liquidy. It absorbs quickly, and doesn't leave a lotion residue - you know the feeling when you apply a heavy lotion and you know it's there. I don't get that at all with this lotion. The remaining vanilla scent is very light, and lasts for a couple of hours after use.

The Bubble Bomb in La Mer (Rolling Ocean Waves, Musk, Clary Sage, Ozone, and a drop of Salty Seaweed) has a light scent to it before use. I scrubbed my tub out to give this a whirl since we were lucky enough to get a non-humid day, I was going to wait til the weather had cooled down a bit to try one. Unfortunately, it didn't bubble very much, and what bubbles did come up faded pretty quickly. However, the water was turned a very pretty light shade of blue, and had a soft ocean water scent to it.

I was super excited to give the dry body oil in Forever Young (A lovely sweet scent consisting of juicy peaches, ripe coconut, and french vanilla.) a shot, as I have heard great things about body oils. (Of course, I was too late to the game for Haunt, who supposedly made a great one!) I sprayed this on liberally and rubbed it in - the initial scent was fruity coconut, to die for! About a half hour later, the scent had faded to a nice vanilla. The scent is not overpowering at all, but is very light and pleasant. The oil absorbed completely within five minutes, and no greasy feel was left behind. My skin was nicely moisturized - not too heavy, just the way I like it.

Like I said, this post is all about first impressions. I'll probably go back and do a full review of the perfume oils I received, but here's what I'm getting from some quick sniffs of the vials:

• Blush and Lace - Light and feminine, a combination of soft florals ad fruit.
• Fleurs - White florals and a bit of earth. (Not like, dirty earth, though!)
• For Your Dreams - Bright citrus.
• Haunted Hay Ride - Leaves and smoke.
• Vanille - Vanilla bourbon.

I'm really excited about my order, especially the body oils and lotion! I'm looking forward to reviewing the scents I received more in depth as well. I'm a fan of Hello Waffle, and it's great to see Christine branching out into other items - I hope she continues to bring more offerings to Sunsets and Seas! (Whipped soaps and scrubs, fingers crossed!)

Sixteen92 Hand Lotion (and Wicked Perfume Oil!) Review

After my first review of Sixteen 92 after I ordered for the first time, I was really happy with all my products. I received a couple of the hand lotions in a swap in some scents I was interested in, along with a mini of Wicked, a general catalog scent. The mini lotions get a spot on my desk at work, as they're really easy to apply after washing your hands. (And I pee a lot and my job has the world's most drying soap for some reason.) The lotion is not my most favorite formula, but it absorbs easily and gets the job done. The mini 1 oz jars are great for places like your desk!

Almond Tea Cakes - Sweet vanilla cakes with fluffy almond icing. The almond in this scent smells very much like almond extract more than a subtle almond note. Thankfully, to balance out the extract portion of the almond scent, there's a heavy dose of vanilla! The two scents blend together to create a sugary cake like scent that sticks to the skin after the lotion has been absorbed. The scent doesn't last all day, and it is not overpowering. After the lotion has been absorbed, it leaves a gentle reminder of cake behind.

Review - 4/5

Sucre Vanille -  Raw sugar, vanilla and a light floral musk with a splash of sweetened coconut milk. The scent for this lotion is initially a light floral sweetness. The coconut and vanilla balance the sugar and floral scent nicely. It reminds me slightly of Warm Vanilla Sugar from Bath and Body Works, but less manufactured, if you get what I mean. The scent is very light and non overwhelming. I'm a big vanilla and coconut fan, so I really liked this combo.

Review - 4/5

Wicked - Three vanillas, dark aged patchouli, almond buttercream. Straight from the vial, the scent is an airy almond extract, reminiscent of the almond from Almond Tea Cakes. Wet on the skin, the almond remains, with the same airy back note that I can't put my finger on. (Is it buttercream? I'm lactose intolerant, so I wouldn't know.) As it dries, the scent picks up a bit of vanilla. I detected no patchouli, thankfully, which I was afraid of. I'm not patchouli's biggest fan. This is a popular scent from Sixteen92, but it did not wow me. It wasn't bad at all, just nothing I need to own.

Review - 2.5/5

Perfume oils work differently for different people due to skin chemistry. This is my experience with these perfume oils and scents, which may differ for you!

Haus of Gloi Summer Haul

This is my first summer scent release from Haus of Gloi, and I'm excited to share it! Haus of Gloi seasonal releases are getting bigger and bigger, and that means more and more cutthroat. The summer Haus release went up at 3 PM on May 17th (I remember, because I was at the laundromat refreshing on my phone...) and Komodo oils sold out like, instantly. Good for the company, bad for us poor indie consumers just trying to smell nice for the season. But anyway, let's talk about what I managed to pick up! Here's a list of the goodies:

• Whipped soaps in Komodo and Zazz
• Hair oil in Sanctum
• Bubbling scrub mini in Sanctum
• Perfume mini in The Brier Path (my free sample!)

My order was placed on the 17th, and was sent out on the 21st - super fast considering how big this release was! It was in my hands on the 26th. No order issues for me, though my last Haus order had a mix up, but their Customer Service fixed it for me. Now let's talk about the scents!

Sanctum is described as "muskmelon, coconut water infused with bergamot flower, kaffir lime polished ho wood and sticky benzoin." I picked this up in two products, a hair oil and a bubbling scrub. Sometimes, scents can differ depending on the product they are in, but Sanctum smells the same to me in both forms - like a watermelon jolly rancher. I assume it's the muskmelon note working overtime, since none of the other notes even come into play for me. Maybe the benzoin is at work playing up the sweetness, but it is just sugary sweet synthetic melon scent for me. I'm torn on whether or not I want to keep the hair oil due to how overly powerful this melon scent is. What's great is, the scent stuck around for 4+ hours in my hair. The bubbling scrub was nice, it bubbled and exfoliated - I used it before shaving. Definitely give it a try!

Zazz is "tart cranberry, pink grapefruit, sparkling champagne all shook up with crushed ginger root." I picked this up in whipped soap form, though I waffled on this or Sanctum for hair oil (and am now sort of kicking myself.) This is my first whipped soap from the Haus, and their formula is a bit lighter than other soaps I've tried (I'm partial to the whipped soap from Savor!) but it really lathers nicely. I really liked the scent of Zazz, though, and I think it may be the favorite of what I've gotten so far! The scent was light and summery, all citrus and champagne. And I'm a sucker for champagne scents. When the restock happens, I might pick up Zazz in everything I can get my hands on.

Komodo was the big seller this year due to the announcement that it would be discontinued after this season, since they could no longer get the mangosteen note needed for the scent. Komodo is "mangosteen, Tahitian vanilla bean, dragons blood resin and faded tropical blooms." Maybe it's because I only got it in whipped soap form, but I really don't get much of anything from Komodo. I get a faint whiff of something sweet, but that's really it. No flowers, vanilla, or fruit, nothing tangible to really write home about. I'm sort of glad I didn't get the full perfume oil bottle I was going for...good thing the hype won out and I missed it!

The free sample given to me, The Brier Path, is not something I would pick for myself. The notes are listed as "ripe wild berries and woods' rose, rich forest loam, ozone, dark amber and cream." As I've learned from past perfume reviews, loam is a fancy word for dirt. I also am not a fan of amber. The first sniff from the vial is berries and amber. Wet on the skin, the scent is sweet and rosy, with a hint of dirt (you can call it "loam" and be fancy if you want but we all know what it is, it's dirt.) After the dry down, the scent is amber and rose, and it reminds me of incense you can buy at the mall. I'm sorry mom and dad, I really shouldn't have burned so much of that crap as a teenager. This scent is definitely not for me, but the incense nostalgia factor was nice for a minute. I really don't like amber.