EMPTIES: October 2016

THE FACE SHOP Natural Sun Eco Super Perfect Sun Cream SPF 50+ PA+++ sample - My mum gave these samples to me.

THE FACE SHOP Natural Sun Eco Aqua SPF 40 PA+++ sample

THE FACE SHOP Natural Sun Eco Oil-Cut SPF 40 PA++ sample - This was what I looked forward to the most, because my face tends to get so oily. I noticed a slight difference in oiliness at the end of the day. Generally speaking The Face Shop sun creams are pleasant to use - they're light and easily absorbed. I would buy the full size version of these.

THE FACE SHOP Chia Seed Moisturising Lotion deluxe sample - It has a mild green tea scent which I love. It feels so refreshing and calming.  I might consider buying the full size bottle one in the future just because of it.

BELIF Peat miracle revital serum concentrate deluxe sample - I think this is one of Belif's most hyped products. I couldn't see the result because it was such a small bottle and from what I heard, one needs to use serums for at least one month consecutively to see any benefits. I might buy the full size at some point.

BELIF Bergamot herbal extract toner sample - It's a nice, thick, emollient toner.  My mum gave 3 bottles of these samples and I used them all up!

BELIF The true anti-aging essence deluxe sample - Was given this sample by my mum. I'm sure it's good but I can't say I noticed a difference from using such a small bottle.

 BELIF The true decoction - firming essence deluxe sample - Again I wasn't able to use it enough to notice any visible results.

 EYEKO Black Magic Mascara - I mostly used drugstore brand mascaras like Maybelline and Loreal before this so I thought I'd buy a higher end mascara to see if it's worth the extra $. This cost S$37 from Sephora and to be honest, I wasn't impressed. It was clumpy and had this tendency to give me spider lashes. Will not repurchase.

 CLIO Kill Cover Pro Artist Liquid Concealer in 04-B0 - Ginger -  I think this is one of the best drugstore concealers for the under eye that I have used so far. In fact this is the second wand that I purchased, which is really impressive! This is S$19.99 and I think it's the same quality as the famous NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer, which is more than twice the price. However the biggest downside is that it's extremely limited in shade range. The shade that I use is the darkest yellow tone concealer in that range, and though I can make it work it's still a bit too light for me. I prefer concealers that are closer to my skin tone, and I'm sad to say for that reason alone I won't repurchase it.

 BOBBI BROWN Eye Shadow in Toast - I bought this ages ago, like 2010 maybe. I was looking for a good neutral matte eyeshadow as a transition shade. I used to use this all the time, even until it was showing a huge pan and then I just stopped for some reason.  It probably was because I got a tan and it literally became a skin tone shade for me, so it stopped doing anything for me. I picked it up again last month to finish it, but only the bits on the sides were left and I got so annoyed with it so I tried to repress it using the alcohol method, but it just went everywhere, so I had to throw the eyeshadow away. What a shame, it was expensive too! Then I later learned that I needed to use A LOT more alcohol than I did. Oh well.

ELIZABETH ARDEN Prevage Anti-Aging Moisture Lotion SPF 30 PA+++ deluxe sample - It's absolutely dreadful. Made my skin feel so greasy, and as someone with combo-oily skin this is the last thing I need. I'd apply it and wait for a few minutes for it to sink in, and even after 10 minutes I still felt a greasy film sitting on my face and had to blot it with tissue before I can continue with my makeup. 

 BEN NYE Mojave Adjuster in SC-8 Golden Yellow - It's not actually empty as you can see, but I bought it around 3 years ago when I just got into colour correction. I have pretty bad under eye circles and much of the time concealer alone can't cover that much. I guess back then I didn't know the upside-down triangle concealer application method either. Anyway, I bought this back when I thought a deep, bright yellow is what I needed to correct my dark under eyes, then I later learned that it should be some sort of a peach or salmon shade. It went on very smoothly, is creamy and extremely pigmented and it's affordable so I had no complaints regarding quality and price, but it was the wrong shade for me. The yellow was also somewhat too dark - Ben Nye's Mojave range is catered towards women with much darker skin tone than mine (NC 25-30) so I only used it a few times and never reached for it again and it's now gone off.

 MANIC PANIC High Voltage Classic Cream Formula Hair Color in Fuchsia Shock - I bought this from 77th Street before they closed down. Manic Panic hair dyes are in my experience quite underwhelming, but I used them because it was one of the first unnatural colour semi-permanent dyes to be sold in shops in Singapore, and it's just nice to be able to buy something off the shelf as opposed to waiting for a few days for things to come in the mail. The longevity of their dyes is really abysmal and they tend to fade unevenly, and now that I can easily find or order other brands like Directions and Special Effects, I won't go back to Manic Panic.

MAC Pro Longwear Paint Pot in Camel Coat - This was the first MAC Paint Pot I ever bought and it lasted FOREVER! I chose this shade because when I bought it, I wanted Layin' Low but they're out of that shade, and I didn't see the much-hyped Soft Ochre or Painterly anywhere. This shade was OK, it's a bit grey which I don't care for, but it worked fine as an eyeshadow base. I bought more paint pots since and used the other ones and by the time I came back to this it's dried out, and I tried to revive it with the toothpick method twice and it was still dried out, but I stuck to it (scooped a bit out and rubbed them between my fingers to heat it up before applying on to my eyelids) and now it's thankfully gone! I'm looking forward to using the other paint pots that I currently have. I won't get this shade again.

MAC Select Cover Up in NW35 - For a while I had a few tubes Select Cover Up and used them as my under eye concealer. I got this particular shade a couple of years ago when I came back from a holiday and was tanned. Then my tan wore off and it's since become too dark so I mixed it with lighter concealers. I don't dislike this range of concealers from MAC but I won't repurchase, simply because it's one of the lighter coverage concealer which can double as foundation, so you might as well just buy a higher coverage foundation - it's more cost-effective that way.

 INNISFREE Orchid Enriched Cream deluxe sample - My mum gave this sample to me as she got a bunch from her purchase. It smelled nice but there wasn't enough in it for me to notice a difference.

 APHAIPHUBET Herbal Eye Gel - My mum gave this to me from one of her trips back to Thailand. It's one of those Thai skincare brands I guess; I've never heard of it before this. It claims to help reduce the appearance of wrinkles and under eye darkness, but I didn't notice any visible results.

KIEHL'S Olive Fruit Oil Deeply Repairative Hair Pak - My hair was bleached multiple times and is therefore very dry and damaged, and I was willing to try anything if I think it would help. This has a crazy hefty price tag attached to it (S$54) and for the price it's really not that good. My hair still looked parched after using this, especially on the ends and even after layering on smoothing spray and serum. If it was at least half the price I would say it's OK, and even then it's only just OK. I guess when I paid so much for a product I expected - and really wanted - to be impressed by it, but in the end it didn't deliver anything that a more affordable hair treatment product can't. Needless to say I won't be repurchasing this.