EMPTIES: January 2017

From this month onwards I'm trying a new way of arranging the empties: sorting them out by categories rather than listing them individually. Hopefully this way it's faster for me to write up and gives you a better picture of what I've used up in a month.

Sheet masks:

 I used up more sheet masks this month than I ever did in any month before this, due to my face doing a 180 almost overnight and becoming so dry that my skin threatens to shrink from my face. I need all the hydration I can get!

Oil:

SO glad to see the back of this bottle. It so old and gross. I remember my mum buying it and for some reason I'm the only one who even used it. I used a few drops on wetted cotton pads to cleanse my makeup.  The worst thing is that it took FOREVER to use up. Ugh.

Sunscreen:

 I literally used this much sunscreen in a month, but to be fair I was applying it to both my face and body, and it's not that expensive and it's better to use too much than too little when it comes to sunscreen anyway!

Vitamin C:

They're really good vitamin C serums, I bought the second bottle of the one on the right but I don't think I'll repurchase the bottle on the left. I'm currently trying another vitamin C serum but this one has all the elements of a stable vitamin C formula (vitamin C is known for oxidising very quickly): no-water formula, airtight pump and dark bottles.

Body Scrub:

I also go through body scrubs very quickly. I used this up in just over a month or something. I am just really addicted to having and keeping my smooth skin, with no rough flaky patches or something. My feet in particular is very susceptible to that.

Foaming Cleanser:

I kind of like the smell of this, it's mild. and I like the mild scrubbing thingies in this, but a cleanser is a cleanser IMO, so whatever.

Face Cream:

In conjunction with sheet masks I also blew through a prodigious amount of face cream, to relieve the aforementioned retinyl palmitate-induced dryness. I had some of these jars for several months, back when my skin was combination-oily because I felt like i had enough oil on my face and didn't need this. I'm glad I kept them! This month marked the first time since I can remember (probably ever?) that I bought a full-sized proper face cream because I actually need it.

 Eye Cream:

Free stuff I got from buying some Innisfree stuff at some point. It's okay, nothing special.

Hydrators, toners, essences, serums:

forgot to include this in the photo above.

Yes yes I still need all the hydration I can get. My face is VERY thirsty! It demands hydration!  Speaking of which I may need another skin/essence/hydrating serum or five SOON, because the only basic ones I have (that aren't supposed to be doing other things like whitening/anti-aging) are for oily skin.

Setting Spray:

It's not strictly a setting spray. It's good I guess but I'm still new to the world of facial sprays and mists, so I'm still not sure what the hype is all about. Maybe I will understand after I try a few more sprays.

 Clay Mask:

It feels nice and tingly when I use it but I probably won't buy the full size version of it.

Make up:

Just. No.

HAULS: January 2017

This month's haul had a rapid head start, due to John Little at Plaza Singapura closing down and it had a closing down sale, but slowed down after that. Most of my purchases for this month were sheet masks, hydrators and tools that facilitate hydration such as DIY compressed sheet masks and peelable cotton pads to up my hydration game.  This is because there was a sudden drastic change in my skin type, and I'm talking about in the period of 1 month. It used to be massively combination-oily, to the point where I had to use two primers - pore smoothing and mattifying and tons of powder and even a setting spray and my face still oily enough at the end of the day that I'll soak up an entire sheet of blotting powder and now my face is so uncomfortably tight and dry that by the end of the day when I smile I see fine lines from dryness that never used to be there.  I turned 30 in that period, but I don't think hitting 30 would so instantly shrivel me up!  My main suspect is the retinyl palmitate that's in my Hada Labo Lotion and Milk, which I started to use at the beginning of this month.  I also wonder if starting to properly take care of my skin and actually focus on hydration is also making my skin balance itself out and stop producing so much oil? Never used to believe that.

MUJI Face Lotion Sheet - First time I'm using this!  In fact I wasn't even aware that this thing exists until earlier this month! It just looks so wondrous and expands upon contact with liquid and it just feels like magic!

MUJI Peelable Cotton - Ushering me into the new world of Japanese/ Chizu Saeki method of Japanese lotion masking.

BABY FOOT - bought it at the John Little closing down sale.

WATSON'S Red Wine Antioxidant Facial Mask

WATSON'S Black Pearl Smoothing Facial Mask

MY BEAUTY DIARY Antarctica Glycoproteins Mask

MY BEAUTY DIARY Alps Edelweiss Mask

HADA LABO Shirojyun Arbutin Milk -  I've tried the lotion many years ago (my mum gave me). I'm looking forward to try the milk.

HADA LABO Gokujyun Alpha Lotion

HADA LABO Gokujyun Alpha Milk - I accidentally bought two bottles. The bottles are bigger than the Hada Labo milks in other lines so I assumed this was a lotion.

MEISHOKU Declear Bright and Peel Facial Peeling Gel

Some DIY mask eye patches.

KIEHL'S Powerful-Strength Line-Reducing Concentrate - Second bottle!

KIEHL'S  Double Strength Deep Wrinkle Filler - Sigh, the un-glam reality of trying to turn back the clock.

KIEHL'S  Smoothing Oil-Infused Leave-In Treatment deluxe sample

KIEHL'S Powerful-Strength Line-Reducing Eye-Brightening Concentrate deluxe sample - Something I got to try to stave off having to buy another bottle of the Vitamin C eye serum, which I think is overpriced and the efficacy isn't worth the money.

KIEHL'S  Cilantro & Orange Extract Pollutant Defending Masque samples

KIEHL'S  Clearly corrective Dark Spot Solution samples

KIEHL'S Smoothing Oil-Infused Shampoo - MEH. I don't know why they keep plying me with these things. It smells nice but nah, no cigar.

KIEHL'S Smoothing Oil-Infused Conditioner samples - same as above.

KIEHL'S  Powerful Wrinkle Reducing Cream sample - I don't think I have that much wrinkles around my eyes yet but I guess it's nice.

KIEHL'S Pure Vitality Skin Renewing Cream samples 

KIEHL'S Damage Repairing & Rehydrating Conditioner samples - Just no.

KIEHL'S Damage Repairing & Rehydrating Leave-In Treatment - No...

KIEHL'S Damage Repairing & Rehydrating Shampoo - Your attempts at converting me hasn't worked Kiehl's, but I ain't gonna say no to free stuff!

HASK Argan Oil Repairing Deep Conditioner - My sister bought this for me for birthday/ Christmas.

HASK Macadamia Oil Moisturising Deep Conditioner - My sister bought this for me for birthday/ Christmas.

HASK Keratin Protein Smoothing Deep Conditioner - My sister bought this for me for birthday/ Christmas.

GARNIER Micellar Cleansing Water - The first time I ever used micellar water in my life! Wanted to know what the hype was all about!

ETUDE HOUSE 0.2 Therapy Air Mask - Collagen

ETUDE HOUSE 0.2 Therapy Air Mask - Hyaluronic Acid

ETUDE HOUSE 0.2 Therapy Air Mask - Green Tea

ETUDE HOUSE 0.2 Therapy Air Mask - Snail

ETUDE HOUSE 0.2 Therapy Air Mask - Manuka Honey - Got this on impulse because I won $8 at Etude House's spin the wheel thing.

ETUDE HOUSE Dr. Ampoule Dual Mask Sheet - Vital Care - Got this on impulse because I won $8 at Etude House's spin the wheel thing. The two-step care is SO unbelievably rich and nourishing and moisturising!

ETUDE HOUSE Moistfull Collagen Half & Half Cream - I couldn't resist the customizable moisturisation level - one can use either, mix or match or layer both, the last of which I have been doing a lot because my skin is so crazy dry these days. It's the best but also the driest it's ever been since I was a teen.

ETUDE HOUSE Moistfull Collagen Eye Cream - I love the bouncy textured eye cream.

ETUDE HOUSE sample freebies - Contains BB cream, cleansing foam, lip colour, toner, emulsion and water jelly cream (which is actually a gel).

ETUDE HOUSE sample freebies - a whole bunch of stuff I'm not really interested to try but hey, free stuff so YOLO.

PS Contour and Strobe Crayons - my sister bought me this from the UK for Christmas/ my birthday! It's so sweet of her! I didn't know Primark makes makeup now. Oh well!

OST Original Pure Vitamin C20 Serum - the cult beauty favourite!

ESSANO Rosehip Oil - It's the most trendy beauty product right now apparently.

WHITE FORMULA Sunscreen SPF 50+ PA+++ - Sunscreen is always essential! I'm trying out all the Asian sunscreens to see which I like best. So far I love them all! Such a pleasure to wear.

BIORE UV Perfect Spray SPF 50+ PA++++ -  Bought this out of curiosity...so far not terribly impressed.