Oh, where to even begin to describe the events of this month. In retrospect, it was a pretty smooth month when you look at what happened at the end of it. Work was work, had more than average social outings and so the blog took a bit of a hit if you didn’t notice. But a major family related news really left my life in a bit of a state of limbo. So please be patient with me as the blog and my channel MAY slow down during this interim period.

On to the empties~

• SK-II Facial Treatment Essence (didn’t seem to work for me, did nothing)
• Benefit Total Moisture Facial Cream Sample
• Johnsons Facial Cleansing Wipes – Dry & Sensitive
• Swisspers Organic 80 Cotton Make-Up Pads
• Miine 100 Facial Absorbent Paper
• MAC Prep + Prime – Skin Base Visage

And just like that, we’ve reached the end of February! What a month it has been. I think from now on I might take the opportunity to do a bit of reflection of the month both from either blogging or a personal stand point, whatever floats my boat at the time.

I think this has been one of the hardest months for me in terms of learning how to balance my work and blogging life. However I’ve also learnt a couple of hard lessons based on the experiences of the people around me. My life is suppose to be happy and only I can control that. So cliché! But cliché statements are cliché for a reason!

I just hope I learn to balance the two better in March, I think at the end of the day I’d rather be a poorer but happier person, rather than rich and depressed.

Well…. talk about contemplative! Let’s check out my empties for the month!

• The Body Shop Shower Gel – Watermelon & Eucalyptus [review]
• Estee Lauder Gentle Eye Makeup Remover
• Shiseido Pureness Balancing Softener
• Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturser SPF 30+
• Benefit BAD Gal Lash Mascara – Black
• MAC Fluidline – Blacktrack (I feel superficially accomplished by this!)

WELL! January has been quite the month for me, if I were doing a Project 10 Pan…. I’d have totally failed because I still bought stuff during January, BUT I have finished a total of 13 products Some are samples I know, but still! Let a girl feel superficially accomplished for a little!

• Swisspers 400 Cotton Tips
• Swisspers 80 Make-up Pads
• Sasa Cotton Pads
• Lancome Eau Micellaire Douceur [review]
• Coles Nail Polish Remover [review]
• John Frieda Full Repair Conditioner
• Pure Fiji Coconut Milk Shower Gel *
• Clinique All About Eyes Serum [review]
• Garnier Youthful Radiance Anti-Dark Circles Roll On * [review]
• Maybelline Define a Brow – Clear [review]
• Bobbi Brown Hydrating Eye Cream *
• Benefit Eye Cream *
• NYX Powder Blush – Natural (First official makeup item I’ve hit pan on, WHOO!)

Last month for 2011! December Which means more products I’ve somehow managed to work through, and yes I am totally cheating by including a bunch of samples, but so be it! I’m trying to work through all my samples to clear them out!

Clinique 7 day scrub cream
Not something I would personally purchase with my own money. It always tends to leave this greasy film after using it that I can only removed if I use a cleanser right after.

Estee Lauder Gentle Eye Makeup Remover
This is the first of two bottles I’m working through, they were samples in a gift set I received. Not a fan of this at all, it doesn’t do a great job at removing all makeup, and so I use it mostly to clean my hands during my swatching sessions.

Benefit They’re Real Mascara
Love this! This is certainly one of my all time favourite mascaras out there I would buy this again in a heart beat if I wasn’t already reviewing a bunch of others. Ah, the life of a beautiful blogger. You can read my review here.

Swisspers Cotton Pads
My favourite cotton pads, mostly because they are soft, very cheap (especially since I by them bulk when on sale), but I love how the edges of the pads are sealed so less likely for the fluff to spread everywhere.

Hello Kitty Mascara
Not a fan, it left my lashes clumpy and I kept finding random strands of…. something *shudder* in the tube. Will not purchase, you can read my review here.

L’Oreal Telescopic Mascara
Another mascara I loved, but I mostly loved using this for my bottom lashes because the wand was so thin and easy to angle. It worked well for my top lashes too, but it was a true winner for bottom lashes, especially if you’re like me and have almost non-existent ones

Benefit Foamingly Clean Facial Wash
No, that was not a typo. That’s really what it’s called. This was okay, I wouldn’t repurchase again, not because it was bad, but because I could get much better cleansers for a similar or even lower price.

John Frieda Full Repair Shampoo
I loved how this smelled, and I would be tempted to repurchase (though I noticed no improvement on my hair) if I didn’t have a stack I already need to work through. Again, another pit fall of being a beauty blogger, you can never really stay and enjoy any good products because you’re constantly working through the next new thing to review.

ORLY Won’t Chip Polish
I’ll be honest, I never used this as a proper top coat, so I don’t know how well it performs. As you know I swatch a TON of nail polishes for the blog, and so I always always need to apply a clear polish beneath each swatch in order to prevent my nails from turning yellow, so that is what I used this polish for. However I haven’t heard any favourable reviews regarding this top coat (one of the reasons I didn’t bother using it as a top coat)

Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Lip Balm
Hmmm, still in two minds about this. On the one hand, I really love it because I think maybe I’ve gotten used to it? But it isn’t a lip balm I’d personally want to repurchase again (though I have a 2nd tube I need to finish, damn you gift sets). You can read my review here.

Coles Nail Polish Remover

When I go on a swatching spree I tend to go through these like candy! You can read my review here.

John Freda Full Repair – Shampoo

This came with another shampoo and conditioner as a freebie with a magazine, it’s okay. I didn’t notice any big differences to my hair, I’d say average to above average.

Clinique Liquid Facial Soap

Not really a fan of this, this is yet another sample that probably came as part of a gift set. It’s not my favourite cleanser because it makes my skin feel… greasy? And I don’t think it does a good job at removing all my makeup.

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair

You can read my review here

Johnson’s Facial Cleansing Wipes – Dry & Sensitive

You probably saw these in my September Empties, as you can tell, I love these wipes and they love me… err I mean, I go through these fast!

The Body Shop Vitamin E Night Cream

My second tub of this, I can’t say it does much for my skin besides what a basic moisturiser should do. But I love the feel and smell of it, very soothing Comfort cream? That’s probably why I’ve gone through this twice now.

Another month, another bunch of products (mainly skin care, whose surprised? NOT ME!) Let’s go into what was used

Swisspers Cotton Pads
My staple cotton pads, I like how they are sealed all around so less likely for it to rip if I rub too rough and you can buy these in bulk on special! What’s not to like? I use these for apply toner, removing nail polish, removing makeup and many other random things not necessarily makeup related.

Sasa Cotton Pads

Got these whilst living in Hong Kong as they didn’t have Swisspers there .These were still great though, they had an adorable flower pattern all over them, I still have another roll to go through, but now that I’m back home, I’m back to using Swisspers so may be a while till my remaining Sasa cotton pads get used!

Bobbi Brown Single Eyeshadow Containers

Cheating I know!! You might recognise these from my previous Rich Colour Eye Shadows. I just popped out two of the shades I used the most and placed it in the duo palette I received to make usage easier

Peter Thomas Roth Max Sheer All Day Moisture Defence Lotion
I used this as my daily moisturiser for a period of time, and honestly it was great. Did nothing to improve nor damage my skin. It was slightly oily, but surprisingly less so than in comparison to many other SPF / Moisturiser combinations. For that reason I’m not going to bother re-purchasing, and have moved on to Cetaphil

Estee Lauder Resilience Lift Eye Creme
Honestly never used this as my eye cream, actually before I do my night time skin regime, I always need to go over my lash line with a cotton bud to remove any lasting eyeliner / mascara. Rather than using eye makeup remover I tend to use eye cream as well, I just feel it’s more gentle on my skin.

So this month’s empties is a bit of a mixed bag, not everything is actually empty, but I have good reasons for getting rid of them!

These little eye shadow pots are technically empty because I depotted them into a larger palette to save space I got them at a 2 for 1 deal at The Face Shop just before they closed for renovations and were trying to get rid of as much stock as possible The eye shadows themselves are quite lovely, I’ll be sure to do a big post about them soon enough. So this is kind of a “cheat” empties XD

These are the true empties:

Johnson’s Cleansing Wipe 3 in 1 Sensitive Skin
Currently one of my favourite cleansing wipes, I think I’ve gone through about 4-5 packs of these, I use it every time to clean up a Book of Fables because I find it to be the most efficient way to get rid of ALL my makeup (though I usually need to finish off with a toner if I’m not jumping straight into the shower after). Love these and I always buy them in bulk when they are on special.

Clinique’s Super Defense SPF 25 Moisturiser Sample
You guys know, I’ve been through countless tubs of this stuff now. In fact the last tub made my May Empties where I pretty much summed up my opinion of it. I’ve got one more tub to get through still completely sealed in my stash. I’m currently working my way through Cetaphil’s Facial Moisturiser with SPF 30, so when I finish that off (if I do, I’m not really liking it -_-;) then I might come back to this or try something new.

Clinqiue Super Rescue Antioxidant Night Moisturiser Sample
Another classic favourite of mine whose full sized version made its way into my July Empties, like the above day version, I also have another unopened tube of this in my stash. I’m currently trying to polish off the last of my Body Shop Vitamin E Night Cream, after which I might either opt to try something different to give my skin a bigger break from Clinique. As I said, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with these two products, I more want to see if there are any products out there that could do something new and amazing for my skin

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Ultimate Length Mascara
A lengthening mascara that performed pretty average for me. I didn’t end up using this a great deal, only because whilst it did lengthen my lashes, it didn’t do it by a whole lot. It’s a lovely mascara, but I wasn’t left feeling overly impressed by it.
Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara
Really loved this mascara, and I’m not sure why I never got around to reviewing this for you guys O_o I used it quite extensively for a solid 1-2 months till I honestly ran out, which is rare for me regarding any products (let alone makeup)! The formula is lovely, the “pulsing” feature is kind of pointless.

e.l.f Eyelid Primer
I was very tempted to cut this tube open to see how much primer was actually left as I’m sure there was at least a 1/3 of the tube stuck to the sides, but given I have a mountain of other primers to work my way through I decided to let it be and move on. Really loved this primer, and at $1US you really can’t go wrong!

If I wasn’t a beauty blogger with a backlog of products to g through I would definitely repurchase You can read my original review here.

Vaseline Intensive Care Dry Skin
Great all-purpose moisturiser I always make sure I at least have a small tube of this somewhere, it’s a real staple in my collection. I took this with me to China early last year during winter when my skin started peeling from the severe cold weather, and the only thing that managed to keep my skin smooth and “normal” was this moisturiser. It absorbs really fast, so I did find myself needing to reapply a few times a day. We’re talking about seriously cold “my bottle of water is now a block of ice” weather though. And this range is really affordable.

Clinique Super City Block SPF 40

I think I only managed to use about 1/3 of this before I just had to throw it out. The product was very greasy, felt heavy on the skin and gave off a strange chemical smell. I truly tried to make myself use it as best I could, since I couldn’t stand it on my face I tried my arms and legs for when I go out and I just couldn’t hack it. It made me feel very uncomfortable and generally greasy, so unfortunately have had to throw it out. Too bad, I really loved the fact it was SPF 40