empties

April 2023 Empties

/ shellssells / 1 Comment

And inventory update!

Let me start at the top, over this past month my mother in law experienced health problems that ended up with her in hospice and then subsequently passing away. As such, we also moved her out of her assisted living apartment, and I absorbed some things into my collection. I also found a few things in sorting and organizing that I added to my collection. I did not purchase them but I did not previously know about them to list them. So I accounted for them this month.

The only items that came into my collection via purchase were from the lush subscription box. And here’s the empties that were worth noting:

I finished a texture spray and a hairspray. I also finished a handcream which was not a scent I appreciated. I finished a clinique eye makeup remover (but found another in my basement). I had a travel size of Cosrx aha/bha toner and an elf moisturizer I was able to finish up. And I finally finished my travel size of Mugler Alien perfume. I finished up a couple other sample size items as well, and one thing I finished was a travel size of briogeo shampoo but it didn’t get photographed.

Overall, even with accepting items into my collection the numbers are going down. I started keeping overall numbers. I began all this with 207 items I was tracking-again many of them sample, travel, or sachet sized. I am now at 167 at this point in the year. I am also at a point where I may have to purchase a thing or two, but I also intend to keep waiting it out until the situation is dire and/or there’s a sale going on I can take advantage of to replace a thing or two. I am going to add the overview below, and again, I will only talk about a category if there’s been a change.

Cleansing Oil is a category I used, and I had 1 cleansing oil. I found a half finished micellar water in my basement and for lack of a better category to put it in, I added it to this category, now I have 2.

Nighttime moisturizer went from 3 to 2.

Toner went from 5 to 4.

Hairspray went from 2 to 1.

Hair wax went from 2 to 1-but only because my husband had his first professional haircut in 20 years and I gave one to him.

Texture spray went from 3 to 2.

Shampoo went from 7 to 6.

Body Moisturizer, this one went way up. I received one in my lush subscription box and then also added 3 from my mother in law’s apartment. So I went from 6 to 9 in that category (as I’d also used one up) and I’ll be working hard on finishing these.

Body wash went from 6 to 7 because I again received a lush body wash in my subscription box.

For fragrance, I went from 40 to 36, using up one travel size and 3 sample sizes. And I am on a mission to be working my way through more sample sizes this month. I am delighted with the results here.

Overall it feels like a bit of a light month for empties but I also feel like I knew that going into it already and I did manage to go through more than I thought. Further, with all that was going on this month really any empties at all feel like an accomplishment.

As for the upcoming month I think there are a solid 7 items that I will certainly finish and then add to that whatever fragrance samples I manage to get through this month. I am imagining 2 or 3 lush items will arrive via subscription box, so I should stay well within my goal of more leaving than arriving.

February 2023 empties and inventory updates

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I had a good number of empties this month despite it being a short month.

Here’s what I finished:
Makeup wipes: I ended up finishing these up after having a skin biopsy on my face (everything is fine!) because I needed to keep the spot covered and it was hard to wash my sunscreen off at the end of the day.
Lush Body Lotion Love-Got this in my subscription box this month and also finished it this month.
Purity face cleanser-I’ve been working on this for like at least 6 months. Really love it.
Soap and Glory Body Butter-loved this one, very gourmand smelling.
Big Sexy Hair texture powder-a staple in my hair routine
Fekkai hair primer-Got as a sample and don’t feel any specific way about it.
Ouai scalp and body scrub-Really nice!
Beauty of Joseon calming serum-love this stuff! Moisturizing without any irritation.
Clinique smart custom repair eye treatment-took forever to use up this tiny sample
Valentino V-lighter primer-really nice sample, glad I got to use it!
Mac lip glass-hated it. Glad it’s gone.
Clinique almost lipstick in black honey-such an easy item to use, might purchase someday.

So for inventory, I am only going to talk about the categories that have had change. To reiterate, I get the lush kitchen subscription box so sometimes those items apply to the inventory. And some don’t, like bath bombs that I end up giving to my daughter.

Sunscreen-Finished 1 so now I have 6
Cleanser-Finished 1, have 6
Makeup wipes-Finished 1, have none, removing the line from the inventory entirely.
Eye serum-used 1, have 3
moisturizing serum, used 2, have 7
Hair primer, finished 1, have one to use now
Hair gel/balm-finished 1 sachet, have 2 more sachets to finish
Hair powder-finished 1, have 3
Shampoo-finished 2, have 7. I have no more sachets now.
Conditioner-finished 1, have 10
Body moisturizer-received 2, one from the subscription box and the other as a gift. But also used 3, currently have 6
Body wash-received another from the sub box, now have 5
Fragrance-finished 2 samples, now have a total of 41

So for a wrap up-I purchased no items beyond the allowable subscription box. 3 items entered my collection. 15 items left my collection. This was a particularly successful month. And that’s exactly what I am looking to repeat next month. And I feel like I am already on my way as I can easily see a number of items that will get finished in March.

July Beauty Balance part 1

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Here are my July empties. I’ll post incoming items tomorrow.

During my previous update, I had a total of 38 items leaving my collection over what came into my collection. It actually was a pretty cruddy update, in the sense that I had quite a few incoming items. I do have incoming items this month, but not too overwhelmingly so.

Here are my empties:

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Starting top left, I finished a second Garnier miceller cleanser. I do not like this product, this is the last in my collection, hope to never receive it as a sample again.

I also have a teal eyeliner that went off. I have tried sharpening it past the point where it’s gone off, but the product itself has gone fully off. I used to use this a lot, and I am sad I didn’t continue to do so. On the other hand, I have plenty of teal eyeshadows in my collection that would serve a similar purpose. So, I won’t be on the hunt for another teal liner.

I finished my travel size becca first light primer. I love this product, and it’s in the running for a repurchase someday when I finish all my other primers.

I finished 3 perfume samples all of which I enjoyed and also won’t purchase.

I have a sample size of it cosmetics cc cream (original formula) and while I do like the it cosmetics cc creams, this shade, light, is actually not that good on me despite the fact that light shade in the matte and illuminating formulas are fine on me. No repurchase and look forward to finishing up the other container in my collection.

I finished my AOA studios setting powder. At only a dollar, this is a perfectly serviceable setting powder and I might repurchase if I was making another AOA order. I’d pick up a few of them at a time in that case, as there really isn’t much product in there.

I finished up The Ordinary glycolic acid toner and I’ve already repurchased.

I finished the IGK texture spray which I liked but is not my favorite, won’t repurchase.

I finished my Big Sexy Hair hairspray, which I am very likely to repurchase but I’ve got travel sizes and hairspray backups to work through first.

Then there’s two sachets which do not count. One was a hair cc cream by Alterna which I liked a lot and the other was a tula exfoliating pad which was deceiving. I thought it would be some sort of proper chemical exfoliant but it was one of those weird ones with the product that balls up on your skin to cause a physical exfoliation. Hard pass.

This leaves 49 items leaving my collection over what entered it for the month of July.  My incoming items are a bit more reasonable this month but I’ll still add them in a separate post. That being said, 49 is certainly not where I’ll stay for the month, that number will be going back down a bit.

Empties and Beauty Balance

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Now that I’ve published my latest project pan, I can get through my empties for the past month. May I remind you real quick that for the first three months of this year it is my intention to be on a replacements only low buy. Until this month, I did not purchase any makeup/skincare/haircare items. I did this month though. My clinique waterproof mascara was starting to dry up, I opened in in September, so that’s no huge surprise. I decided that I wanted to try a tubing mascara. I’ve had my eye on the thrive one that is so highly rated, but I didn’t want to spend the cash and it’s so rarely in stock at ulta. I decided to dip my toe in the tubing mascara water using a drugstore brand.

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I decided to give the L’oreal double extend a try. Now, I do have a bit of a gripe about this product, and it’s simply that the wand is hard to deal with. Since there are two tubes of product, the wands on both are rather short, which can be cumbersome. But, as far as the wear and use of the mascara, I am really liking it. It does not transfer on my browbone like even waterproof mascara does, and for that alone, it could win my heart. I haven’t used it much, but I am pretty pleased with my purchase.

So, in the last post I’d been able to use up 23 products. With one product in, that total is down to 22, which is still a really solid number.

Now for the empties and declutters. There’s one declutter not pictured, which is a tube of clinique mascara, travel size, which I gave to Miss Butterfly.

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And then there’s the rest of this stuff. I have used up a container of almay eye makeup remover wipes. I used to use this stuff religiously, but have slowed down on my use of all disposable wipes. I do have another container in my collection but I save them for times when convenience is key.

Then there’s a container of body exfoliator that I have had in my panning projects since the beginning of the year.

I finished a bite beauty sample size lipstick in a project pan.

I am getting rid of two lip items, one from one of my advent calendars and one Miss Butterfly gave me from a declutter of her friend’s makeup. I realized I wasn’t going to wear it.

I have a sample size of lancome mascara primer which I loved but is completely used up.

And, that tiny little piece of something is a piece of a lush soap that is too small to use. I would like to get more lush soap, but also don’t want to drive all the way to the store for just that. I am waiting until I have to replace a body conditioner as well, and that’s when I will replace the soap.

That’s 8 items out of my collection this month, a bit less than I had been using in the previous two months, but still a solid number. This brings my number for the year so far to 30. And, I can count on finishing at least 3 items in the very near future, so the next empties and balance post should be quite good!