April 23, 2021
BY Amy Sousa0
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Hello!
Welcome back to another post. This one is a little bit different since I used to film an empties video every few months back in my YouTube days, but it's been a long time. It's been over a year since I've stepped foot into my office, which means I've been using up product way less with the only person who has to see me being my husband. This, unfortunately, means that a lot of products that I've owned have expired and gone bad. Well, to be perfectly honest, a lot of these products were already expired, but now they're completely unusable. In this post, I'm going to focus on the products that aren't empty and will give each one its own mini individual review. Next post will look at product I've actually used up!
This makes up roughly half of all of the products that are being thrown out, which is terrible. Most of these were products that were sent to me in some form of PR or to try out, so while my wallet isn't necessarily crying over it, it's still terrible for the environment and I really hate being wasteful. I feel especially guilty because I wrote a good chunk of this post on Earth Day. Oops. I've committed to not buying products that I won't use so I know I'll be better going forward, but it still sucks that a lot of these went to waste.
Most links are affiliate, though a lot of the products are no longer available.
Bio Oil - Yes, THE bio oil. I'm pretty sure I've had this stuff since late middle school or early high school. I still remember the day my mom bought this for me while at our nearest Walmart. The promise of this stuff getting rid of stretch marks was what drew us to it first, but what made my mom actually buy it was the hope of it fading scars. I will say, this stuff did help, but it's so expensive (at least it was at the time for us) and it was very high maintenance. I'm talking three times a day (once before school, once directly after school and once before bed) just to fade some light scars. It worked, but I suspect that with a few more years of patience that the shaving scars would've gone away on their own like all of the other ones I've gotten have without me using this stuff. It's nearly half full, but it's been well over a decade so it needs to go.
Elancyl: Slim Design lotion - This is meant to eliminate cellulite by applying every night. This has a caffeine complex and what they call a "GP4G" night booster. This was sent to me by a PR firm to test out. I remember being late to posting this, but they were ok with it because I wanted to make sure to test it for at least ten days, which was the earliest it claimed to show results. I won't lie, this stuff did help a little bit, but it is pretty high maintenance in that you need to apply it every single night, using "professional massage techniques" that they provided in the manual all over your legs, hips and butt area. I feel like it helped firm up the area and decreased the look of my cellulite, but to be honest, I doubt it would ever completely get rid of it (I'm pretty sure that's impossible, but correct me if I'm wrong) so I gave up on using it. At the time I could barely wash my face every night so it was too much work for me.
The Green Beaver Company: Boreal Body Lotion (Dry Skin Therapy) - This was sent to me in a box that was periodically sent out to Canadian beauty bloggers. Unfortunately they no longer send these boxes out, but I did love them and all of the natural products they promoted (all of which you can find on Well.ca). I loved other products by this brand, but this body lotion was too hard to work with. It's very thick, but even when you try to use a really small amount, it takes forever (if ever) to absorb into your skin. It was to the point where I'd think I'd massaged it for long enough, but would put on a pair of pants that would immediately have a giant white cast on them from the lotion. My husband tried using it for a little while, but also couldn't get past how hard it was to work with, so unfortunately this is being thrown away as it's been at least three years now and it is a very natural product. The product linked is the closest thing they have now, so I guess they received negative feedback overall for the Boreal lotion.
Clean and Clear: Acne Triple Clear Clay Mask - I've had this for at least four years now. I got this in one of those online sample website cycles (I can't remember if it was Influenster or Chickadvisor... I just know it wasn't Topbox). I loved this stuff, but because of the nature of the product I couldn't use it every single day. This is a 99g tub so that's huge. I really slathered it on my breakouts and all over my face whenever my skin was being oilier, but even though I desperately tried to use this up, I just couldn't get through every last bit before it completely dried up and became unusable. It does work well and it's pretty affordable, so I do recommend, but maybe get this if you have someone else that can also use it.
Catrice Cosmetics: Prime and Fine Mattifying Powder (Waterproof) - I won this product in a giveaway I entered while attending an event at Shoppers Drug Mart that a PR firm invited me to. The gift was a lot of products, but this happened to be the one that I dropped. It was pretty much annihilated by my floor, so my only hope for saving it was doing the alcohol trick, but I feel like it was never the same and when I use it, it leaves a very obvious white cast. It doesn't help that the packaging is broken and looks really sketchy so needless to say, it's going in the trash. Thankfully I have a loose setting powder that was included in the giveaway that I like much more!
Delectable: Everything Balm - I got this at the 2016 Generation Beauty Toronto convention as part of my goody bag. I'll never forget since I met my now real-life friend Chantel there for the first time after only knowing each other through YouTube. This stuff is pretty good and works as a million different things. It works as a balm for your lips, a highlighter, taming eyebrows, dark circles, dry skin etc. It works well for anything related to moisturizing, but because it had so many uses, I kept saying I would wait for the perfect time to use it and it ended up staying at the back of my drawer for too many years and is now, unfortunately, way past its expiry date.
Bioré: Baking Soda Pore Cleanser - I'm pretty sure this is a sample, but it's a full 30ml that I never got through so I'm including it. I had this for years and really enjoyed it, but to be perfectly honest, I lost it for about two years. Once I found it I tried using it again, but my skin is just too sensitive to risk it. I think this works great if you have combination or oily skin, but I don't like it as much as my Cetaphil, so I wouldn't repurchase.
Wet n Wild Photofocus Face Primer (Dewy) - This stuff is great if you don't already own a dewy face primer that you enjoy. It looks sparkly until you put in on the face, but under makeup it just makes your skin look super dewy... almost too dewy for my liking. This is good, but I had so many other products like it from similar brands that I ended up using those and this one has since expired. I did try using it up as much as possible. Two summers ago I actually used this all the time on my shoulders and collar bones as a highlight. I never ended up using it up, so that's why it's being included in this post, but it was well-loved while it lasted.
Essence: Rock 'n' Doll Volume Mascara - This one is kind of cheating since it's pretty much used up and I feel like most people I know won't actually use up every last bit of a mascara before they toss it. It always feels wasteful to me, but my eyes are truly so sensitive that I can't use a mascara for more than four months at a time. The longest I've been able to go in recent years is six months, but that's only with my Lash Paradise mascara if I'm not putting it near the root of my lashes. My eyes will actually hurt for days if I wear an expired mascara so I never risk it anymore. I probably made it to the full four months with this one, but it said six months on the back, which is why I'm including it in this post. There's definitely enough product left in it for another two full months of wear.
Maybelline: Fit Me Concealer (10 light) - This one is kind of a shocker to me since it was once my favourite concealer of all time. I loved this stuff and exclusively wore it for years to the point of having it be a subscription item on Amazon that got shipped out every six months. Unfortunately for my wallet, I discovered my Too Faced concealer which has won my heart. There are other concealers that I enjoy now, specifically the Revlon Candid, so I don't see my self repurchasing this again. I stopped wearing this and it expired to the point of it starting to smell funny and the colour going off, so in the bin it goes!
That was A LOT, but I wanted to give decent reviews to the products that I've wronged. Even if some of them were negative. I mainly want to make sure I let you know if I don't like something to avoid you buying it if you like similar products to me. I tried providing links, but a lot of these are hard to find since they're old, so many of the links are for American websites. Let's focus on not over buying so we can avoid products going to waste like this.
Sneaky self-promo: If you like Fantasy and even Romance novels, my newest novel is available for pre-order, available on May 9th. Check it out here!
See you soon with my actual empties + their own mini reviews!
