Ever since beginning this blog, I’ve planned on doing empties posts — I went as far as to accumulating the products in a specific bag and putting it on the desk as a reminder. Somehow I’ve managed to procrastinate from even doing one of these helpful mini-review posts of products that I actually finished. Note: Quite frankly, I’m not surprised. I left out products that I’ve mentioned using up time and time before and spoke about in depth… Bioderma… ahem.

L’Oreal Total Repair 5 Instant Miracle ($6 CDN)

Thiswas a meh product for me. I do have naturally dry, wavy-curly hair that is horrifically prone to tangles and in its natural state ends a bit more than half way down my back and therefore I need pretty intense conditioning. It by no means “instantly repairs” the hair but is a decent conditioning treatment that does provide some protein without containing the culprit dimethicone that weighs down the hair. My problem is that it is not concentrated and I went through the 200 mLs in slightly over a month and I was disturbed as higher-end counterparts I’ve tried have lasted me 5-6x the amount of time with better results at maybe four times the price. I did not see an improvement in the state of my hair and did not find it to be intense by any means. The scent is the typical L’Oreal perfumey-floral scent that I’m not a fan of.

Bee By The Sea Natural Products Sea Buckthorn and HonEy Nourishing Face Cream ($30 CDN)

This was an extremely nourishing face cream with that typical heavy night cream texture that did help to soothe the skin with it’s high concentrations of coconut oil, olive oil and grape seed oil but did not do anything spectacular or noteworthy for the skin. It’s free of irritants and is a simple mixture of ingredients that moisturizes well. It was a nice moisturizer, sold on the website and at health food stores but didn’t do enough so that I’d want to repurchase.

Neutrogena Extra Gentle Cleanser ($11-12 CDN)

I’ve talked about this gentle cleanser extensively, both in my first post ever, [heeeere] and in my skincare routine from the early days of the blog and my feelings haven’t changed. The fragrance and detergent free creamy cleanser lasted for six months with twice daily use and impressed me with it’s gentleness on my sensitive skin while still being effective. I will either repurchase this or the newer edition of this cleanser that Neutrogena has recently released. I highly recommend it. I turned my combination-skinned friend onto it as well and it’s also working well for her so I don’t think it’s restricted to drier skin types. Doesn’t remove makeup, though. I used it in the morning and for the second cleanse at night.

L’Oreal Voluminous Original Mascara in Blackest Black ($10 CDN)

Why does it feel like the only makeup products I use-up are mascara? I internally debated whether or not to include a question mark because the question was rhetorical and to be honest it was stressing me out. I know that for many people this is “the” mascara but after using it, I have to say the product with a cult-following is not for me. I have long and thin kind of eyelashes that I never curl because they have a natural bend to them and look for volume in my mascara, generally favouring drier formulas that promise volume. Because the skin on my entire body (except my eyelids hilariously enough) is very dry, it isn’t exactly surprising that I have zero issues with mascara smudging, smearing or transferring so I can’t comment on all of that. I found that the formula of this mascara was too wet, even when it began to dry out. The brush was a standard fibre one that wasn’t too large or small that I think would work for lots of people but I found too much product was deposited on the brush and would clump in a very annoying way. I wouldn’t say this mascara is bad, I just don’t particularly like it.

x,

Maggie

What products have you used up lately?