BEAUTY EMPTIES: Repurchase or Pass? // Farmacy Cleansing Balm, Blueland Hand Soap, Covergirl Powder

Hey guys, so today we have my first empties video in about two months. Normally I do my empties videos every month, but after I used up a ton of stuff before we moved, I just didn't have a whole lot of empties accumulating in the first month that we were here. But now I have amassed a nice little collection of empties. So I'm excited to share these with you today. In my empties videos, I like to categorize them by whether or not I would repurchase. So I have three categories that we're gonna go through today. The first one is gonna be products that I loved and could see myself repurchasing. The second category is products that I maybe liked or thought it was just okay, but I probably wouldn't repurchase. And then the third category is products that I didn't like and definitely would not repurchase or recommend. So let's start with the products that I did really like. First up, I used up the CoverGirl Clean Fresh pressed powder. This has been a favorite on my channel for the past year, I think. And I'm sad to see it go. I definitely plan on repurchasing it because this is one of my favorite pressed powders that I've ever tried. It's just everything I want in a powder. I had the shade Fair. I love the cute pink compact. I think it's super pretty. Although I know they did change the packaging since this version to have, I think like 30% less plastic or something, which is awesome, but it still is the same pink color. So I'm excited to try the new version or the new packaging. If you're looking for a good drugstore pressed powder, I highly recommend this one. For reference, I do have dry, leaning skin, but sometimes in the summer it can be more combo. So I do get sometimes an oily T-zone. I love this no matter what, no matter what my skin is going through. It works great on the under eyes. It works great all over the face. It's very blurring and smoothing. And it's, I would describe it as a very like thin, finely milled powder, but a little goes a long way and it just kind of puts a little filter on your skin. It's really pretty. So, okay, this one I was debating whether to put it into this category or in my liked but wouldn't repurchase category because I'm probably not going to repurchase this, but it is one of my all-time favorite mascaras. And so I'll explain, but this is the Urban Decay Lash Freak Mascara. I had the mini here. The mini actually lasted me quite a long time. I would say, I mean, I've definitely been using this for three months. I probably could keep using it, but it's definitely starting to dry out and I just replaced it with a fresh mascara. This is actually the second tube of this mascara that I've gone through. And so that definitely does mean I really loved it. It has a very unconventional brush, as you can see. It almost looks like a caterpillar or something. On this side, it's got two rows of bristles and then it's basically completely smooth on the other side. So weird brush. It does take some time to get the hang of it, but once you do, this is one of the most lengthening, volumizing, thickening, just super dramatic mascaras if you're into that. If you prefer a more natural or fluffy lash, this might not be your preference because it can be just a little bit clumpy. I don't mind it though because I'm still able to kind of comb through it and get a really beautiful look, but I've been hoping to find a drugstore mascara that I love and I've only used it twice so far, but the Milani Highly Rated Anti-Gravity Mascara so far, I love it. I'll continue testing it out, but so far I have nothing bad to say about this mascara and I feel like it gives me a good, this is what I have on my lashes today, by the way, the Milani, and I feel like it still gives me a nice, dramatic, long, thick lash. Also, it does seem like Urban Decay is discontinuing this because it's not available in many places anymore and it's been discounted everywhere for months. I think you can still get a really good deal on it though if you did wanna pick this up. Yeah, it's probably not gonna be around for much longer, so if it were gonna be around for forever, I would probably eventually pick up another one, but yeah, it really is a great mascara if you like just very dramatic lashes. If you wanna look like you're wearing false lashes, that's the one. Okay, I actually have a lot of Urban Decay today. Well, three products in my empties are Urban Decay, but this is another one that I definitely wanna repurchase. It's their Naked Skin Concealer. I just had the mini again. Big fan of minis. I like trying out a mini version of something if I've never tried it before because then I can decide if I wanna commit to the full size or I really like mini mascaras because you have to replace them pretty often anyway and oftentimes the minis will still last three months like this one, so big fan of minis, but I loved this concealer. I had the shade 20CP and it was the perfect shade match. I actually just happened to get this on sale and this was one of the few shades that even had left and luckily it turned out to be the perfect shade for me and my under eyes. I used this as an under eye concealer and I loved it. I removed the stopper. I got everything out of there. I really like the doe foot applicator, kind of random, but I like that it's kind of like, it's a good shape to just kind of hug your under eye really nicely, but this had, they claim this has full coverage. I wouldn't say it has full coverage. I would call it more of a high medium coverage, very similar level of coverage to the Kosas concealer if you're familiar, but a little bit less dewy than the Kosas, but at the same time, this is very natural looking. So if you have dry or creepy under eyes or you just want something that's not going to look really obvious on your under eyes, this is a great option. So big fan of that. Hopefully they don't discontinue this on us too. Here is a very exciting one. Mainly just the brand is exciting. So I bet you guys weren't expecting to see the brand Dial in any of my empties or on my channel ever. Neither was I, but Dial actually recently went cruelty free. They're now Leaping Bunny certified. So that's very exciting. It's nice to see such affordable and accessible brands going cruelty free. So we've gone through two of these Dial body washes now. This one, this was the first one we got. This is the clean and gentle body wash. This we actually bought while we were on our road trip from Georgia to Seattle, which we vlogged by the way. And I can leave it linked below if you want to watch it. But this I bought at a Walgreens in Kansas city. And it was one of the only cruelty free options they had. And it was like right after Dial had just gone cruelty free. So I was so excited to pick this up. This was just the fragrance free one, but it worked really well. So then at QFC, this one was on sale for $1.99, the water lily scent. So this one we also just recently used up. This one smelled really good. Kind of not super floral, just a very clean, almost fruity floral scent. I enjoyed it. And we've already repurchased another one. So in the past, I went like an entire year almost without buying any liquid body washes because I was just big on bar soaps since they are more sustainable. They don't come with as much packaging. But I realized after we had been exclusively using bar soaps for like a year, when we moved out of our apartment, our shower was just covered in soap scum and it was so hard to get rid of it. And it was even like all over our shower curtain too. And even with regularly cleaning the bathtub, it still was just building up. So has anyone else had that problem with bar soaps? And if so, you have a solution, let me know. But for now I am back to liquid body washes. I do kind of prefer liquid body washes anyway. Just, I just enjoy the experience more than bar soaps. Also, I feel like I don't go through them quite as quickly. But yeah, these are a nice affordable one. They're like a good few dollars cheaper than all the other body washes at like the grocery store. So I think we'll just continue using these for now. But yeah, really exciting also that Dial is now cruelty free in case you didn't know. Also, I don't normally show my toothpaste in empties anymore just because I had been using the same one for forever. But we recently tried a new one. This is the Burt's Bees Extra White Fluoride Toothpaste. We used to use the Hello Naturally Whitening Toothpaste, but we couldn't find it in any of our usual stores. So we went for this one instead. And I think I like this better than the Hello. The taste is almost better to me. And I actually think my teeth have gotten whiter since using this. Like I did notice a pretty big difference just looking in the mirror at my teeth every day. Like I just felt like, wait a minute, my teeth actually do look whiter than usual. So that must mean it's the toothpaste. Also, I felt like after using the Hello whitening toothpaste for so long, I was starting to notice a little more sensitivity in my teeth when I was eating like really hot or cold foods. But now with this one, I don't feel like I have that problem as much. So yeah, we've already repurchased this. I think this is gonna be our go-to from now on. Most of the products in here actually are ones that I would repurchase or have already repurchased. So that's good. Here's another one that I've already repurchased from Blueland. I also, when we moved in here, I decided to finally try Blueland cleaning products. So this is their Foaming Hand Soap. With Blueland, basically you get like a little tablet that you dissolve in water and you have a hand soap. So you can reuse the same bottle over and over again, and you just buy the refill tablets. And the refill tablets are actually pretty inexpensive. Like for a bottle of bar soap, it's like $2 per tablet, I think, around there. So I feel like it's a pretty good deal and it's just a good way to cut down on waste. So this is the Iris Agave Hand Soap Tablet. I really like the scent of this. To me, this smelled identical to the Mrs. Meyer's Basil scent, if you're familiar. Just a nice, sweet, clean, fresh scent. I do feel like we went through it pretty quickly. Like we went through a bottle of this hand soap in our bathroom within like a month. So I'm not sure that, I feel like that's a little bit faster than we would normally go through a different hand soap. So I don't know, we'll see. But I went ahead and bought more refill tablets. Right now I'm using the Lavender Eucalyptus scent, which is also very nice. And I saw they also have like a holiday variety scent pack as well. So I, yeah, I'm excited about Luland. I've also been using their cleaning products. They've been a little hit or miss. I like the bathroom cleaner and the regular all-purpose cleaner sprays, but the glass cleaner, I forgot to mention this when I was talking about it in my like Organize With Me video, but the glass cleaner smells awful to me. So not a fan of that one. Although it works well at cleaning glass and it doesn't leave a whole lot of streaks either, but the scent is just not great. But anyway, as we go through more of the Luland products, I'll continue to update you guys on them in these empties videos. A candle empty, this is the Trader Joe's Peach Black Tea Scented Candle. I always love seeing what seasonal candles they have at Trader Joe's. I don't go to Trader Joe's often because even though their groceries are pretty affordable, I just feel like I end up buying way too much stuff I don't need at Trader Joe's, like candles. But I did really enjoy this scent and I'm kind of sad it's gone. Great summer scent, very fresh, really does just smell like peach tea, kind of a mild scent, but it definitely filled up the room. I had it in this room actually in my background for a while and I'm excited to see what fall candle scents they come out with this year. All right, so those are all the products that I liked and would repurchase. Moving on to kind of the middle category of products that were just okay, but probably wouldn't repurchase. I only have two things in this category. One is the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion, a classic. This was a perfectly good eyeshadow primer. I didn't like the packaging though. I don't like that it's a squeeze tube and a doe foot, like just give me one or the other. Like right now I'm using the CoverGirl Lid Lock-Up Eyeshadow Primer and it does have a doe foot applicator, but it's just a regular normal doe foot applicator packaging. But this, it's just, once I got towards the end, it was just so hard to get it out. And anyway, I've pretty much used it all the way up. Normally I cut tubes open, but I decided not to with this one because I felt like it was already getting a little bit dried out as it is. And I just, I felt like if I cut it open, all of it would just dry up immediately anyway. So I decided not to bother with that, but this works well. I actually only had this because I received it in PR like two years ago and it lasted me that long. So good bang for your buck, but I don't think I would buy it with my own money just because there's so many good drugstore eyeshadow primers out there. And then I had this little sample of the Tower 28 Sunny Days SPF 30 sunscreen foundation. I actually posted an Instagram reel testing this out with kind of like my thoughts on it after trying it. I had the shade 15 Melrose, which was a little bit too deep and warm for me, but it was usable. Like it worked well enough. I didn't love this based on my like one use out of it. It felt just like a little bit thick. I felt like it looked kind of cakey on my skin. I just feel like it would be very hard to apply the proper amount of this to get the full SPF if you were using this as your standalone sunscreen. If you wanted to apply less of it and just use it as a foundation over like a base layer of sunscreen, that would probably work, but I didn't like it as much as my Ilias Skin Tint, but I might actually purchase it in the future because I think I want my next mineral sunscreen roundup video to be focused on tinted sunscreens that have an actual shade range because I just think it's long past time for tinted sunscreens to come in more than one shade. So I want that to be my next mineral sunscreen video. So for that video, I might purchase the full size of this so that I can compare it to others and so that I can test it out further because I really only got one use out of that sample. And then we have one lone product in the products that I did not like and definitely wouldn't repurchase category. I hated this. This is the Farmacy Clearly Clean Makeup Melt Away Cleansing Balm. So I think this is meant to be like a fragrance-free version of their Green Clean. I'm not sure if it's the exact same formula as Green Clean, just minus the fragrance or not because I haven't tried that one. But I did power through it and use it up. It wasn't the worst cleansing balm ever. Like it did get all my makeup off but it just took a lot of work to get it to rinse off. Yeah, it just didn't emulsify well at all. That's one of the biggest problems I have with so many cleansing balms is that they just don't rinse off with water which is like the whole point of using a cleansing balm. And I don't want to have to go in with like a makeup eraser cloth or some other washcloth because that defeats the whole purpose of using a cleansing balm. Like the whole reason I use a cleansing balm is so that I don't have to like rub and scrub at my face with a towel or with a wipe or whatever. So yeah, I didn't like this at all. But then again, I am rather picky with cleansing balms. Right now I'm using the Good Molecules Cleansing Balm and I'm loving it. It is so much better than this one. It comes in an aluminum little jar or what would you call that? A tin, a pot, a can, a tin can. No, that's silly. Loving it. It's so much better than this one, also more affordable but that one actually does emulsify with just water. So highly recommend that one because I've been looking for a cleansing balm that comes in a non-plastic recyclable packaging. Bliss makes one that I did not like at all but the Good Molecules one is the best cleansing balm I've tried in a while and it's pretty affordable. So that one I'm loving, this one I would skip for sure. So those are all my empties from the past like month and a half, two months. I hope you guys enjoyed seeing these products. Had a nice little mix of makeup and other products. So I hope you guys enjoyed it. If you want to check out more empties, I'll leave my empties playlist down below. At this point, I've probably done coming up on a hundred empties videos on my channel. I do them regularly. They're one of my favorites to film because I do feel like it's just, it's the best review I can give on a product if I've used it up all the way. So if you enjoyed this video, be sure to give it a thumbs up, subscribe to my channel if you've not already. If you want to go above and beyond in supporting me, you can check out my Patreon where I do post a bonus video every month. Otherwise, I hope you all have an amazing rest of your day and I will talk to you again very soon in my next video. Bye.