"Confessions of a Nail Polish Addict" The empties

Welcome to part 2 of my series:

How many nail polishes can you/have you used up in a year? After knowing how many nail polishes I bought in 2014 (here) I wanted to know how many I was able to use up over the same period of time in order the get a better impression how fast my collection is truelly growing.

Drum roll please… 18 empty nail polish bottles (+ some top and base coats).

Not too bad, considering that before I rarely ever did empty a single bottle. Looking at those empty bottles now somehow makes me proud. I mean there are definitely some shades I am going to miss but I am glad to see that I am not only buying things but also making use of them.

The shades I will miss the most are Essence “Waking up in Vegas”, Essence “Just can´t get enough” and Essence “Ready to be bitten” because I really loved the colors. All of these were Limited Edition polishes so can´t repurchase them but I would definitely consider doing so if they weren’t.

I am really happy to see the Ives Rocher nail polish go, because as you might have noticed in my nail polish decluttering post (here) I am not the biggest of green musky teal colors. The polish itself though was great, having an amazing coverage and a rich formula.

As for some other of my other empties, what can I say? I am not sad to see them go, mostly because in some way or another I have dupes for them (eg. MNY “306A” and Essence “Make it golden”) so it´s not like the shades are gone for good.

Have you ever counted how many nail polishes you used up in a year?

 

 xoxo, 

Christina 

Monthly Empties: February 2015

It´s that time of the month again. Yes, it´s empties time!

Dove “Winter Limited Edition” shower gel // 250ml // £2

I have said it in the past and I will say it again: I love Dove shower gels. They truly are moisturizing and they have a beautiful range of great smelling soaps. This winter limited edition didn´t dissapoint me and I am sad to see it go. Luckily I have plenty of shower gels in my drawer that are wainting to be used. 

Essence nail cleanser // 150ml // £2 
I loved to see that the drugstore carried a cleanser for a at home gel-manicure. Unfortunatly now they have discontinued this product and its back to ebay and Amazon when buying cleansers. 

L’Oreal micellar solution // 200ml // £2-4

This is my second bottle of this micellar solution and I have to say I really like it. I use it either before my cleansing oil to take down the first layer of make-up or afterwards to remove whatever make-up is left on my face. A great alternative for the Biothderma micellar solution if you ask me. The only weak spot I see is that it can´t take waterproof mascara down with it but then again I didn´t expect it to be. I would repurchase it again if it wasn´t for my curiosity of trying the Garnier micellar water next. 

Charles Worthington moisture seal conditioner // 250ml // £4-6 
At first I wasn´t very impressed with this conditioner but I actually ended up liking it. The conditioner is quite thick and has a very lady like scent. I did a good job at giving my hair some extra moisture and I would consider repurchasing this in the future. 

Herbal Essences "fresh balance shampoo" // 200ml // £1-2 
I bought this shampoo intending to use it once a week or every other week to get rid of any styling product residue on my hair. At that rate it took me about one and half years to use it up. My hair felt squeaky clean after using it but I wouldn’t recommend using this shampoo every time you wash your hair as it can be a bit drying. Other than that, it was good and I can see myself repurchasing it at some point in the future not not right away. 

Garnier ultra dry roll-on deodorant // 50ml // £1-2 
I know a lot of people that swear by this roll-on. Unfortunately I am not one of them. While I was amazed to see that it lasted me for at least two months (which is twice as long as a spray deodorant) I wasn´t knocked off my feet with regards of anything else. I got two of these when they were on sale at Wal-Mart, so I still have another bottle waiting to be used.

Dove Intensive repair spray // 150ml // £2-4 
Didn’t like it, won´t repurachse it. To me this was a complete waste of money. If you have really tangled hair after you shower, I can imagine this product to be quite nice actually. However I don’t really have that problem (I brush my hair before I shower and put conditioner on it so it doesn’t really knot up). I was hoping this to be more nourishing, but didn’t really see a difference when I used this and when I didn’t.

What products have you used up this month?

xoxo, 

Christina 

What happend to the Bobbi Brown gel liner?

Do you remember my “Finish 6 by Christmas” TAG (here) and how I was able to finish 5 out of my six products?

About a week ago I was able to finish up that 6^th remaining product - my Bobbi Brown gel eyeliner in “Espresso”.

I gave myself a month’s break after that Tag because I really needed it, but after my break I started using it again. I am really happy I was able to finish this product because towards the end it became quite a hassle to use it as it was quite dry. A month longer and I probably would have needed to throw it away.

After using this eyeliner for about 3 months I noticed that I prefer black eyeliners over brown ones. However if you are looking for a dark brown gel liner that lasts forever (even on your waterline), has a rich color and perfect consistency then you should check this one out!

Hope you are having a great day/night!

xoxo, 

Christina 

"Confesssions of a Nail Polish Addict" The purchases

Welcome to my new series:

Have you ever wondered how much nail polish you buy in a year?

Well I did, so I pulled out all the nail polishes I purchased last year (2014) and this is the result:

50 gorgeous bottles of pure fun!

I have so much fun painting my nails. I find it to be very relaxing, kind of like my personal therapy session after a stressful day.

Normally I tend to buy nail polish when it is on some kind of sale and judgeing from the picture above I found pretty great ones 2014. On average I save about 50% of the retail price. Not too bad, right? Any excuse to buy a polish is a good one I guess.

This year however I have decided to go on a nail polish "low buy" and limit myself to 25 nail polishes. I have so many that I could probably go on for years without having to buy one. So in 2015 I want to challenge myself and try to not only buy less but use up more.

Wish me luck!

 How many nail polish bottles have you bought in one year?

 xoxo, 

Christina 

NotW: Essie "Find me an oasis"

Over the last few weeks it has been snowing pretty much nonstop where I live. While I have to admit that I am more a spring/summer person the view outside my window is stunning. As a homage to the beautiful snowy weather I created this winter wonderland inspired nail polish design. I hope you like it!

How to recreate this design

1. Apply two coats of Essie “Find me an oasis”.

2. Apply one or two coats of Essence LE Mountain Calling “snow alert!” depending on how many little white dots you want. I really like how this nail polish once applied truly does look like it is snowing on your nails. If you don´t own this particular nail polish (after all it was a limited edition), you can take a doting tool (or even a toothpick) and dot some white dots on your nails. You´ll get a similar effect in no time.

3. Apply one coat of an iridescent nail polish for an extra shiny effect and one coat of your favorite top coat and you´re done.

For a extra oomph: why not stamp some silver snowflakes on your nails. I have done that in the past as well and it looks really pretty and subtle.

Have a beautiful day!

xoxo, 

Christina 

"Project Pan" Empties

After sharing with you my experiences, going through my project pan I now want to show you the products that I was able to finish up over the last six months. 

Essence eyebrow gel 
I felt that there was always a lot of product coming out of the tube so I had to stripe of the excess every time before applying. Other than that, the gel itself did a good job fixing my eyebrows and that is all I wanted. 

MAC “Blanktype” eye shadow 
I loved this eye shadow. I know that for some of you this shade might not be anything special but for me it was just the perfect under brow matt highlighter. It was very light (yet not white) super creamy and it lasted me forever. I will be repurchasing this shade in the future once I finish one or two other creamy vanilla colors I have. But I have to admit that I am already missing “Blanktype”!

MAC Painterly Paint Pot 
I purchased this paint pot four years ago and have used it almost every single day in order to even out my eyelid color and it worked almost perfectly until the bitter end. Sure, the last two weeks it wasn´t all that smooth but honestly after 4 years there is nothing wrong with that. I am planning to get “soft ochre” next because I think that one has more yellow undertones whereas this one has more pink ones. But I am trying to put that off as much as I can so that I can finish up one or two other cream bases I have lying around in my drawer. Nonetheless it´s safe to say that MAC paint pots will be back in my collection as they are a great value for money. 

Rimmel Wake-me up foundation 
If you are interested in review please click here. 

Maybelline Fit me concealer in “010” 
I feel kind of torn about this product. I got the wrong shade, so this one was not really light enough for me which made using it up kind of a hassle. But then again, that´s my fault for picking up the wrong shade..The product itself though was good. It doesn’t compare the MAC Pro longwear concealer (my holy grail concealer) or to my favorite drugstore one (“the eraser” also from Maybelline) but I might give this one another try in future. Next time, I´ll make sure to get the right shade though.

Rival de Loop LE “aqua face” powder 
Wow, this product is super old. I almost feel ashamed showing it to you, because it’s over 3 years old. It was supposed to have a cooling effect, which it did when I initially purchased it. The “cooling” powder gave a nice glow all over my face, but the packaging was really bulky and took up a lot of space in my collection. It was nice to play around with (and definitely cheaper than the MAC “magically cooling” powder) but I am happy to see it go.  Off to the next face powder in my collection! 

L´Oreal Butterfly mascara 
A good mascara but in my eyes not an amazing one. Towards the end it got really clumpy which is why I called it quits even though there was still plenty of product in it.  Worth checking it out? Mmhh.. I prefer the L´Oreal Million volume lashes over this one. 

Covergirl lengthening mascara 
This used to be an all time favorite of mine. I say used to because I am not sure whether I will be repurchasing it in the future anymore. The lengthening effect is great but the product felt really dry, even when I first opened it. Maybe I´ll give it another shoot in the future, we will see. 

Maybelline The eraser concealer in “light” 
My holy grail drugstore concealer. I was lucky enough to get an amazing deal on this concealer in Holland and ended paying 2,80Euro for it. One of my best beauty bargains ever! 

Catrice Blush in “peach sorbet" 
6 months. It took me 6 months to use this blush up. It was a beautiful light peach shade that suited my skin tone beautifully and stayed on my face pretty much all day. I am kind of sad to see it go, because I did really enjoy using it. The only bad thing I can say about it is that the cap broke after about 3-4 months of everyday use. I got this blush when it was on sale for only 1,75 € but even if I would have payed the original price (3,45 €) I would say that it was way worth the money! 

According to my calculations I used up a total of about 92 Euros (110Dollars/76Pounds) worth of products.I am glad to see that I got my money’s worth out of these products and I am excited to see what I will be able to finish up next.

 

Are you currently doing a “Project Pan”? What products did you pick?

xoxo, 

Christina 

My "Project Pan" Experience

Over the last six months I have been project panning and today I can proudly say: I did it! I finished all my 10 products and I couldn´t be happier about it. Before sharing with you what products I was able to finish up I wanted to share with you my “Project Pan” experience. 

What is “Project Pan”?
Let me start by briefly explaining what “Project Pan” is. Basically you chose a certain amount of products out of your make-up or beauty collection and use them up completely or to the point where you can see the pan of that product. There are many different variations of a “Project Pan” out there. Some people set a time limit regarding how long they will engage, others might pick a certain quantity they want to use up and some will even decide to stop buying make-up until their “Project Pan” is over.

I decided to pick 10 products out of my make-up collection and use them completely up no matter how long it took me (just in case you were wondering, it was 6 months). 

Why did I do a “Project Pan”? 
Honestly, I just felt a bit overwhelmed with my make-up collection. While I like to play around with different colors and textures and have some variety in the products I own I certainly felt that there was no point in having 40 different lipsticks if at the end of the day I was probably only using 5 of them on a regular basis.

Make-up is my hobby and I will probably always own more than the “average” woman out there but I just wasn’t feeling comfortable with my never ending growing collection.

I also wanted to gain a notion on how much it took me to use up a blush, a concealer or a lipstick, because honestly I had no clue and at the end of the day make-up is something perishable that I don’t want to go unnecessarily bad. 

What items did I pick/rules? 
I don´t think there are any rules out there on what kind of products you should pick. Personally I decided to pick products from different categories (e.g.face, eyes,lips). I knew that if I put 6 lipsticks in my project pan I would have just gotten frustrated really fast (there are only so many times you can reapply a product a day).
From previous project panning experience I also decided to have a mix between products that I loved and others that I wanted gone from my collection. It can take you quite a while to use up make-up products and if you hate what you are using there is no point in using it if you know what I mean. I never want to feel like using make-up is some sort of obligation. I want to have fun with it. Wasting a product just to get it done or being tired of using the same thing over and over again is not what I want. 

What did I learn? 
I love buying make-up as much as I do using it up. It gives you such a satisfactory feeling seeing that pan and actually getting your money worth out of a product. I guess making room for new things always feels better. I think going through this "Project Pan" made me more aware of the product lifetime of some items. It also showed me that with the right amount of determination anything is possible. 

Any tips? 
Put the products you want to use up somewhere visible so that you can easily grab them in the morning (or whenever you do your make-up). Out of side, really does mean out of mind!
 

If you like to wear bright lipsticks in summer but prefer neutral ones in winter, then try to think ahead when choosing your products. You don´t want to be “stuck” wearing coral lips in winter if you prefer red ones.

Stay motivated! Go watch some YouTube videos or read some blog posts of people that are going through the same as you are. I am not going to lie after about three months I was feeling pretty frustrated because I wasn’t seeing any visible progress on my items.

But most importantly don´t give up, if I can do it so can you!

 

If you want to know what products exactly I was able to use up, stay tuned. I will be sharing those with you shortly. Until then, have a beautiful day!

 

xoxo, 

Christina