New Year's Empties!

Oh, another empties post - it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside (guilt-free would be another way to call it). While I've broken my loosely imposed no-buy from November, I've actually managed not too accumulate too much crap, plus I'm still working hard on using up a lot of my stuff. I think I like that way of reducing my spending more than a very strict and regulated ban; I just find that if I really want something and think it's unique enough that my collection could still expand to include it, I'd rather go for it than torment myself with thoughts of beautiful things escaping my greedy fingers. I don't impulse buy at all anymore, so I think I'm not doing too bad in general!

Back to my empties. These have been collected over a couple months now, gathering in this paper Bath & Body Works bag under my bathroom sink. As a sidenote, Mr. helped to empty some of these as well, like the shampoo and hand creams! Also not depicted, I've managed to use up two half bars of soap and two facial cleanser deluxe samples. I deserve a golden handshake :)

Hair and bodycare. As stated above, the shampoo was a collective effort; the Alaffia Body Milk and an exfoliating body wash from a Polish brand Joanna that authentically smells of strawberries are all my own. Actually, the body lotion is only half empty - it started to give me a burning allergic reaction, so in the bin it goes.

Hand creams. 4 hand creams!!! Ok, one is a mini. This just shows how indispensable hand cream is in our household of two. I won't recommend the Aveeno or that weird Philosophy rip-off I bought in New York, but the Neutrogena and Ahava both worked quite well.

Skincare and perfume. Alas, two are only samples; but I swear it takes me at least two weeks to use up a regular perfume sample, what the heck? That La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo was kicking for such a long time that in the end I used it up on my elbows and knees, and the Mario Badescu Special Cucumber Lotion worked ok for drying up more pimply areas when I had bad skin days. I won't repurchase either of the skincare bits, but really liked that Tocca Cleopatra perfume...

Used-up make-up. Two deluxe mascara samples - YSL Faux Cils and Lancome Hypnose Drama, won't repurchase either. Also, my eternal pot of MAC Studio Finish concealer; I loved it, but it was nearing 3 years (sic!) since I started using it. I used that stuff almost every day for those 3 years, and see, there's plenty of it still left. Unbelievable.

Tossed make-up. Some very, very old make-up items from my collection that I hadn't even touched for over a year and that simply needed to go. A cheapie and awful no name lash curler, a Bourjois loose powder that smells very old school, some Avon chocolate-scented lip gloss, a Coastal Scents gloss/lipstick in a pot, NYX glitter liner, a Victoria Secret loose eyeshadow I got in a swap and hadn't used a single time... I won't miss you.

I have a lot more products that are literally on their last legs, so I hope there'll be another round of empties to show off to you rather soon. How are you doing in terms of reducing your make-up collections/ bathroom clutter? Any victories to report? I'd love to know!