Beauty Empties: 1st Quarter of 2015

I can't be moving with this huge pile of garbage, so now is a perfect time to share my quaterly beauty product empties! As usual, there's quite a lot of skincare and bodycare, and a bonus category - things that have long expired and needed to be tossed *sigh*.

I also have this new idea of discussing my 'Use It Up' goals in these empties posts, just to make it seem like this is going in some sort of deliberate direction. Ummm... maybe it is. At any rate, do you enjoy my artistic trash arrangements?

Let's start with skincare - separate reviews are linked where available.
Products I disliked and wouldn't repurchase: Neutrogena Make-up Remover Cleasing Towelettes (I scrubbed my face with these and my make-up didn't even budge), Burt's Bees Hydrating Cream Cleanser (contained sparse scratchy microbeads - thankfully, not made of plastic).
Products I enjoyed, but I'm trying out other things: Eau Thermale Avene Micellar Lotion (click; in short, I prefer cleansing oils to remove my make-up, but it was effective), Dermalogica Multi-Active Toner (alright, nothing special), Emma Hardie Amazing Face Cleansing Balm (click; lovely, but too expensive).
Products I would repurchase (but am probably trying out other things too): First Aid Beauty Facial Radiance Pads (click; already repurchased), TATCHA Gold Camellia Beauty Oil (click, have a back-up), Rock Rose/ Laudanum/ Cistus Hydrosol (have a back-up; fantastic for soothing and diminishing scars, I use it as a spray toner), Dermalogica Gentle Cream Exfoliant (click; really makes a visible difference when you remove it).

Bodycare - I'm especially proud of that bottle of perfume, as it takes me forever to go through a fragrance.
Products I disliked and wouldn't repurchase: The Body Shop Wild Rose Hand Cream (made my hands feel even drier, if that's at all possible. Very very strongly fragranced. I much preferred the Almond version, here).
Products I enjoyed, but I'm trying out other things: De-luxe Shea Butter Hand Cream (sort of similar to the popular L'Occitane hand cream, but much cheaper), L'Occitane Almond Milk Concentrate (I liked how fast the whipped consistency absorbed into my skin, but sometimes it would roll if I rubbed too vigorously), Tokyomilk Dead Sexy EDP, Lush So White Shower Gel (generous gift from Gummy - I wasn't in love with the green apple scent).
Products I would repurchase (but am probably trying out other things too): Aura Cacia Ylang Ylang Essential Oil, Village Naturals Foaming Milk Bath in Vanilla Amber (pleasant scent, lasting bubbles, very inexpensive for a big jug).

Haircare: lots of travel-sized bottles from our trip to Colorado. I've also realized that I go through a can of hairspray once a year, and still have four more in my drawer from the time I worked in a salon. Maybe I should use hairspray more. Or give it all away.
Products I disliked and wouldn't repurchase: Sebastian Trilliance Shine Shampoo and Conditioner (while not terrible, I thought it was too heavy for my fine hair and made it oily sooner than when I use my OGX Biotin & Collagen shampoo).
Products I enjoyed, but I'm trying out other things: Pureology Perfect 4 Platinum Miracle Filler Spray (used it as a detangler; worked okay, pleasant scent), Enjoy Instant Reconstructor (used as a conditioner; didn't notice a dramatic difference but conditioned well), Klorane Dry Shampoo with Oat Milk (alright, don't understand the raves), Sebastain Shaper Hairspray (good dry hairspray with a medium hold).

Make-up! Only two meager products, but I'm really focusing my efforts on the Project Make A Dent 2015. I reviewed the Tarte Lights, Camera, Flashes mascara here, liked it but wouldn't repurchase for now, and you know of my love for these Fresh Sugar Tinted Lip Treatments; I enjoyed Passion, but this time purchased Tulip to replace it (review with swatches coming soon).

Lots and lots of samples... I had even more, but tossed a couple in Colorado - it's pretty silly to travel with empty foil packets. Lots of My Beauty Diary sheet masks, reviewed in detail here. I would repurchase the Bird's Nest and Earl Grey Tea & Macaron varieties, and I loved my sample of Nude Omega Cleansing Jelly - contemplating a full-size purchase.

Lastly, the sad little group of products that expired and had to be tossed before I even made any significant dent in them. I'm a bit cross with myself that things like that still happen in my stash, no doubt because the said stash is way too large for me to manage. Three of these five products were somewhat unnecessary gifts, so at least I don't have myself to blame for purchasing things I didn't need. I've reviewed the Sulfur Ointment here; I just have too many spot treatments on the go at one time, so I didn't get the chance to use this one up (also, it's a huge jar). Ideally, I'd like to only own one spot treatment at any given time - I still have four to go through though -_-

Now, as for my 'Use It Up' goals for the next quarter, I would really, really like to focus on using up, and not purchasing, any back-ups of anything, skincare, haircare, bodycare, you name it. I want to have one product of each type on the go, use it all up, and then purchase a replacement. I would even like to go a few days without something before repurchasing, just to see how I can manage - and possibly use up some samples this way, or multipurpose my things. I am definitely getting to the point where this exercise will even be possible to carry out, as I've managed to downsize my back-ups significantly compared to last year.

I would also like to reduce my stash of sample foil packets and deluxe/ travel-size samples. Realistically, I travel 2-3 times a year. I don't need to hoard 10 minis of face serums and 5 tiny tubes of eyecream for those occasions, especially that I seem to accumulate these samples a lot faster than I can use them up. I'd like to downsize to the point where I have just a few foil packets 'just in case'/ to try out, and just one deluxe mini of each type of product that I can take with me when I travel, or even less than that, since I could easily depot the amount I need into travel containers. I'm thinking of really focusing my efforts on those samples via a separate project/ challenge, possibly in April or May.

And that's it! I'm pretty happy with my continuous progress in downsizing my stash - I have definitely noticed more space in my various cabinets and drawers compared to early last year, and that's fantastic. How are you faring with downsizing your stash? Have you also been focusing on a specific area of your collection?