Beauty products I've used up so far.

I know I've said this before, many times, but what I was really surprised about when I first started to make a real effort to use up my beauty products was just how much I had. As a rule I'm not really all that beauty savvy,  regularly forgetting to apply moisturizer, not actually using that mask I brought, and forgetting to redo my nails.  Really, owning the amount I did was a little pointless and having to remind myself to actually use a product has required more effort than I first thought.. The only thing I can add in my defense is a lot of the lotions and positions were gifts from people who didn't know what else to get me.

While I am still working on it I now have a lot less products and have managed to replace a number of everyday beauty items with more natural products.  I've also learnt a fair amount since doing this.
Firstly, my skin has become a lot healthier since I've stopped using the commercial products and have started using more natural soaps, exfoliants, and moisturizers.  As someone who has always suffered from mild eczema I though there was a possibly that I would be allergic to Sodium Lauryl Sulphates.  Since using more natural, SLS free products in the last year my dryness has reduced greatly (even over winter) and the red, itchy patches I used to get disappeared completely.  If that wasn't enough to convince me then using the body products I have in this years project pan (a secret santa gift with SLSs as the top products in all) my skin has already gotten drier and small eczema patches on my inner elbows have returned.

Secondly, I had gotten used to using products I really didn't need.  This is mainly products like dry shampoo.  I used to feel that it was really obvious when it was day 3 of me not washing my hair, but then I decided to stop buying dry shampoo and just see what happened......and not surprisingly no one noticed.  Hair spray is another product that seems a bit pointless on my hair.  I have a lot of it but it's fine and soft and even the strongest hair spray doesn't seem to be able to hold a hair style in any way.  It also used to give me headache, so now I've stopped buying it.  I still have one can left, but am thinking I might use that to hold my eye brows in place.

Thirdly, many companies use words like 'natural' and 'nature' as selling gimmicks that do not actually have any real truth about what's inside them.  In many cases I couldn't find anything that I would classify as natural in the product list or if there was it would be very low down and therefore very low in concentration.  It's made me even keener than before to start looking into making my own products.

Fourthly, changing my toothpaste into more natural products has been a lot harder than I though it would be.  Firstly I hate the taste of liquorice and a lot of natural products seem to have that or something similar as a flavouring.  Secondly, I have sensitive teeth and needed to find a products that would work with that like a conventional toothpaste (still looking and will write more about that in a future post).  Thirdly, I had issues sensitivity last year on the left side of my mouth.  I was worried it might have been to do with me testing new toothpastes and my dentist has given me almost a years supply of fluoride toothpaste (something I wasn't too happy about and that I've been trying to use up).  The fluoride toothpaste has seemed to have much of an effect and I've realised that actually it was probably due to the fact that I have soft gums and have managed to wear the tissue down along the tooth line, leading to exposed tooth roots.  Despite using a soft toothbrush I clearly need to change the way I brush my teeth to protect the rest of my gums.  So back to testing different toothpastes.

Lastly, make up take a ridiculously long time to use up and so having a lot of it is completely pointless.  In fact most of the nail varnish has become unusable before I've had a chance to actually finish it.  So far I've been mainly working on those that are really old or that are companies that test on animals.  The amount I had has meant that the only thing I've really had to buy was mascara and concealer (recently).  This year's pan is mainly concentrating on make-up as I have basically used up other beauty products that are less natural.  
The photos taken above were all the products that I used up before August last year and I managed to use up more after I moved to my new flat.

Starting with face.  The eye primer on the top was Soap and Glory's It's About Prime.  Unfortunately it dried up before I could finish it completely (it was that old) reminding me to stop hoarding products.  I'm not sure if it was the age, but I didn't notice it do a particularly good job as an eye primer.  However, I do have very oily eyes and this has also been the case with many of the primers I've used in the last.  The eye shadow is Mink from the Natural Collection Mink/ Sable eye shadow duo which I used as a base eyeshadow.  The concealer on the left was the Witch Hazel spot concealer.  It did work as a spot concealer but was a little too orange for my skin and I don't think it actually helped treat the spots.  I mainly used it to conceal around my nose where I get some redness.  Next was the Garnier Roll-on Anti-dark circles concealer.  Despite its popularity in the beauty community I wouldn't recommend this at all.  Firstly Garnier is not cruelty free, but it's also very liquidly, not very pigmented, and the colour actually just makes your under eye circles look grey but still obvious.  The only way it would work is if you didn't really have any under eye circles at all.  The last item is the Collections Sheer Loose powder in Barely There.  Using this product made me realise that I don't like loose powder, way to fiddly and not good for a clumsy individual like me.  However, for the price this product was quite good and set my foundation/ cc cream well without looking powdery.  It also contains SPF which is always good and can be reapplied later on in the day.

These are the Boots No 7 eyeliners which came together as a Christmas set.   Unfortunately I can't see the name of them anymore but the colours were beautiful.  The only issue I had with them was that the quality was not consistent throughout. I'm not sure if it was the batch that I got but some were very smooth and soft, drying into a long lasting liner, while others were very dry and difficult to apply.  I would recommend them, but maybe test them in store first.

Lip products are always products that surprise me when it comes to how long it takes to use them up, despite re-applying them constantly.  The first product in this picture is a hard lip gloss in a little purse that my Mum had brought me as a stocking filler.  I'm not sure what the brand was, but it doesn't really matter as it wasn't a great product any way (sorry Mum). There was a lot of product in this and it took a very long time just to use one side, but then I dropped in on the floor, breaking it in 2 and getting grit into the side that still had product.  I decided to just leave it as that.  Next along was the Estee Lauder Long Lasting Pure Colour lipstick in Pinkberry.  I wouldn't buy this product again as Estee Lauder is not cruelty free and the smell wasn't pleasant, but I did like the colour of it and will look for a similar colour in the future.  Then is Revlon's Colorburst Lipstick in Coral.  Again the colour was beautiful, but Revlon is no longer a cruelty free company and I didn't like the formulae, which was too creamy and moved easily into my skin on days that I didn't powder heavily.  Lastly is the Natural Collections lip liner in Plum.  This is a great pencil, lovely colour and lasts really well on the lips for the price of it.  I was applying it under the two lipsticks when I wanted to vary the colour slightly and would definitely think about buying again in the future.

The last products are my nail varnishes.  I've spent my time working mainly on my Essie products as they are no longer cruelty free and I wanted to move them out of my 'collection'.  I also worked on some of the older base and top coats as well as a BarryM nail polish I've had for years.  I didn't get to finish them all up as they all got too gloppy before the end.

While the last 2 years has mainly been about using up products I no longer want to use I have also been testing more natural products as well and I'll be writing posts about these in the future.  I'm hoping to have all cruelty free, predominantly natural products by the end of this year.