It's recycling week and my Sephora bag of empties have generously filled up, so it's time for Trash Talk, where I talk briefly about my recent empties from the past couple of months!

For full disclosure, three products in this post I previously received from 08.L USA for review purposes; I have already completed the reviews and just continued usage--those products will be marked with an asterisk (*). I will also include some Western products and some empties of samples.








 To start off on a cute note, I really like Tony Moly's Pocket Bunny Moist Mist mist a lot. Cute, of course but it's also a refreshing mist that smells sweet like peach candy. After a couple of hours of work, it's nice to spritz on my face and experience a cooling sensation on my face, especially on my cheeks. The ease of use and evenness of the actual spray is the best part. I have used two over the course of the past...four? months, with near daily use Until I find another mist or should be discontinued, I don't believe I will replace this in my routine, for years to come!

When I was down in PDX about a month ago now, I restocked and picked up three (yes, three!) of these mists during ULTA's BOGO40% sale. After the sale prices, coupon and using some points, they worked out to be 5 bucks each, instead of $15. Normally, I'd order one at time as I desired from Amazon or eBay, at a slower pace and at much, much lower price, but this was nice. I won't have to repurchase until like...later this year!


I meant to review Tony Moly Panda's Dream So Cool Eye StickTony Moly Panda's Dream So Cool Eye StickTony Moly Panda's Dream So Cool Eye StickTony Moly Panda's Dream So Cool Eye Stick before now but I actually never got around to it! I like the concept of this cooling stick but the stick portion was so stiff. When you'd move it across your under eyes, you'd have to press down to get it run smoothly and in the process, end up pressing too hard!

The packaging is ridiculously cute and even despite the annoyances with application, yes, I would repurchase. The fact that it cooled and helped to hydrate my under eyes is a plus. Now, my skin is drier than it was a year ago so I could do with this product in the eye care portion of my routine again. I would also welcome this back into my routine for the summertime as I have a feeling like this year will be extreme for this area.

Another Tony Moly empty: the Tomatox Magic Massage Pack, with it's equally cute packaging . I know there is a divide and many mixed reviews on this product--some love it and and other find it a gimmick. I am in the first camp. I can't get enough!

The pack is a mildly thick, white goop with small exfoliating clumps (not beads!) that break down once it meets the skin. Taking a desired amount, you simply apply to the face and gently massage the mixture in circles, then wash it off after 10 mins, or when you are ready. I use my fingertips and move them in circles, in an upward motion, to use a mini facial massage. The result is supposed to give a (temporary) brightened complexion, soft to the touch. It does that.


I find that likely because of the niacinamide, my face is temporarily brightened. Depending on my routine prior and how much I touched or rubbed my face prior, I can end up with an almost white, even complexion, sans rosacea, and that I why I adore this pack. Even if that is only temporary. The affordability is another factor: I've purchased the Tomatox pack for around $8 to $11, in the past.

While I'm towards the end of my third container now, I've actually yet to do a in-depth review!



freeset donkey milk 3d moisture cream

I included this cream (and the following one) in a recent review about four creams with "unusual" textures, from my skincare stash. This particular Freeset cream is thick, but stringy. I found it hard to use because of its thickness and inability to properly sink into the skin. At the time, I also strongly disliked the milky perfumed scent. I'm glad I tried this cream at least once but for 50g of product and the unnecessarily, big ass container vs the price (~$50), it's not worth it.



Literally where the ring is, where the lid screws on--that is the true size of the container. Where the container stretched wider, that is just extra plastic.



A side note: does Soo Ae own Freeset now? Did they before?





vant 36.5 advanced moisture cream*

I originally received this cream via 08.L USA, in exchange for an honest review. I liked it and texture-wise, was unlike any other moisturizer I had tried. The texture was soft, thin but ease to apply. It felt like a sudden burst of hydration to the face, without the lemon "cleaning supply" -esque scent of belif's Aqua Bomb cream. As I explained in the original review, the price tag is too steep for my liking, but thinking about it, it is cheaper than belif.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Both cushions pictured below were received around last summer/autumn from 08.L USA, for review purposes. First, the Dr. Althea Water Glow Cushion* in Shade C21 (Ice Vanilla Cover): it was my first Korean cushion at the time, and I used it near daily. I enjoyed the coverage and the incredible dewy, glow it gave to my face but I disliked the price point and lack of availability outside of Korea--hence why I hadn't purchased a refill. I want to though, as long as I can find a cheaper seller.

Also when it arrived, the case was cracked so the entire cushion is in two pieces, so I'd need to buy the whole case and refill! All in all, it was a pleasant first experience for a Korean cushion.



But briefly back to that dewy, glow! The dewiness was so incredible which made it also a little hard to set and not really a lasting cushion--a hard thing for drier skin types! It did cover my redness and give my face an even complexion. Shade 21 was very fitting but I don't think there are other shades, AFAIK.

Also from 08.L USA for review purposes, the Rivecowe DD Dust Defense Cushion* was a short lived experience as I actually went through this in just over two months. I had turned the sponge over and over about 5 times total and by then, it was completely dried up. I kept the cushion in case I wanted to buy a refill and just use my original case (it's intact!).  The more that time went on, I didn't really want to spend ~$25 for the full cushion when I could buy like three of four road shop branded cushions (but not necessarily lower quality) for that same amount of money.


The cushion gave a light, but even coverage over my redness. In hindsight, was hard to set--even though my work environment is dry and was the primary place I was testing and wearing it at--and created oil on my face. I have dry, dehydrated skin, so this was strange. Still, I used the cushion until the container dry, after flipping the sponge over several times. I may keep this to have an extra cushion, to DIY.

That being said, the Rivecowe DD Dust Defense Cushion did cover my redness pretty well. Here's my swatch photo:

here's a swipe of the #rivecowe ddcushion just to show how it covers up my redness!! tbh the shade of the cushion matches pretty well 🙌🏼✨ @rivecowecosmetic @0.8l_usa #rasianbeauty #rivecowe #review #ddcushion #dustdefensecushion #kbeauty #08l #kbeauty #abbeauty #abblogger #bblogger #cosmetics #makeup #foundation #コスメ #韓国コスメ #メイク #クッション

A post shared by 🍑🗑🎀 (@spacedump) on Apr 29, 2016 at 11:18am PDT

hada labo gokujun lotion moist

Ahh, yes, the Gokus!


I've been using the "Super" Moist version for quite a while and I can honestly say, that when this is not in my routine and I've ran out, my fine lines creep into again. I notice extra dryness that cannot be tamed, around my mouth, cheeks and under eyes--I do drink about 1.5L to 2L of water daily so it is not necessarily an internal hydration problem.

Once I have repurchased and have this back in my routine, my skin seems to bounce back to life and smooths out any fine line around my eyes and mouth (I am pretty expressive and smile a lot); I feel alive! Hydrated!

The lotion is of course, very watery and I have been to able to use as a moisturizer in the summer time, during the mildly dry, hot PNW summer. For me, it just performs so well--I repurchased a new bottle and when that comes in, I will finally review it!

I have yet to try the Premium or Shirojun lines but one day, I may take the plunge on the Premium lotion, just for kicks!



dr jart+ dermaclear micro water

While I am a fan of Dr Jart's Ceramidin line and the Water Drop Cream, I didn't like this as much as I thought I would. I have another samples sized bottle to use but compared to the Simple Micellar Cleansing Water, this micro water did not perform well at all.

This Micro Water claims right there on the label that is removes makeup--it removes only light face makeup. No heavy foundation or sunscreen, or any eye makeup. Instead (for the eye makeup at least) the Micro Water helps breaks it down, but will inevitably smear mascara reside around on your face. Ick!

You'd still need to use a cleansing oil and second cleanser anyway, so what's the point?

While it feels kind of refreshing on the face, it's more suited to a true barefaced no makeup day routine. But when it comes down to it, Simple's Cleansing Water is a fraction of the price, and a far better performer than the Dr Jart+ Micro Water as the former is much gentler on my face.



benton snail bee high content essence

I have had love-hate relationship with this essence. Originally, I bought it to help with redness as I had some mutuals who have redness that had this work for them. Looking back, I was a little desperate to solve or reduce my redness and was just going "grabby hands" at anything that seemed ok.



At the time, I thought it helped to cause some unexplained dryness around my nose when I first started to use it, around the beginning of last year. I now know that reaction was just dehydration, twelve layers of stress and too many product at once! I stopped using this, stripped my routine and slowly introduced products back into my routine, while also turning to other products. I only picked the Snail Bee High Content Essence up last August again, and slowly used it up throughout the remainder of the year, finishing it in late November 2016. I think I kept the bottle, thinking I could clean it and purpose it (for that pump), but nah.....
Performance wise, the clear essence would dramatically turn a couple of patchy areas of my redness (towards my ears, lol) into a faded pink, but nothing more! The effect was fairly temporary, in those areas but I couldn't get it to work on the core portion of my redness: the apples of my cheeks and outwards. Also the essence was mildly cooling to me, but sat tacky on the skin despite it having a thin consistency. That felt like too much of a contradiction.

Considering all of that, I am still on the fence for repurchasing. Like the fence is my throne--I'm completely divided on this! I would only buy from an eBay seller (to save $$) than Memebox USA, then time around, to try this all again if I didn't find anything else. The It's Skin Power 10 LI Effector seems more exciting for my redness though...and cheaper!

Plus, I'm sure there are other products.



etude house pink vital water cream

I previously reviewed the Pink Vital Water trial kit and enjoyed the products very much. I've since used up the cream and while I bought a container of the cream for my mum, for Christmas, I plan on buying myself the cream too; I am also eyeing the serum and toner. This entire line's aesthetic is also right up my alley!


I really enjoy peach scented products and peaches in general but like I mentioned before, I'm more than pleased that the Pink Vital Water line (from what I've tried) isn't strongly scented, but is pretty effective.

In terms of the cream, it's light to the touch and spreads easily and evenly over the skin, sinking it fairly fast. My skin felt soft and smooth, after application.




s a m p l e s

skinfood watery berry serum sample x2 - I really enjoyed this serum! Living up to its name, the serum is in fact watery, not much of a strong berry scent but left my skin a little tacky afterwards. Not sure if I'd purchase the full size if the tackiness becomes that prominent, post-application.

tony moly egg pore nose strip x1 - After some major cleaning a while ago, I got gross and sweaty, and my pore were looking nasty! I ig around in my stash and saw that I had a full box of these nose strips. They are ok but I prefer the Holika Holika Piggy line as those have a moisturizing portion within the three step mini-routine. These Tony Moly nose strips were rough on my nose and was hard to remove. I"ll try my best to use them up though, or give them to my dad (who has a much oilier nose).

cosrx blackhead power liquid sample x1 - kind smelled weird but it worked. I wish this could work for whiteheads.





cosrx galactomyces 95 whitening power essence sample x1 - not enough to judge how well this works, so I'll have to repurchase to actually see with my own two eye holes, but it did whiten a bit. A little sticky, though....

etude house moistfull collagen water jelly cream sample x1 - I've already purchased the full size but boyyyyyy, this clear jelly-like gel cream is really unique! It looks and feels like jelly but when on the skin, it's smooths acorss the skin cleanly and leave it feeling so soft. I'm so pumped to try this in the summertime, since it's such a thin gel cream!

neulii aloe bha soothing serum sample x1 - again, not enough product to truly judge or share enough thoughts but I think it works...?? I have four more of these samples so I may use them at once, to test and look for noticeable results.

 

N O N - A B


urban decay all night setting spray

I'll be short on this but this cult favourite used to work for me, prior to really getting into Korean skincare. Once I delved deep and actually cared about my skin's moisture barrier, I found that Urban Decay's famous setting spray dried out my face, made the makeup on my cheeks melt away and caused the foundation or BB cushion to separate on my skin either immediately or later in the day, no matter the order, lack or variety of products that I used!

The setting spray though, seems to work better on the eyes but the scent of alcohol is much too strong for me now, so I will look elsewhere since I've used this up completely. Instead, I will opt for another facial mist as a setting spray rather than a "traditional" setting spray.



evian facial spray

At the time, I liked this facial spray and even repurchased. Now, I just don't care. (Hint: Tony Moly stole my heart.....).

It was like spraying just water my face, so I think it started to dry my face out.




batiste dry shampoo

I couldn't get these in the main photo because they kept rolling into the other products! In this photo below, I had to hold them in place with my hand.

Since I have blond hair, I limited to washing my hair only two or three times per week, just to eliminate breakage. For shampoo, I use John Freida's Lightening Shampoo for Blond hair at least once a week and for the other times, Kracie Ichikami Rice Bran or the Moisturizing shampoo. I condition with the matching Ichikami Moisturizing conditioner almost every night to help combat tangles, since I get bad bedhead (the worst is at the back of my head and my bangs). I did use the Clarisol Purple Lights purple shampoo for a long while but I found I was shedding too much hair after use and it would noticeably stain my hands (and my bathtub!!).

Enter dry shampoo, the lifesaver. I'm a cheap skate (on some things) so I generally pick up Batiste from TJ Maxx, just to save a bit since they aren't usually on a BOGO sale and in stock regularly at ULTA. I like the Cherry scent but recently, I've grown to like the Tropical scent. With regular use, I seem to make a can last about three weeks to a month. I also can feel the difference in the texture of my hair whenever I use other brands--Batiste doesn't make my hair feel crunchy or sound squeaky when brushing like Dove, TRESemmé or Suave branded dry shampoo has, or give my scalp a white cast. Batiste just...works.

Also pictured in the main photo but I just didn't care to talk about it much: a random Crest mouthwash. I used it at work after lunchtime to fresh up my mouth and breath. It was alright.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for reading my thoughts about my empties! Stay tuned for some in-depths review very soon.

Time to take out the recycling~~