Empties! Products I Used Up in July

I managed to use up some makeup items in July, finally!  Two are staples and favorites:  Clinique's Pore Refining Solutions foundation in Neutral and Too Faced's Shadow Insurance.  Of all the foundations in my rotation at the moment, Clinique's saw the most use.  It's a solid performer with a naturally looking finish that holds up well on my oily skin.  I first posted a review of this foundation in November of 2012, so the bottle lasted quite a while!  I would definitely repurchase. 

At one point Too Faced's Shadow Insurance was my favorite eye shadow primer, but I think it's fallen to second or third place now.  I'm currently using an eye primer by Jane Cosmetics ($8) that works just as well at less than half the price of Shadow Insurance ($20). 

The SculptDiva Contouring blush in Crave by Fusion Beauty above went bad, so it got tossed.  It was a bit too light and barely registered on my skin anyhow.  The NARS tinted moisturizer sample left me feeling "eh", and I rarely use brow gel, but did manage to make it through this Anastasia sample in about, oh, two years :-)

I never thought I'd have a favorite nail polish remover, but Zoya's Remove+ is really, really good.  I almost made it through a full bottle of Julep's base coat before it thickened past the point of redemption.  YuBe's Moisturizing Skin Cream is a good heavy duty hand cream that I used once a week after giving myself a manicure, so this tube lasted me quite a while.

I enjoyed the Miracle10 Treatment 30, which is an effective retinol product (full review here).  I'd like to try to Treatment 60 next.  The Vasanti BrightenUp! is an enzymatic facial scrub that I received in one of my Birchbox's, and I liked the fineness of granulating beads in it.  The vitamin C Ester 15 sample by Perricone MD was a standout, too bad it's so expensive!  That little tube is valued at $15 and lasted about 10 days.  For $120, you can get 4 tubes twice the size of the one above.  I did like it though.

Loved the Zensation Organic Rice Milk & Cherry Blossom shower gel sample.  It a gel that turns to a foam, smelled delightful, and lathered nicely.  I've always enjoyed the scent of Aveda's Rosemary Mint line, although I haven't purchased anything from them in ages.  The Afobiko organic dog shampoo in Lavender & Neroli was low lather and took the bottle to clean my dog, but I liked the scent.

Last up are foils and blotting tissues, a summertime staple for me.  The Aubrey Luminesse eye creme reminded more of a skin serum, to I used it all over my face to good effect.  DHC's Eye Bright is a clear eye gel that I like using in the summer as it's lightweight and contains caffeine for depuffing under the eye. The Love Conditioner sample was another Birchbox item, quite nice. 

Don't forget to enter the Clinique GWP set giveaway, today is the last day!