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October 08, 2012

Project Pan Them All | September Empties


Another month has gone by, meaning it's time for another empties post, and I have used up quite a few products, yey!


I have always had a thing for SPAresource Hand Creams ever since I first tried them - I just love their amazingly thick and rich texture that never leaves hands greasy and that moisturize my dry and eczema-prone hands super quickly. SPAresource hand creams are made with shea butter, cocoa butter, jojoba oil, aloe oil, vitamin e and honey extract - talk about wonder ingredients! Oh, and did I mention the scrumptious and insanely juicy smell? OMG!

I received a sample of AHAVA Skincare Mineral Hand Cream in my February GLOSSYBOX and at first sight, I thought this hand cream would be a nice size to keep in my handbag or in my locker at work but after trying it on... no. This is just too light and it doesn't feel moisturizing at all on my dry and eczema-prone skin. I was expecting much more from a $22 hand cream that contains Dead Sea minerals! 

Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme 
seems to be a staple among a lot of beauty bloggers and as much as I love everything about it - its citrusy smell, its thick and creamy texture, how well it moisturizes my parched cuticles, its super cute tin - I'm just too lazy to remember to apply it on my cuticles and nails every night so most of the time, I simply use it as a hand cream before bed before slipping on some cotton gloves because it tends to get a bit greasy, but it works oh-so well on my eczema! 


I am rarely disappointed by Burt's Bees products but as much as I tried to find a way to use Burt's Bees Mama Bee Nourishing Body Oil that would make it work for me, it just did not do it - my skin just doesn't feel moisturized after using it, and it fails to calm the itchiness due to my eczema.

I was sent Pai Comfrey & Calendula Calming Body Cream in October of last year to help my eczema and even though it appeared to really help at first, I'm not sure if it's because my skin got used to the product but the effect quickly wore off and I had to rely on my steroid creams again, which is never good. But again, maybe it's because I ran out of Rosehip & BioRegenerate fruit & seed oil blend, which was supposed to be used together...

I mentionned Burt's Bees Aloe & Linden Flower After Sun Soother in my Summer Essentials post and raved about it but I never got to review it before using it up - what can I say, this stuff is purely genius! I have always overlooked after-sun lotions because I'm lazy and I figured out that a normal body moisturizer would work just as well but this product completely changed my mind! It was not until I got a really bad sunburn on my chest, arms and belly - I forgot to re-apply sunscreen after going swimming - that I realized how this product was a miracle worker - my sunburn was completely gone within only two days and my skin never showed signs of sun damages!


It's weird how I actually liked Beyond Coastal Kids Natural Sunscreen SPF 30+ the first few times I used it because it glided on the skin nicely without leaving white residues behind but now that the tube was almost empty, I found it hard to properly apply and rub on my skin because of its now thick texture, and my skin was left with random white patches of sunscreen, not to mention that I felt a bit sticky until I washed off at the end of the day. I don't understand what happened - could it have gone bad? I only got it this summer though, weird!

I quite enjoyed LUSH Satsumo Santa Bath Bomb because as soon as I entered the bath, I instantly felt my skin being smooth and moisturized - it was amazingly silky! After the bath, I could really feel my skin being nourished, and I couldn't believe that the dry patches of skin I had on my elbows were almost all gone - and that's not a light statement, having struggled with eczema almost all my life. I wish the delicious fruity and fresh scent wold be strong enough to linger in the bathroom or on my skin after the bath, but I'm used to such disappointment with bath products in general.

I don't use mouthwashes on a daily basis and I have given up on finding the perfect whitening mouthwash because nothing works on my naturally yellow teeth! However, I know I can always go back to Scope Outlast for a super long lasting fresh breath that no other mouthwash can provide.

I have been incredibly disappointed by Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat* as it does not fully dry in 30 seconds - of course - but the worst is that no, it absolutely does not live up to its claim of no-chip shine for up to 10 days. I think I'm definitely done with top coats!

*This product is NOT cruelty-free

4 comments:

  1. Hey there! Do you know if there's any cruelty-free beauty box?
    Thank you :)

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  2. Hi Gaby!! I hope all is well with you :) Just wanted to wish you a Very Happy Thanksgiving!
    I've tried a number of things from your September Empties post and agree with you on a lot of it. I don't use SPAresource creams anymore....I use to like them when my budget was especially a bit tight as a student but now I find the scents can be a bit synthetic and for hand cream I'm fully devoted to Aveeno Eczema Care Cream and the Cetaphil Restoraderm which has completely healed my bit of eczema for more than a year now....I love the citrusy scent of the Burt's Bees cuticle cream but I agree that it's just one more step in my hand cream regimen that I always skip....
    I also had a sunburn from my trip to Grand Cayman and I used the Burt's Bees Aloe & Linden Flower Sun Soother - it works great and really calmed my burnt shoulders/back.
    I totally agree that the Scope Outlast provides the best long lasting minty freshness out of any other mouthwash I have used - I always have a bottle of this under my bathroom sink :)
    I'm surprised the Sally Hansen Insta-Dri didn't live up your expectations. It certainly doesn't dry my manicure in 30 seconds or help my manicure stay for 10 days...but I think it works great and my manicure dries within several minutes and my manicure lasts a good 5 days or so with it so I stick with it :) But I also dislike it when companies make far fetched claims so I understand what you mean about the top coat!

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  3. I have the Sally Hansen Insta-dri too! It does dry the nail olish quickly but had to admit, it not live up to the claim of staying chip free for 10 days, very disappointing! x

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  4. @vickykoala: Sadly, I have not found any yet, but if I do, I would definitely subscribe and let know my readers!

    @ Karen Law : Hi Karen, so nice to hear from you! Nice to see we agree on so many things - I agree that the SPAresource products can smell a bit synthetic but I don't mind for the price (: Sadly, both Aveeno Eczema Care Cream and Cetaphil Restoraderm don't seem to work for me but I will have to try to use them up because they were quite pricey and they test on animals. It's awesome that the Burt's Bees Aloe & Linden Flower Sun Soother worked so well for you too! I was a bit disappointed by Sally Hansen Insta-Dri because it costs more than I'm used to pay for a top coat and it just didn't live up to its claims. Happy Thanksgiving to you too Karen!

    @Halima : Yes, very disappointing since it costs more than what I'm used to pay for a top coat z=

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