Emptied and replaced in November and December

A new emptied and replaced covering November and December, a roundup of everything I emptied out and what I replaced it with.  I want to apologize for the pictures, I was wearing a bright pink sweater when I took these and it shows (and I'm not that good of a friend with photoshop so I don't know how to remove the pink shadow popping up), lesson learned!

Facial care:

I emptied out my Neutrogena Pore Refining toner, the one I used at night with the Alpha and Beta acids in it, and replaced it by KIKO purifying pads.  I'm not really impressed with these so far, I really have to force myself into using these at night.  Secondly there's my Neutrogena Rapid Wrinkle Repair serum, I'm really bummed that this one is empty. Instead I'm using a luxury sample of  Biotherma Blue Therapy Serum which I'm really liking.  I love the feeling and consistency of this serum.  The Body Shop Vitamin E facial mist that I was using as a toner has been replaced by the Vitamin E toner, this toner is so soft and gentle and the smell kind of reminds me of babies (freshly washed by the way).  An empty bottle of Mac Fix + (I wasn't sure if this counts as skincare or makeup) was quickly replaced by a new bottle but I went for the cucumber smell this time.  My Kiehl's eye alert eye cream went in the bin and so far I haven't had to open a new eye cream yet, I'm using up all my eye cream samples instead.  And than last but not least make up remover wipes, from Aldi and Demake'up (that I got because there was a cash back promotion going on).  Now, before you start judging me: I mainly use these in te morning to wipe the make up off the back of hand after I'm done putting everything on. It's just the easiest way to get my hand clean.  That's also the reason why I go for the cheapest ones I can find.

Hair care:

My Aussie Volume Shampoo and Conditioner were replaced by Kiehl's Amino Acid Shampoo and Conditioner.  I love the smell of Aussie and I really miss it when I'm washing my hair but the Amino Acid range of Kiehl's is just so good!  The price is somewhat higher but my long hair deserves this shampoo from time to time.  Also my Elnette Flexible hairspray got replaced by a new one and the Pantene Aqua Shampoo got replaced by Nivea Classic Shampoo.  I don't think I've mentioned this before but my hairdresser advised me to use a drugstore mild shampoo to wash all of the product residue out of my hair and follow up with a more expensive/ specific shampoo.  First you clean your hair to make sure all the good stuff from the second shampoo can reach your hair.  Sounds logical doesn't it?

Make Up

My Benefit Rolleball mascara was replaced by the brown version of Benefit's They're Real mascara.  Love them both!

Nail Care:

Another bottle of nail polish remover was emptied and replaced by a full one.

Samples/travel sizes/individuals:

I used a bunch of samples and empties this travel size of Kiehl's facial cleanser, this cleanser has been on so many vacations with me but after the last one I felt like the end was near so I emptied it out at when back home.  

And that's it, not too much (especially not considering this was over a period of two months) but I have a feeling January is going to produce a lot of empties.

Catrice nail polishes leaving soon (part 2): Luminous nails 5 in 1 care polish

Technically this isn't really a nail polish I guess, it's more of a nail care item but since this range carries different colors I'm swatching it nevertheless.  There's one color leaving this range: 20 Petit Café Au Lait.

I can't really say much about this polish because there's nothing exciting about it but that's normal given that it's nail care and not nail color.  I already had another 'color' of this range and I use that one on days when I want 'naked' nails, which has been a lot lately.  I don't know what's wrong with me but the nail polish winter collections that came out did nothing for me, probably because the weather isn't cooperating in the winter department.  I'm now on the lookout for the spring collections that will be launching soon!
I can't really say anything about the caring part as my nails are pretty strong on their own

You can still get this one all through January, after that it's gone!!

Where to buy:
I bought mine at Kruidvat for €2,89.

Catrice nail polishes leaving soon (part 1): Liquid Metals

It's almost that time again!! Catrice will be updating their range in february, out with the old and in with the new.  You can find a list of everything that's leaving here but I thought I'd swatch the polishes that are leaving for you since I have almost all of them.  Since there are so many polishes leaving this will be a series of a few different blogposts, starting with the Liquid Metals.  

There are two Liquid Metals leaving the range: 02 Mrs. Boombastic (shiny) and 04 Pink Charming.

02 Mrs. Boombastic

I'm actually quite sad that Mrs. Boombastic is leaving because I absolutely love this color!  It's perfect for winter and for the holidays!  Not too metallic, not too brown, not too bronze, just perfect!

04 Pink Charming

To be honest I only bought this one yesterday because I knew it was leaving soon and I wanted to show you on the blog.  But I have to say that it kind of pleases me,  I'm just nog in a pink mood these days but that'll probably change once spring and summer comes around.

If you want to you can stil grab these at the drugstore until february.  They usually do a sale of the colors leaving but I noticed that many of them aren't being restocked at this point so you might have to search for them.

Where to buy:

I bought mine at Kruidvat for €3,59.

2016, I welcome you!!

Happy New Year!!!  2016 is here and I'm really excited about this year, it's been a long time since I've been this excited I must say.

But first things first.  I've noticed the statistics going up on my blog and I want to thank you all for visiting.  I wish all of you a year filled with great moments surrounded by your loved ones and of course no health issues (I know this is a classic one but I feel we never fully appreciate being healthy) and hopefully there's a bit of makeup involved too ;-)

If there's one thing I wish for than it's that people will start showing their kind hearts again, in the small things, in everyday life.  I feel like with everything that happened last year people don't trust each other anymore and everyone is so involved in their own thing that we don't look around ourselves anymore.  So I'll try to do my part and I hope you'll try and do yours.

Enough of the emotional things.  Why am I so excited about 2016?  I don't usually do good intentions, they'll work for a week and then you forget about them.  But contrary to the past I am making myself this promise for 2016: No More Excuses!!  2016 will be the year that I turn 40 and I've had a bit of hard time with myself over last few months.  No midlife crisis thing I promise but something happened that made me doubt myself, made me question where I am in life and how I got here.  The one thing I never questioned was my man!!  I love him to pieces and after all he puts up with the crazy amount of bottles of nail polish I own, not many guys would do that I'm sure.  So while I was questioning things I realized that there were so many things I always wanted to do/learn but I always found some excuse why I shouldn't.  So I made a list of things I wanted to do and I'm applying the No More Excuses rule to them.  Or like Nike would say "just do it".  I promise to keep you all posted on what's going on!

So 2016 for me will be the No More Excues year, hopefully one where dreams come true.  And I wish the same for you: may all your wishes come true ... oh, and may you also find that one perfect lipstick shade you've been searching for  for so long.