The #Beautychallenge10 : experience + empties

Last July, the awesome Tamara from Rainbow Feet, did a video on Instagram challenging us to use up 10 products, before making any beauty-related purchases. Samples did not count, and depending on the product type, some travel sizes were allowed. The challenge is still on going, anyone is welcome to participate anytime, and some are even taking the challenge to 20 products! How awesome is that? As soon as the challenge started, I cleaned up and re-organized my whole stash, to see what needed to be used first.  I also cancelled my suscription box, as I didn’t want to accumulate more.

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have already seen the 10 empties, however I’m just going to go through them again for a mini review:

1. Alva Bath salts from the Dead Sea 
Salts from the Dead Sea contains more magnesium and calcium than sea salt, which is why it’s great to soothe skin woes and muscle pains. With regular uses, I could tell my skin was softer, but most what I loved the most about it, is the fact that it relieved tensions and muscle aches very quickly.

2. Acure Facial toner balancing rose + red tea
It was in my first iHerb order, I really enjoyed this toner, because it was gentle enough to deal with my crazy skin. Compared to the SW. Basics toner, I found this one less effective when it came to blemish prevention. However, I could tell that it helped balance my skin during the hot and humid summer days. Overall it’s more gentle and less drastic than SW. Basics.
3. Balm Balm Rose & Geranium lip balm
Mixed feelings about this, nothing to complain about the ingredients, but I blame the packaging. I’m sure this product is lovely in a pot, and not in a tube. The consistency is too oily, it’s only once I was half way through this product, that the actual balmy consistency would come out of the tube.
4. Ilia Mascara in Macao
It seems like you can never go wrong with Ilia. In terms of performance, the mascara is of high-quality, long-lasting, with a natural finish. It gives a beautiful amount of volume while adding some lash definition. I could see myself purchasing the black version. You can see how this copper color looks on here. It’s great for providing a luminous look.
5. Sante lash balm
A great multitasker, it prepped my lashes before mascara, and tamed my eyebrows. I used it for the Signature Summer look tag, and for the price of 7 Euros, it will be a repurchase.
6. MuLondon White Chocolate Elbow, Knee and Heel cream
Winter is coming soon and I’m out of this goodness, which was one of my top 2013 products. I can’t sing its praises enough, it’s a cocoa-rich skin delight and my skin felt instantly nourished.
7. Odacité Pure Elements, Black Cumin-Cajeput Serum
Oy! Another incredible product gone. Luckily, Content Beauty is now stocking Odacité’s Pure Elements serum, which means that I won’t have to be separated too long from this goodness. It’s a must-have in my anti-pimples arsenal and I reviewed it here.
8. Green Love Vanilla Strawberry Deodorant
Green Love is a Swedish brand, I mentioned them here and all their products are made of raw and natural ingredients. Compared to Schmidt’s deo, the consistency is much creamier and it smells absolutely amazing.
9. Lavera Vanilla Coconut Dream Shower gel
Just as delightful as it sounds. It leaves a yummy tropical scent on your skin.  To me, it was summer in a bottle.
10. The Juice Beauty Blemish Clearing Powder
I already miss this product: a concealing powder that dries the spots very quickly, and controls redness and excess shine. As you may have read from a previous post, it’s one of my go-to products to hide and heal blemishes.
Extras (samples) : Gaia Creams Chia & Peach kernel seed oil (reviewed here) Dr. Alkaitis soothing gel (reviewed here) and Ann Marie Gianni citrus cleanser.

A little clarification
While I’ve never been much of an hoarder, I did accumulate a certain amount of products. Before the challenge, my mom jokingly mentioned that my bathroom looked like an apothecary, but still. I get why she’d say that, between my regular beauty routine and the occasional samples and test sessions, it can look a bit crowded in the bathroom shelves. I’m aware that one person doesn’t need so much in average, one can live with a soap and brush – a bit extreme but you get the point 😉 As a blogger, I obviously ramble a lot about skincare and makeup, and I thoroughly enjoy writing about green alternatives. I look back at at my  Twitter feed, and yes there are a lot of discussions revolving around spending bans and splurges. Same applies for my Instagram, I  post quite a lot of product pictures hehe, but it’s all part of the blogging fun. I don’t spend all of my time making sneaky purchases. Naturally, I am curious and tempted by new releases and product reviews etc., but I make sure to never go beyond my planned budget. I’d consider myself an irregular shopper, I’m perfectly fine not buying anything for months (real necessities excl.) and then occasionally spend a bit more in a short amount of time. Once I find something that I really enjoy, I don’t feel the need to go try something else. All in all, what I’m trying to say it that I wouldn’t want for the blog to turn into an ode to reckless consumerism hence why I think those spending ban initatives are great to keep things in perspective. My blog traces back my personal green journey – I’m still figuring out what product work best for me and learning to lead an overall healthier and more eco-conscious life – and simultaneously appears as a catalogue of “safer” or rather less harmful beauty alternatives.

Just like #NoBuyJanuary, I absolutely enjoyed #BeautyChallenge10, and my happiness was in no way altered by the lack of purchases, on the contrary, avoiding letting products go to waste felt immensely rewarding. I remember making a little *squee* sound after emptying my first product because it got me so excited. Not to mention the support and cheering of green lovelies, which played a huge (if not the biggest) part in the fun of this challenge! Now that the challenge is over for me, I only purchased a few necessities, with the exception of one lip product, which could be perceived as a bagatelle, but it’s been on my wishlist for some time (hey, I’m still me 😉 Besides that, I’m determined to continue using up my stash. Turns out that I have quite a lot of eyemakeup, so no more eyemakeup purchases for me until I’m done with at least half of it.

Thank you Tammy for coming up with the brilliant #BeautyChallenge10!

Take care,

Liz