Sunday 22 April 2012

Operation Use It Up

Managed to finish up quite a number of full-sized products over the past month. As usual, I go through bodycare, haircare and skincare products much faster than makeup.


Nivea Intense Repair Conditioner left my hair soft and manageable without any build-up of product.

Percy & Reed Splendidly Silky Moisturising Conditioner contains blueberry extract, grape seed oil, sweet almond oil and aloe vera gel to help nourish hair. The fresh floral scent is uplifting and much better than the usual mass market drugstore brands. This left my hair soft and tangle-free. I would re-purchase this.

L'Occitane Cherry Blossom Gentle Conditioner has a lovely, slightly sweet cherry blossom scent. This does a decent job of leaving my hair soft and tangle-free but it does not feel as deeply hydrating as Tsubaki. This was a gift, which I would probably not re-purchase as it is too pricey for a 250ml bottle that barely lasts two weeks for me.

Like the conditioner, L'Occitane Cherry Blossom Gentle Shampoo has a nice scent and cleanses my hair effectively without stripping it.

L'Oreal Professional Tecniart Fix Move is great for taming flyaways and holding my fringe in place, without any crispy stiffness.

La Roche-Posay Effaclar Astringent Lotion Micro-Exfoliating (CHF19) is designed for oily skintypes battling large pores and blemishes. It is supposed to help reduce pore size and fight against blockage, thanks to the combination of sebum-regulating, purifying and micro-exfoliating LHA active ingredients. LHA is β-lipohydroxy acid that is an effective exfoliant, similar to salicyclic acid. However, this did not seem to have a significant effect in fighting blemishes for me. Instead, it was too drying for my skin during the winter months, perhaps due to alcohol being second on the ingredient list.

Nuxe Bio Beauté Radiance Toning Lotion (CHF29) is an alcohol-free and paraben-free toner, with 99.3% of the ingredients being of natural origin and 73.9% from organic farming. Formulated with rosewater and orange fruit water plus blackberry, apricot and plum extracts, it doesn't have the usual rose or citrusy orange scents that one would expect. I didn't like the plum scent of this. As a toner, it helps to refresh and mildly hydrate the skin but other than that, it didn't do anything special.


Bifesta Sebum Cleansing Lotion effectively removes makeup with just a few quick wipes. It's a great, affordable alternative if you do not like cleansing oils.

L'Occitane Brume Mist is formulated with five essential oils (angelica, lavender, geranium, ylang ylang and sweet orange) plus honey and corn extracts to soft hold hair in place and preserve shine. I found this too watery and completely ineffective at taming and smoothing my hair or providing any hold.


The Body Shop Chocomania Shower Cream works alright as a shower cream that doesn't dry out my skin but the chocolate scent was not as yummy as I had hope for. Philosophy does much better chocolate scented shower gels.

I slap on Dove Intense Repair Leave-on Cream on days when my hair feels exceptionally dry and frizzy. This helps to tame my locks until the next wash but does not help cure the fundamental dry state of my hair.

Vichy Purete Thermale Waterproof Eye Make-Up Remover is a bi-phase eye makeup remover that does a good job of removing eyeshadows in a single swipe. Waterproof mascaras like those by Anna Sui and Majolica Majorca require a bit more soaking to remove completely. This did not irritate my eyes.

K-Palette Lasting 2Way Eyebrow is a daily staple, and I typically go through one every 2-3 months. I always use up the liquid side much faster than the brow powder side.


I have a huge stash of Archipelago Botanicals candles in travel tins, which I ordered more than four years ago while I was still living in Tokyo. I didn't use them for the past few years as they were boxed up in storage. Amazingly, they are still in working condition with good scent throw. Each travel tin burns for up to 55 hours. Archipelago Botanicals aren't available in Singapore but Yankee Candle is easily available in Singapore and offers a nice range of scents.

5 comments:

a said...

I love K-Palette! Have you tried their liquid and pencil eyeliners? I think they're really great, but they run out so quickly that I'm not sure if they're the money's worth...

Great post btw! Keep them coming! :) I'm so glad I followed you <3

Haru said...

hi,
I've tried the K-Palette liquid eyeliner and it's decent but I still prefer Dolly Wink or Heroine Make Smooth Liquid Liner. I haven't found any pencil eyeliners by Japanese brands that are soft enough for my liking. Thanks for following!

Unknown said...

Not sure wny, but, I like seeing your empties. Is that odd?

Michelle said...

Hi Iris! Are those the candles that you CPed all those years ago??

Haru said...

Hey Michelle,
Yup, that's right! And amazingly, they are still in good condition. I'm making steady progress through using them up finally.