2017 Skincare Empties

Friday, December 22, 2017

This year, I saved all my empties for one final post. I did a pretty good job of saving almost every scrap; every sheet mask backing sheet, all the boxes, and even empty foil sample packets. I used a surprisingly amount of things on my face, body and head. Laying it all out like this is certainly one way to survey your wallet damage for the year.

I made a huge effort to curb my disposable purchases this year and very successful at not buying any sheet masks. I still gained some (actually like a dozen and a half, that's more than a few) through gift with purchases and was given some by friends/family. I did cheat a little and bought some rubber masks, technically fudging it even though the brands I selected came in recyclable packaging. I think I'll stick to jar masks moving forward but I do have quite a few I bought in 2016 that will be on the way out in 2018, so I'm not declaring this a sheet mask free zone or anything.

The only things I didn't manage to save were:

two 32 oz. pumps of Kracie shampoo and conditioner (left it in Shanghai)
an empty Shangpree eye mask jar and box (my grandma had no idea I was saving it, recycled it)
an empty Manyo Factory foil packet of the Aqua Moisture Cream Sleeping Pack (same as my grandma, my mom tossed it when I was visiting her house)

I should have given the women in my family a heads up when I was visiting that I was keeping those used, rinsed out pieces of trash for later.

All the skincare took up an entire bin, it started to overflow in November.

Just the bottles. As you can see, I LOVE that Manyo Factory Clearskin Toner so much that I've finished five bottles since January. If you combine that with that Pure Heal's Centella toner next to them, I've spent a pretty penny on toner this year. However Clearskin Toner (and the orange bottle of Dr Dennis Gross Radiance Booster) is the primary way I keep my skin clear. My skin is happy with very weak concentrations of acids, so the tiny amount of AHA and BHAs in Clearskin is just my cup of tea.

Other favorites: [I'm From] Vitamin Tree Mask (griped about the smell & gushed about the results here) of which I used three jars. I'm repurposing those glass jars to hold beach souvenirs, Another favorite was the Missha Purple Long Name Ampoule (reviewed here) I also finished one and a half compacts of Sephora Collection 8HR Mattifying Compact Foundation. In total, I used up five bottles of oil cleanser, but no second cleansers at all. Mysterious.

Haircare: I'm continuing to use Ryo products but I'm using the regular brown hair loss line instead of sensitive scalp. My haircare products are uneventful, one of my goals for 2018 is to focus more on my scalp and hair health.

Overall, the vast majority of this box was headed straight for the recycling bin and only a handful went to trash.

Edited to add: now that I think about it, there's a few other products that aren't pictured. Quite a few products didn't work out for me but they weren't exactly bad products, I have easily irritated skin with countless allergies. Many of these were rehomed, such as:

Klairs Supple Prepartaion Toner
Cosrx Advanced Snail Power Mucin 92
all of my Huxley items

What sort of products did you use up in 2017? Were there any products you bought repeatedly?

Products featured were purchased by me. Post contains affiliate links. For additional information, please refer to my Disclosure Policy.