The Empties Reviewed | Recommendations and what not to buy

Hello and welcome to another Empties post, where you will get to know what I have used up and which products I loved and which not. I hope I can safe you from buying a worse product and that I can give you some inspiration with the top products of this post. Opinions are my own, so the flops (it's such a mean word) may be not your opinion and does work for you. That's okay because we all have different tastes and so let me know if you had a product I showed in this post and how you like it. Long introduction ended, so let's get started!

The products, that didn't work for me and weren't ah-mazing:

- Garnier Micellaire Water - Sorry for this one but this micellaire water hasn't really worked for me.
I know it's a really hyped dupe to the Bioderma one (which I liked a lot when I used it, but unfortunaltely tested on animals, which is a huge minus), but I had to use a lot of the product to getmy makeup of and it also left the skin quite tight and and dehydrated. So this was a bit of a flop plus Garnier tests on animals so I will definitely not buy it again.

- Essence Eyeliner Pen - so I am the kind of person who doesn't wear eyeliner in her daily life, a) because of laziness and b) because of a fluttered hand, which messes up everything. But nevertheless I wanted to give it a go and I have to say this eyeliner pen was really hard to handle and it's not dark enough so all you get is a greyish flick on your eye which looks really weird. Also the product isn't wet enough, so it does dry-out after a bit of time. Didn't work for me so the journey to find the prefect eyeliner continues.

- Yves Rocher Monoii Shower Gel - this was actually not as bad as I thought it was gonna be, but I expected a bit more from the cute packaging (packaging victim) so this was more like a really sweet and strong smelling 0815 shower gel and if I remember it right it wasn't also that cheap, so I will rather use some of my other favourite shower gels.

-  The Da Vinci Cleansing Soap - so this is supposed to clean your makeup brushes perfectly, which it actually did, but it wasn't that ah-mazing to rebuy it, because it's really expensive (about 6 or 7 Euro for such a small soap). The smell was okay, but you also get the fresh annd cleaned effect on your brushes if you buy a normal drugstore soap without any scent, so this has not to be repurchased.

The Tops and what to recommend:

+ Lush Snow Fairy - I don't have to say much about this product. If you like cotton candy and really sweet scents you have to get this one from Lush around Christmas. I suprisingly doesn't like cotton candy scents normally, but this one is just amazing and it also creates the biggest foam mountains you can ever imagine! I always rebuy it each year and have definitely to get the biggest bottle this year to get me through this year.

+ Our Moment Shower gel - so obviously it's a favourite because it's from One Direction, right? No just kidding, it's also a really nice floral scent which reminds me of the spring/ summer and I quite liked it a bit more than the proper parfum, don't ask me why because I don't really know either. Maybe I will include this on any wishlist to get it for Christmas or birthday, because it was quite nice and the scent stayed a bit longer than other scents from shower gels do (also a good stocking filler).

+ Laura Biagotti Shower Gel - got this from Franci a long (really long) time ago (maybe the first present she gave to me?) and haven't used it all the time and kinda forgot about it until I used it up recently and I have to say it was a different scent I would normally go for, but I quite liked the more strong and feminin scent, so this was a top product.

+ Swiss O'Par Deep Cleansing Shampoo - this is a really good shampoo, if you want a shampoo who gets all the used hair products (like gel and hairspray) out of your hair. It cleanses the hair prefectly and leaves the hair with a hint of scent (this one was a citrus scent) and let you have the 'I went to the hairdresser and I feel so glamorous' feeling which is great. A minus: I am not 100% sure if Swiss O'Par is cruelty free so I will not rebuy it, because I currently use some similar products which are a bit more amazing and are 100% cruelty-free (you will see these products in another Empties post somewhat next year I think). Also little information: My hair isn't tzhat complicated, so it doesn't need as much care, so I mostly use just a shampoo and blow-dry them and that's basically everything. Short said: The most shampoos work for me, so I am not so choosey when it comes to buying shampoos.

+ Clinique High Impact Mascara - My first high-end mascara, which I used when I was in eighth to nineth grade and loved it that much, I repurchased it a second time. Because I didn't realised that they were both over - used and basically empty (plus they also lasted a really long time) I will show you two of them in this empties. It's basically a flat brush and it gives you a little bit of length and the right potion of dark black. Perfectly for already long lashes which need a bit of comfort to make your eyes pop. Very natural and perfect for the daily life and school. Minus: Clinique tests on animals :( . So will be not repurchased.

+Maybelline Fit Me Concealer - A very, very hyped product and a huge love in my makeup collection. Not much to say about it: Doesn't look cakey, perfect to portion and does stay in place all- day. Unluckily not from a cruelty-free brand, so I need to find a dupe for this. Really dissapointing, because it's that good.

So these were my current Empties, I hope you liked it. You may noticed that the most products are unluckily not cruelty-free and that I won't rebuy them because of that fact. I focused mainly on the product itself, so some products were tops, even if they aren't cruelty-free. I'm just using up these products to replace them with maybe even better animal friendly products. If you are a new reader of The Bow, than you can check out my Cruelty Free Products haul, to get some inspiration, linked down below.
http://thebowkarina.blogspot.de/2015/07/trying-out-naturalcruelty-free-cosmetics.html

Have a nice day and see you soon,
Karina <3