September Empties

Excuse my language but holy shit I used up a lot of products in September! I don’t think I’ve ever had this many items in an empties post and it’s really surprised me.

I won’t lie, I am glad to be rid of a lot of the products I had as whilst most were good, it is good to have a clear out so that new things may be bought and wasted money on. 😛

I just want to get this out there now that when we enter into 2015, I’m not 100% sure if I will be writing up anymore empties posts as whilst I do enjoy doing them I do just think it’s a hassle to save up all the empty bottles in my bathroom. I am just putting this down to how much I saved up this month and I may change my mind, we shall see how the next three/four months go…

• Gillette Satin Care Shave Gel.

I’ve mentioned this before, if you would like to read more about it look here.

• Hello Kitty Liberty Body Wash.

I was given this body wash in a gift set from my sister-in-law and I really did love it! I saved it for quite a while until I decided to use it and within a few weeks it was gone and I have missed using it. It was softening on the skin, lathered beautifully and left my skin smelling gorgeous! It reminds me of the scent the old pink FCUK products that Boots sold at Christmas time in the early 00’s and it really did leave me with some childhood memories! If this is out again this year I’ll probably pick some up as I really enjoyed using this. I am really sad to see it finished.

• Philip Kingsley Body Building Shampoo.

I’ve had this shampoo for ages so when it finally came to its end I was really shocked! It just didn’t seem like it was ever going to run out. I’ve since repurchased this in a 1 litre bottle as I really do love this shampoo! If you want to read more about this it featured on my 2013 Favourites, you can find that here.

• Carex Strawberry Fun Shower & Bath.

I LOVED this shower and bath and when it ran out I was actually really sad, but at the same time I wasn’t as it only cost me a £1, YES A WHOLE POUND COIN! This really did smell like sweet strawberries and perfect for children or anyone who loves strawberries like myself. This really did remind me of The Body Shop’s strawberry shower gel and on a recently shopping trip I picked one up for my boyfriend, who loves it just as much as I do. This leaves your skin feeling great and smelling delicious and it was a treat to use in the bath alongside a fruity bath bomb. BUY IT if you want to try something good, you won’t regret it.

• I Love… Cosmetics Hand Wash in Mango & Papaya.

Although this featured in my favourites last month (read here), I really couldn’t wait to see the back of this product throughout September. It wasn’t a bad product but I found that due to its bright orange colour if you dripped any on the side, it would stain and has stained. I won’t be picking up this scent again, but I will pick up one of the others, preferably the coconut scent! Otherwise this was great, it smelt delicious and left my hands feeling clean and moisturised.

• Soap & Glory The Greatest Scrub Of All Facial Exfoliator.

Another product I couldn’t wait to see in the bin! I used to love this scrub, it was my holy grail and when I suffered with some dry eczema style rash on my face years ago, this was the only thing that cleared it up! However over the years I have grown bored with this and now I can’t stand using it anymore. I didn’t even finish this product up, it just one day seemed to go gloopy and I ended up just throwing the rest of the product away. The things I don’t like about this scrub is how greasy it feels on the skin after use, it makes me cringe just the thought of it! I think it’s just to moisturise the skin but I just don’t like it. As well as that the scent is disgusting, I don’t get soap & Glory’s scents but apart from Sugar Crush they all make me feel sick. Shame that as the past year has gone by, I’ve grown to dislike most of Soap & Glory’s products. It does make me rather sad.

• T-Zone Clear Pore Gel Facial Wash.

I LOVE this face wash and as soon as I was running low I picked up a replacement. This costs less than £2 to buy and it really is worth the money. I don’t know if it’s due to what food I eat, me getting older or the face products I now use but I’ve noticed since using this wash that my skin has improved a hell of a lot! I recommend this to teenagers with troublesome skin so SO much as this is what I used to use when I was a teenager and it really did help my oily skin. You can pick T-Zone up at great prices in Home Bargains and Body Care, so keep your eyes peeled.

• Sure Maximum Protection Deodorant in Sensitive.

I get through one of these every month and since May I haven’t mentioned one… I think because of the fact I always mention one and I always mention the same thing… Go and read about it here! 😛

• The Body Shop Coconut Hand Cleanse Gel.

I love my hand sanitizers and I REALLY loved this one! I bought it when I went to Bristol in June and since then it has been so lovely to use, having a sniff of the empty bottle now reminds me of summer and Bristol. Soon as I can I will be picking up another bottle. I recommend The Body Shop cleanse gels so much as not only do they keep your hands germ free, but they leave your hands smelling lovely too. Go and check them out!

• Carex Strawberry Laces Hand Gel.

Whilst The Body Shop cleanse gel was great, this was a let down and I couldn’t wait to finish the bottle! When you smell the bottle it has a light scent of strawberries, which is pleasant but when you use this on your hands it just stinks of alcohol and I hated it because of that. It wasn’t worth the money I paid (I paid £2 for 2) and I regretted buying it as soon as I started to use it. I don’t recommend, head to The Body Shop and pick up their strawberry cleanse gel, it’ll be worth the extra money and last longer! The cap on this was also rubbish and it opened inside my work apron and leaked everywhere, was really annoying. Don’t waste your money!

• Wilko Fruits Bath Bomb in Strawberry & Pomegranate.

The first thing I want to say about this bath bomb is how awful it is. My Mom bought me 3 bath bombs for £3, as she knows how much I love my bath bombs! As soon as she brought them home I knew I wanted to try one out, so I popped the whole bomb into the bath and had a good, long soak! I just want to apologise if I go into TMI here but I just want to get out there how this product made me poorly. Before using this in the bath, I was fine but the day after I didn’t feel myself, but the day after that I was rather poorly… And it turned out I had thrush. I suffered from it for a week and it was painful and uncomfortable and I KNOW for a fact it was due to this bath bomb. If you have sensitive skin (or sensitive bits like I clearly do!) then steer clear of this product as whilst it felt moisturising on my skin it really did leave me feeling poorly and run down. I haven’t used the other 2 bath bombs and I have contemplated taking them back to get my money back. I’m not going to bother wasting mine or anyone else’s money on the Fruits collection anymore. I am really disappointed as the collection has had a lot of positive comments. For a little money I would just prefer to splash out on Lush.

So those were my empties of September, I still can’t believe how many products I finished! I doubt it’ll be the same in October, but who knows!

I hope everyone had a great September and I shall see you next month.

Until next time, take care all.

August Favourites 2014

It’s September… Really 2014, really? I know I say this every month and I think I always will but bloody hell is this year going quick! They say times goes fast when you’re having fun, but I wouldn’t say this year has been 100% fun… I’m going off subject now!

It was actually really hard to pick my favourites this month, I don’t know why!

• I Love… Cosmetics Hand Wash in Mango & Papaya.

I bought this on a whim as it was only a £1, I needed hand wash, and I rather like I Love… Cosmetics products. I’ve been using this for the past couple of weeks now and it’s a really lovely hand wash to use. It leaves your hands feeling lovely and soft, as well as smelling fresh and beautiful! I would definitely try their other hand washes and I’m sure I will be as soon as this one finishes. A little bit of this hand wash goes a long way, which is great! Try it whilst it’s on offer for a £1 in Boots!

• Guerlain La Petite Robe Noire EDP.

I’ve mentioned this perfume before in a previous favourites post and I still love it! During the cold and rainy weather this has been the scent that has really picked me up when I’ve been feeling a bit sluggish and bleh. I think this will definitely be my scent for autumn and winter this year, as it’s such a lovely warming scent and you can’t go wrong with that, eh? If you want to read more about it, check out this post.

• Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Shower Gel.

I LOVE this shower gel so as soon as some of my shower gels were finished up and thrown away, I was able to pull this out of my toiletries cupboard and pop it on the side of my shower/bath. This smells like key lime pie and due to the citrus scent of it, it really does wake you up when you use it, making it perfect for mornings when I feel really sluggish! I’ve worked a lot of early shifts at work throughout August so this really did help wake me up! I’ve already used quite a lot of this shower gel, which  is hardly surprising and as soon as it runs out, I’m sure I’ll pick up another bottle. You can read more about this here.

• The Body Shop Hand Cream in Coconut.

These are some of The Body Shop’s newest products and I was counting down the days until they came out in store to buy! I randomly popped into one of The Body Shop stores for a look and they had all the samples for their new hand creams out for people to look at and try, but they weren’t for sale. I asked when they would be out, as I was sure I read on a blog that they would be out in August, however I was told by the cashier that they wouldn’t be out until late September. So I let out a disappointed sigh and forgot about it. I randomly popped in for a look and they had them for sale, IN AUGUST! So I picked up Coconut and Strawberry and all I have been using when at home is the Coconut scent. It smells so beautiful and is really relaxing to sniff whilst snuggled up in bed. It leaves my hands gorgeous and soft and even my boyfriend has noticed how it has made my hands feel lovely! This and the Strawberry scent will be reviewed very VERY soon so keep your eyes peeled for it!

• Etude House Peel Off Base Coat.

Peel off base coats are now becoming something new that all nail polish wearers need, especially if you love wearing glitter nail polish! OPI have brought one out but at a high price, and one I don’t wish to pay for myself. SO to eBay I went (as I always do) and discovered that Etude House have a peel off base coat! So for £3.70 (including P&P) I bought this and it arrived pretty quickly too, as I ordered it from Korea. Since then this has been a staple of mine whenever I use glitter nail polish. I’ll be reviewing this in September as it just NEEDS to be spoken about in further detail.

• Bath & Body Works PocketBac in Crisp Morning Air.

This is one of the most beautiful PocketBac’s I have come to own and it’s all thanks to Hollie over at Eating Lipstick, who has recently posted quite a few Bath & Body Works haul videos over on her YouTube channel. She mentioned how beautiful Crisp Morning Air smelt and I knew I had to have it. SO I once again ventured over to eBay and found someone selling it for a good price, so I ordered it straight away and I couldn’t wait for it to arrive! When it finally did I was pleasantly surprised that I hadn’t ordered something that I may not like and it really does remind me of autumn. It has a lovely crisp warming scent to it, apples, cinnamon and just yummy goodness but not like a cake smell. It’s hard to describe but I recommend ordering it, or smelling it if you’re over the pond at the moment or soon. I wrote a post about hand sanitizers recently and this one was mentioned in that post, you can check that out here.

• Maybelline Baby Lips Electro Lip Balm in Berry Bomb.

Another month, another Baby Lips lip balm! This is by far my favourite out of the four I’ve tried! I had seen swatches of this online from bloggers from over the pond so when I heard that it was going to come out in the UK I was super excited! This is a gorgeous purple shade and smells delicious, like dark berries. The only flaw with this is that I’ve bought a shoddy lip balm as this rubs up the side of the tube and before I know it this will break soon, I’ll probably need to buy another one soon. ANYHOO! I love to use this over my purple lip products whilst at work and on the go. Even on its own this shows up really lovely and I really like it. I can see this being a staple, I keep it in my handbag all the time.

• Carmex Lip Balm in Strawberry (review here).

I’ve been using this a lot lately at home, due to the weather being on and off hot and then cold my lips have taken a turn for the worst and got really dry and sore and to be honest I think Carmex is what has helped them go back to being lovely and soft. This tastes vile mind, I won’t lie nothing like strawberry if you ask me and I much prefer the original due to that, however my original is now close to running out and I need to use this lip balm up anyway! This is alright to use underneath some lip products too, especially stains and lip crayons. I can’t wait to finish this mind so that I can try one of the other Carmex flavours, which include Cherry and Mint.

• elf Cosmetics Lip Exfoliator.

I read a review for this lip exfoliator a while ago and thought it sounded ideal! I ended up purchasing it as a treat and I’ve ended up being unsure of how I feel about it. It DOES work and leaves my lips feeling lovely and smooth, but at the same time the stick has actually gone a bit deformed in the tube, making it a little awkward to use. This isn’t a major issue mind! As I mentioned above my lips have been horribly dry during August so this and Carmex have both been lifesavers! If you’ve tried Lush’s lip scrub and found it was too fiddly to use then I recommend this for sure! I find the Lush lip scrubs are rubbish and too awkward to use, so this is much easier and tidier too.

• Collection Lip Butter in Perfect Plum.

I LOVE this lip crayon! I don’t think I’ve ever liked one as much as I do this one. My best friend and I whilst looking around the shops stumbled across these in Boots and we both decided to take up their 2 for £5 offer. I bought Perfect Plum, a near dupe of MAC Rebel and she picked up Vintage Rose. This is so creamy and smooth to apply to the lips and lasts ages too! It’s easy to apply too and doesn’t need sharpening, which makes it great to use on the go or at work. I recommend these to everyone and soon I’ll be writing a review for this as it’s too good not to share and talk about.

Wow I can’t believe it’s September! I’m actually really excited as August was a pretty crap month for me and this month I aim to sort my life out… Well try to anyway, and that’s all you can do!

What were your favourite products for August? Make sure to let me know in the comments down below.

Until next time take care all and happy September.

June Empties

I want to get this out there that I thought there would only be three empty products to talk about today, but low and behold when I peered into my purple Liberty bag to take pictures for this post, I came to see that there was actually seven empty products! Talk about using things up!

There are a few products I have mentioned before in previous empties posts that I don’t wish to go into detail about, so I’ll just link you to the previous posts.

• Gillette Satin Care Shave Gel.

I’ve mentioned this product before, if you would like to read more about it look here.

• Dettol Revitalise Hand Wash.

I mentioned in my May favourites last month about this hand wash and boy did I enjoy using it! I haven’t yet re-purchased another  but that’s just because I’ve been busy and haven’t ventured to a BM Bargains yet! Either way for 99p I know I’ll be buying another one soon enough! I worried this would dry my hands out but it didn’t at all, so if you’re like me and worry that this may dry out your skin, then don’t! The Dettol hand washes are amazing and to be honest I don’t worry about having any germs on my hands are using this.

• The Body Shop Seaweed Pore-Cleansing Facial Exfoliator.

I LOVE this exfoliator and when the bottle would no longer produce anymore of the scrub from its tube I was rather sad as I really do enjoy using this scrub. It would leave my face feeling squeaky clean, as well as smooth and fresh. I used to use it twice a week, mid-week and at the end of the week. I bought this back in November last year and it really has lasted me a long time, which I’m happy with! It’s a scrub that when in contact with water foams up, which I like as it makes a change to a scrub that just stays like a grit on the skin, with a bit of oil inside of it too. Due to this scrub foaming up, it feels like it actually cleans the skin, as well as exfoliating it. This was a top 10 favourite of mine for 2013, and you can read all about it here, as well as here from when I purchased it.

• I Love… Cosmetics Banana Split Bubble Bath & Shower Creme.

I haven’t enjoyed using a shower creme so much for quite a while and when I finished this off on Monday morning, I was rather sad once again as I love this shower creme and as soon as I can, I’m buying more! I picked this up for a £1 in Primark before going to Bristol as I was intending to have it for my long weekend, but I decided against it and ended up buying something else instead (The Body Shop’s Raspberry shower gel). This smells exactly like the foam banana sweets you would buy from the pick and mix as a kid, those alongside pink foam shrimps and white mice were my favourites. I really do like the I Love… Cosmetics products, especially the shower cremes as they smell so damn good and leave your skin feeling soft and smelling good.

• T-Zone Spot Zapping Gel.

This is the first time this has appeared on one of my empties posts, however I have already got through three, maybe even four of these prior to this one but I’ve always ended up throwing them away instead of mentioning them in a post on my blog. However it has been mentioned on a favourites post from back in February, which you can read about here. This spot zapping gel is amazing and really does help to calm my spots redness down, as well as prevent them if I’m breaking out really badly when that time of the month arrives. These cost less than a £1 each in Home Bargains and really are worth every penny! I stock up on these when I go in there as I just get through these really quickly.

• Soap & Glory Puffy Eye Attack Turbo-Boost Hydra Gel.

I have one thing to say about this eye gel, a waste of money. It isn’t a bad product to use on the eyes, but its claims of stopping your eyes being puffy is a load of rubbish. It helped my eyes feel cool in the mornings one day and then it would irritate them another so I’m actually glad to see this product finished and in the bin. I wouldn’t buy it again because it was a waste of money at nearly £10 for this tiny little jar, but if I was given it for free I would gladly use it! I’ve replaced it with an old favourite, which I’m already enjoying using. I wrote about this back in October last year in a favourites post, which you can read here and a haul post here.

• Bumble and Bumble Surf Foam Wash Shampoo.

This was a sample given to me over the weekend when I went shopping with my friend Poppy in Milton Keynes. I’d been dying to try out this shampoo for ages but felt a tad apprehensive for reasons such as “will it dry my hair out?” or “will it make it frizzy?” as my hair can go really frizzy and hard to handle if I use a shampoo on it that it doesn’t like. However when I tried this sample out on Sunday I was pleasantly surprised! My hair felt and looked really thick and voluminous and as well as that it looked really clean. I’m really happy with how it made my hair look and feel… However it did make my hair harder to brush which was annoying… But either way I love this shampoo and in the future I will be buying the full size bottle!

So those were my empties for June! I wonder if I’ll have as many empty products after July… We shall see!

I hope everyone’s weeks are going well, weekend will be upon us soon!

Until next time, take care all.

May Empties

I know I said last month that I would try and get back on schedule with my empties blog posts and indeed I am keeping to my word, but to be honest even if I didn’t want to do one this month to try and gather more empties for next month, I am making myself as my purple empties bag is too full!

I used up a lot of products during May and quite frankly I’m really quite pleased!

• The Body Shop Seaweed Clarifying Toner.

This toner was lovely and although it caused me some issues after using it for a while it settled down once again on my skin and I was able to use it once more without any irritation. This was lovely and cooling on warm days and I would love to own this again during the hot summer months, however I want to give all the other face care ranges a go from The Body Shop.

• Soap & Glory Scrub Of Your Life Body Scrub.

When I first got my hands on this in December I loved it! However as the months went on I grew to really dislike it and after a while I counted down the uses until it was finally finished with and out of my shower. For me this was more of a shower gel with little exfoliating particles inside of it, not a body scrub. I’ve come across better body scrubs than this one and the only positive is that it bubbles up like a shower gel. This being said what put me off the most is how strong scented it was of the pink Soap & Glory scent, which I have grown to dislike due to this scrub. I won’t be buying this again, however this hasn’t put me off trying any other of Soap & Glory’s body scrubs.

• Imperial Leather Japanese Spa Bath Cream.

This bath cream was a real treat to use and was something I found myself reaching for every other bath I had after a long day at work. The scent of it was a lovely coconut type scent which left me feeling clean and fresh, as well as smelling gorgeous and ready for bed. I would definitely buy this again, you can’t go wrong with Imperial Leather, especially when it comes to their bath and shower products.

• I Love… Cosmetics Choca Mocha Lala Shower Cream.

I bought this shower cream as a spur of the moment purchase when I was in Home Bargains with my boyfriend about a month ago and since then we both used it all up. I really do wish I’d bought a couple of these as they were only 79p a bottle and were gorgeous! It smelt of chocolate and reminded me of The Body Shop’s chocolate shower cream, but better! This smelt more like chocolate than The Body Shop’s version and was a hell of a lot cheaper too! I took this with me to the Lake District for me and my boyfriend to use and when we got home we used the last bit up. I really do miss this shower cream so I think I’ll be looking for it to pick up again. I really love I Love… Cosmetics products!

• Gillette Satin Care Shave Gel.

I’ve mentioned this product before, if you would like to read more about it look here.

• Sure Maximum Protection Deodorant in Sensitive.

I can’t believe that I used up two of these in a row! It shows how busy I’ve been to use up so much deodorant as you don’t really need a lot of this product as it goes a long way. If you want to read a more in depth review of this, you can check that out here.

• Elemis Collagen Cleansing Balm.

I’m actually really sad to see this all finished as I really love it! I do have another tiny pot that I’m yet to start but I’m probably going to save it until I’ve used up some of my other cleansers first, as you do. This balm is gorgeous though! I thought I wasn’t going to like it when I first tried it as it looked really greasy but when you mix the balm with water it goes into a lovely creamy cleanser, but it doesn’t foam up. These can be good if you suffer from dry skin, but as my skin is quite greasy as it is I do wonder if it set it off to break out at times, as since not using this due to it running out, I haven’t broken out nearly half as much! It also smells really refreshing which you can’t go wrong with, especially in the mornings and during the warm summer days too. I would repurchase this, it’s a gorgeous balm!

• Montagne Jeunesse Face Masks in Very Berry and Lemon Sherbert.

Now I don’t know if I’m not allergic to Montagne Jeunesse’s face masks, or if I was having a bad day on the days I used these masks, but my skin has never burnt so much in my life! I’ve used Very Berry on many occasions and it’s a lovely mask to use for hydration and moisturisation but when I applied this to my skin my face felt on fire so I only left it on for a couple of minutes until I couldn’t stand it anymore and washed it off. If you thought that sounded bad, Lemon Sherbert was WORSE! I applied it to the skin and my face was on fire straight away and I was screaming in pain as I tried my best to wash it off and ease the pain. My face was red raw afterwards and I felt really quite saddened about the whole thing as I love lemon and was really looking forward to giving the mask a go. I’m sure it’s just my sensitive skin reacting to the masks and it’s not the masks themselves.

So those were my empties for May! Not as many as I thought there were (unless there were loads and I didn’t realise it) but either way I did use up a lot of products in May which I’m really pleased about. Means more room to try more things!

What did you use up during May? Let me know in the comments!

Until next time, take care all and I hope your week is going well so far.