June 2014 Empties

Well, in June I was determined to use up more stuff than normal.  Now, this might sound crazy, but at any given time, it's not unusual for me to have 10+ shower gels on the go at the same time, I know, cray cray.  And I never seem to finish them, just move on to the next one.  This month I decided it was time to try and finish these off, which is what I did! Now I'm down to just a couple (feels amazing!). Well, lets cut the waffle and see what I've used up this month :)

1.  I Love Juicy Lush shampoo

This is probably one of my favourite shampoo's, it's thick and luxurious, it smells great (like lemon and honey), and a little goes a long way.  The only drawback? The price tag, it's like £10, but because a little goes a long way it does mean the bottle doesn't dwindle too quickly either.  I've bought this a few times and have no doubt I'll be buying it a few more times :)

2.  Original Source vanilla and raspberry shower gel

This is an amazing smelling shower gel, it smells like a strawberry milkshake, yummy!  Like all Original Source products, it's pretty decent, leaves you clean and smelling nice, which is pretty much what everyone wants in a shower gel right?

3.  & Other stories body scrub in frozen verbena

This is a LOVELY body scrub, it's really sugary like the S&G sugar crush body scrub, it's thick (not too much liquid in it), very rough and smells amazing, really citrusy.  I forget how much it cost, I think it was around the £8 mark, but in my opinion, worth every last penny.  Just like most things, it took me an age to finish it - like shower gels, I typically have about 5 body scrubs on the go at any one time, and I don't use them in every shower either, only if I can be bothered or if I feel my skin needs it.

4.  Sephora mango body wash

I picked this up when I was in France in Jan.  I just couldn't bring myself to finish it, so I left it with a couple of uses in it for ages... there's a lot of reasons I had an emotional attachment to it (you can read about that here), but ultimately, it's just a shower gel, so I finished it.  It smelled fantastic, it was creamy (not see-through) and left my skin feeling lovely and soft.  If I had a Sephora near me, I'd certainly be replacing it.

5.  L'Oreal Ever Pure reinforcing intense mask

This was my favourite product from the ever pure range, it didn't leave my hair weighed down and greasy by silicone, but left it feeling light and well treated.  Would I replace it?  Yes and no - there's other products that do the same job that I prefer, like the Macadamia hair mask or the Flawless product, both much better, yes more expensive, but in my opinion, a much better spend of your money.

6.  Naked Colour protecting conditioner

Not my favourite conditioner.  It felt quite thin in consistency, something I'm not a fan of in a conditioner, and I didn't really feel it did much for my hair, it still felt quite dry after using it, so not something I think I'd re-purchase, quite a disappointment in all honesty.

7.  Body Shop scrub in pink grapefruit

Now this on the other hand was pretty special.  I'm really into to Body Shop products at the moment, namely the Blueberry body butter (smells AMAZING!), and this, oh my, so refreshing and zingy, perfect for your morning shower.  It's filled with natural exfoliants like loofah and smashed walnut and left my skin feeling very soft.  A very lovely product.

8.  Original Source pink grapefruit

I'm a fan of Original Source - but this one for me, wasn't the best.  It was fine, but not as fruity and zingy as I'd like - I've been spoiled by the Body Shop pink grapefruit range.  Not one I'll buy again.

So there you have it, my past month's empties.  I don't think there'll be as many next month as that was finishing off lots of odd ends, but hopefully there'll be some different things to share with you :)

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May empties

I'll be honest, I don't always remember to save my empties (bad blogger), however, I do have a bit of a stash to share with you and a quick summary on what I thought of each one.

L'Oreal Ever Pure shampoo & conditioner

I initially really liked these back when I reviewed them.  But after using them more and more, I realised they were starting to really weigh my hair down.  I feel like they had a lot of silicone in them which is what made me need to wash my hair every day when I was using these, but I certainly wouldn't buy them again... 

Naked Colour shampoo

This smelt lovely, like cinnamon, mmmmmmmm, but, and it's a big but, it didn't lather very well.  I'm afraid lots of these products were a bit of a labour to get through :/  Would I buy it again? Maybe... it's good for stripping back my hair but I feel that it needs a very good conditioner to go with it, as after rinsing the shampoo out, my hair was feeling quite straw like.

Original Source lime shower gel

This is a bit of a simple but good product.  Most of the Original Source shower gels I really like, especially the citrus ones.  I tend to shower in the morning, so those 'wake-up' scents are what I lean towards the most.  If I have something different (like the Korres one coming up) they tend to take me ages to get through as I'll only use them in the evening, and since I shower in the morning, an evening shower is a rarity :)

Korres vanilla and cinnamon shower gel

A gorgeous rich lathery shower gel, this was a big winner for me.  However, read up one and you'll see it took me a long time to get through it since it's not the scent I'd opt for in a morning shower.  Would I buy it again? Yes, I really did like it, but I need to weed my collection down quite a bit first and by the time I come to that, the baby will be here and I won't be able to afford £8 for a shower gel, so in reality, I probably won't end up buying it again :P

Bioderma

This must be my... 4th bottle I've gone through, I'm close to finishing another one, and I have 2 backups in the cupboard that I bought when I was in France in Jan, so there'll be more empties of these to come!  It's a good product, great at getting eye makeup off, even pesky waterproof mascara, however I always make sure I cleanse afterwards as I don't really like the way this makes my skin feel (slightly sticky).

So there you have it, not too many empties over the last month, I'll try to do these post more often, but it would help if I'd remember not to throw away all my empties.  I'm sure I have like, 3 empty hand moisturisers in my handbag too that I keep meaning to put in one of these posts :P

 

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January 2014 Empties

I haven't brought you an empties post for a while... I did have a very big bag of empties that I photographed a few weeks ago, but I lost all the photo's somehow :(  So, these are some of the things I've used up in the last few weeks.  I will try and do these monthly so I don't end up with a massive collection :)

First up, my little bottle of Lush Ponche - an orange and tequila shower gel (cruelty free).  On initial sniff, I really liked this, but it's taken me ages to finish, despite it being tiny as I started to dislike the scent, so not one I'd buy again.  Then we have my beautycology cherry cupcake body wash, believe it or not I bought this a year ago in TXMaxx and then lost the set it was in somewhere in the house, until about a week ago!  It smells amazing, however, it didn't lather very well and I needed to use a lot of product to feel clean.  Sadly to say, the scent didn't transfer onto my skin either.  Then we have naturalmente - these little samples were sent to me to try, but I only managed to get 2 washes out of them so not really enough to review.  What I will say, the times I used them they were lovely, but weather that was because they were new to my hair, or if it was because they were great, I'm not able to tell.

Next up - my trusted Aussie Colour mate shampoo and conditioner - I adore the Aussie range, it works well with my hair and makes it feel great, especially the 3 min miracle conditioner, it almost feels like a treatment.  Yes I'd buy them again, however I do like to keep mixing things up when it comes to my hair.  I also finished my Naked smooth conditioner, this was really lovely and great combined with the Naked shampoo (which I finished the month before) for clarifying my hair of all the silicone and other nasty things that are in other shampoos/conditioners etc.  I'm currently using up some TRESemme shine shampoo & conditioner and I really don't like it that much - don't get me wrong, it makes my hair feel lovely, but coats it in so much silicone I have to wash it every day.

I've finally decided to call my Maybelline Fit Me powder empty - there's only a trace of it around the edges which is a bit difficult to use.  I also finally managed to use up my Urban Decay primer potion - don't let the picture fool you - it's completely empty!  I've now replaced it with another one, but the Eden one instead - it's supposed to be great with oily lids, so it's worth a try :)

It's fair to say January has been a good month for empties, although really, this includes some of December too :)

What have you used up recently?

This months Biggest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovelyLuchessa from Beauty Expression

 

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Recent empties #2

It may not look like much, but these are my recent empties :)  I have lots and lots of other products close to finishing so hopefully my next empties post won't be quite so short :)

Method handwash

I discovered this about a year ago when watching MissGlamorazzi's vlogs on moving into her new flat (now old flat!) - she'd bought loads of method products but I'd never seen them over here.  Then a couple of months later my local supermarket started stocking them, so of course I grabbed some!  I'm really glad I did, I've been buying it ever since, now I have all different scent handwashes, wood polish and an all purpose cleaner - I know, I know, this isn't the exciting stuff you usually come to my blog to read, but it's used up so I'm sticking it in here :)

Happy Hair Days argan oil shampoo

I cannot say enough good things about Happy Hair Days - they're not very expensive (about £5 each) but they're amazing for your hair.  They're free of nasty chemicals and full of good ones :)  This is my 4th set of their shampoo & conditioners, I absolutely love them, their coconut & marshmallow on is my favourite :)

Bioderma

This needs no introduction - it's my second large bottle I've managed to get through - it's amazing at removing makeup and leaves my skin feeling lovely and soft, simples.

Pantene conditioner for coloured hair

Oh my was this hard to finish! It's an extra large bottle and just didn't do my hair any favours.  When I was using this shampoo & conditioner my hair just felt so dry.  What I did like though was how it made my hair smell, I've always loved the scent of Pantene.  But sadly, not one I can imagine repurchasing.

Tropic body love body butter

This I really loved.  It's one of the few body butters that actually feels like a butter, and to top that it smells amazing, like zesty lemons.  My problem is I have so many body butters it's hard to get through them and ever finish any off, but it was really easy to get to the end of this one :)

Macadamia hair mask

This is my last little sachet of this wonderful mask, but fear not, I have a giant tub of it now!  Managed to find it at TXMaxx a couple of months ago for about £25 (great price!).  I use this every Saturday morning as part of my Saturday morning pamper shower (I look forward to a good pampering all week!) where I use all my best products, feels like a great way to start the weekend.

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Jess from Coffee Cosmetics

 

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Recent empties

 ** My empties **

** Mine and hubby empties **

Like many beauty bloggers I tend not to go through products that quickly as I have a rather substantial collection, so I don't do empties posts every month as there may only be 1 or no products to show you. It has been a couple of months since I've done one of these and have saved up a few products.

My empties

Bioderma - this really is an amazing product, and I've just realised I haven't actually written a review of it on here, ah well!  I haven't tried other micellar waters, so I don't have anything to compare it to, all I know is I love it, I'm over half way through my second bottle, and will be replacing it.  It's just such a lovely product, it takes my makeup off really well and doesn't sting my eyes.

Pantene conditioner for coloured hair - this has taken me a while to finish, mostly because I didn't like it, and because it's a massive bottle.  I say I didn't like it, that's a bit harsh, it just didn't make my hair feel great.  It did the job, not amazingly though.  I'm not really a fan of big bottles of shampoo, I like to change things up more often than that and I couldn't do that with this.  If you're wondering why I bought such a big bottle when I'm not a fan, my lovely hubby picked them up for me when he was shopping :)

Aveeno hand cream - I have such mixed feelings about this (reviewed it here), it did the job well, absorbed well, gave my hands a soft matte velvety finish, but I just didn't like the smell of it.  It's supposed to be an oatmeal scent but it didn't really smell of oatmeal, so I ended up trying to get through this quickly so I could move on to something that smells a little nicer.  At the moment it's a small bottle of something that was in my Birchbox a couple of months ago, a tea scented one (not keen on that either!), after that (which is nearly finished), I'll take my Soap & Glory hand food into work, it's a big bottle so the only change I have of finishing it is having it on my desk.

Elemis exotic frangipani monoi shower cream - that's a mouthful!  This was in the goody bags we put together for the Cardiff blogger meetup we organised a few months ago (April I think), and it's only recently I got around to actually trying it.  This was a really lovely product, it left my skin feeling lovely and soft, the scent was amazing, a sweet scent but not overly sweet.  It also built up a soft gentle lather. I haven't tried anything else from the frangipani monoi range, but I am dying to try their salt glow, it looks amazing and I bet it smells as good too :)

FoM bio active body polish balm - that's what the little empty tub is :)  They sent me a product to review (review incoming soon!) and they also sent me a little sample of this.  Body polishes are something I'm really into right now, so this was a welcomed treat.  There was enough there for one good use.  The scent was that 'organic & natural' scent if you know what I mean?  Very nice.  The texture was quite rough, very similar to sand, probably a bit rough for my liking.  But it did lather up a little (I don't expect much lather from a body polish) and leave my skin feeling very soft.  It left an almost oily residue on my skin which very quickly absorbed.

Mine and hubby empties
I'm not going to say much about the Right Guard shower gels as I never used them - all I know is, hubby really likes them, he's been re-purchasing them for a couple of years, although last time we went shopping I did talk him into trying the Original Source lemon & lime shower gel, he's liking that at the moment too :)  I think he's like me, we like fresh citrus scents for showering in the morning (which is when we typically do).  I tend to opt for lime as my main morning shower scent, really great at waking me up - that and grapefruit, mmmmm :)

What have you used up this month?

This months Bigest-Pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Hayley from Water Painted Dreams

 

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April & March Empties

Hey guys!  I didn't do an empties post or video last month as I didn't have that much, so I saved it all up to bring you a slightly more meaty post today :)

The easiest products for me to finish - I loved them all :)

 

Summary

I really mean it when I say I loved all of these products.  Something I really regret is changing up my shampoo & conditioner because these two babies are awesome, they left my hair feeling soft and smelling great :)  Next the Liz Earle hot cloth cleanser, who doesn't love this?  It smells great, it removes makeup really well and the lovely muslin cloth gently exfoliates your skin.  I haven't replaced it yet as I'm using another hot cloth cleanser (N Spa) as well as my Bioderma :)

Superdrug Vitamin E hot cloth cleanser. This is a great cleanser, like the Liz Earle it takes makeup off really well and with ease, but at a fraction of the price.  My only reservation with it is that I find it a bit thick so not as easy to remove.  I much prefer their Naturally Radiant hot cloth cleanser, I prefer the smell and lack of residue it leaves on my skin :)  But even saying that, if they'd run out of the naturally radiant one, I'd still be really happy to pick this one up in it's place.

The Korres shower gel was in a Birchbox and it was so good, I bought a full size one (not that scent though, but Vanilla & Cinnamon) which I also adore!  And finally, my Dove deodorant in pomegranate.  This is my 3rd can, currently on my 4th - I always used to use Sure roll on, I'd been using it for 15 years, but fancied a change.  Even after 10+hours of wearing this I'll still get pleasant fragrant 'whiffs' of this lovely fragrance and no nastiness.  It doesn't irritate my skin or leave white residue on my clothes, I love it! 

What were your April empties?

This months bigest pixi3 advertiser is the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass

 

February Empties

Hey guys!  I usually do my monthly empties as a video on YouTube but I thought I'd change things up this month and turn it into a blog post, you likey?

It's been a pretty good month for getting through stuff this time, I think the 100 day spending challenge has forced me to try and use products up so I have a chance of re-purchasing them.  Problem with that is I have so many backups for each thing, that doesn't really happen - unless it's shampoo and conditioner for some reason.

So, in February, I ran out of:

• Herbal Essences Ignite my Colour conditioner: Which I have re-purchased (a bigger bottle!).  I really love the scent of this and how lovely and soft it makes my hair feel - great if you wash your hair nearly every day like me :)
• Chanel Ecriture liquid eyeliner - Yep, replaced this bad boy too!  That one has lasted me the best part of a year and I didn't have a suitable replacement in stock ;)
• Wei white lotus eye cream - Gutted this is finished... best eye cream I'd tried, even wrote a whole blog post on this tiny sample, but at £60 for a replacement... I just couldn't do it.
• Superdrug anti ageing hand cream - now this bad boy I bought for no less than 99p in Superdrug (it was on offer) and I've loved it! I kept it on my desk at work, using it around 3-4 times a day and it managed to last me around.... 3-4 months, I really got my value for money out of it :)  Would I repurchase? Yes - but I have far too many other hand creams to go through first :)
• L'Occitane Shampoo and Conditioner - I had these in my secret santa swap with Laurie and only just got around to using them the other day - probably wouldn't purchase full size ones of these because 1. there wasn't enough of a sample for my hair so I had to add other shampoo and conditioner to it, and 2. my hair didn't feel especially amazing afterwards.
• Superdrug Naturally Radiant hot cloth cleanser: Yes I'm gutted this is finished!  But, I have lots more to use up before I replace it.  I still have a little of my Liz Earle C&P left, and the Superdrug Vitamin E cleanser, and one from my Bristol blogger meetup - so will replace, but not yet :)
• Clairol Colourseal gloss (for dark hair) - now this I fookin' loved! I always dye my hair with Nice n Easy, and they have one of these inside it, it's what I look forward to most about dying my hair! I know you can buy them individually for 99p, I just tend to forget that :)  But, I can say, the 2-3 days that I used this for my hair felt amazing, it had a beautiful soft sheen to it, a nice weight to it but it was still beautifully soft.  It makes for a great little treatment :)

So there you have it, my February Empties! I'm amazed how many I got through in such a short month, lets hope I can keep the momentum up for next month :)

One thing I was trying to finish as I know there's not much left is my Revlon Skin matching foundation, I was using it every day and I think it was responsible for breaking me out... so I've stopped using it :(  I will try it again once my skin has calmed down, but its been a couple of weeks and still not recovered :/

This months big pixi3 advertisers are the lovely Laura from A Scottish Lass, Tasha from Belleza Kisses, Gem from Miss Makeup Magpie, Luchessa from Luchessa, Sally from The Human Mannequin - be sure to head over to check out their beautiful blogs <3

 

August Empties

Hey guys - I'll be doing an August Favourites post, but I also wanted to do an August Empties one, since I've never done one before :)  There's not much in it, and if I'm honest, some of these have been empty for about 6 weeks, so not all strictly August ;)  But I'm sure you won't mind that!

Lush Veganese and I love Juicy

I love both of these, they smell sooo good!  They smell really lemony and make your hair feel super soft and clean afterwards.  The conditioner Veganese has a very sea-weedy smell to it, but not in a yucky sea-weedy way, but in a nice seaside fresh way :)  You'll still be able to smell the lemon too :)  I've repurchased both of these, and I think each of them were just under £10, so not cheap, but hey, you get what you pay for :)

Lush Sweetie Pie

I seriously love this - it's a jelly!  A purple jelly at that!  A purple glitterly jelly at that!  OMG and it smells sooo good, really sweet :)  It's main scents are cherry and coconut - but if I hadn't read that off the front I wouldn't have known, I can't pick out those scents individually, but it just smells so good.  After you've had a shower with this, you'll smell amazing and want to jump straight back in to have another shower :)  Oh I nearly forgot to mention, it's a JELLY!  You can plop it out of the tub and smoosh it into your scrubber/buffer etc, or just rub the jelly straight onto your skin, whichever floats your boat :)  This I've repurchased too and costs around the £6 depending on what size you get.

Soap & Glory Hand Food

This was one of my first Soap & Glory purchases (I've since bought their anti-bac), I've kept it at my desk at work and put it on 2-3 times a day :)  The scent is lovely, just as I like it's very sweet, it leaves my hands feeling soft and hydrated and not greasy.  I can't remember how much it was, but I think it was probably around £5?  I'll have to grab myself another one to keep on the desk, but not sure whether to repurchase or try something different, any suggestions?

Have you used any of these before?  Did you like them?

Pixi3 out

xXx