I’m back! + A few empties

Yes, I’m back! It’s been a while since I’ve last blogged, I’ve been incredibly busy writing assignment these past few months that I haven’t had any free time to write here! In this blog post I’m going to talk about all of the products I’ve emptied in January and February, and as there are quite a lot of products, I’ll try to keep the reviews pretty short 🙂 Eau Precieuse – I’ve already written about this product here. It was good when I was 15 and very lazy with my skincare, but it’s not a product I would buy now.

Le Petit Marseillais in Mandarine et Citron Vert – What I love about these shower gels is that they have a very particular scent, so you recognise them immediately. And oh they smell gorgeous! They also lather very well so this 250ml lasts for a while. If only it was readily available in the UK.

Rimmel Lasting Finish Nail Polish in 058 Lemon Drop – OK, I cheated, this is not actually empty.. I just don’t like the colour anymore! Actually, I’ve never really like it and it doesn’t look nice on my pale skin… I wonder what 15-year-old me was thinking when buying this. However, after 5 years, this nail polish still looks brand new and the quality is just the same! Definitely great value for your money.

Batiste Dry Shampoo in Tropical – Ah Batiste… Everyone loves it but me. My hair might not look greasy after I’ve applied the dry shampoo, but it still fells dirty and it makes my head so itchy! Maybe it just isn’t for me.

Elemis Hydra-Boost Day Cream – I got this in a magazine a while ago and it didn’t impress me at all, which is good considering how much the full size costs! I’m not saying it’s bad, but I’ve used much nicer moisturisers that cost half the price. Also the scent is too overpowering for me.

Benefit They’re Real! Push-Up Liner – Another sample I got with a magazine, and I’m so glad I didn’t spend any money for this. I don’t know about the full size, but I found it quite hard to apply the product nicely and easily with this sample. And this isn’t the only problem: it was so hard to remove when I applied on my hands that I didn’t even dare applying it on my super sensitive eyes.

Rimmel Glam’Eyes Liquid Eye Liner – I loved this eyeliner so much that I had to include it in my 2014 favourites. It’s so easy to apply, you can easily draw a very precise and thin line, the colour looks really black (unlike those eyeliners that are meant to be black but actually look like a very bad dark grey) and most importantly it lasts all day! There are so many other products I would like to try but I might repurchase this in the future.

Rimmel ScandalEyes Precision Micro Eye Liner – Well, this clearly proves that not all Rimmel eyeliners are great. This one certainly isn’t. Maybe I got a faulty one, but this product was already half-dry when I first used it. The felt tip is so soft that it was hard to draw a nice line on the eye, and it definitely didn’t look black.

Bourjois Liner Feutre – another disappointment in the eyeliner category. It’s not as bad as the Rimmel eyeliner, but I still found it incredibly difficult to draw a nice line on my eyes. Maybe it’s because I can’t use felt-tip liners… I think I’ll stick to the liquid ones.

Kiko Eyeshadow in 128 – By far the most pigmented eyeshadow I’ve ever owned. It was a really nice, pinky-glittley-white (if this makes any sense) everyday eyeshadow. It’s super cheap and it lasted me over a year!

Bioderma Hydrabio Light – another well-loved product that I included in my 2014 favourites. It’s aimed at dehydrated skin, but I would say that you can use it whatever your skin type. It sinks in very quickly, it’s great as a make-up base and it’s quite good with dry patches… although I will probably try the rich version next winter, as I felt that the light one wasn’t enough for my dry skin.

Avene Skin Recovery Cream – This is a very tiny sample Avene sent me when I registered on their site. It’s aimed at sensitive skin, it’s relatively light and sinks in very quickly. I might buy the full size in the future.

Burt’s Bees Milk and Honey Body Lotion – My housemate gave it to me because she didn’t like the smell at all. I have to admit I didn’t love the smell myself but I’ve definitely smelt worse. As I don’t use body moisturisers I can’t compare it with anything else, but it sinks in fairly quickly so I guess it’s a good product.

Vichy Idealia Eyes Cream – Although this is a small sample it did last me a while as you only need a tiny bit. Again, I can’t really say much about it as I’ve never used eye creams before and probably never will, as I haven’t seen any difference with this cream.

Colgate Deep Clean Whitening with Baking Soda – A very average toothpaste, like most are to be fair. It does the job and it doesn’t taste horrible, and that’s all I want from my toothpaste really. Not my favourite one though. Sanex Dermo Sensitive Anti-Perspirant Deodorant – I really thought I would like this deodorant. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate it, far from it, but why isn’t there a 48h version? 24h just isn’t enough and I notice the difference. I will certainly buy it again when they make a 48h protection version, though.

La Roche-Posay Physiological Eye Make-Up Remover – This is simply the best eye make-up remover I’ve tried so far, and I like is so much that I’ve quickly repurchased it as soon as I run out of it. Water-based make-up removers are by far my favourites and this removes everything effortlessly.

Eucerin DermatoCLEAN Cleansing Gel – I already miss this so much! I used to swear by foaming cleansers, but now I’m converted! The creamy gel texture feels so nice on the skin, it removes every make-up residue and my sensitive skin doesn’t feel all tight!

Seventeen Miracle Matte Pressed Powder in Porcelain – I didn’t really like this, it looks a bit too cakey and it felt heavy on my skin.

Schwarzkopf Taft Hairspray – I don’t use hairspray everyday, so this lasted me over a year and a half. It’s a good product, it did the job, and I might repurchase it in the future (if I go to Germany again, hair products are way cheaper there!).

Bioderma Atoderm Gentle Shower Gel – It’s a great product if you have sensitive skin, as it’s very gentle and the scent is not overpowering at all. As my body is not sensitive I don’t really need a sensitive shower gel, but if yours is then you should definitely give this a try.

That’s it for now! What have you used up recently? Have you tried any of the products I mentioned? If so, what did you think of them?

Lorraine x

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Empties! December 2014

Hello everyone! First of all, happy new year! Also hope you’ve all had a lovely Christmas – I certainly have 🙂 So sorry I haven’t been able to post anything in the last couple of weeks, I haven’t had the time to write anything despite having plenty of ideas for blog posts 😦 Anyway, here I am with a new empties post!

1) Nivea Stress Protect Anti/Perspirant Deodorant
I tried a Nivea deodorant a while ago and I didn’t like it, however I decided to give them a second chance and.. I still don’t like them. They do work fine, but the smell is so overpowering that I always ended up coughing because of how strong it was! It might sound a bit silly but just because of this I will not repurchase their deodorants again.

2) I love… Coconut & Cream Bubble Bath and Shower Crème
If you like very sweet, coconut-y smells, then this is the perfect shower gel for you: it foams quite well, it comes in a big bottle so lasts a long time, and it’s cheap. It’s an average shower gel, didn’t love it but didn’t hate it either, however I got a bit sick of the smell so I would not repurchase it in this scent in the future.

3) Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pore and Shine Daily Wash
Again, quite an average product. It does its job, smells very nice, but I didn’t see any major improvement and I have tried better cleansers.

4) Boots Essentials Nail Polish Remover
And yet another basic product that I’ve been using for years. Pretty sure there are much better nail polish removers (this one contains acetone so it’s not the best product for your nails) however it is very cheap and the bottle lasted me over a year.

5) Aussie Miracle Dry Shampoo Mega Instant
Ah Aussie you really make me want to hate you! If you have read my past empties post, you may remember that I wasn’t a fan of their 3 minute miracle mousse as after only three uses the can broke and I had to throw it in the bin. Well, this dry shampoo didn’t last much longer. After a couple of uses, the can broke and all that came out of it was a liquid that smelled very much of alcohol. I am so disappointed because it is such a good dry shampoo, much better than the Batiste ones in my opinion.. it didn’t leave any white residues and it gives volume to my hair. However this is the second time I have to throw an Aussie product away and I’m not sure I want to spend more money on their products.

6) Schwarzkopf Gliss Ultimate Oil Elixir Shampoo
This shampoo only lasted me for a month (my mother gave it to me but the bottle wasn’t full) and for this reason I am not sure whether I liked this product or not. I certainly didn’t notice anything special about it, however it didn’t leave my hair feeling dry so I might repurchase it in the future.

So.. some pretty average products this month.. nothing really exciting! Also sorry if this post was written in a bit of a hurry but I am not at home and I find it so difficult to write blog posts on my tablet! Hopefully everything will be back to normal soon 🙂

What have you been using recently? Have you tried any of the products I mentioned? What did you think of them?

Lorraine x

Empties! October 2014

Hello everyone! Can’t believe it’s nearly November already, October has gone pretty quick! I thought I wouldn’t use a lot of product this month, but I ended up having more empty products than usual! So here’s what I’ve used up this October:

Lush – Mask of magnaminty (£5.50 for 125g)
I haven’t tried many products from Lush, so I decided to give this face mask a go. I really like the smell, it’s very minty and it feels very fresh on the skin; however, if you don’t like strong scented products, then I wouldn’t advise you to buy this face mask. It is quite easy to apply, but I needed a lot of product to cover my face entirely, which means that this mask didn’t last me as long as other ones I’ve tried. Moreover, the small “granules” (if that word makes sense?) makes it very difficult to get an even layer. Once it’s dry on your skin it is very easy to remove, however I didn’t notice any improvements, my skin didn’t feel very soft nor cleaner. So as a conclusion, although this face mask has a lot of potential, I’m not going to repurchase it.

The Body Shop Strawberry Shower Gel (£4 for 250 ml)
Last month I talked about the Coconut Shower Cream, which I mainly didn’t like because it was a cream and therefore didn’t lather at all (I really need to learn to read the labels carefully, I may have made this mistake again…). Anyway, this is a shower gel, which means that it lathers more than a cream, and ohhhh words cannot describe how much I liked this product! The smell is divine, it is very very strong (again, don’t buy this if you don’t like strong scented products), and your skin smells amazing hours after your shower. It is not the cheapest shower gel, but if you wait for the sales (I bought two for £6) then I would recommend to treat yourself and buy a couple of these because they are so good and they last quite a long time!

Radox Revive Mandarin & Lemongrass Handwash (£1.99 for 300 ml)
The smell of mandarin is very present yet not too overpowering; the smell is very fruity, fresh and summery. It does lather very well and it was quite nice to use it… well it’s a very average hand wash, it is a good product for its price!

Soft & Gentle 48h Protection Anti-Perspirant Wild Rose & Vanilla (£2.75 for 250ml)
Despite not liking strongly perfumed deodorants (I’ve realised my skin simply can’t stand them) this deodorant worked quite well, as I wasn’t all smelly by the end of the day (eugh). However the smell is too overwhelming so I don’t think I will repurchase this particular deodorant in the future, but I might try some fresher, more natural scents from this brand.

Arm & Hammer Advance White Baking Soda Toothpaste (£2.60 for 75ml)
This is probably the only whitening toothpaste I’ve tried so far that actually made my teeth look a tiny bit whiter than usual. The formula is really nice, it tastes like mint but it is not strong at all. There is however one negative point, which wasn’t really a problem for me, but it was for my boyfriend who made me notice it: it is rather watery compared to most toothpastes. Don’t expect this toothpaste to leave your teeth white and clean permanently (is there such a toothpaste anyway?) but overall it is a very pleasant toothpaste to use and I will be repurchasing it again if I can’t find anything better.

Garnier Skin Naturals Moisture Match Protect and Glow Illuminating Light Lotion SPF 20 (£5.99 for 50ml)
I never thought I would ever finish this moisturiser! I read a review about it recently and the author complained that it only lasted her two weeks – well, I’ve used three of these tubes and they always last me about three months! I have used the green tube in the past (for oily/combination skin) but I wanted to try a different moisturiser so I opted for… the same brand, only for a different type of skin. Needless to say, I regretted it. My skin is everything but normal, so you can probably guess this moisturiser isn’t made for me at all. I like the fact that it has got SPF, as I used this during the summer, but this moisturiser looks and smells like a sun cream, which is not what I’m looking for in an everyday cream. I find it to be very greasy and it takes ages for it to sink in my skin completely. I don’t think this review is actually useful because this product might actually be very good for normal skin, but if you want to try this Garnier cream and you have oily skin and you have oily skin, please buy the green tube, trust me you won’t regret it!

Simple Kind To Skin Vital Vitamin Foaming Cleanser (£4.49 for 150ml)
I have used a Simple moisturiser in the past and I noticed how good this brand is if you have sensitive skin (and oily skin too, their product are not greasy at all!). The main reason why I chose to try this particular cleanser is because it foams, which is great if you’re looking for a very gentle cleanser which is also very easy and quick to remove. It leaves my skin feeling very fresh and clean, and I would highly recommend this product to everyone, and especially to who doesn’t like scented cleansers.

Gliss Liquid Silk Gloss Hair-Express Repair Conditioner (£3.79 for 200ml)
Another product that I thought I would never be able to use up! This lasted me over a year and I’m so happy it’s finally empty – it didn’t do anything, anything at all for my hair! It smells lovely, it is not greasy and it lasts a long time for such an affordable price, but as I didn’t see any improvement whatsoever I won’t buy this product again.

Garnier Skin Start Afresh Cleansing Lotion (£3.60 for 200ml)
My last product is this make-up remover from Garnier. What a disappointment. It claims to ‘effectively clean and remove make-up from your face and eyes, even waterproof mascara’ and to be suitable for sensitive skin. Not only it doesn’t remove eye make-up effectively, but I even had to stop using it on my eyes because it stings so much, my eyes would always be so watery! Which means I only used it to remove my foundation, and used a micellar water to remove eye make-up. It lasted me quite a long time, but I really disliked this product and I’m so happy I can finally get rid of this. Personally, I’m not even a massive fan of milky make-up removers, but this, this is a big NO for me.

That’s it for this month! Have you used any of these products? What did you think of them? What have you used up this month?

Lorraine x

Empties of the month – August

This month has gone so fast! I still can’t believe I’m starting my second year of university in less than a month, it feels surreal! So many things happened this month: I moved into my new house, my boyfriend moved out and I’m officially in a long distance relationship (sigh) and I’ve applied for my very first part time job (which I still haven’t got – hurry up Boots!).

Anyway, enough about me. I have six products to talk about this month, most of which, to be honest, disappointed me.

1. Aquafresh Extreme Cleaning Pure Breath + Whitening
   I bought this toothpaste in Tesco a while ago as it was on offer for only £1.00. Unfortunately there’s nothing positive I can say about this product: yes it was cheap, but it didn’t make my teeth look any whiter, and considering that my teeth don’t look amazing, this is very important for me. I’ve also read a few reviews about this toothpaste recently and everyone seems to agree with me about one thing: it tastes weird… and not in a good way. I don’t really know how to describe it, it’s kind of a very sweet lemon taste; as taste is different for everyone I wasn’t planning on mentioning this, but as I’ve seen so many people complaining about the funny taste I couldn’t simply ignore it.
2. The Body Shop Coconut Shower Cream
   I have mixed feelings about this product, but there’s more cons than pros in my opinion, which make this shower cream quite disappointing. I have to say though, it’s my fault: I didn’t notice this was a shower cream, and not a shower gel. Silly me! I’m going to try and be as objective as I can, but I obviously had different expectations for this product 😛 First of all, let’s talk about the scent. Coconut is my favourite scent when it comes to beauty products, I do love most fruity smells but coconut has always been my all time favourite. I’ve been reading a lot of comments about this product as well and I’ve noticed a lot of complains regarding its scent – honestly I couldn’t disagree more. The scent is absolutely amazing: yes it does not smell like your average coconut product, which is usually a very synthetic/artificial scent. This one is so fresh, light, and it smells very very natural.
   I’ve never tried shower creams before, so I didn’t really know what to expect from its texture. It’s a very thick cream, it’s nice to apply on the skin which feels very soft and moisturised after the shower. However it does not lather at all (I guess it’s because it’s a cream?) and for some reasons I find it quite hard to rinse off, especially if you’ve applied just a little too much which, as it does not lather, happened every time.
   Finally, I have to say the packaging needs to be changed: because of its thickness it is very hard to get the cream out of the bottle made of hard plastic (which by the way makes it even harder…). It would be so much easier if there was a pump! So, as I’ve said, I’ve found more negative things in this shower cream and I don’t think I will repurchase this product in the future.
3. Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Light Mega Deep Treatment Mousse
   Ok so something really strange happened to me yesterday: I left this mousse in the shower while I was getting dressed and when I went downstairs to get it… the mousse had gone all over the shower – literally all of it! Which means I’ve only been able to use this mousse three times. Have I done anything wrong?? If you have any explanations PLEASE let me know!!
   Despite having only used a fraction of the bottle, I am very impressed by this mousse: it smells lovely, it leaves my hair so soft and light, and it’s so easy to rinse off. I noticed a lot of mousse comes out, so you might want to be careful not to waste too much product in just one wash! 🙂 Because of what happened to me I don’t think I’m going to buy another mousse any time soon, but as I haven’t seen anyone on the internet complaining about the same problem, I would happily recommend this product to anyone 🙂
4. Schwarzkopf Gliss Hair Ultimate Repair Anti Damage Conditioner
   Unfortunately I couldn’t find any website where you can buy this product in the UK – I brought a few bottles with me from Italy when I moved here last year. It is a good conditioner – not the best I’ve ever used, but still good quality for a very reasonable price. The scent is very nice which is always a bonus, and this conditioner leaves my hair feeling nice. I’ve got a bit bored of this product, I think I may have used about 10 bottles of this now? I might repurchase this conditioner in the future, but at the moment I really want to test new brands.
5. Sure Women Crystal Anti Perspirant – Clear Aqua
   I have a love/hate relationship with Sure. Their deodorants are so good: they smell fresh, they last all day and they don’t leave any white marks. But, for some reasons, I feel like my body gets used to it after a while and I have to switch to a different brand. I do prefer the Clear Pure scent to this one, but overall this is a good anti perspirant and I will repurchase this product in the future.
6. Herbal Essences Shampoo Hello Hydration
   As I’ve already mentioned earlier in the post, coconut is my favourite scent, which might explain why I’ve decided to buy this shampoo… 🙂 I really enjoyed using this product at the beginning, but I’ve soon got bored of it. The bottle is pretty big (400ml) so if you wash your hair twice a week like me then this product is going to last you a few months. The price is really affordable and I’m quite sad I haven’t enjoyed using this shampoo as much as I’d hoped – I guess I should have gone for a smaller bottle! I would recommend this shampoo – and the whole range – to anyone: there’s so many shampoos to choose from!

You now know everything about what I’ve been using this month! Have you used any of these products? If so, what do you think of them? Have you tried anything new and exciting this month?

Lorraine x