January Empties

I finally have some empties for you! I will be the first to admit that I am terrible for finishing products. I get bored of the scent and move on really quickly. Particularly with shower gels and moisturisers. However, since Kat from Tales of a Pale Face talked about her savings idea of putting away money for every product she finishes, I've been feeling inspired! No more will half used products sit in my bathroom! 

From L-R: Soap and Glory Hand Food, Soap and Glory Clean on Me Shower Gel, The Body Shop Satsuma Body Butter 50ml, VO5 Treat Me Right Hair Mask, VO5 Gloss Me Smoothly Conditioner, The Body Shop Dragon Fruit Lip Butter, Boots Conditioning Nail Polish Remover

Soap and Glory Hand Food and Clean on Me Shower Gel
Okay, confession time. I've actually had these since December 2011. I got them in the big S&G case. I'm not normally this bad when it comes to using up products but I actually got so sick of the smell of these that I couldn't bare to use them! They just reminded me so much of working at Boots (as a very miserable Christmas temp) and they gave me a queasy feeling of dread every time I smelt them. A few months ago I decided that I was going to try to reacclimatise myself to them so they didn't make me feel sick. I didn't do too badly! They're still excruciatingly sweet but meh, I finished them. I know that for a lot of people these are like Holy Grail products, particularly the Hand Food. But I wasn't wowed. I personally much prefer the smell of the Sugar Crush range. The quality is excellent though. They last forever and you don't need much. The Hand Food is very moisturising but it doesn't sink in quite as quickly as I'd like. Still very fast, but not by any means perfect. (P.S. the shower gel has lost it's colour because it was shoved on the window sill for months, it's supposed to be a happy pink!)
Repurchase? No way. I gave away my last Hand Food and Righteous Butter to my giveaway winner. I would have given her the shower gel too but it was too darn heavy!

The Body Shop Satsuma Body Butter 50ml
Ahh, let me count the ways I love thee... One of my all time favourite products are the body butters that The Body Shop make and this is possibly my favourite scent. It's very true to a Satsuma smell and it sinks in insanely fast. It's a bit lighter and creamier than the other butters that I have tried so I would prefer to use this in the Spring/Summer. I actually finished this around Christmas time and it's my oldest empty out of the lot! I like to layer the satsuma mist over this for an extra long lasting scent. Smelling like a satsuma isn't for every one, but I love it.
Repurchase? Already have. The 200ml version sits proudly on my drawers.

VO5 Treat Me Right Hair Mask and VO5 Gloss Me Smoothly Conditioner
I'm very fickle when it comes to my hair. I'd like to say I'm loyal to a certain shampoo and conditioner but I'd be lying. I'm actually the type that buys whatever is on offer a the time! *bad beauty blogger* Regardless of my bizarre swapping and changing, I have noticed a slight improvement in my hair recently. I think it's a combination of these and my Tresemme heat defence spray. It looks much shinier than it usually does! I've always been quite lucky with the condition of my hair and I've never suffered with particularly bad dryness or split ends but shine and volume is something I'm always looking for. Here's my hair a couple of days ago (sorry for the long image):

This is after using Colour B4 (which didn't work, but that's a story for another day,) applying the VO5 mask and Tresemme heat defence. Very shiny and healthy looking! I do recommend these products if you're looking for cheap glossy conditioners.

Repurchase? Yes, so long as they're on offer ;)

The Body Shop Dragon Fruit Lip Butter

All hail the holy grail! I love this product. I rave about it whenever I get a chance. Being of dry skin variety I also suffered with dry and chapped lips which would split and bleed (gross but true.) Well no longer. This product is an intensely moisturising, thick, pale cream. I slather it on at night and wake up to fabulous soft lips. Can't recommend it enough. Particularly in Winter.

Repurchase? YES! Already have. I'm trying a new scent though, hello Mango!

Boots Conditioning Nail Polish Remover

Always an essential. I picked this one up months and months ago and it's lasted forever (despite me tipping it over and losing some!) Would I say it was conditioning? Hmm. It certainly wasn't drying and cuticles always felt soft after using so to an extent I'd say yes. Also worth noting is that this is the nicest smelling nail varnish remover I have ever smelt. It doesn't make me wince with the acrid fumes. And on top of all that it even removed my nail varnish with a small amount of effort! Win.

Repurchase? I probably would. I recently bought a strengthening one from Sainsbury's so I'll see how that compares first.

Lots of positivity in this months empties! What do you think to these products?

Lauren

Yet Another Mini Haul: Bargains Galore!

I got paid on Monday which meant that it was time to stock up on essentials (and a few non-essentials.)
Heres what I managed to grab:

My first stop was Boots to check out the haircare. I was actually looking for Tresemme dry shampoo since I had seen it reviewed and recommended recently by Harriet here. But it just so happened that all the VO5 products were a 3rd off there. I ended up picking VO5 dry shampoo (usually £3.49) simply because I love a bargain! There was a volumising version but it claimed to be for fine hair so I'm not sure it would have done anything for me. Best to keep it simple.

 I also picked up the "treat me right" intensive conditioning mask. (usually £4.39)

This looks like just the thing to treat my Winter hair. Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner (£3.79 each) was also on buy one get one free, and I'm nearing the end of my current Tresemme bottles. I picked up the "Hello Hydration" set which smells absolutely beautiful. I love coconut scents as they always remind me of being on holiday!

Also on offer was cotton wool, cotton pads and buds at buy one get one half price. I use the pads all the time for cleansing, toning and nail varnish removal, so I may as well stock up whilst they're cheap! (£1.39 for pads)

At Superdrug the first thing I saw was my all time favourite deodorant, Dove Cucumber and Green Tea, on better than half price so I immediately put one in my basket. I've recently tried two different Sure deodorants (thinking that a different scent would be better than the first one) and I was so disappointed. I'll never cheat on Dove again, it wasn't worth it.

With the 3 for 2's still on at Superdrug I picked up two new Barry M varnishes. (£2.99 each)

I picked "Black" because I wanted to try out a galaxy manicure and I'm hoping this will make the ideal base. "Nude" was chosen because I wanted a pale neutral base to try out Jasmine's marble nail art tutorial that you can view here. My third item was the much talked about Undressed palette from MUA (£4):

I was a bit torn between this and Heaven and Earth, but the matte shades won me over. I have no matte eyeshadows! Really excited to start using this. Just as I was trying to leave the store an eyelash curler caught my eye. I've actually never used one before and since I've started blogging I've seen no end of talk about the Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler and thought that maybe a curler was something worth investing in.

This beauty from classic, cosmetic power-house Revlon was £2 off and I really couldn't say no to £3.99!

Have you taken advantage of any of these offers? Have you tried any of the products I picked up? Let me know your opinion in the comments.

Lauren