April 2017 Empties

It’s scary how we’re almost approaching being midway through another month, and especially scary for me as with each day that passes we’re a day closer to the wedding. Only further reminded with someone texting me on an almost daily basis reminding me how many days it is to go, or how few days there is to go. I already don’t know where the first ten days of May have gone, or how it’s taken me until the middle of the month to get these up again. My very organised almost 20 scheduled posts have now almost ran out, so things are likely to go a little bit quiet between now and mid-end of June.

When I photographed these empties, I didn’t do what I normally do which is organise them into logical sections of Makeup, Haircare, Skincare etc – I just needed to get the job done quickly so I could throw them in them out so they could make the recycling collection on time. So apologies for the slightly more erratic and unorganised structure of this month’s used up products!

 

MUA Brow Define (Review)
I’m giving up on this one. I pitted against my favourite Gimme Brow in an attempt to find a budget friendly alternative and this was the worst of the bunch. It had no fibre properties, and the brush was the size of a small mascara brush, which made it too hard to control. After another try of this recently I decided that nope it was definitely time for it to make a move.
Repurchase? Nope

Benefit Goof Proof Brow Pencil (review)
I had this in a recent post called ‘Three Products I’m Loving, and Three That I’m Not‘ and sadly this was one of the ones I wasn’t. I was definitely in the minority when it came to that post as most people declared their love for this pencil. I hated the shape of the nib which didn’t create a nice crisp line, it was too soft and blurry, and I found it hard to build pigmentation too. To add insult to injury the last third of this snapped off inside.
Repurchase? Nada

Chanel Dimensions De Chanel Mascara (review)
This was my only experience so far with Chanel Makeup, and whilst the overall effect was nice – it took too much effort to get it to that point. I needed to put layer upon layer on of this before it created enough volume and separation. Too much effort for a mascara that is £25.
Repurchase? Unlikely

Benefit Porefessional Primer
I got this sample in one of the first My Little Boxes of the year, and whilst many love this primer. It’s not one I ever enjoyed in the past when I tried it, I was willing to give it another go as it’s been a good few years since I last had it, and sadly I still didn’t enjoy this. I like the feeling this has on the skin when it’s applied without everything else. But once foundation is added I don’t love it, and I find it does nothing for oil control either – my foundation doesn’t last longer with Porefessional.
Repurchase? Nope

Leighton Denny Crystal Topcoat
I never got around to reviewing this topcoat which is a shame as I actually really enjoyed it. It gave me the feeling that Seche Vite used to but the last few bottles of Seche left me unimpressed. This gave a really glossy shine to nails as well as it dried really quickly. There’s a fair bit left in the bottle but it’s too difficult to get out now, I spend about 30 seconds per nail trying to get enough product on the nail.
Repurchase? Maybe, but for now have a lot of topcoats to use up!

Essence All About Matt Concealer (review)
Featured recently in my Spring Product’s I’m Trying To Use Up, once I put my mind to concentrating on using this one up and stop flirting with a different concealer on a daily basis from my drawer it was used up pretty quickly. I love this concealer, I needed to use it up because it was reaching its expiration.
Repurchase? Yes, but not immediately

Australian Body Care Tea Tree Shower Gel
I was quite enjoying using this Tea Tree Shower Gel especially for giving my back a good scrub with a brush. I neglected to use it for about two weeks and when I came back to it, it had all turned to a total watery fluid and was gone in one wash?! I have no idea how that happened but given I think you buy this in litre sized bottles – I don’t know I would trust buying a size that big if this is what happens! Very Potent, not for the Tea Tree faint hearted.
Repurchase? No

Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water
Not gonna bang on too much about this. Everyone knows about this, if you don’t it was in my Skincare Staples post last week where you can read more.
Repurchase? Already have 2 in the drawer!

Lee Stafford Hair Growth Treatment (review)
This has been in my shower since before Christmas and I’ve only just really gone back to using this product. I don’t know why as I love it. I totally credit my hair growth spurt last year with this, sadly I’ve just had to have most of the increased length chopped off thanks to My L’Oreal Colourista disaster. However if I want to grow my hair again I will 100% go back to this. I also love the shampoo from this range just in general. Sidenote, I notice people always use this as a hair mask, It’s foremost designed to be used on the roots, it has a menthol quality that stimulates the hair growth – it does soften the ends too but not as good as proper hair masks, for me this is a scalp treatment primarily!
Repurchase? For now, maybe not!

The Body Shop White Musk Exfoliant (review)
Reviewed quite recently. This seems to have been discontinued either temporarily or permanently. I’m glad to see it gone, whilst it wasn’t my favourite scrub, I didn’t mind using it, however the shape of the tub was awful, it was so wide and flat it was like a hockey puck on the floor of the shower as there was no where else for it to sit.
Repurchase? Can’t but wouldn’t.

Aussie Miracle Moist Shampoo
My favourite shampoo at the moment. I’ve been through this quite quickly thanks to how often I have been washing my hair over the past two months. The best shampoo for me if I’m frequently washing to stop my hair drying out.
Repurchase? Yes, but have a couple I’m trying to finish before I do.

Aussie Three Minute Miracle
There’s been a lot of these in my empties since Christmas, my favourite conditioner of the moment. A ‘daily’ use hair mask that works wonders on my locks.
Repurchase? Yes, again working through some other conditioners but will be back to this by the end of the month!

Schwarzkopf Color Expert Conditioner
I bought the conditioner and treatment from this range and thus far I haven’t been impressed with either. This was just bleh, nothing special nothing terrible. Considering it’s about the same price as Three minute Miracle, I won’t be going back to it.
Repurchase? No

Jerome Russel Maximum Peroxide
I used this along side one of their bleach sachets as a bleach bath for my hair (mixed with conditioner and water) as a way to try and lift the green out of my hair (see last months empties for why). It worked a little bit but didn’t shift it completely.
Repurchase? Maybe, but I have 

Charles Worthington Intense Rescue Melting Balm
This was in my very first products I’m trying to use up last year and I finally got around to it. I’ve had this for way longer than the expiry date. It’s too hard and difficult to use. Fleur de Force raved about this years ago but y ou have to melt it down before you use it, leave it on dry hair for half an hour then attempt to wash out solidified mess out of your hair. Left with hair feeling no better at the end of it. Don’t Get It.
Repurchase? Nope, Couldn’t Pay Me To Use It

Tony Moly I’m Real Seaweed Face Mask
My review on this has been ready since the middle of April, but every friday it’s been pushed back in favour of something else. It will 100% definitely be up on this Friday however! You’ll have to wait and see what I thought of this.
Repurchase? Maybe

Red Carpet Manicure Purify
This removes the Stickiness that Gel polish has after it’s cured. I bought this expensive brand out of desperation a while ago at Sallys for needing something immediately, rather than waiting for something online. The bottle of this leaked, which for a really expensive brand wasn’t good enough, and I now have a no wipe topcoat that no longer needs this. I will probably need to get another bottle of a purifying gel in future, but for now I can cope without one.
Repurchase? Nope

Garnier Ultra Lift Day Cream
I finally made my way through these! I was sent a 60 day trial of this last year and I’ve gotten through them all. I didn’t like them so used them so sporadically. Won’t be repurchasing

Missha Time Revolution
This was included by Chris at FiveZero when we swapped last year, To be honest it’s now so long since I used this I can’t remember whether I liked it or not. I do however like the bottle, if that’s what the bottle really looks like haha!

Face Matters Morning Moisture
Wasn’t a fan of this, it was quite thin and greasy. Managed to get 2 applications out of this, tried it in the day as well as at night and either way I didn’t like the feeling on my skin.

Amie Purifying Facial Wash
I was surprised that this was a cream cleaner. I got this in my Love Me Beauty box last month along side a moisturiser which I’m yet to use. I got three uses out of this and I don’t know how anyone knows with three uses whether a cleanser is working for them! Didn’t tempt me enough in those few uses to buy it to try more.


That’s it for this month. I think this months empties might be smaller – I’m at 5 at the moment, but quite often haircare surprises me with a lot of stuff suddenly being empty!

Have you tried any of what I’ve got here?

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Helpless Whilst Drying

Email: helplesswhilstdrying@gmail.com

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25 Comments

  1. May 10, 2017 / 7:44 am

    I really like empties post, I find some awesome products in posts like these. I lmicellar water. Completely agree with you on it! Lovely post 😘😘

  2. Charlotte
    May 10, 2017 / 8:48 am

    Wow you always have a lot of empties! I must be he only blogger that doesn’t like the lee Stafford growth thing, it does absolutely nothing for my hair and always leaves it feeling limp, in fact it’s due to be I. A disappointing products post! I also am not a fan of the garner micellar water as it stings my face! I love my botanicsone and a derma v10 one I get in the pound shop!

    • This is a small one for me!
      I had so much new hair growth last year using that range, had a fluffy halo of baby hair at one point! Haven’t tried either of those micellar waters, I just stick to garnier for fear of disappointment!

  3. May 10, 2017 / 8:52 am

    Empties are one of my favorite posts to read, I have that Essence concealer I think it’s great but I don’u use it that much which is frustrating. xx

  4. May 10, 2017 / 8:59 am

    Wooow girl nice empties. I love that Garnier water too 🙂

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  6. May 10, 2017 / 11:22 am

    I need to start taking better care of my skin!! Love you blog <3

  7. Sophie in Wonderland xo
    May 10, 2017 / 4:48 pm

    You get through so much stuff!!! love your honest reviews! xxx

  8. May 10, 2017 / 7:33 pm

    Tick tock tick tock! XD

    Chanel makeup doesn’t entice me for whatever reason! I’d rather buy Marc Jacobs or Charlotte Tilbury.
    Too bad you didn’t like the Garnier Ultra Lift Day Cream since you got a 60 day supply.
    What concealer are you using now?

    I’ve already collection a few empties for May – I hate that when I’m almost done something at the end of the month so it doesn’t qualify and I have to hang on to that empty bottle for the entire month. 😛

    • I’m using up an age rewind at the moment, Nearly there with that one – and then onto bourjois healthy mix which I do not like at all so far!
      I know, I had that with a perfume this month –
      Yeah I’m the same I’m interested in trying one of their foundations, and getting a lipstick maybe but not so bothered overall. Which is a shame as it’s so widely available here compared to the other two!

      • May 10, 2017 / 10:48 pm

        Maybe you can mix the Bourjois with the Maybelline to improve it? I tried the Bourjois concealer ages ago and I remembered it didn’t have good coverage. I gave it away, actually.

  9. May 10, 2017 / 9:05 pm

    You get through so many products each month, you are such a little product machine! I love your little reviews of each thing though. I also hated the goof proof eyebrow pencil, thought it was shocking, so hard to use! The Esscence Give Me Some Brow is a great alternative to Benefit GimmeBrow in my experience though, and a fraction of the price! xx

  10. May 12, 2017 / 9:30 am

    Love a good empties post – you’re doing so well at using stuff up! I’m hopeless, can never resist getting new bits. Love reading your honest mini-reviews too – can always rely on you to be matter of fact. The Tony Moly masks look adorable, can’t wait to see what your thoughts are.

    Kara
    http://www.spreadthesparkle.co.uk
    💗

  11. May 17, 2017 / 7:35 am

    What would you suggest instead of the Benefit Porefessional? I am really curious to know…

    • The only silicone primer I fully love is the body shop one, I do like Mac prep and prime primer as well it has a similar feeling but just found it lasts better
      Doing my KL shopping list this weekend! Two weeks to go!

      • May 17, 2017 / 7:44 am

        Ah, I kinda love the Body Shop one too! Finally something we can agree on! Owh, have so much fun Rachel!!! I might actually be in KL during that time. Do keep up to date with social media. Might look you out!!!

  12. world of happiness_x
    May 29, 2017 / 8:51 am

    the aussie shampoo and garnier water is good!

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