September 2017 Empties

Let it not be said that I don’t learn from my mistakes – after letting my empties roll over one too many times, last month I was left with the mammoth task of sifting through them last month. This month I’m was on it straight away with writing this post up… but struck by the bloggers curse, winter lighting, has meant I had to wait until the weekend past to get everything photographed.

Haircare

Garnier Ultimate Blends in Coconut Milk Shampoo
Bought on offer, I hadn’t tried this one before from the Ultimate Blends and really liked the scent of this in the shop so decided it was worth a try. I’m not normally big on coconut smells, I know some people love it but I could take it or leave it – but this one had a lovely warmth to it, sadly I didn’t like it for shampooing at all, I found it left my hair looking pretty quickly and ended up using it more like a body wash more often than a shampoo.
Repurchase? I’ll try and remember not too!

Mason and Miller Shampoo
I didn’t do as well at using up all those hotel minis as I did in the previous months, but hey at least one is better than nothing. I don’t remember this being as terrible as what it looked. I think I need to pop some more of them back in the shower otherwise I’ll never get through them.

Happy Naturals Keratin Conditioner
I was in need of new conditioner and added one in with the weekly online shop, after a rather unimpressive collection and no offers on anything I knew I liked I decided to try this because, yep you guessed it I quite liked the packaging. This was nice, but nothing extraordinary to write home about at £4 it was a little too expensive for what it was, but it had a lovely soft sherbet scent.
Repurchase? If I saw it on offer I would consider it, but otherwise no.

CoLab Paradise Dry Shampoo
This is my second bottle of this, and not gonna lie bought it cause of the flamingo packaging. This was okay, but not my favourite scent from Colab, and nor was it my favourite formula either. There’s other dry shampoos I prefer, so wouldn’t rebuy unless it was on offer, but it’s not terrible either.
Repurchase? Maybe

Toni and Guy Smoothing Serum
Yay! So glad to have finished this up! It was one of two oils featured in my summer product use up list and I’m so glad to see one of them gone. This was more of a styling product than a care product for me, I really liked it over curled hair to add a gloss and sheen to the curl.
Repurchase? Unlikely, but wouldn’t not use it again if I had it

Living Proof Prime Style Extender Spray
A tiny sample that I decided to take away with me on honeymoon, and didn’t end up using! This was described as for reducing frizz, helping in humidity and extending the length of styled hair (which I thought would be great in the humidity), sadly the spray nozzle didn’t really work so I had to tip it into my hand and spread through my hair, and I couldn’t really tell what this was doing.
Repurchase? No

La Riche Directions Apricot
If you’ve been following me on Instastories you’ll know the mission I’ve been on to try and get my hair to peach instead of pink, I bought this at the start of the month and sadly it hasn’t worked out for me at all. I don’t think my bleached hair was light enough for this which is why it didn’t take.
Repurchase? Not unless I bleached my hair a lot lighter.

Wet Brush Shine (review) & Tangle Teaser
Not empties per se, but two products I’m decluttering from my hair drawer are the two above hair brushes, the Wet Brush Shine is a twist on the original Wet Brush, with denser mohair bristles which were fabulous for smoothing out the hair, after 2 and a half years it’s reached it’s last legs and I’m unable to clean out the mohair bristles very well any more and it’s looking a bit grubby.

The Tangle Teaser and I have never gotten along well, the bristles on this have never been long enough to go all the way through my hair, and ends up making the underside of my hair knotty by the knots just being pushed through to the other side, I find this an utter nightmare to use and it’s sat taking up space so it’s going.

Skincare

Anatomicals Spray Misty For Me Facial Spritz
This isn’t necessarily a bad product, but it does contain lavendar which I’m allergic to. I’ve decided after 2 years of holding onto it, it’s pointless so I’m getting rid of this.
Repurchase? Obvs not.

Melvia Orange Blossom Floral Water
I’ve never been huge on facial mists and I really tried to like this one, it’s not quite empty being about a third of the way through but I’ve had to get rid of it. The scent of this is a mixture between flowers and feet, it’s really unpleasant and it’s not worth me trying to like it, so it’s time for it to go!
Repurchase? No

Clinique Take the Day Off Balm (review)
I think this might be the first proper balm cleanser that I’ve actually liked enough to consider repurchasing. I found this melted off makeup well, had no irritating scents to it and just did a fab job, this little pot lasted me around 8 uses, so a little goes a long way with it too, and I think I may have been using it a bit heavy handed the first couple of times too.
Repurchase? Quite possibly, but I have a lot of cleansers in my cupboard right now, so not for a while.

Clinique Smart Custom Repair Serum (review)
I really like the feel of this serum, it has nice gel cream texture which I tend to get along with really well as it feels a bit fresher on my oily complexion. Whilst I really like how it feels and I do feel like it’s moisturising, I’m not sure if it’s worth the price tag, I feel like I would get through this really quickly, with the cheapest bottles of these starting at £50, I’ve never seen enough of a difference with these sample sizes to decide whether it might be worth it.
Repurchase? No, but I’ll happily keep using samples.

Clinique Pep-Start Hydrorush Moisturiser (review)
I didn’t find this particular moisturiser very effective at all, the consistency reminded me of suncream and found that it took too long to absorb into the skin, and then didn’t really do a lot whilst it was on.
Repurchase? Noppppppppe

Pixi Glow Tonic
I bought this mini size some time last year as I was curious about it, sadly I found it completely underwhelming and struggled to see any results from it. I much prefer the ordinary’s and that one comes at  a fraction of the price too.
Repurchase? No

Tea Tree and Witch Hazel Blemish Stick
I think Ben bought this and somehow it ended up in my skincare box on my bedside, again – useless did nothing notable or help shrink the size of spots at all.
Repurchase? No

Boutique Super Strong Double Face Cotton Pads (review)
It wouldn’t be an empties of mine without a pack of these, they’ve recently changed the shape which I’m not okay with, I prefer the old bigger squares compared to the ovals, but they’re still the best quality cotton pads I’ve tried.
Repurchase? Already have, always will

Masque Bar Aloe Vera Sheet Mask (review)
I got this in last months Look Incredible box and sadly it didn’t impress for it’s pricetag, it was nice and moisturising – but no more so than a good moisturiser, at £7.50 for a single use mask I want to see results!
Repurchase? No

7th Heaven Deep Pore Cleansing Peel Off
I got this at the Bloggers Festival and passed it over to Ben to try out, that boy loves a peel off face mask. Over to him for the review… very good if you have a cold as the mask has a strong spearmint flavour which helped clear the sinuses, skin felt softer and smoother after use especially around the jawline, peeled away cleanly. Disappointed with the amount in the packet as it didn’t cover full face, the man on the packet must have a tiny childs face.
Repurchase? Yes… wait how much was it?

T-Zone Nose Pore Strip
Another one I got at the #BloggersFestival, sadly I don’t know if I got a dud or something but this just all stuck to my nose, I presume it’s meant to harden and pull put blackheads but instead it just stayed like goo. I’d be willing to try them again because they have decent reviews online.
Repurchase? Maybe

Bodycare

Flutter Body Scrub
I bought a load of things for one of my younger cousins for Christmas to fit in a washbag and this didn’t quite fit in, so I ended up keeping it as I think it was only £1 from Superdrug. This was okay, but it reminded me a lot of the H&M Rose Reverie body scrub, not very scrubby at all.
Repurchase? No

Palmers Coconut Oil Body Lotion
I’m not a huge coconut lover, I don’t hate it, I don’t adore the scent either, but this one was lovely – I think because it was a coconut oil, it felt nourishing but sank into the skin quickly. If I ever would need to buy a body lotion I’d definitely get this but I’m perpetually topped up from PR and beauty boxes and will probably never need to buy one in my lifetime.
Repurchase? No but would recommend!

L’Occitaine Amande Shower Oil
One of my favourite princess products, I love using this it feels so luxe on the skin, and the almond scent smells warm and makes me feel all cosy and well looked after, as shower oils go this isn’t too badly priced, but I can never bring myself to use it as it’s way more expensive than a shower gel and I know if I bought it I’d just whizz through it in a month. Every sample I can find in a magazine or beauty box is gleefully accepted.
Repurchase? Tempting but unlikely, one day!

Fragrance

Dior Fahrenheit Summer (review)
This perfume has been my main target to get used up over summer after featuring in my Summer edition of Products I Want To Use Up. I’ve had this a long time, since my sister was on work experience which was about 10 years ago… it didn’t smell bad, but I knew I had to use it up – the more I used it the past few months, the more I started to fall in love with it, it’s a scent which verges on masculine, warm and deep.
Repurchase? Can’t no longer made!

Chanel Gabrielle
I got a sample of Chanel’s latest fragrance, and boy is this tempting to add to my Christmas list. It’s a lot more modern than Chanel’s fragrance line up, whilst still retaining Chanel’s signature sophistication. Definitely give this a whiff if you’re into sultry, but younger scents.
Repurchase? Maybe!

Makeup

Witch Daily Primer and Clearing Serum (review)
Another targetted product to be finished up over summer. I’m glad to see this gone as it’s a little fat and chunky for my foundation drawer, I liked that it’s mattifying on the skin and feels really nice but beyond that I struggled to work out what it did.
Repurchase? No, and I don’t think it’s made any more either.

Peter Thomas Roth Lashesto Kill Mascara
I never even got around to reviewing this as it was so rubbish, it was really dry from the first use and didn’t give me lashes to kill either. I’d heard good things about this mascara and it was disappointing.
Repurchase? Thanks but no thanks

Clinique Chubby Lash Mascara (review)
A mascara that I gave a really good go to but was just okay was this, my second underwhelming clinique makeup experience so I’m not off to a great start with discovering the brand more. Review has more details and before and afters.
Repurchase? No

The Balm Mary Loumanizer
This has featured in the last couple products I’m trying to use up, and I almost made it before it cracked and shattered. I tried to use this a couple of times since it broke but it was very messy and without fully crushing it and decantering it it’s very difficult to use as it is now so it’s gone for the bin! A very glowy but natural shaded highlighter.
Repurchase? No, I’d rather try something new but I do like it, if you’ve not

HD Brows Pressed Powder Palette
Another one that’s not a true empty and another one which featured in my summer edition of what I was trying to use up, I had no intention of using the bottom row as pressed powders they were too dark an contours to warm toned. I managed to use the first two powders to the point where I felt I was smushing my brush in too much for powder I didn’t even like, and the one on the far end only suited me whilst I was still more tanned, and isn’t worth keeping hold of for another year.
Repurchase? No, infact just avoid.

Toothpaste

I’m not going to talk about any of these in detail, but I’d wanted to prove from last month where I’d used up 1 toothpaste in about 4 months that I did have a lot more on the go as I’d said in that empties. I really liked the Richard Marques one which I’d done with an instagram ad with a few months back, the tube of it was so huge it kept me going for quite some time!

Well done if you made it to the end, I thought it was a short empties this month but I did use up quite a bit, so far for October my empties basket is looking thin on the ground so I’m thinking next months might be a lot quicker!

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Helpless Whilst Drying

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16 Comments

  1. October 10, 2017 / 6:14 am

    The Chanel perfume sounds lovely! The Clinique Take the Day Off balm does go a long way and it’s unscented and doesn’t irritate my skin which I like πŸ™‚ The Palmers body lotion sounds nice too, I’ve always wanted to try something from this brand and I found a night cream I’d consider last night πŸ™‚ I’d be tempted to buy Mary Lou-manizer if I found it for a good price, I don’t think I know of bloggers who don’t like it. I love your empties posts as they’re always so full of products x

    • October 10, 2017 / 10:06 am

      I think this time it was quite boosted from quite a lot of miniature products, not that much was full size this time around!
      I agree, I’ve tried a lot of cleansing balms and a lot are scented or contain lavender which I’m allergic to, so this one worked out really well as it just does the job with no frills!
      Mary Lou is a lovely product, if I didn’t have so many others I needed to use, and others I want to try I’d definitely repurchase it!

      • October 10, 2017 / 10:11 am

        I can’t stand lavender scents, they irritate my nose! After reading this post I found the Mary Lou highlighter on sale and bought it πŸ˜€

  2. October 10, 2017 / 6:31 am

    You are such a machine when it comes to empties! I don’t know how you do it! Love the new photo set up ❀️

  3. October 10, 2017 / 8:41 am

    You always do really great empties posts! I have a sample of the Clinique take the day off balm, I’m super excited to try it as I’ve heard quite a lot of positive reviews. Great post ☺️ X

  4. October 10, 2017 / 9:57 am

    Empties…….great thought. Melvia Orange Blossom Floral Water seems good and also the Flutter Body Scrub, I like that one.

  5. October 10, 2017 / 11:12 am

    I have the same coconut shampoo & im not loving it too much, finding more and more it’s leaving my hair greasy literally a day and a half after washing my hair! X

  6. October 10, 2017 / 11:15 am

    Yay someone else who thinks the pixi glow tonic is over rated!
    I really want to try the take the day off Balm

  7. areadingcat
    October 10, 2017 / 12:31 pm

    I love a good empties post! And love the clinique products! xx

  8. beccapbeauty
    October 10, 2017 / 1:47 pm

    I’d be so gutted if my Mary Loumanizer broke, like you said it’s nothing you couldn’t buy cheaper but it’s still always my go-to!

    • October 10, 2017 / 1:58 pm

      I was so close to the end I was getting to the point I knew it was close to shattering as it was just so fragile! I used up about 90% of it so it had a good run!!

  9. October 11, 2017 / 6:11 am

    Not too many repurchases this time around. I always love to read empties posts. Xx

  10. October 29, 2017 / 1:49 pm

    Wahahah smell like “flower and feet” that cracks me up. Well done that you’ve even got through 1/3 of the Melvita. I can’t imagine using a 2nd time if I hated the smell.

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