by Rosi
Alright la? Another month has passed and I have a bag of crap to go through for your delight. This month was slightly low on the ground compared to previous months, mostly because a) I’ve been travelling around and haven’t used my regular products much, and b) because I’ve used up so much since the start of the year, I’m back to starting from scratch with my newer products. Still, I hope you enjoy seeing what I’ve been using to make me look like a human being over the past month?
Total number of products used up: 14
Estimated retail value of products used up: £159.92
Total value of products used up this year already: £642.45
Reviews below!
Face Products
(L-R: LA Fresh Makeup Remover Wipe, GlamGlow Gravity Mud Face Mask)
LA Fresh Makeup Remover Wipe – 7/10 – As I said, I’ve done a *lot* of travelling this month (4 states, multiple flights, all that good stuff), and I bought a set of these wipes from one of the hotels when I realised I’d run out of micellar water (reviewed in March, it snuck in the last day). These were cheap and honestly, pretty damn good. I wear a significant amount of makeup and it put up a pretty good fight against my daily mask. They mostly sell these to hotels in the US, hence knocking off a few points for availability, but you can buy them online if you’re US-based and fancy giving them a whirl.
GlamGlow Gravity Mud Face Mask – 7/10 – I’d seen this stuff floating around the beauty blogs for a long time and thought they looked kinda fun, but the price was… less than ideal (£40 for a FACE MASK, come on). Mr Roams kindly gave me a Space NK voucher for Christmas a few years ago and it was running dangerously close to expiration, so I chose to give GlamGlow a whirl finally. Now, let’s be honest, even £16 for a small size of face mask is insane – hence points knocked off – but this stuff made my skin look amazing. Looked initially silly – as one of my best friends commented, it looked as though a balloon had blown up in my face – but fun to apply and then peel off. And duh, my skin looked incredible afterwards. UGH. WHY IS IT SO EXPENSIVE
Hair Products
Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Beach Mate Deep Treatment – 6/10 – I’ve gotta be honest here, I think Aussie may have lost its charm. This was fine – it was an average conditioner, didn’t work wonders (what is Beach Mate, anyway?), smelt ok… but I didn’t get the “Jesus look at these SILKY LOCKS” effect that I seem to remember getting a few years ago. Maybe it’s just me?
Makeup
(L-R Canmake Pressed Powder, Rimmel Fix & Perfect Primer, Rimmel Provocalyps Liquid Lipstick)
Canmake Pressed Powder – 3/10 – I picked this up in Tokyo in 2017 (link to that trip here!), which just goes to show a) my hoarding abilities and b) my tendency to buy things when I’m abroad and not wanting to use them up. But use it up I did, and I’ve got to say, I wasn’t that impressed. Maybe it’s because this is designed for the Japanese beauty market which is very different from the Western market. Maybe my skin type just isn’t compatible with this product. Or maybe it just isn’t very good. Who knows? All I know is that it caked on my skin big time and left me with a beige mask if applied with the little powder pad that came with it. I tried to style it out with a fluffy powder brush which worked somewhat, but still, I was glad to see the back of this one.
Rimmel Fix & Perfect Primer – 10/10 – long time readers will know I love this primer, so no more needs to be said. Already got another one lined up, lolz.
Rimmel Provocalips Liquid Lipstick – 9/10 – man, Rimmel knocked it out of the park this month! I’ve been using this for a long time, and I finally got round to using it up, and it’s hands down the most resilient liquid lipstick I’ve ever tried. So much so that I’ve often had to scrub it off in the evening with micellar water because it just hasn’t budged all day. I don’t typically bother with the clear ‘top coat’ on the other end, the colour works fine for me by itself, but I guess you could if you fancy locking and loading it on, or just like a shiny gloss effect. Whatever, just try this. I promise you won’t regret it.
Body Products
(L-R – Bodycology Scarlet Kiss Body Cream, Millie Mackintosh Bath Gelee, Solait Exfoliating Body Scrub)
Bodycology Body Cream – 6/10 – Oh man, this packaging. Listen, I bought this on one of my trips to the States when I was running out of body lotion, and this was the one with the least offensive smell. The packaging and name makes me cringe as much as it does you, I promise. That aside, this was a pretty bogstandard cream (not lotion). It was heavy to apply, didn’t seem to rub in easily, and made me feel greasy… but it was cheap and smelt ok. Glad to see the back of that packaging though, Christ.
Millie Mackintosh Bath Gelee – 6/10 – for those of you who know me in real life, you’ll know that I moved house fairly recently, and my new place has an insanely luxurious bathroom featuring a super deep tub 🛀. This bath gelee came in a set I picked up in Boots last Christmas – gotta be honest, I’ve never seen Made in Chelsea so have no idea who Millie Mackintosh is – Google tells me she used to be married to Professor Green #oldladyface? Whoever she is, she’s produced a fairly average bath gelee, so well done to her. This had an amazing scent so pretty much all of the points have gone to that, but it didn’t soap up the way I’d have liked. Listen – when I have a bubble bath, I like the bubbles foamy and huge – and I’m sorry Millie but this didn’t quite cut the mustard. Nice try calling it a gelee to make it sound all fancy and French – it’s a bath soak and you know it.
Solait Exfoliating Body Scrub – 7/10 – I liked this so much I cut it open, evidently. This was suitably scrubby, cheap and smelt great. Slashing off points because I’m not sure it’s still available, soz guys.
Perfumes
(L-R – ‘See’ by Chloe, ‘Daisy’ by Marc Jacobs)
See by Chloe – 7/10 – This was a big month for perfumes, clearly, with two entire bottles finally being used up (!). These were chunky bottles too – the Chloe was 75ml and the Daisy was 50ml, and I’ve had them for yeeeeeears. First, the review of See by Chloe. I was given this bottle by a ex boyfriend for my 25th birthday 6 years ago which just shows how much of a hoarder I am, but it’s finally finished (thanks again Murray!). It was a lovely scent initially but did become slightly migrainey over time which is why it’s had a few points knocked off. Long term readers will know that I’m truly shit at describing perfumes, so if you want to know the top notes and all that jazz, go and Google it 😉
Daisy by Marc Jacobs – 10/10 – oh man, I was truly gutted when this was finished up. Daisy by Marc Jacobs is a true 00s girl staple – I remember when one of my school friends got a small bottle and I thought she was fancy as shit (she still is), and it became a dream of mine to own a bottle too. My mother kindly bought me this bottle when I was in my early twenties and as a skint student/trainee teacher I rationed this to the best of my abilities. It truly was saved ‘for best’, and I was so sad when I finally used it up this month. I’m 30 now and it’s stayed in remarkably good condition. As soon as this year is up and I’ve used up more of my collection, I will be buying another bottle of this. Love it.
Miscellaneous
(L-R – Nivea Double Effect deodorant, Strictly Professional Luxury Creme Wax)
Nivea Double Effect Deodorant – 9/10 – you guys really want me to review deodorant?
Strictly Professional Luxury Creme Wax – 8/10 – the brand name makes me laugh because nothing could be further from the truth when I use it (think me with a wax heater I bought off Amazon, in my bedroom, holding my legs up and hovering hot wax over them in an attempt to save money). That being said, this stuff was actually pretty good and effective, not too gloopy, and, y’know, helped me maintain my Gillette Venus advert gams. Probably would repurchase.
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I’ve got a few blog posts coming up (I’m actually writing this in terminal 1 at Abu Dhabi airport, go figure), but I want to hear from you too. Do you want more travel posts? More beauty? Happy with the mix so far? Curious about my stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Want to hear my thoughts on the hyperinflation of the Venezuelan bolivar soberano? Let me know – Lord knows I’ll write about pretty much anything, but I want you guys to enjoy this too, rather than it just being a place where I record my trips to aid my decaying memory. Pop in the comments below!
R xx
rosi roams 