Empties – May 2019

May has ended and now we’re halfway through the year (what?!). Time to see what I liberally applied to myself last month!

Total number of products used up: 15

Estimated retail value of products used up: £91.53

Total value of products used up this year already: £733.98

Reviews below!

Haircare

(L-R: Herbal Essences Body Envy Conditioner, L’Oreal Elvive Phytoclear Shampoo, L’Oreal Elvive Dream Lengths Hair Mask)

Herbal Essences Body Envy Conditioner – 5/10 – ok, starting off strong with a bog-standard conditioner I picked up in Dubai – this was fine. It wasn’t great, but neither was it terrible – it was just average. Hence why I gave it an average score. You’re welcome.

L’Oreal Elvive Phytoclear Shampoo – 6/10 – I bought this to try and help psoriasis after reading many positive reviews about it online, but did it help? Not so much. However, despite that, it was a lovely fresh shampoo – smelt divine (minty?), a nice thick pearlised texture, and made my hair feel super silky. So, all in all, not a bad shampoo I guess?

L’Oreal Elvive Dream Lengths Hair Mask – 8/10 – This was from a whole range that L’Oreal brought out last year around protecting long hair. Now, those who know me offline will know that I have exceptionally long hair and half of the battle is protecting the length from the triple threat of sun damage, heat damage, and split ends. This mask was apparently designed to help protect hair from all of the above with the view of growing hair long. I’m not 100% sure it worked in my case, especially as I got a haircut last week, but I will say that it was lovely to use. Really smooth, gorgeous scent, felt luxurious on my hair, and made it oh-so-smooth and manageable. Again, not sure about the claims that it’ll protect my long-ass locks, but it did make them feel and smell delightful.

Body Products

(L-R: Freemans Barefoot Foot Scrub, Body Shop Frosted Berries Shower Gel)

Freemans Barefoot Foot Scrub – 3/10 – Oh man, listen. I wanted to like this so much. Pedicures are one of my favourite treats and I wanted to be able to replicate salon treatments at home, so bought this on a whim last year. It was suitably scrubby, sure, but good god the smell was appalling. Very, very medicinal, and strong to boot. So much so that I actually couldn’t finish the tube. I’m sorry. I know this is meant to be ’empties’ but I had no choice. Don’t hate me?

Body Shop Frosted Berries Shower Gel – 8/10 – Ah, this was much better. Smelt divine and foamed up really well. The only drawback is that it was limited edition from Christmas about three years ago. Sorry lads. (Also, there’s only so much you can say about shampoo, deodarant and toothpaste… this ’empties’ series is really testing my writing flex)

Makeup

(L-R: Benefit They’re Real! mascara, Maybelline Color Tattoo in Creme de Rose, CND Shellac in Naked Naivete)

Benefit They’re Real! Mascara – 4/10 – So, I’ve used this mascara a few times before, but they must have changed the formulation somehow because this was awful. Smudged constantly, yet was somehow near impossible to remove from my actual lashes. Granted, it gave me my required spider leg lashes:

but at what cost? £19, to be exact. Pass. There are so many other better (and cheaper) options out there.

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Creme de Rose – 10/10 – I’ve found it guys. The *perfect* eyeshadow base. It’s creamy, it’s a beautiful nude colour, it helps eyeshadow stay on the lid and not crease, it’s cheap, and it took FOREVER to use up (seriously, I’m talking a good two years – you do not need much). Run to your nearest Superdrug and grab it. I’m working on some Urban Decay eyeshadow primer at the moment and it just doesn’t compare.

CND Shellac in Naked Naivete – 8/10 – a beautiful nail colour, this is a long-time favourite of mine, and is the second bottle I’ve used up since October. My current nail colour of choice is a bright raspberry pink, but I’ll likely be going to this bad boy afterwards. Only drawback is that it does get quite gloopy quite quickly, but look at that colour – I mean…

Facial Products

(L-R: Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes, Nuxe Masque Creme Fraiche de Beaute)

Makeup Remover Cleansing Towelettes – 6/10 – I picked these up from Target a few months ago, and have been using them whenever I couldn’t be bothered to do the whole 3 step cleansing routine (note – a lot). They did the job and smelt nice, but I’m knocking some points off because these stung like hell. I wear a lot of makeup on the regular, and whereas these did a good job of removing the majority of it, they also made my eyes tear up because they were so strong. “Efficient but painful” should be the tagline here.

Nuxe Masque Creme Fraiche de Beaute – 6/10 – I was given this by a friend a few years ago, and have only just gotten round to using it up. I’m not great at using moisturiser daily – I have insanely oily skin, and I know you’re meant to use moisturiser every day but I really do not enjoy the ‘slip ‘n’ slide’ feeling of an oily face with moisturiser on it. Sorry, dermatologists everywhere.

This was pretty nice to use though, smelt good and felt very luxurious. The only drawback is that it left a weird film on my skin which didn’t feel overly great. I’m currently using the ‘light’ version of this so will inevitably report back on that next month – I’m trying to use more moisturiser so I don’t age horribly and look like a handbag in five years.

Miscellaneous

(L-R: B&BW Winter Candy Apple Foaming Soap, Tesco Pro Antibacterial Hand Gel, Kiko Milano deodorant, Oral B 3D White Toothpaste, Hand & Face 10 Vanilla Mini Wipes)

B&BW Winter Candy Apple Foaming Soap – 8/10 – I’ve waxed lyrical about these hand soaps before (seriously, could I sound any sadder? It’s soap), and this one is no exception. HURRY UP AND OPEN A BRANCH OVER HERE B&BW. PLEASE.

Tesco Pro Antibacterial Hand Gel – 3/10 – This worked, but smelt awful, so knocking a lot of points off for that. I want my hands to be clean, but I also want them to smell decent.

Kiko Milano deodorant – 6/10 – This has been discontinued now I think, but it was my “spare” deodorant for a while. Excellent staying power and did the trick really well, but it had the opposite problem to the hand gel in that it had no scent at all. Which was really odd to me. So, because it’s my blog and I can do whatever the hell I want, I’m knocking off 4 points for it. I want artificial scents, goddammit, and I want them now.

Oral B 3D White Toothpaste – 9/10 – It’s toothpaste.

Hand & Face 10 Vanilla Mini Wipes – 8/10 – Mama Roams bought these for me randomly a few months ago (maybe she saw the state of my car?), and I finally used them up this month. They were super cute and smelt amazing, but knocking off a few points because they dried up pretty quickly, which negates the idea of handy mini wipes really. Ah well!

I’ve already used up a STACK of products for next month, so see you then for a Bumper Post™!

R xx