Weekly Recap 22 – 28 February 2021

Hi there! Happy Sunday! Today’s post is my weekly blog recap. Read on if you’re wondering what I’ve been up to on my blog this past week. 😊

Monday 22 Feb – Nail Of The Day
Tuesday 23 Feb – Boots No 7 Radiant Results Revitalising Daily Face Polish

Monday’s post was a Nail Of The Day post. Click here to read it.
On Tuesday I reviewed a face polish. Click here to read the post.

Wednesday 24 Feb – Alberto Balsam Exotic Mango Shampoo & Conditioner

Wednesday’s post was about the hair care products I’m using at the moment. Click here to read the post.

Thursday 25 Feb – Palmolive Gourmet Chocolate Passion Body Butter Shower Cream, Palmolive Gourmet Vanilla Pleasure Body Butter Shower Cream

On Thursday I reviewed 2 shower creams. Click here to read the post.

Friday 26 Feb – Monthly Favourites

And on Friday I told you which products I loved the most in February. Click here to take a look.

This is it for this week. Thanks for stopping by! 😘

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Empties – December 2020

Hi there! HAPPY NEW YEAR! Today’s post is about all the products I emptied in December. I’ve done much better again, and I’m happy to report that I’ll be returning to a normal blog schedule soon – and this includes catching up with all of my blogging buddies. 🥰

So what kind of stuff did I finish last month? I used quite a few single use face masks, but let’s look at the big bottles, tubes and tubs.

1 Boots Extracts Sweet Mango Body Wash (travel size) – unfortunately discontinued. 😢 Otherwise I’d buy this amazing body wash again.

2 Alberto Balsam Mandarin & Papaya Conditioner – this is an old favourite, and I have no doubt that I’ll buy it and the matching shampoo again.

3 Garnier Skin Active Refreshing Botanical Cleansing Milk– not bad, but also not a favourite. I won’t buy this cleanser again.

4 Vaseline Intensive Care Aloe Soothe Non-Greasy Lotion – this is a very good body lotion, and I’ll buy it again for sure!

5 Classics Nail Polish Remover – my go-to nail polish remover. Already repurchased.

6 NSPA Green Tea & Aloe Vera Bath & Shower Gel – a lovely shower gel that I can see myself buying again.

7 Max Factor Pan Stilk 12 True Beige – unfortunately, this HOLY GRAIL product has been discontinued, but fortunately I stocked up on original Pan Stiks as soon as I read that the Pan Stik would be relaunched with a “new and improved” 🙄 formula, so I’ll be OK for a long time.

8 Patisserie De Bain Raspberry Roulade Hand Cream – this is a nice hand cream. I would repurchase it.

9 Essence Plumping Nudes 07 So Heavy – what a wonderful lipgloss! Too bad that this shade is no longer available.

10 Rimmel 60 Seconds 740 Clear – a nice clear polish. I’d buy this polish again, but I think I have a few more of these. 😁

11 Yves Rocher Jardin Des Nymphes Eau De Toilette – not my favourite type of fragrance, so I wouldn’t buy it again.

12 I Love… Chocolate Truffle Bath & Shower Crème – this is one of the best shower gels I’ve ever used. Too bad it was a limited edition.

13 Olay Regenerist Daily Regenerating Cream Wash – this is a very good face wash, and I can definitely see myself buying it again.

And this is everything I finished in December 2020! Which products have you used up recently? Feel free to let me know via the comments.

And below is a breakdown of all the products I said goodbye to over the entire year (256 products in total).

Single Use Face Masks 86
Shower + Bath Gels, Bath Salts 54
Body + Hand + Foot Moisturisers 23
Conditioners 14
Fragrances 12
Nail Polish 12
Facial Cleansers, Toners, Pads 10
Lip Products 10
Facial Serums, Oils 8
Facial Moisturisers 7
Face Washes 5
Face Mists 4
Nail Polish Remover 3
Multi Use Face Mask Tubes or Tubs 2
Pan Stiks 2
Eye Creams 2
Eyeliners 2

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Revisiting Old Beauty Friends – Alberto Balsam Mandarin & Papaya Revitalising Shampoo & Conditioner

Hi there! Today’s post is about 2 hair products I used to love but haven’t used in ages – Alberto Balsam Mandarin & Papaya Revitalising Shampoo & Conditioner. And since it really has been ages, I thought now’s the perfect time to re-try these products!

Alberto Balsam Mandarin & Papaya Revitalising Shampoo is great. It’s a clarifying shampoo, but it’s not too harsh. I think it’s perfect for frequent washers and most hair types.

Alberto Balsam Mandarin & Papaya Revitalising Conditioner is amazing too! This conditioner detangles my hair with ease and doesn’t weigh it down. I like it a lot!

In addition, these 2 products smell simply lovely! And based on my experience, I’d recommend them! Alberto Balsam Mandarin & Papaya Revitalising Shampoo & Conditioner are available as 350ml each for £1 each.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Poundland Clearance Haul – New Stuff & 50% Off Everything!

Hi there! A week ago I mentioned that one of the local Poundland stores is closing down and that I might stock up on stuff… well, I did! The store is closing this Saturday, 11 March, and as of now everything’s 50% off! So let me show you what I bought. 🙂

Poundland had 2 eyeshadow brushes and 2 foundation brushes left. They’re mine now. I think Poundland’s make-up brushes are really good. I’ve been using all sorts of different make-up brushes from Poundland for years – and I have yet to come across a dud. I also bought 4 nail art brush sets, and 2 sharpener & eyebrow brush sets. I wanted the sharpeners, but I don’t need the eyebrow brushes. But I can see that these eyebrow brushes might come in handy for nail art…

Whilst almost all the shampoos were gone, the store had lots of conditioners left. I picked up 3 Gliss conditioners (I can pick up the matching shampoos elsewhere). They had all sorts of different conditioners, but I only bought conditioners that I actually like and use. The ones I got for myself are Ultimate Volume, Ultimate Colour and Liquid Silk.

I got myself another Daily Defense Keratin conditioner (bought at Poundstretcher) and Alberto Balsam’s Mandarin & Papaya shampoo and conditioner.

And there’s more hair stuff! I bought another Alberto Balsam conditioner – this one’s Stunning Shine. And I picked up another Harmony Hair Indulgence shampoo and conditioner combo. And I found one more L’Oréal Deep Conditioner.

I found a Wonder Woman shower gel and shampoo set – and the matching fragrance as a roll-on! And I bought 5 nail products – 2 L’Oréal polishes, 1 Poundland glitter topper, 1 Poundland cuticle oil and 1 Poundland nail hardener.

This is what I bought. I paid £14 in total for all these goodies!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Weekly Recap 16 – 22 Jan 2017

Hi there! And welcome to this week’s recap! If you’ve missed a post that you would have wanted to read, this is your chance to catch up. 🙂

Monday 16 Jan – NYC Metro Quartet Eye Shadow 796B Queens Boulevard

On Monday I swatched and reviewed this NYC eye palette. If you’d like to read the post, click here.

Tuesday 17 Jan – Making Products Work For Me – L’Oreal Fibrology & Alberto Balsam

On Tuesday I told you that I found another L’Oréal Fibrology shampoo and conditioner combo in my stash. I didn’t love these products the first time around because they aren’t the most suitable ones for long and curly hair (by the way, my hair is transitioning from curly to wavy – I think it’s because of its length). But I had a spare Albert Balsam Mandarin & Papaya shampoo and a spare Alberto Balsam Raspberry conditioner, so I matched up the L’Oréal products with the Alberto Balsam products. If you’d like to know how it worked out, click here to read Tuesday’s post.

Wednesday 18 Jan – Empties 2016 Summary 

Wednesday’s post was about the stuff I emptied in 2016. I know the summary was a little late, but I’m glad I did it anyway. Click here to read the post. Thanks (again) for the inspiration, Stashy!

Thursday 19 Jan – Nail Of The Day
Friday 20 Jan – Nivea Q10 Firming Body Lotion

Thursday’s post was another Nail Of The Day post. If you’d like to read it, click here. Friday’s post was about Nivea’s Q10 Firming Body Lotion. Click here to read my review.

This is it for this week. Thanks for reading. And I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Making Products Work For Me – L’Oreal Fibrology & Alberto Balsam

Hi there! It’s been a while since I used L’Oréal’s Fibrology hair products. Back then I had to say that these products weren’t right for my hair type. In summary, the Fibrology shampoo turned my hair into a tangled mess. And the Fibrology conditioner (I think it’s too thick) wasn’t good enough to detangle my hair – and it took a lot of time, effort and product to tame my mane.

Because of this I thought it was unlikely that I’d buy the Fibrology hair products again. However, not too long ago I went through my stash and I found another set of Fibrology products. Ah, the joys of beauty & toiletries hoarding!

But since I had a spare Alberto Balsam Mandarin & Papaya shampoo and a spare Sunkissed Raspberry conditioner (they were 50p each at Sainsbury’s, and these two were the only ones left – so I just bought them), I thought I’d see whether they’d work with the Fibrology products. I’ve been using the two L’Oréal and Alberto Balsam combos in a rota for a few weeks now. Read on if you’d like to know how it’s going!

L’Oréal’s Fibrology Shampoo is definitely unique. It expands – almost like builder’s foam! Whilst I love this effect, this is the reason why my hair gets tangled up. And, as I said before, the Fibrology conditioner isn’t good enough to undo the damage.

So for the past few weeks I’ve been using the Fibrology shampoo with Alberto Balsam’s Sunkissed Raspberry Conditioner. And this combo really works! I had my doubts because the conditioner doesn’t look very conditioning, and it’s quite thin. However, it detangles my hair with ease. I’m really surprised that these two products work so well together – and I’m certainly not complaining. 🙂

Even though L’Oréal’s Fibrology Conditioner didn’t really play well with the Fibrology shampoo, I didn’t think it was lost cause. So I’ve now teamed up the Fibrology conditioner with Alberto Balsam’s Mandarin & Papaya Shampoo.

This shampoo is wonderful. It’s clarifying, but it’s not harsh at all, and it smells lovely! In addition, it doesn’t turn my hair into a rat’s nest! This in turn also means that it’s much easier to detangle my hair with conditioner – and the Fibrology conditioner does a great job! So yes, these products are great together!

Whilst I usually don’t like to ‘mix’ shampoos and conditioners from different collections, let alone different brands, I must say that I’m very happy with these two L’Oréal + Alberto Balsam combos. I went from “Oh dear, I gotta use this stuff!” to “Yay, this is fantastic!” in a matter of days.

Do you like to mix things up in the hair care department? Feel free to comment. And thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Alberto Balsam Mandarin and Papaya Shampoo and Conditioner

Hi there! Today’s post is about Alberto Balsam’s Mandarin and Papaya shampoo and conditioner. These two products are aimed at people with normal or dry hair. I’d like to think of my hair as normal, so I thought these products would be perfect for me to try. And I’m not disappointed at all. Here’s why.

The shampoo is great. It smells fresh and fruity and it cleanses my hair and my scalp nicely. The shampoo is powerful, but gentle. Great stuff! The conditioner is just as nice. It detangles my long curls without any problems and without weighing my hair down. And it makes my hair feel super soft and silky. I love it!

I think this shampoo / conditioner combo is much better than some of the branded stuff out there. It’s not as good as Herbal Essences’ originals line, but it’s definitely better than most of Garnier’s offerings.

Alberto Balsam has recently revamped its entire line. And apparently they ‘improved’ the formulas. So I will have to check what exactly they’ve changed and if the new formulas are as good as the ‘old’ ones. If they are, Alberto Balsam’s Mandarin and Papaya shampoo and conditioner will become beauty staples!

Alberto Balsam’s shampoos and conditioners are available for £1 each. The old bottles are 400ml, and the new ones are 350ml – but that’s still great value.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde