Empties – April 2018

Hi there! Another month is history (time really flies…), so it’s time for my April Empties post. I’ve thrown out a konjac sponge (note to self: Primark’s konjac sponges are much better than Superdrug’s). And I’ve used a few single-use face masks, but I didn’t keep the empty sachets (what else is new…). You can read about my latest face mask finds if you click here. Alrighty, onto the big empties!

1 Caolion O2 Sparkling Purifying Soap (not in the photo because it was a soap and I used it up…) – I finished this awesome face soap after almost 4 months. This soap was £4, so it was excellent value! I’ve already repurchased it!

2 Boots Extracts Luscious Vanilla Body Wash (travel size) – this is a great little body wash. I have more of these in my stash!

3 NSPA Shea Butter Shower & Bath Gel – this is a lovely shower gel that I’m happy to buy again. My husband enjoyed it too, so this one’s a shared empty.

4 I Love… Chocolate Truffle Refreshing Body Spritzer – this body spritzer was just as nice as the matching body butter. I have 1 back-up bottle.

5 Boots Extracts Luscious Vanilla Body Butter (travel size) – another awesome product from Boots. I do have several vanilla body butters in my stash!

6 Superdrug Optimum Phyto Brighter Triple Action Illuminating Black Moisturiser – I’m glad this stuff is now finished. Repurchase? Nope!

7 Dr. Organic Bioactive Haircare Organic Aloe Vera Conditioner (travel size) – it conditioned well, but it smelled unpleasant. I wouldn’t buy this conditioner again, but I’d like to try more products from this brand.

8 Flower Pharm Orange Flower Body Butter – one of the best body butters I’ve ever had. Perfect formula, sensational fragrance. The entire Flower Pharm collection has been discontinued, but I do have a few back-up body butters!

9 Max Factor Pan Stik 12 True Beige – this is my holy grail foundation!

10 Superdrug Naturally Radiant Brightening Day Cream (Normal To Dry Skin) – this is a reasonable day cream that really helps with dry skin (it’s super rich and hydrating). I think I’ll buy it again, but not before autumn or winter.

11  The Body Shop Frosted Plum Shower Gel – this is the ultimate “filler” shower gel. It’s basic in every way. No one, absolutely no one, needs to buy it twice!

12 Boots Extracts Luscious Vanilla Body Wash – this one’s a shared empty (my husband used it too).

13 Boots Extracts Luscious Vanilla Body Lotion (travel size) – this is a great body lotion. I believe I have 2 full-size tubes in my stash (and quite possibly another 75ml tube). I finished quite a few vanilla-scented products this month, didn’t I? 🙂

This is what I’ve emptied in April. I’m happy that the black moisturiser is gone, and I’m proud of myself for finishing a few more travel-sized products, as well as one of the big 500ml shower gels. 🙂 Have you tried any of these products? What have you emptied last month? Feel free to comment. And thanks for reading!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Haul – L’Oréal, Treacle Moon, Caolion, Imperial Leather, Garnier, Body-X & Superdrug!

Hi there! I haven’t done a haul post since the end of February, so let me show you what I bought since then! 🙂

L’Oréal Elvive Full Restore 5 Repairing Shampoo & Conditioner – I panicked when I saw a number of L’Oréal products marked as Reduced To Clear.

Treacle Moon The Honeycomb Secret Bath And Shower Gel – this was on special for £2.

L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Shampoo & Conditioner – guess what, these were Reduced To Clear too. What is going on?!

Treacle Moon That Vanilla Moment Bath & Shower Gel – I’ve had this before and I liked it a lot. My husband loved it, so this is actually more for him… this was on special for £2.

Superdrug’s Deep Action Deep Cleansing Charcoal Peel-Off face masks were on special – 2 for £1.48.

And there’s a new Superdrug collection = Calm Skin. I bought the Refreshing Facial Spritz and the Relaxing Overnight Mask. These were on a buy 1 get 2nd half price offer. So these 2 items were £4.47 in total.

I spotted these pretty looking Body-X shower gels at my local B&M Bargains store. Had a sniff. Liked them. Bought them. £1 each.

I also got myself a few more charcoal toothpastes. I bought 2 Superdrug charcoal toothpastes (£2.99 each, but buy 1 get 1 free) a few weeks ago. I really liked this toothpaste, so I bought 4 more (still BOGOF). I also picked up a cheap charcoal toothpaste (£1) at B&M Bargains.

I picked up Garnier‘s Ultimate Blends The Gloss Reviver shampoo and conditioner (£2 each, Poundworld) and an Imperial Leather Foamy Banana bath cream (95p, Tesco).

I managed to get my hands on 2 large 100g Caolion O2 Spakling Purifying Face Soaps. These were on sale at Cult Beauty. £10.50 each instead of £15 each. I’ve already had the small 25g soap – this one lasted me for almost four months. So I know these two large soaps will last me for 2 years!

This is what I bought since the end of February. Some of these items are quite bulky which means that I have storage problems again… What was I thinking?

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Weekly Recap 26 Feb – 4 Mar 2018

Hi there! I hope everyone had a good week so far. This post is my weekly recap – so if you’ve missed any of my posts, this will bring you up to speed. 🙂

Tuesday 27 Feb – Superdrug Optimum Phyto Brighter Triple Action Illuminating Black Moisturiser

I didn’t post on Monday, but on Tuesday I reviewed Superdrug’s Black Moisturiser. Click here to read the post.

Wednesday 28 Feb – Monthly Favourites

Wednesday’s post was about my favourite products in February. Click here to read the post.

Thursday 1 Mar – February Empties

On Thursday I showed you which products I emptied last month. Click here to read the post.

Friday 2 Mar – Pacifica Tuscan Blood Orange Body Wash, Body Butter, Perfume

Friday’s post was about Pacifica’s Tuscan Blood Orange collection. Click here to read the post.

What else? I won Stashy’s incredible hoarder giveaway! I still don’t know what to say…

And this is already it for this week! I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. And thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

February Beauty Awards

Hi there! It’s the last day of the month – so it’s time for my February Beauty Awards (a.k.a. my monthly favourites). I’ve chosen my top 3 from all the products I’ve reviewed this month, and I’ve thrown in a few honourable mentions. Let’s start with the top 3!

3rd place – Max Factor Face Finity All Day Flawless 3 In 1 Foundation Natural 50

I was seriously impressed with this Max Factor foundation! If you’re looking for a full coverage foundation, you should try this one!

Runner-Up – Yves Rocher Les Plaisirs Nature Organic Raspberry Shower Gel & Silky Lotion
YR PN Raspberry
Yves Rocher’s raspberry-scented toiletries are simply wonderful. I’m sad Yves Rocher discontinued them. What were they thinking?!

WINNER – Caolion O2 Sparkling Purifying Soap

Caolion’s charcoal soap is a new favourite. It made a huge difference to my skin. I love it!

Onto the honourable mentions! This month I tried 2 awesome new hand creams – The Body Shop’s Almond Milk & Honey hand cream and Vaseline’s Intensive Care Hand Cream + Anti-Bac.

NSPA’s Shea Butter body butter is great too. And I can’t get enough of these cute My Little Pony lip balms. Oh, and Montagne Jeunesse’s Chocolate Mud Masque was awesome fun!

These are the products that I loved the most in February. Have you tried any of these products or would you like to try them? Which products did you like best this month? Feel free to get in touch. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Weekly Recap 5 -11 Feb 2018

Hi there! Welcome to my weekly blog recap. Let me show you what I’ve been up to on my blog this week. 🙂

Monday 5 Feb – My Little Pony Lip Balm Trio

On Monday I reviewed a couple of My Little Pony lip balms. Click here to read the post.

Tuesday 6 Feb – Nail Of The Day
Wednesday 7 Feb – Vaseline Intensive Care Hand Cream + Anti-Bac

Tuesday’s post was a Nail Of The Day post. Click here to read it.
And on Wednesday I reviewed a hand cream. Click here to read the post.

Thursday 8 Feb – Caolion O2 Sparkling Purifying Soap

Thursday’s post was about Caolion’s amazing face soap. Click here to read the post.

Friday 9 Feb – TRESemmé Colour Revitalise Vibrant Colour Protection Shampoo & Conditioner

And on Friday I reviewed TRESemmé’s Colour Revitalise shampoo and conditioner. Click here to read the post.

This is it for this week. I hope you enjoy the rest of the weekend. And thanks for stopping by! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

100% Awesome – Caolion O2 Sparkling Purifying Soap

Hi there! Today’s post is about Caolion’s O2 Sparkling Purifying Soap. This handmade facial soap is 100% natural. It promises to purify and exfoliate the skin by getting rid of impurities. It also claims to control sebum and to tighten pores. It further promises to hydrate the skin.

A quick look at the ingredients revealed that the soap contains… charcoal powder, lavender oil, tea tree leaf oil, hyaluronic acid, olive fruit oil, jojoba seed oil, cocoa extract, coconut oil, shea butter and licorice root extract. Of course, there are a number of other ingredients, but these are the ones I consider to be the most natural (sounding) ones. 🙂

OK, why is this facial soap so awesome? When I used it for the first time, I noticed a huge difference. My skin felt and looked super clean and my pores were visibly smaller. At the same time my skin didn’t feel dry at all. I was impressed! After about 10 days I also noticed that this soap seemed to have lifted those pesky little mini-blackheads off from my nose. I was blown away!

I think this facial soap is sensational! My husband uses it too – and he loves it just as much! I would recommend this facial soap to everyone! If you don’t try it, you’re missing out!

Caolion’s O2 Sparkling Purifying Soap is available as 25g and 100g. I bought my 25g soap at Boots (where it seems to be out of stock at the moment), and I paid £4!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Beauty & Cutie Haul – Boots, Superdrug, Asda & Primark

Hi there! Some of you may remember that I used to buy toiletries, skin care and make-up in bulk. But I’ve stopped doing that a few months ago. Since then my approach to shopping has been 3 out / 1 in, which is going surprisingly well, so I’m sticking to this approch until (at least) the end of the year. 🙂 OK, I haven’t done much shopping lately, and because of that I’ve built up some “shopping credit”. So I decided to treat myself to a few new products. Now let me show you what I bought!

I found this Baylis & Harding Beauticology Donut Shop gift set at my local Asda store. It was £6 and it contains the following full size products: Blueberry Glaze Donut Shower Crème, Frosted Sprinkles Bath Soak Crystals, Vanilla Sugar Donut Body Butter. Yummy!

I also found lots of cute trainer socks at Primark. I bought a set of 3 pairs of Pokémon socks…

… and a set of 3 pairs of Care Bears socks. No, clothes and accessories have nothing to do with the 3 out / 1 in policy / approach / thing. However, I still wanted to show you that I bought these super cute trainer socks. 🙂 OK, now let’s get back to the toiletries and the beauty products that I picked up from Boots and Superdrug!

I bought 2 Carex shower gels. Carex used to do hand soaps and hand gels only, but they’ve recently launched shower and bath products too. These Carex shower gels were £1 each (special offer, Boots). I also bought 3 Boots Extracts Body Sprays – 2 mango sprays and 1 vanilla spray. These sprays are £3.50 each, but Boots ran a 3 for 2 promo, so I spent £7 in total for these 3 fantastic body sprays.

I found this super cute Caolion O2 Sparkling Purifying Soap by accident. I wasn’t looking for it. I didn’t need it. But it was £4 (Boots) and it looked cute… I wanted it, and I bought it! I also bought 3 more B. Confident Hyaluronic Acid Facial Spritzes. They’re normally £7.95 each, but they were on special (half price), so they were £3.95 each. However, Superdrug also ran a 3 for 2 promo on selected skin care products, so I paid £7.90 in total for these 3 body spritzes. Fantastic value!

I bought 3 more items from Boots’ Essentials collection – a Cucumber Facial Scrub, a Cucumber Facial Toner and a Cucumber 3-Minute Clay Mask. I’m really looking forward to testing these products!

I also bought several Carex Bubble Gum hand washes (Superdrug, 89p each) and several Carex Bubble Gum hand gels (£1 each, Boots). But these products are essentials, so I always stock up when they’re on special. 🙂

Any comments on my beauty and cutie haul? Feel free to get in touch. And thanks for reading! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde