Empties – February 2017

Hi there! It’s the 1st of the month – so it’s time for last month’s empties. In February I threw out a konjac sponge and a nail buffer, and I used several face masks. I didn’t keep the beaten-up beauty tools or the empty face mask sachets – this kind of stuff gets thrown in the bin right away. Now, let’s get to the ‘real’ empties!

1 Laura Biagiotti Venezia – I can’t believe it’s gone! Venezia is one of the most gorgeous fragrances from the 90s. It’s strong, powerful, warm, sensual and multi-dimensional. I’m sad I can’t repurchase it, but I’m glad that it didn’t turn whilst it’s been sitting in my stash for all those years. To sum it up – I’m happy that I had the chance to enjoy this fragrance!

2 Boots Extracts Luscious Vanilla Body Spray – this body spray smells exactly like the one and only Boots Extracts Vanilla Body Butter. So yes, this body spray smells wonderful! I’ll review this one properly – very soon! Oh, and I have two back-up bottles – another small 70ml bottle and a full-size 150ml bottle.

3 Dolly’s Mixtures Peach Melba ‘Just Peachy’ Body Mist – a decent body mist. Nothing special though. I won’t repurchase it, but if you like the scent of peaches and peach skin, give this one a try.

4 Boots Extracts Olive Body Butter – one of my favourite Boots Extracts body butters. Unfortunately this body butter has been discontinued. But I have a few tubs left! 🙂

5 Superdrug Tea Tree Skin Care Pink Grapefruit Facial Wash – a decent face wash. I really liked it in the beginning but I grew tired of it because it took me ages to finish it. I might repurchase this product in the future. However, I’ve got lots of other face washes to go through, so I won’t be repurchasing this one any time soon.

6 Herbal Essences Moisture Balance Conditioner – this conditioner is the best thing ever! If you’ve never used the original Herbal Essences products, you have no idea what you’ve been missing out on. Buy this conditioner – and the matching shampoo. And buy the pink versions (Herbal Essences Classics Silk N’ Shine) as well. The shampoos are clarifying, and the conditioners give your hair tons of moisture without making your hair feel heavy or greasy. 100% Awesome!

7 Radox Relax Bath Gel – I really like this one. The lavender and waterlily fragrance is wonderful. I’ll buy this bath gel again, no doubt.

8 NSPA Caramel Chocolate Shower & Bath Gel – this shower gel has been one of my favourites this winter. It was a limited Christmas edition and I hope that NSPA will relaunch it (together with the one and only NSPA Caramel Fudge shower gel) this autumn. Fingers crossed!

9 Boots Mediterranean Bergamot Olive & Orange Body Butter – this is a nice body butter. Rich and hydrating – but not sticky. Too bad Boots discontinued their Mediterranean collection. Otherwise I’d probably repurchase this body butter!

10 Max Factor Pan Stik (2) – I almost despaired when I realised that I’ve been using 6 Max Factor Pan Stik foundations at the same time. However, I managed to prioritise the near-empty ones – this means that I finished 2 Pan Stiks this month! The Pan Stik is also my Holy Grail foundation and I would recommend it to everyone with dry skin. I will repurchase this product, no doubt. However, in addition to the other 4 Pan Stiks I’m currently using, I think I have at least 6 unused Pan Stiks in my stash. So I don’t need to buy foundation any time soon.

11 Radox Mango Mayhem Shower Gel – this is a fantastic shower gel. The mango fragrance is just lovely – it’s almost as good as the Boots Extracts Mango fragrance! Repurchase? Yes!

12 Imperial Leather Effortless Rich Moisturising Body Wash – this one smells great. One of the best shower gels I’ve ever had. Ever! Repurchase? No doubt!

13 Nivea Q10 Firming Body Lotion – I really liked this body lotion. It’s not the richest formula, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing – especially when you’re in a hurry. I will definitely repurchase this body lotion!

This is it for this month. I think I did quite well! I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to finish the Imperial Leather shower gel, but I did it! Success! I hope I’ll be able to finish just as many (or more) products next month. Wish me luck! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Weekly Recap 12 – 18 Dec 2016

Hi there! I hope everyone had a good week. I had another busy week. But I’m looking forward to the holidays. I know – who isn’t? 😉 But let me tell you what I’ve been up to this week.

Monday 12 Dec – Givenchy Ange Ou Démon

I bought myself an Ange Ou Démon gift set a while ago. I used the fragrance on and off (it’s a 50ml bottle, and I think I only have about 10ml left) but I haven’t touched the body care products until recently. I posted the review on Monday. Click here if you’d like to read it.

Tuesday 13 Dec – Dolly’s Mixtures Peach Melba “Just Peachy” Body Mist
Wednesday 14 Dec – Nail Of The Day / 31 Days Nail Art Challenge

On Tuesday I reviewed a body mist which I picked up at my local Home Bargains store for 49p. If you’d like to read the review, click here. Wednesday’s post was another Nail Of The Day post. Click here to read this week’s nail post.

Thursday 15 Dec – Olay Anti-Wrinkle Cleansing Products

Thursday’s post was about Olay’s Anti-Wrinkle Cleansing products. I reviewed the face wash, the cleansing milk and the toner. If you’ve missed the post, click here to read it.

Friday 16 Dec – Beauty Hoarder Problems…

Friday’s post was about another beauty hoarder problem – about my inability to finish beauty products. Sure, I empty toiletries and face creams – but I can’t seem to finish any actual make-up. But I’m trying to break the curse – I’m trying to finish an eye palette! If you’ve missed the post, you can find it here.

This is it for this week! I hope everyone had a great week and everyone’s enjoying the last weekend before Christmas. 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Dolly’s Mixtures Peach Melba ‘Just Peachy’ Body Mist

Hi there! If you’ve read my haul post from a while ago, you might remember that I bought a few body mists. OK, you probably don’t remember that. 🙂

Anyway, one of the body mists I found at my local Home Bargains store was this 100ml Dolly’s Mixtures Peach Melba ‘Just Peachy’ Body Mist. And it was 49p only! What a bargain!

On the back of the bottle it says this body mist is a ‘fruity fragrance cocktail of soft white peach combined with velvety vanilla’. Sounds good.

And now I’ve finally gotten around to actually try this body mist, and I’ve reached my verdict.

I think this body mist smells like peach skin. It’s nice, but not very special. And I can’t smell any vanilla.

I also think this fragrance is pretty much the same as Yves Rocher’s Plasirs Nature Yellow Peach fragrance – but this one is considerably cheaper.

The peach fragrance doesn’t last very long on my skin, but I’m OK with that because it’s just a body mist and not an eau de parfum. 🙂

So whilst this body mist is nice, I don’t think I’ll wear it much. I might use it as a scarf spray, or I might pass it on to a teenage relative.

Dolly’s Mixtures products are made in the UK and they’re exclusive to Asda (well, the soon-to-be discontinued stock seems to have been shipped off to Home Bargains).

Dolly’s Mixtures products are made by the same company that makes all those wonderful NSPA products, and – unless there’s a special offer – Dolly’s Mixtures products are usually £2 each.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

22 New Products – Home Bargains, Poundworld, Poundland & Asda Beauty Haul

Hi there! If you read my blog, and if you remember this post – you know I’d like to get away from being a beauty and toiletries hoarder. However, I simply can’t resist a bargain when I see one. Now let’s have a look at the new stuff that’s going to be stashed away somewhere at my place…

I found these NSPA shower gels at Home Bargains – for 79p each. These are 500ml and they’re normally £3 at Asda. I think these ones are going to be discontinued. 😦 By the way, all NSPA products are made in the UK.

Home Bargains also had a few nice and cheap body mists. From left to right: Anovia Fragranced Body Mist With Fruit Extracts Sensual Argan & Marula – 150ml, Anovia Fragranced Body Mist With Fruit Extracts Light & Refreshing Passion Fruit & Pineapple – 150ml, Dolly’s Mixtures Peach Melba ‘Just Peachy’ Body Mist – 100ml, NSPA Luscious Fresh Clementine Body Mist – 200ml.

The Dolly’s Mixtures Body Mist was 49p (usually £2 at Asda), the other three body mists were 79p each. I’ve never seen the brand Anovia anywhere before today, so I can’t comment on what their products cost elsewhere, but the NSPA fragrances are usually £3 at Asda. Oh, and all these body mists were made in the UK!

Up next we’ve got Alberto Balsam Stunning Shine shampoo & conditioner. They’re 300ml each and they were £1 each (special offer) at Asda. The next item is NSPA’s Cherry Body Scrub – also from Home Bargains. The 225ml scrub set me back 79p (instead of £3 at Asda). The eyeshadow brush is from Poundworld – of course it was £1.

And here’s the actual beauty stuff – 2 Barry M eyeshadows (£1 for the pack of 2), 2 Sally Hansen nail polishes, 2 Max Factor eyeshadows, 2 Max Factor nail polishes, 2 L’Oréal nail polishes and 1 Rimmel nail polish which is a backup. Some of these products came from Poundland, some from Poundworld. All in all I paid £10 in total for all these eyeshadows and nail polishes.

Yes, I stocked up on stuff I didn’t really need. But everything was so cheap. In fact I only paid £19.02 for everything! I live for bargains, you know. Bargain hunting might actually be ma raison d’être. 🙂 Have you done any shopping recently? Any hauls you’d like to tell me about? Feel free to let me know in the comments. And thanks for reading!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde