2021 Beauty Awards – Part 2 – Hair, Body & Nails

Hi there! Today’s post is Part 2 of my 2021 beauty favourites. Yesterday, I focused on fragrances and products for the face. And today is all about hair and body products and my favourite manis of the past year. Onto the favourites!

HAIR

Herbal Essences Silk N’ Shine Shampoo & Conditioner

Holy grail stuff!

Herbal Essences Moisture Balance Shampoo & Conditioner

More holy grail stuff!

Revisiting Old Favourites – L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Shampoo & Conditioner

Elvive Colour Protect is an all-time favourite combo. Great stuff!

Alberto Balsam Exotic Mango Shampoo & Conditioner

These mango-scented hair products are simply amazing!

Harmony Hair Indulgence Herbal Shampoo & Conditioner With Ginseng Extract

It’s a shame that the Harmony collection has been discontinued. This particular hair care combo was a delight.

Daily Defense Advanced Deep Conditioner With Argan Oil From Morocco

This deep conditioner is simply fantastic!

BODY

Superdrug Vitamin E Skin Care Smoothing All Over Body Cream With Acacia Collagen

This body cream with acacia collagen has been my favourite body moisturiser this year. I love it!

Palmolive Aroma Therapy Morning Tonic, Sensual, Absolute Relax

If I could only use 10 different shower gels for the rest of my life, these 3 would be in my top 10!

Radox “Shell Yeah” Sea Mineral Scent Shower Gel, Radox “Donut Mind If I Do” Vanilla Bean & White Chocolate Scent Shower Gel

These Radox shower gels were one of the most delightful beauty surprises this year.

Sanctuary Spa Mestizo Acai Rain Shower
Westlab Himalayan Salt Cleansing Bath & Shower Gel

2 more totally fabulous shower gels!

Sanctuary Spa Foaming Bath Soak
Soap & Glory The Scrub Of Your Life
Palmolive My Fresh Splash Shower Gel

And the final 3 shower and bath favourites from this year.

NAILS

Marble Nails
Purple Nails
Blue & Red Nails

Some of my favourite manis from 2021. In no particular order!

Foil Nails
Gold & Magenta Nails
Lilac Nails

Here’s another 3 manis.

Marble Nails
Purple Nails
Red Nails

The last set of my favourite manis from 2021.

Thanks for stopping by today! And I hope you have a great start into the new year. Happy 2022! 😘🥂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Empties – November 2021

Hi there! It’s the first day of a new month, so this means that today’s post is about last month’s beauty trash = November’s empties. I used a bunch of single use face masks, and you can read about my latest face mask finds if you click here. Now let’s look at the big bottles and tubs and…

1 Radox Blueberry Scent Bath Bomb (no photo) – this was a single-use bath bomb, hence no photo. I enjoyed this bath bomb, and I might buy it again.

2 Original Source Green Banana & Bamboo Milk Moisturising Shower Milk – this is a really nice shower gel! I’d buy it again, but unfortunately, it was discontinued.

3 Radox Muscle Relax Bath Salts With Peppermint Scent – I used them twice and didn’t care for them. My husband used most of these salts, but he also didn’t love them. I won’t buy these bath salts again.

4 Max Factor Pan Stik 12 True Beige – my all-time favourite foundation! I have a few more of these!

5 Superdrug Layering Lab Paradise Body Mist – I liked this one a lot, and I will buy it again.

6 Valjean Labs Restore Facial Serum – a decent serum. Not groundbreaking though. I won’t repurchase it.

7 Boots No7 Total Renewal Micro-Dermabrasion Exfoliator – this is a very nice product. I will buy it again, no doubt.

8 Patisserie De Bain Mango Sorbet Hand Cream – a decent hand cream. Repurchase-worthy.

9 Olay Regenerist Luminous Tone Perfecting Cream – this is the US version of the cream, and I didn’t like it as much as the UK version. This one isn’t very moisturising, unfortunately.

10 Palmolive Aroma Therapy Absolute Relax – an all-time holy grail shower gel. I have a few more of these.

11 L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Conditioner – a very nice conditioner! I have another shampoo and conditioner combo in my stash.

12 Westlab Dead Sea Salt Soothing Bath & Shower Gel – a nice shower gel. I can see myself buying it again.

November wasn’t a bad month for empties. I hope I can keep the streak going and finish the year with at least 12 more products (aiming for a few more, though…). Fingers crossed!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

October Beauty Awards

Hi there! It’s the last working day of the month, so today’s post is about all the products I loved the most in October. Let me start with the TOP 3, and there will be a few honourable mentions as well!

3rd place – L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Shampoo & Conditioner

This shampoo and conditioner combo is an all-time favourite.

Runner-Up – Esfolio Hyaluronic Acid With Peach Essence Mask Sheet
WINNER – Westlab Himalayan Salt Cleansing Bath & Shower Gel

I love this Esfolio face mask. It’s such a treasure! I’m so glad I have 10 of these!
Westlab knocked it out of the park with their Himalayan Salt shower gel. I love it! A sure beauty staple from now on!

Onto the honourable mentions! Original Source did a great job with their Green Banana & Bamboo Milk and Sweet Apple & Vanilla Milk shower gels as they are moisturising indeed! Skin Treats Star Glitter Moisturising Peel Off Face Mask was such a nice surprise – what a powerful peel-off mask!

2 more shout-outs to Skin Techniques Pomegranate Infused Sheet Mask and Farm Skin Green Tea Soothing Sheet Mask – both of these masks were awesome!

Have you tried any of these products? Would you like to try any of them? Which products have you been loving lately? Feel free to comment, and thanks for stopping by! x

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Weekly Recap 18 – 24 October 2021

Hi there! Happy Sunday! Today’s post is about all the posts I’ve written this past week, and here they are!

Monday 18 Oct – Nail Of The Day
Tuesday 19 Oct – Sukin Rosehip Nourishing Cream Cleanser

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

Wednesday 20 Oct – Original Source Green Banana & Bamboo Milk Moisturising Shower Milk, Original Source Sweet Apple & Vanilla Milk Moisturising Shower Milk

Wednesday’s post was about 2 shower gels. Click here to read it.

Thursday 21 Oct – L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Shampoo & Conditioner

On Thursday I re-reviewed these L’Oréal hair products which I haven’t used in a long time. Click here to read the post.

No post on Friday. So this is already it for this week. Thanks for stopping by! x

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Revisiting Old Favourites – L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Shampoo & Conditioner

Hi there! Today’s post is about the hair care products I’m using at the moment – L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Shampoo & Conditioner. I’ve previously reviewed these products – years ago. But I haven’t used them in a while, so I thought it’s time to use them again.

L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Shampoo is lovely. It’s a creamy white shampoo that cleanses my hair gently. I love it! And the beautiful scent is an added bonus!

L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Conditioner detangles my hair with ease. It’s a great conditioner – one of L’Oréal’s best products, no doubt. I love that it makes my hair feel silky soft! 😍

I’m enjoying these 2 products so much! I can’t believe that I haven’t used them for such a long time! I’ll definitely buy them again soon! L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Shampoo & Conditioner are available in a bunch of sizes – 50ml, 250ml, 300ml, 400ml and 500ml. My guess is that the 300ml and 500ml are new sizes which are currently in the process of replacing the 250ml and 400ml bottles. As of now, the 400ml bottles (which mine are) are about £5 each. I paid £2.49 each (special offer at Tesco’s).

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Empties – April 2017

Hi there! Today’s post is about all the products I emptied in April. I have used several face masks – but I didn’t keep the empty sachets. But you can read about my latest face mask finds here. Now let’s get to the big empties! 🙂

1 Olay Anti-Wrinkle Face Wash – this is a nice creamy face wash. I have 10+ face washes in my stash, so at the moment I’m not buying any more. I would, however, buy this face wash again! I’ve been using this product since November last last year.

2 Burberry Weekend – the ultimate inoffensive office fragrance. I won’t be buying this fragrance again. It’s just too random and too forgettable. I’ve been using this fragrance on and off for several (5+) years.

3 Boots Extracts Rosehip Body Butter – one of my favourite body butters. It’s been discontinued, but I have a few more tubs in my stash! This body butter lasted me for about six weeks – although I didn’t use it every day.

4 Boots Extracts Satsuma Body Spray – a decent body spray. This one was a limited edition body spray, so I can’t repurchase it. I’ve been using this body spray since February – but not every day.

5 Superdrug Moisturising Cocoa Butter Body Lotion – not great. I wouldn’t buy it again. My husband and I used this body lotion as a foot lotion – so this one is a shared empty. We’ve been using this “foot lotion” on and off since September last year.

6 L’Oréal Elvital Color-Vive Deep Conditioner – this deep conditioner is fantastic! I bought a back-up bottle last month. I started to use this product in April last year, so it lasted 12 months!

7 Superdrug Extracts Grapefruit & Papaya Conditioner – a mediocre conditioner. It’s not good, it’s not bad… it’s just mediocre. I won’t buy it again. The conditioner lasted me 3 weeks. I have passed the matching leftover shampoo on to my husband.

8 Maybelline Black Eyeliner – this is a nice eyeliner. I would buy it again. However, I have five more of these and dozens of other black eyeliner pencils, so I won’t be stocking up any time soon. I don’t know when I started to use this eyeliner because I have about 20 eyeliners in a rota…

9 Yves Rocher Lemon Basil Refreshing Shower Gel (50ml) – this one is quite nice. I might buy it again – but next time it would be the full-size bottle! I finished this travel-size shower gel within a few days.

10 Simple Pleasures Winter Woodland Snow Flurries Shower Gel (120ml) – it was nice while it lasted. But I wouldn’t buy it again. I’ve been using this shower gel on and off for 2 or 3 weeks.

11 Simple Pleasures Winter Woodland Berry Frost Shower Gel (120ml) – just like the other Simple Pleasures shower gel, this one was nice enough. But I don’t really need to buy it again… I’ve been using this shower gel on and off for 2 or 3 weeks.

12 Superdrug Vitamin E Skin Care Nourishing Eye Cream – I liked this eye cream. It’s not as nourishing as I expected it to be, but it’s still a really good eye cream. I will repurchase it. I started to use this eye cream in October last year. Then I lost it, but I found it again, and now it’s finished!

13 DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom Body Lotion (150ml) – I received this boy lotion as a gift ages ago, but I only started to use it (on and off) in December last year. This body lotion is extemely runny, and I also don’t care for the fragrance. I should have re-gifted it…

14 Sanctuary Spa Crème Soufflé – this moisturiser feels very luxurious. And I love the Sanctuary Spa fragrance! I’ve used this product on an off for about a year (it’s a huge 475ml tub after all), and now it’s finished. I have another tub left in my stash. But I promise it won’t take another year for tub number 2 to be finished. 🙂

15 Superdrug Clearly Youthful SPF 15 Skin Balancing Moisturiser – I’m glad this product is gone. It’s the worst face cream I’ve ever tried because it’s not even a proper cream. This awful ‘paste’ balled up every time, so I could only use it as a targeted night-time blemish treatment. I started to use this product in late October or early November last year.

16 Max Factor Pan Stik 25 Fair – my holy grail of foundation! This Pan Stik has been 1 of the 6 Pan Stiks I’ve been using for the past year. I have a few back-up Pan Stiks. 🙂

17 Yves Rocher Apple Star Anise Refreshing Exfoliating Shower Gel – this is a very nice exfoliating shower gel! Unfortunately it’s been discontinued, otherwise I’d buy it again. I started to use this product in July last year (!), then I used other exfoliating shower products, so I only finished this one this month.

18 Imperial Leather Indulgence Beautiful Shower Gel – I love this shower gel! Of course I have a back-up bottle! 🙂 I started to use this shower gel in January.

19 Body Fantasies Pink Grapefruit Fantasy – this sugary grapefruit fragrance is not very sophisticated, and it’s incredibly sweet. However, it’s alright. It’s also a good ‘base’ for musky fragrances that you wouldn’t like on their own. I’ve been using this fragrance on and off since June or July 2016. I have another bottle, but once bottle number 2 is finished, Pink Grapefruit Fantasy will not move in with me again.

This is everything I finished in April. I didn’t think it would be this much because March already was an exceptionally good month for empties. But hey, I’m not unhappy! 🙂 Let’s see how many products I’ll empty this month! Feel free to comment if you want to. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Empties – May 2016

Hi there! Last month’s empties post was really fun, so I collected this month’s empty stuff too. Now here’s what I used up in May 2016.

1 (no photo) 3 Superdrug Dead Sea Purifying Clay Masks & 3 Superdrug Fruit Sorbet Antioxidant Peel-Off Masks – I really love these face masks and I’ll repurchase them again. Sorry, there’s no photo but I didn’t want to keep the empty (and sticky) sachets.

2 Herbal Essences Shimmering Colour Conditioner – this stuff is amazing! I rejoiced when Herbal Essences reintroduced two of their Rainforest Flowers shampoo and conditioner combos in 2013. Unfortunately these products were discontinued again. 😦 I don’t know why – the products are excellent! I have a few more back-up bottles and I’ll do a proper review soon. 🙂 In the meantime, check out my post about the Herbal Essences Classics products – if you’ve never tried them, you really should do it now because they’re the best shampoos and conditioners out there!

3 Classics Nail Polish Remover – I’ve been buying this nail polish remover for years. It’s effective. It doesn’t dry out my nails. It’s cheap (£1 for 400ml). It’s simply great! And this product is made by a UK-based company and it’s not tested on animals. Repurchase? Absolutely!

4 Superdrug Cocoa Butter & Vanilla Body Lotion – a really nice body lotion that smells lovely and moisturises my skin nicely. Good quality, good price. Repurchase? Yes!

5 Olay Total Effects Radiance Enhancing Cream Wash – an amazing face wash! It exfoliates gently – but at the same time it’s creamy. It’s brilliant for dry skin! Too bad this product has been dicontinued.

6 L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Conditioner – one of the best conditioners out there, second only to Herbal Essences’ Classics conditioners. Repurchase? Yes! (In case you’re wondering what happened to the shampoo – as soon as I’ve used up a conditioner, my husband will finish the matching shampoo.)

7 Palmolive Oriental Beauty Sophisticated – a really nice shower gel, refreshing and not too harsh on dry skin. And it smells like a mix of tea and flowers. Nice! The product has been discontinued, so I can’t repurchase it. If it were still available, I’d buy it again.

8 L’Eau Par Kenzo Ice Pour Femme (50ml) – a fresh summer fragrance (which I’ll review properly in a few days). This one was a limited edition from a few years ago. But I wouldn’t repurchase it if it were still available – because it no longer tickles my fancy.

9 Kirstie Allsopp Lansdowne Rose Shower Gel – a gentle and pleasant rose-scented shower gel. Perfect in combination with Flower Pharm’s Wild Rose body butter. If it weren’t discontinued, I’d probably buy it again.

10 Yung Haircare Deep Conditioner – this one’s a cheap product from a German drugstore. I bought it years ago (!) but left it untouched until a few months ago. It’s an okayish deep conditioner, nothing special. I wouldn’t repurchase it.

11 Black eyeliner pencil – not sure which brand this is, but I liked this eyeliner pencil. Good quality. Comparable to Essence.

12 Superdrug Animal Mad Lip Balm – I used up one of these last month – and I’ve now used up another one. This lip balm was part of a limited edition set from last autumn so I can’t repurchase it.

13 Thierry Mugler Alien EDP sample – I love Thierry Mugler’s Alien. I’ve got a full size Alien EDP, but whenever there’s an Alien sample in a glossy mag, I’ll use it! Awesome stuff!

14 Boots No 7 Protect & Perfect Intense Beauty Serum – I have no idea how old the bottle was when I finally opened it. I used this serum a few years ago when it was introduced. But I never opened the second bottle – until a few months ago. I’ve now been using this serum on and off – and I actually still like it a lot. I’ll give the current version of the product a try and then I’ll report back. 🙂

15 Naturtint Shampoo & Naturtint Nutrideep Multiplier Protective Cream samples – I didn’t like these products. I’d probably use the shampoo if nothing else was available. But I wouldn’t use the protective cream again if you paid me. My last post explains it all…

16 NSPA Raspberry Body Butter – a rich body butter with the pleasant scent of juicy raspberries. I think this body butter smells a lot more natural than some of the considerably more expensive raspberry-scented body butters out there. And it’s only £3. Repurchase? Most likely – as soon as I crave raspberries again.

So this is what I emptied / used up in May 2016. I really enjoyed writing this post – so I’ll definitely make monthly empties a permanent feature. 🙂 Oh, and I’m really proud of myself for using up an eyeliner pencil before losing it. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by! I hope June 2016 will be an awesome month for all of us.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

L’Oréal Elvive Colour Protect Caring Shampoo & Conditioner

Hi there! As I’m using different shampoos and conditioners all the time, I sometimes forget old favourites – like L’Oréal’s Elvive Colour Protect Shampoo and Conditioner. However, I’ve now bought these two products again – and I remembered why I always loved them so much.

The shampoo is great. It smells pleasant and it cleanses my hair and my scalp nicely. The conditioner is one of the best I’ve ever used – second only to Herbal Essences’ Classics conditioners. What I love about the conditioner is that it detangles my hair nicely and that it doesn’t weigh my hair down – just the way I like it. 🙂

I also noticed that these two products really help maintain the intensity of my hair colour after I’ve dyed my hair. Normally the colour bleeds quite a bit for a few washes after I’ve dyed my hair – but these two products made a huge difference! Well done, L’Oréal!

I would definitely recommend L’Oréal’s Elvive Colour Protect Shampoo and Conditioner to anyone with coloured hair. If you want to hold on to your hair colour for as long as possible, you really should try these two products!

The shampoo and the conditioner are available as 250ml for £2.99 and 400ml for £3.99. This is really good value. However, there’s usually at least one supermarket or drugstore chain that runs a half price or BOGOF promotion on the big bottles. So keep your eyes peeled for the best offer! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

L’Oréal Elvital Color-Vive Deep Conditioner

Hi there! Today’s post is about the L’Oréal Elvital Color Vive Deep Conditioner I found at Family Bargains a while ago.

I love trying products from other countries. But I always check which country a product is from. This deep conditioner is from Denmark. As Denmark adheres to the same regulations for health and beauty products as the other EU countries, I was happy to try this product.

So, how’s the product? I think this is an amazing deep conditioner. It detangles my hair easily without weighing it down. And it makes my hair feel incredibly soft and silky. Love it!

Here’s the best thing: This deep conditioner is meant to be left on for 1 minute only before it has to be rinsed out. I leave it on for 3 to 4 minutes while I brush my teeth. But it’s good you don’t have to leave it on for half an hour or so.

I would definitely recommend L’Oréal’s Elvital Color Vive Deep Conditioner – not just because I paid 99p only – but because it’s a great product!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde