Never Again – The Ultimate Beauty Duds – Part 2

Hi there! A few weeks ago I did a post about beauty products that I think are useless. That post proved to be popular, so here’s part 2 of The Ultimate Beauty Duds! Enjoy!

Positively Fruity Body Lotions – Smells Like Sunny Strawberries, Smells Like Wild Cherries & Smells Like Tropical Showers

These body lotions were a total letdown. The tubes looked really cute, and the fragrances sounded nice. But these lotions were extemely poorly fragranced. Seriously, I could hardly smell anything at all. 😦

Boots Naked Colour Shampoo & Conditioner

These two hair products are two of the worst I’ve ever tried. The shampoo doesn’t lather up properly (it’s SLS-free), and the conditioner doesn’t condition at all. I think it anti-conditions, and it made me lose about five times as much hair as I’d normally lose in the shower. Complete rubbish!

Poundland Make-Up: Make Up Gallery Colour Story Eyeshadows &
Olay Regenerist Luminous Dark Circle Correcting Eye Swirl

I was so excited when Poundland launched its own make-up line. We were promised foundations, powders, blushes, lip gloss, eyeshadows, lipsticks and other make-up basics for £1 per item. I ended up with one lipstick (the only wearable shade), one nail polish (glitter) and three eyeshadows. The eyeshadows are rubbish. They’re chalky, they’re not well pigmented, and they’re not buildable at all. Definitely the worst eyeshadows I’ve ever tried.

If you read my blog regularly, you know I’m a total Olay nut. So whilst I usually find Olay products excellent, this eye swirl disappointed me. I didn’t see any improvement in my fiine lines or my dark circles. And whilst the shimmer particles in this eye cream reflect light and can make dark circles invisible, this effect is only temporary, and it’s gone as soon as you cleanse your face. Another problem is that eye cream is too rich. I couldn’t use it under my make-up, so I could only use this eye cream on homeworking days (= when I don’t wear make-up). Not what I wanted or expected…

Maybelline Colour Sensational Popsticks 040 Crystal Pink, 060 Citrus Slice, 080 Cherry Pop

These Maybelline pop sticks were awful. They were supposed to be lip balms, but they weren’t hydrating at all. They felt super waxy, and they smelled like plastic… I binned these a long time ago!

Body Fantasies Kissing In The Rain & Pink Sweet Pea Fantasy Fragrance Body Sprays

I really hated these body sprays. Kissing In The Rain smells like gym locker + wet dog. Pink Sweet Pea Fantasy smells… sour. Just the thought of these ‘fragrances’ makes me gag…

Yves Rocher Complete Anti-Age Global Serum &
Clarins Double Serum – Complete Age Control Concentrate

This Yves Rocher serum made my skin feel sensationally dry. Clarins’ serum didn’t do anything at all for me. Well, it made my pores look bigger, but that’s not what it was supposed to do…

Garnier Ultimate Blends The Silky Smoother Shampoo & Conditioner

Whilst these two hair care products smell absolutely delicious, there was nothing else that I liked about them. The shampoo turned my hair into a knotty and unflexible mess which the conditioner couldn’t take care of. Double-conditioning, sometimes even triple-conditioning, was a daily must… I think I finished the big 400ml conditioner in around ten days. Shocking, I know! By the way, these two products seem to disappear from the supermarket and drugstore shelves. So I guess I’m not the only one who was underwhelmed by these products.

100% Vegan & Cruelty-Free – Superdrug Clearly Youthful Blemish Treatment Gel

This product did the opposite of what it was supposed to. The spots that I “treated” with this product took even longer to heal!

So, this was the second edition of The Ultimate Beauty Duds. I’m not saying that no one could ever like any of these products (some of them are still around). It’s just that I found them to be awful. But if you like any of these products, that’s good for you.

Any beauty duds you’d like to tell me about? Feel free to let me know. And thanks for reading!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Empties – June 2016

Hi there! Today’s post is about what I emptied last month. It’s quite a lot (and I’m proud of myself), so let’s get started! 🙂

1 (no photo) I used several face masks from Montagne Jeunesse (Lemon Zest, Mud Pac, Passion Peel Off) and Superdrug (Naturally Radiant Mask, Fruit Sorbet Peel Off, Dead Sea Clay Mask). I didn’t feel like keeping the empty (= dirty & sticky) sachets. The masks that really stood out were the Montagne Jeunesse masks – I can’t believe I’ve never used them before! Anyway, I’ll repurchase all the face masks I’ve used this month.

2 Garnier Intensive 7 Days Hydrating Body Lotion with Aloe Vera – this is a fantastic body lotion. Of all the body lotions and butters I’ve had in the past six month or so, this one is definitely in my top 3. It appears Garnier has now discontinued this product which is stupid a shame!

3 St. Ives Naturally Clear Apricot Scrub – Blemish Fighting – I stopped using harsh scrubs with crushed apricot seeds or walnut shells on my face – I’m using these on my body only. Essentially, I used most of this face scrub as a body scrub. 🙂 I wouldn’t repurchase this product because most body scrubs smell much nicer than this product.

4 Rightguard Shower + Nutrients Shower Cream with Acai Berry – this shower cream is amazing – it’s gentle and creamy and it smells absolutely delicious. Highly recommended! Repurchase? Yes!

5 Dolce & Gabbana 3 L’Impératrice (100ml) – a lovely fruity fragrance for grown-ups. I won’t repurchase it (I have too many fragrances) but I recommend you give this one a sniff if you come across it. L’Impératrice is a really nice fragrance.

6 Harmony Hair Indulgence Herbal Conditioner with Jasmine Extract – I didn’t love the conditioner. It smells really nice but it’s not great for my hair type (thick, long, curly). I won’t repurchase it but I think it would work fine for ladies with short, fine and straight hair. If you’re wondering what happened to the matching shampoo (now that the conditioner is gone), my husband is using it up.

7 Imperial Leather Oriental Calm Shower Cream – I kept this around for a while because I thought it was discontinued. However, this gorgeous vanilla and cherry blossom shower cream has only been renamed and it’s still available as Imperial Leather Mauritian Spa! I’ve already stocked up. 🙂

8 Olay Anti-Wrinkle Instant Hydration + Wrinkle Smoother – this is a really good non-greasy moisturiser which has an instant blur effects on fine lines, and it doubles as a primer. I won’t repurchase it because it’s not the most suitable moisturiser for my skin type (dry, sensitive & moody), but I can totally see that women with normal to oily skin would love it.

9 Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar Shower Gel – I liked that this shower gel didn’t smell too coconutty and that it was gentle. But I won’t repurchase it. The fragrance isn’t my favourite.

10 Olay Regenerist Luminous Dark Circle Correcting Eye Swirl – this eye cream didn’t do anything for me. I think this is the only Olay product that left me disappointed. I’m glad it’s finally gone and I won’t repurchase it.

11 The Body Shop Lychee Blossom Body Mist (100ml) – a decent body mist with a sweet and fruity fragrance. The product is no longer available (limited edition from ages ago), but I wouldn’t repurchase it if it were still available. Like I said earlier, I have too many fragrances…

12 Imperial Leather Paradise Island Nourishing Bath Cream – this is one of my favourite bath creams at the moment. It smells of peach nectar and vanilla – delicious! I’ve already repurchased it.

13 Palmolive Pampering Touch with Coconut and Moisturising Milk – I really love this shower gel. It feels amazing on my skin and it smells wonderful. I have a few back-up bottles and I’ll always repurchase this one.

14 Original Source Plum & Blackcurrant Shower Gel – a nice and refreshing shower gel. I’m pretty sure I’ve got at least one back-up bottle (probably two). I don’t feel like purchasing more at the moment.

15 Imperial Leather Revitalising Ylang Ylang & Juniper Shower Gel – this is already the second big bottle I’ve used up. I really like this shower gel. The bottle (yellow floral image, I’m looking at you) is quite ugly, but the shower gel smells lovely and quite sophisticated. Repurchase? Yes!

This is everything I managed to use up in June. There aren’t any small items like lipsticks or eyeliner pencils, but I’m really proud of myelf for emptying so many bottles and tubes. Have you used any of these products? Feel free to let me know what you think. 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Olay Regenerist Luminous Dark Circle Correcting Eye Swirl

Hi there! I’ve been using this Olay Regenerist Luminous Dark Circle Correcting Eye Swirl for about four weeks – and now’s the time to share my findings. So let’s start!

This eye cream glides on smoothly and it hydrates my under-eye area nicely.

I can see that it makes lines appear less pronounced, but this effect is only temporary. When I cleanse my face and don’t reapply the cream, I can’t see any difference between now and four weeks ago.

One thing that annoys me is that this eye cream is too rich. It’s not horrible, but it’s just enough to render it unsuitable for wear under make-up. Well, under my make-up, that is.

I use Max Factor’s Pan Stik which doesn’t work with this eye cream. There may not be any problems at all with other foundations, but I’m not changing my (holy grail!) foundation for a non-
essential eye product.

This means that I can only wear this eye cream when I’m not wearing make-up, which is overnight and on the odd day when I’m not leaving the house.

I know you wonder whether this eye cream actually helps with dark circles or not. And my answer is that it helps to a certain extent – whilst the cream is on. The eye cream contains shimmer particles which appear to reflect light; this makes dark circles disappear if you look at your eyes from the right angle.

I’m not sure whether to recommend this product or not. I’ll definitely use it up because it hydrates the skin under my eyes nicely, but I don’t think that I would repurchase this eye cream because I can’t use it under my make-up. I’ll stick to my favourite eye gel!

I know that this product received mixed reviews when it was first launched and I remember a few negative reviews from people who said that this cream would look like under-eye chalk (?) or that it would leave them with glittery skin around their eyes. However, I don’t believe that these reviews are accurate descriptions of this eye cream. And – in all honesty – I am still wondering how much product these people used!

If you would like to try this Olay Regenerist Luminous Dark Circle Correcting Eye Swirl, it’s £29.99 for 15 ml. I bought mine for half price a while ago, so you should check prices online before buying.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde