Never Again – The Ultimate Beauty Duds – Part 4

Hi there! Over the past few months I did a couple of posts about beauty products that I think are useless. Those posts were quite popular, so here’s Part 4 of The Ultimate Beauty Duds. 🙂

MUA MakeUp Academy Matte Lipstick Lilac Belle

MUA’s matte lippies are probably the worst matte lippies out there. I’ve read a few positive reviews (?), but I can only guess the reviewers never had a decent matte lippie to compare MUA’s offerings with. Or they never actually tried the lippie. Or they found it rubbishy too, but didn’t want to be negative because they got the lippie for free. Who knows?

Now why is this lipstick so horrible? Well, this lipstick is very waxy. It’s almost impossible to apply it properly, it’s poorly pigmented and it’s drying. And because it’s so difficult to apply, my lippie broke off the first time I’ve used it. Rubbish!

Pantene Breakage Defence Hair Strength Tonic

This stuff scared me! I tried it, I got scared, then I binned the product! I thought of giving the product away – but I didn’t want anyone else to be scared by this truly binworthy product.

Superdrug Simply Pure Refreshing Toner For Sensitive Skin &
I Love… Cherry Almond Sparkle Refreshing Body Spritzer

Superdrug’s Simply Pure toner for sensitive skin isn’t very effective. As if this weren’t enough, this toner gave me an unpleasant skin reaction. I’m now using it to clean my nail art stampers! 🙂 I Love…’s Cherry Almond Sparkle smells like bread. Not a great fragrance, eh?

John Frieda Forever Smooth Shampoo, Conditioner, Anti-Frizz Primer

I’ve never used John Frieda hair products before – and thanks to these samples I can safely say that I won’t be using John Frieda hair products again. Complete rubbish!

Superdrug Moisturising Cocoa Butter Body Lotion
Yardley Invigorating Blue Orchid Body Lotion &
Pacifica Indian Coconut Nectar Body Butter

I can make this one short – these 3 moisturisers didn’t smell great at all. And Pacifica’s Indian Coconut Body Butter is the worst smell I’ve ever came across in a moisturiser. These 3 products were used as foot lotions.

Superdrug Clearly Youthful SPF 15 Skin Balancing Moisturiser

It’s impossible to apply this cream without causing it to ball up. The only way to use the product at all is to use it as a targeted treatment. But again, you can’t rub it into your skin. Major fail!

Pantene Volume & Body Shampoo & Conditioner

The shampoo wasn’t completely horrible. However, the conditioner was rubbish. It failed to detangle my hair, and it didn’t feel conditioning at all. As if this weren’t enough, the conditioner also flattened my hair. Bye-bye Pantene Volume & Body hair products. You won’t be missed!

Have you tried any of these products? Which products have you hated recently? Feel free to get in touch via the comments. And thanks for stopping by!

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Empties – November 2016

Hi there! After yesterday’s monthly favourites post, today’s post is about last month’s empties. As always, I used several face masks, and I also used up basics like cosmetic pads (which I never thought of mentioning before – and I might not do it again – who knows…). And I threw out one old eyeshadow brush. But now let’s get to the bulky empties, the REAL empties! 🙂

1 Herbal Essence Silk N’ Shine Conditioner – the BEST conditioner ever. Ladies with thick, long or curly hair will appreciate this conditioner the most! I have lots of back-up bottles, but I’ll continue to buy the (pink and yellow) Herbal Essences Classics hair products. If you’re wondering what happened to the shampoo, my husband is using it up. Whenever I finish a conditioner, I pass the matching shampoo on to my husband.

2 Yardley Invigorating Blue Orchid Hydrating & Enrichting Body Lotion – not great. My husband and I used this one as a foot lotion. So this one is a shared empty. Repurchase? No!

3 Classics Nail Polish Remover – my favourite nail polish remover. 400ml for £1. You can’t find a great nail polish remover for less than that. I’ll repurchase this product – and I’ll always have at least one back-up bottle.

4 Olay Essentials Complete Care Day Fluid – my favourite moisturiser! I always buy the big 200ml bottles. And yes, I have a back-up bottle! 🙂

5 I Love… Choca Mocha lala Shower – this is the ultimate hot chocolate shower gel. I started to use this shower gel this spring, then ignored it this summer, but I used it again when it got colder. And now I’ve finished it. Too bad it’s been discontinued, so I can’t repurchase it. I need to try I Love…’s current chocolate fudge shower gel – hopefully it’s the same – or at least similar!

6 Superdrug Vitamin E Skin Care All Over Body Cream With Manuka Honey – this body cream is simply fantastic. It should be a permanent item in Superdrug’s Vitamin E collection. I can’t repurchase this cream because it was a limited edition, but I have two back-up tubs!

7 Kenzo Amour Florale Body Lotion – I got this body lotion as part of a gift set. It’s a nice floral fragrance but it’s nothing like the original Kenzo Amour. I did like this body lotion because it hydrated my skin well. It was nice while it lasted but I wouldn’t buy it again.

8 Olay Anti-Wrinkle 2 In 1 Firm & Lift Anti-Wrinkle Booster + Firming Serum – I love this stuff. It’s… perfect. I’ve already repurchased it. 🙂

9 Anna Sui Secret Wish Magic Romance 75ml EdT – a nice and inoffensive office fragrance. It’s not very special, but certainly pleasant. It smells like a floral and less cool version of D&G Light Blue, although this one isn’t as powerful as Light Blue, and it only lasts a few hours on me. I bought this fragrance on a whim a few years ago. It was nice while it lasted, but I wouldn’t buy it again.

10 The Red Forest Moonlight Raspberry Body Lotion – this body lotion was OK but not very memorable. The ‘moonlight raspberry’ fragrance smelled more like a mix of roses and waterlilies. This was a limited edition product (from a gift set). I don’t think I’d buy it again even if I could.

11 The Body Shop Vanilla Body Lotion – this body lotion was OK but it was nothing special. I’ve had better moisturisers from the drugstore. This body lotion has been discontinued. But I wouldn’t buy it again anyway.

12 Superdrug Shea Butter & Bamboo – a nice shower gel. It smells like caramel. I will buy it again, no doubt.

So this is what I emptied last month. I didn’t empty as many products as I hoped I would, but that’s OK. At the moment I have all these big 500ml bottles in the shower, I have a few more fragrances which are near empty, and I’m using different skin care products in a rota – and I know I’ll emtpy at least two of them within one week from now. So I think I’ll have more empties this month! 🙂

Oh, and I’ll be using up lots of foundations over the next few months. I realised I’ve been using six different Max Factor Pan Stiks (2 different shades) for the past six months or so – and I expect to finish them all (one at a time, of course) in the next 2 to 3 months.

Have you used any of these products? Feel free to get in touch. And thanks for reading! 🙂

Mrs Strawberry Blonde

Yardley Invigorating Blue Orchid Moisturising Body Wash & Hydrating and Enriching Body Lotion

Hi there! Today’s post is about two Yardley products I found at my local 99p Store (before it closed and reopened as a Poundland store). Yardley shower gels are normally around £4, and their body lotions are around £6, so I was happy when I found these two limited edition products for 99p each.

I’ve been using Yardley’s Invigorating Blue Orchid Moisturising Body Wash and the matching Hydrating and Enriching Body Lotion for a week now. And I’m ready to let you know what I think about these two products.

The body wash is OK. I wouldn’t say it’s moisturising, but it’s definitely not drying at all. The (non-descript) floral fragrance is alright, but it’s rather faint. The body lotion is OK too. It feels moisturising and it’s absorbed quickly. However, the fragrance isn’t great (a mix of paper and a non-descript floral scent) and the lotion leaves a film (like Garnier’s Body Tonic) on my skin.

In summary, I’m not impressed with these Yardley products. I’m glad I only spent £1.98 in total for the body wash and the body lotion. I will continue to use the body wash, but I will repurpose the body lotion and continue to use it as a foot cream.

If you’d like to try Yardley’s Invigorating Blue Orchid Moisturising Body Wash and the matching Hydrating and Enriching Body Lotion yourself, you should swing by your local discount store. I’ve seen these two products at two local Poundland stores as recently as this week.

Mrs Strawberry Blonde