Trimming My Stash - August 2018 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews

So should I apologise again for the lateness of a blog post or should I just get on with it? You decide! Well you don't I do and I'm going to offer a fleeting but non specific apology - things happen, life gets in the way and all that jazz. I've had another pretty up and down few weeks but I'm still here, I'm still shopping and I'm still desperately trying to finish a few beauty products along the way.

Courreges La Fille De' L Air Eau De Parfum - 8.5ml
Scrub Love Hydrating Coconut Oil Body Scrub - Coconut Cranberry - 100g
Superdrug Naturally Radiant Glycolic Toner - 100ml
My Little Beauty Coco Sunrise Hair And Body Oil - 75ml
Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub - 300ml
Bomb Cosmetics Mandarin & Orange Cleansing Shower Butter - 320g

Total - 6 Items 

August was a much better month than July, I managed to finish 6 items, including a few long time favourites and a few beauty box items, although I didn't manage to add any make up items to my August I did manage to finish a fragrance, and some skin and body care products, all in all not a bad month empties wise!

1. Courreges La Fille De' L Air Eau De Parfum - 8.5ml

If you follow any of my other social media channels or if you're a regular watcher of my You Tube unboxing videos, then you'll know that I love fragrance but like most people I'm not always a fan of random perfumes in beauty boxes. Scent is such a personal thing that it can be really hard to give a 100 or so people the same fragrance and for them all to love it, but it really can give you the chance to try something new, and every now and then, you hit the jackpot. When I received this in a My Little Box, well over a year ago now I was hesitant but it really was love at first sniff! 

This fragrance from iconic French designer brand Courreges is the perfect scent for summer. It's a perfect combination of citrus and floral, and contains bergamot, neroli, orange blossom, musk, ozone scents and rubber! Yeah ignore the concept of the rubber that's just weird, instead embrace the white flowers and the orange blossom and you'll be transported to the Mediterranean before you know it, quite literally as it turns it, the name actually translates to The Girl In The Air, and for a while when it was first released in 2015, it was an Air France exclusive. Thankfully now it's readily available worldwide, well apart from in the UK that is! For some reason Courreges don't officially retail their scents in the UK so this is definitely something to try if your heading to sunnier or not so sunnier climes in the near future. If you're like me though and you have no exotic jaunts planned than you could always try reseller sites such as ebay and Amazon, I've had a look today and this fragrance is still available from both UK and European sellers. Thankfully I have a couple of bottles to keep me going, when I first talked about this scent, and about how much that I loved it, the lovely team at My Little Box, very kindly sent me another purse spray free of charge, and this year my lovely mummy managed to get her hands on a full size bottle that she gave me for my birthday. I love a lot of different fragrances but this is definitely now one of my go to's. 

2. Scrub Love Hydrating Coconut Oil Body Scrub - Coconut Cranberry - 100g

Ah the last of my Scrub Love sachets, and Mummy Lou breathes, well a sigh of relief. Don't get me wrong I do like these an awful lot it's just that they are so messy! This one though was way, way better than the Charcoal one that I talked about last month (read my post here if you haven't already). The texture and the scent was way better and this one was a little bit more like some of the other Scrub Love products that I'd tried. With a fruit, slight coconut scent, this one was much squidgier, and a result much, much easier to apply and use. Containing ground coconut shells and flakes, as well as coconut oil, vitamin E, and cranberry seed oil, this one had a decent scrubby texture, and whilst it wasn't any wear near or scratchy as the charcoal variant it still did the job, and thanks all of the natural oils (which also helped hold it together) it felt slightly oily on the the skin. It rinsed off fairly easily in the shower, and the skin was left feeling both smooth and hydrated. Like all of the other scrubs that I've tried from this brand it did leave a bit of gunk in the bottom of the shower, so whilst this product maybe isn't for my mam or clean freaks, if you're looking for a natural scrub with no nasties or micro beads, and that's full biodegradable then this range could be something worth trying. I personally would be happy to use some of these again but I don't wish to incur the wraith of Mummy Lou so all I can do is hope that they pop up in another subscription box sometime soon.

3. Superdrug Naturally Radiant Glycolic Toner - 100ml

Now if you've spent as long online as I have then you might have already seen a lot of buzz and hype about this purse friendly skincare product range from Superdrug, with many people hailing as a fabulous budget alternative to products such as Alpha H Liquid Gold, PIXI Glow Tonic, and NIP + FAB's Glycolic range.

Containing kiwi and mulberry extracts, AHA's and Glycolic Acid, this product is designed to even out the complexion, refine pores, smooth out fine lines, fade pigmentation, clear dead skin, and add radiance to the compexion.

Simply use it as you would any other toner, apply it to a cotton pad and then wipe it over the skin. You can use this toner both morning and night, but I prefer to use it at night, and to let it do it's thing whilst I sleep. Immediately after application it starts to feel as though it's doing something, and my skin starts to feel slightly warm and tingly. I've been using this for over a month now, alongside another product from the same range, and my skin definitely feels smoother, and looks brighter and clearer, I also noticed that those annoying hormonal breakouts on my chin cleared up more quickly whilst I was using this product.

This stuff is good, and it's definitely something that I intend to buy again, the only bad thing for me (other than remembering to wear SPF - I know, I know - slaps wrists), is the smell. It has a very green, woody, herbal scent that reminds me a bit of aftershave! Never mind I guess I can live the scent of a hunky man purely for the results that I've had from this little bottle of magic. It normally retails at £5.99 for 100ml bottle but Superdrug nearly always has some sort of offer on this range, the current offer is buy one get one free so it's well worth trying.

4. My Little Beauty Coco Sunrise Hair And Body Oil - 75ml

Another product from the now defunct My Little Box UK, and it one of the products from their own line that was sadly never available to buy separately in the UK. 

Thanks to too much Malibu once upon a time I have a love / hate relationship with coconut. I really can appreciate the yumminess of the scent but sometimes it can be a little bit too much for me. I can usually deal with a little bit though and this product was both within my limits and perfect for the summer months.

This was basically a multi purpose oil both containing and smelling of coconut. I do love an oil and I mainly used this oil in two ways, on my hair as both a pre-wash treatment, and a styling product to tone down the frizz and add shine, and as a body oil to add extra nourishment to drier areas and to help treat some stretchmarks. It was a nice easy to apply oil, that absorbed pretty quickly and it made an instant difference hydration wise to both the skin and the hair. 

5. Soap & Glory Sugar Crush Body Scrub - 300ml

I love, love, love this stuff, it's one of my most used and repurchased body scrubs and it's something that I will continue to use and repurchase. As the name would suggest it's a gritty brown sugar based scrub, with just a touch of sea salt and macadamia grains, with add sweet lime oil, to give it its zesty citrus scent, and added almond oil, and glycerin for hydration.

Sugar and salt scrubs are without a doubt my favourite kind, apply a small amount (a little goes a long way)  to damp skin and you get a decent friction scrub with none of the mess. The oil content also gives the skin a nice moisture boost, and the scent is a real mood booster, honestly what's not to love.

6. Bomb Cosmetics Mandarin & Orange Cleansing Shower Butter - 320g

Now Bomb Cosmetics definitely don't get as much publicity as Lush does but there products are equally fun and quirky - no they don't just make bath bombs, they also make everything from candles, to soaps, to hair masks and shower butters!

Shower butters I hear you cry, what is a shower butter? well shower butters are probably my favourite product from Bomb Cosmetics, Think tubs of squidgy butter, that foams up equally well in the bath or the shower. Simply scoop a small amount and pop it under running water or onto a shower scrunchie and it lathers up like a dream.

Crammed full of nourishing shea butter, this mandarin orange scented citrus fabulousness has been a mainstay in my bathroom for a few years now. It's such an economical product you only needs a tiny little bit so you £7.99 investment goes a long way. They are also super easy to use, they feel gentle on the skin and this one in particular smells amazing.

The name and the packaging seems to have changed now to just Mandarin Shower Butter but I'm hoping that the product inside is still the same. Since I don't have easy access to a bath tub now I'm always on the lookout for fun and different shower products and these fit the bill perfectly. I'll definitely be picking up another tub in the near future, and I'm also fancying trying one of the scents maybe Blackcurrant hmm decisions, decisions!

So they were my August empties, I've already finished a few bits already in September so fingers crossed that I'll do even better this month x Let me know if you have any questions on any of the items that I finished and I'll do my best to get back to you x