Trimming My Stash - March 2019 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews *

I'm late again with one, so much so that we're now almost in the middle of April argh! I honestly don't know where this year has gone, Easter is next week, and then it's my birthday and then it summer arghhhhh! I'm sure time seemed to drag more when I was younger. Anyway because time is short I'm going to get straight down to it and talk about my March empties.

AVON Advance Techniques Anti Hair Fall Shampoo - 250ml
Yes To Grapefruit Rejuvenating Body Wash - 500ml**
The Body Shop Glazed Apple Shower Gel - 60ml
The Body Shop Glazed Apple Body Butter - 200ml
Benefit Roller Lash Super Curling And Lifting Mascara - Black - 3g
Benefit Gimme Brow - Light / Medium - 3g
Beauty Pro Foot & Callus Peel - 40ml - 1 x Pair Single Use Booties
Freedom Pro Studio Brush Bath Sanitising Brush Cleanser - 100ml

Total - 8 Items

At last a decent month! It took 3 months but I finally achieved a monthly empties total that I can be proud of. Not only did I manage to finish 8 items, making it my best month of 2019 so far, but I also managed to finish a nice variety of items. I didn't manage to finish any skin care products but I did manage to finish a good assortment of body and hair items, and shock of horrors I managed to finish a couple of make up products, which almost never happens. Go me!

1. AVON Advance Techniques Anti Hair Fall Shampoo - 250ml

I've already talked about this at length in quite a few posts, so I'm really going to try and not repeat myself much. What do I think about this product? well I love, love, love it and I can't be without it, so much so in fact that I've already got a couple of bottles of the shampoo and the matching conditioner in back up. I do switch things up a bit when it comes to shampoos and conditioners but I just keep coming back to this one and I probably use it at least once a week.

Containing keratin, bamboo extract, wheat protein and peppermint, it's especially designed to strengthen the hair and to reduce hair loss. It smells gorgeous and I think it's made a real difference to my hair, and unlike a lot of anti - hair fall shampoos it's really affordable, with a 250ml bottle retailing at around £2 directly from AVON or via your local AVON representative.

2. Yes To Grapefruit Rejuvenating Body Wash - 500ml**

Next up a product from the popular Yes To range. I was lucky enough to try a lot of their products when I wrote regular reviews for My Pure and this was one of them - You can read my original review here. x

If you've never tried anything from Yes To before than I'd highly recommend that you do. The entire range is petroleum, SLS, paraben and cruelty free, and this particular product is 98% natural, and contains both apple and grapefruit extracts, and coconut.

As you would expect from the name this is a very refreshing, and zingy shower gel, with a noticeable but not overpowering grapefruit scent. It's not drying on the skin and just a tiny, tiny amount creates a lovely creamy lather, making this huge bottle a very economical buy.

Alas My Pure no longer seem to sell the Yes To range range but this particular product is still available and retails at £7.99 for a 500ml bottle from various retailers including Look Fantastic, Feel Unique, and Fragrance Direct

3. The Body Shop Glazed Apple Shower Gel - 60ml

4. The Body Shop Glazed Apple Body Butter - 200ml

I don't know about anyone else but there is something very satisfying about finishing a beauty product, and seeing those empties stack up - I can honestly say that I normally relish finishing a product but in the the case of these two items though it made me feel a bit sad.

In pretty much every other empties post that I've ever written I've shared my love for The Body Shop's festive collections, I've loved so many over the years but the stand out for me have to be their Glazed Apple range from around 2014.

It's not the obvious apple scent that you'll ever smell but it's sweet, juicy, sugary and almost candyfloss inspired - for me it's simply mouthwatering. Add an amazing fragrance to The Body Shop signature shower gel and body butter formulations, and the combination of the two products left the skin clean, soft, and deliciously scented.

Unless I find another forgotten stash of beauty products hiding somewhere in my house, I'm nearing the end of my The Body Shop Glazed Apple stash. I think I have one full sized bottle of shower gel and that's it :( The range was obviously discontinued some time ago now so unless I succumb to some of the ridiculously priced pieces on ebay, I'm on the verge of saying goodbye to Glazed Apple for good - So you know what The Body Shop needs to do? Bring it back of course! 

5. Benefit Roller Lash Super Curling And Lifting Mascara - Black - 3g

Now I'm going to try and keep this short, because I do intend on doing a full review of this mascara in the near future. I'm a huge fan of Benefit Cosmetics, and I do love their mascaras, this is their curling mascara, which aims to separate, lift and curl the lashes, it water resistant and long lasting.

I love using this alone but it also works really well with Benefit They're Real, you get the length and thickness from They're Real and the curl and separation from Roller Lash. This is a mini but it has the same size brush as the full size. As I say I have a full review coming soon but if you're interested Benefit Cosmetics Roller Lash Super Curling And Lifting Mascara retails at around £22 for the 8.5g size, and at around £11 for the 4g travel sized mini.

6. Benefit Gimme Brow - Light / Medium - 3g

Next up another Benefit product and I'm not actually sure where this one came from, I think it got lost in my stash somewhere but in case you don't recognise it, it's an old Gimme Brow that I found and finished.

For years and years I didn't really bother about my brows, I plucked them without ever knowing really what I was doing, I lost my natural shape and  my brows ended up an over plucked skinny mess. Then a few years ago now I was offered the chance to try out the Benefit Cosmetics Brow Services and the rest as they say is history (read about my experience here).

I now have regular brow waxes, and occasional dye treatment, and I now have all sorts of different brow products in my collection. A product that I keep coming back to though is the original Gimme Brow and now Gimme Brow +.

It super quick and easy to use, and as well as adding a hint of colour, it add thickness and volume to the brow hairs, and it sets and tames all of those stray hairs. I've used every shade from light / medium in the early day, to everything now from 3.5 to 4.5 and it's something that I will continue to use. The full 3g size now retails at £21.50 with the 1.5g travel size retailing at £11.

7. Beauty Pro Foot & Callus Peel - 40ml - 1 x Pair Single Use Booties

If you are a regular reader of my Trimming My Stash posts then you'll know that I am a little bit obsessed with this type of foot peeling socks, they are gross but at the same time so, so satisfying.

Beauty Pro are mask specialists and whilst they are probably best known for their face masks, they also produce a range of hair, hand, and foot masks.

Containing 16 botanical and fruit extracts including sage, anise, kiwi, lemon and lime, vitamin E and both salicylic and glycolic acid, these foot masks are paraben free and they contain no mineral oil, lanolin or petroleum.

Inside the packet you get a pair of thin plastic socks, with a paper like lining, and an adhesive strip to keep them in place. They aren't the sturdiest socks so I ended up putting on a pair of slipper socks over the top to keep them in place. These socks contain a lot of liquid, these were very wet, and they had an astringent slightly fruity scent.

All you do it wash and dry the feet, and pop the socks on for around 90 minutes, before rinsing any remaining liquid off with plain water. Unlike some of the similar socks that I've tried there was no real tingling sensation just a cool feeling, and there was no redness. After about 6 days the skin started to peel off my feet, that lasted for about a week, afterwards my feet were a lot smoother with only a small amount of dry skin still visible on my heels. 

I've tried quite a few different brands of peeling socks now and I was pretty impressed with these ones and I would definitely consider buying them again in the future. You are advised to leave at least 6 weeks between these type of treatments, and next up I have some AVON ones to try. The Beauty Pro Foot & Callus Peel socks retail at around £7.95 directly from Beauty Pro, and also from various retailers including NEXT, Fabled, Feel Unique, and Fragrance Direct.

8. Freedom Pro Studio Brush Bath Sanitising Brush Cleanser - 100ml

Last but not least, a discontinued product, that some may argue doesn't belong in a beauty empties post but hey I think it does. Brush cleaning is one of my least favourite beauty tasks, and I tend to avoid it for as long as I can, in fact I think that's probably one of the reasons why I own so many brushes, I just buy more instead of washing them.

As much as I hate it though this product definitely made it a bit easier, it basically a solid brush soap, wet your brush, swirl it in to the soap, squeeze, rinse and dry, simples! This had a gorgeous fresh fruity, floral scent, and it really made cleaning my brushes easier and a little less time consuming.

Unfortunately like the entire Freedom beauty line, it's been absorbed and re branded under the Revolution Beauty label, and it's being replaced by a product called the Revolution Pro Hygiene Sanitising Solid Brush Cleaner which is £5. It's a very similar product just with a slightly different rose based scent. and it's available direct from Revolution and from Superdrug.

As you may have gathered I'm pretty happy about March's total but I've got to keep at it and make April another successful month x If you have any questions on any of the items that I've mentioned then don't forget to leave me a comment x 

*This Post Contains Both Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links

**Press Sample