Trimming My Stash - September 2020 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews*

Before I share a little Halloween themed post with you, I thought I'd play catch up again and share my September empties with you x 

SUGU Beauty Refreshing Panda Face Sheet Mask With Apple - 1 x 27ml Mask

Bubble T Restoring Hand Wash - Hibiscus & Acai Berry Tea - 260ml

Primark PS... Love Your Nails Nail Polish Twist Post - 70ml

Living Proof Perfect hair Day Night Cap Overnight Perfector - 30ml

Eyeko London Black Magic Mascara - Drama & Curl - Black - 4ml

Primark PS...It's All Good Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes

AVON Advance Techniques Reconstruction Shampoo - 250ml
The Body Shop Mango Shower Gel - 250ml

Total - 8 Items

After a fairly middle of the road performance in August, I tried really, really hard in September, and as a result I managed to finish 8 items, including a couple of forgotten about bits, a few new discoveries, and believe it or not a make up item!

1. SUGU Beauty Refreshing Panda Face Sheet Mask With Apple - 1 x 27ml Mask

The first product that I finished was a skincare item, and it was a sheet mask from Korean inspired skincare brand SUGU Beauty.

Containing apple, cucumber, lavender, and wild cherry extract, this was a printed face mask that made you look like a pretty scary looking panda, and it was designed to refresh and add radiance to dull, puffy skin.

Made from some sort of fibre, the mask itself was absolutely soaking wet, which initially made it quite difficult to unfold, but the fibre was pretty strong so it didn't tear. If you have ever had a problems with sheet masks like this being too small, this this mask would be perfect for you. I don't have the smallest of heads and this mask actually felt pretty big on me, and the nose hole in particular was huge! which made this poor panda even more terrifying.

Because of all of the fruit and flower extracts, I was really expecting this mask to smell gorgeous but alas not, instead it had a fresh, neutral but slightly chemically scent.

Before 

On application it felt cool, and damp on the skin, as I say it was quite wet and liquidy, so the excess did run down my face, and my neck and into my eyes which was a bit stingy.

On Application

You can leave it on for anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes, so I left it on for about 15 minutes. After I removed the mask my skin still felt quite wet, so I massaged the excess liquid into my skin. It definitely felt more hydrated and cool to the touch, if a little sticky.

After 

I don't know whether or not you can see too much difference between the before and after pictures but my skin definitely felt more hydrated, and cool to the touch. The cool sensation lasted for about the 10 minutes that it took for the excess liquid to fully soak in, my skin was then left looking and feeling smoother and more refreshed.

All in all this wasn't a bad mask for skin that needed a little bit of tlc, and the panda face is either fun or terrifying depending on your point of view. Even better still was the fact that I just paid £1 for it in Poundland. One of my local stores had a whole load of different SUGU Beauty masks in stock, so I bought a few different ones to try. Poundland change their stock all of the time though so there is no guarantee that these masks will still be in stock. A few different places including ASOS, Argos, and The Fragrance Shop sell a small range of SUGU Beauty products but the only places that I can find this particular mask are Amazon and a website called Beauty Goddess, where it retails at around £3.99, so I think I got a bargain.

2. Bubble T Restoring Hand Wash - Hibiscus & Acai Berry Tea - 260ml

Ah, hand wash! We didn't know it way back in January but in 2020 hand wash pretty much became more precious than gold! As I've said on the blog before we're very much soap bar people, but because of COVID we've now become hand wash devotees.

In the deepest, darkest of lockdown way back in March and April hand wash became ridiculously scarce, and the only place that I could be was on the NEXT Beauty website,  and I manage to grab a bottle just days before they went into temporary hibernation.

From fruit and herbal tea inspired brand, Bubble T, this vegan friendly hand wash contained sweet orange extract and goji berries. Just a tiny little bit of this pinky, red gel was enough to produce a creamy, non drying, cleansing foam with a lovely fruity scent.

I really enjoyed using it and I've subsequently gone on to buy a few more for gifts. Specific hand washes are still a bit difficult to track down and this one is currently out of stock on the official Bubble T website but it is still available from NEXT Beauty for £3 and from Boohoo for around £4.

3. Primark PS... Love Your Nails Nail Polish Twist Post - 70ml

More nails of the day posts can only mean one thing - I'm using more nail polish remover! Whilst I swear by favourite Superdrug remover for removing full manicures, these little dippy pots are fabulous for single fingers, and for correcting mistakes without removing your entire manicure, just dip, twist and your done!

I haven't tried any of the more expensive versions but this is the best one of the posts that I've tried. It's cheap, the polish remover is strong enough to remove even the darkest polish, and the sponge is substantial enough that it doesn't fall apart after a single use. Who knows when I'll make it back into Primark again, but when I do I'll definitely be hunting a couple more of these pots down.

4. Living Proof Perfect hair Day Night Cap Overnight Perfector - 30ml

The next item is a travel sized hair product from the brand Living Proof that I received in the May 2020 edition of Pink Parcel. You can read a bit more about it here but basically this was a overnight mask that you apply to damp or dry hair, and then you leave it overnight before washing it out the next morning, leaving your hair shiny, vibrant and manageable.

For a hair mask it quite a thin cream, almost lotion like texture, with a lovely fresh scent that's almost identical to the classic Elizabeth Arden Green Tea fragrance. Whilst initially it feels a tiny bit sticky, it sinks in really quickly leaving no residue or staining on your pillows.

Ideally you should really wash it out first thing in the morning but since it wasn't obvious that I had product in my hair, and tended to leave it in all day, and I washed my hair at night instead, meaning that you could even use it as a styling product for calming frizz and as a general hair fragrance. Whilst the difference in my hair wasn't earth shattering, my hair looked shiny, felt less tangled, and didn't look quite as frizzy. If you have fine hair this would probably be ideal for you, as it provided nourishment without weighing the hair down.

I actually really liked this and I loved the scent so once I've worked my way through my hair product mountain I will definitely be buying the full size. I can't find this travel size for sale on its own, but the full 118ml size retails at around £20 from various retailers including direct from Living Proof, Cult Beauty, ASOS, Look Fantastic, Feel Unique and NEXT Beauty.

5. Eyeko London Black Magic Mascara - Drama & Curl - Black - 4ml

I know it's been a while but shock of horrors in 2020, I finally finished another make up item. Okay it was another mascara but in this upside world I'll take what I can get!!

This particular Eyeko mascara came in the March 2020 edition of Glossybox UK, and you can read a full review here.

I actually surprised myself by really liking this mascara, I loved the curl and the uplift that it gave my lashes, and I initially loved the idea of the squeezy tube. I did find it a touch clumpy, and that actually got worse as it got older. I don't know whether or not that was down to the tube but it did seem to dry out more quickly than my mascaras usually do, but I still liked it and I would definitely consider buying it or using it again.

6. Primark PS...It's All Good Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes

Just when I think I'm out of these another packet miraculously appears. I actually found this packet in a random drawer and as per usual I've been using them for swatch clean up. I couldn't actually find these the last time that I was in Primark, they had all of the other varieties in their new biodegradable wipe format but not the tea tree ones! 

Never mind I've been using micellar water and cotton pads, and some other tea tree wipes, and my mum actually won a huge pack of biodegradable baby wipes (amongst lots of other things I may add) so I've been using those. If I find some I probably will buy them but I don't think that I'll be buying any in the near future.

7. AVON Advance Techniques Reconstruction Shampoo - 250ml

As I've said before there really is nothing worse than when a brand discontinues something that you like. it literally happens to me all of the time. One of the most recent things that's disappeared from my life is the AVON Advance Techniques Anti Hair Fall range. Thankfully I managed to stock up on a few products from the range before it disappeared completely but I thought that it was only fair that I should try some it its replacements, so I bought some products from the Loss Control range and some products from the reconstruction range.

This is the shampoo from the Reconstruction range and it contains keratin, protein, omega 6 and avocado oil, and it's designed to help reduce split ends and breakages, and to help smooth away frizz. Like the Anti Fall products it smells amazing. It had a gorgeous fruity scent, and just a small amount produces a lovely creamy foam. 

I've been using this shampoo alongside a few other products in the Reconstruction range, so I can't really say how well it performs on its own, but my hair generally feels in much better condition, and it doesn't look quite as frizzy and fly away as it normally does. I'm still losing what seems like a tonne of random hairs but it's not noticeable and my hair still looks nice and thick and healthy.

For the price again I'm really impressed with this range, it smells gorgeous and my hair seems to like it. Obviously I have other things to use up (including another bottle of this shampoo) and I still have some bits from the Loss Control line to try but I will definitely be buying this again. As you probably know already, AVON prices and offers (and products!) change all of the time but at the time of writing this size of shampoo currently retails at around £3 with the 400ml size retailing at around £4 online direct from AVON, or from your local AVON representative.

8. The Body Shop Mango Shower Gel - 250ml

The final item in this list is something that has been hanging around in my shower for sometime now, and I was inspired to finish it thanks to a more recent purchase.

The local cat charity from where I got Max frequently hold various raffles and sale on their Facebook page to raise money for the rescue. Well a couple of months ago now one of the members who is a representative for The Body Shop at home, held a sale to raise some much needed funds for the rescue - obviously I bought a few bits and one of the things that I bought was The Body Shop Mango Body Yogurt. 

As much as I love The Body Shop Body Butters, the body yogurts are my new love. Hydrating, yet super light and not greasy or heavy they are perfect for when you're in a rush and you don't have time to stand around waiting for moisturiser to absorb. They do them in a few different scents but the Mango is where it's at, it has the most amazing, mouthwatering, fruity scent, in fact it took my strength not to have a taste.

Since I like to coordinate my shower gels and body moisturisers, I went on to see what other mango, peach and apricot shower products that I could find in my stash and this was the first thing that I grabbed. I'm a huge fan of The Body Shop shower gels, and this one is right up there. Yellow, orange in colour it has the most gorgeous fresh and fruity mango scent.

This particular bottle is as old as the hills now, and obviously the packaging has now changed but this particular shower gel is still available in their core range for around £5.50 for a 250ml bottle. Again I won't be buying this in the near future but I will definitely repurchase it somewhere down the line x 

So there you have it Trimming My Stash - September 2020 edition! I was really pleased to finish 8 items, and whilst I'm not convinced October's total is going to be anywhere near that. I'm going to do my best over the next 24 hours or so and see what happens. As per usual if you have any questions on any of the items in this post then either leave me a comment below, or get in touch with me via email or via any of my social media channels x Thanks for reading and I'll see you tomorrow with a spooky Halloween post x 

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