Hey, everyone, I hope that you all had a good weekend, apart from prepping this post, and doing a bit of house stuff, I had quite a chilled weekend, I made a yummy stir fry on Saturday, and I geeked out and watched a few documentaries that I'd Sky plussed, so apart from another dodgy result for Newcastle United, a good weekend was had.
After a return to pretty sporadic posting recently, you're in for a real treat this week, because I have 3 posts planned for you, including the return of my Foodie Friday series. First up though it's Trimming My Stash time, with a look back at July's beauty empties.
The Body Shop Mango Hand Cream - 30ml
The Body Shop Vanilla Brûlée Body Butter - 200ml
AVON Advance Techniques Anti Hair Fall Conditioner - 250ml
Bubble T Peach Bellini Restoring Hand Cream - 90ml
Woo Woo Refreshing Wipes - 12 x Wipes
SUGU Beauty Calm & Cool Sheet Mask With Cucumber - 1 x Fibre Face Mask - 20ml
AVON Advance Techniques Anti Hair Fall Shampoo - 400ml
Smooth Coffee Coffee Body Scrub - 200g
Ecooking Hand Cream - 30ml
Total - 10 Items
So like in June, in July I managed to finish another 10 items. Again I managed to finish a nice mix of products including one skincare product, a couple of haircare items, and a lot of body and hand care bits. In those 10 items I finished a couple of new discoveries, a few favourites, and another one of those been around forever items, and even though I didn't manage to finish any make items (yet again!) I'm still pretty pleased with myself.
1. Primark PS...Nail & Cuticle Oil Nourishing Treatment - 11ml
I have only been to Primark a couple of times this year, but on my last trip I was really pleased to see that they still had this so I bought another bottle. The outer box has changed, as has the scent (it smells a bit more like marzipan than it used to - not my favourite scent but it isn't too strong, so I can just about tolerate it!), but it's still £2 and the oil itself feels and looks the same as it used to.
2. The Body Shop Mango Hand Cream - 30ml
Anyway the first one is from The Body Shop, and it's a hand cream in one of their classic scents - mango. I think that Mango is probably my favourite core scent from The Body Shop, obviously it used to be cocoa butter, but since its disappearance (WHY THOUGH???), it has to be mango.
Containing fair trade shea butter from Ghana, and mango seed oil from India, this hand cream which is peach in colour, has an almost cream / gel texture. A little goes a long way and whilst it is a touch tacky at first, it absorbs really quickly making it an ideal daytime hand cream. My hands instantly felt and looked, smoother and more hydrated.
The big selling point of this hand cream is of course the smell, and boy is it good! Fresh, fruity, tropical mango! If you love fruity scents, then this hand cream and the entire mango range is the one for you.
My one complaint with this hand cream though is the size of the tube! It only comes in this tiny 30ml travel size which retails at £5.50. Great for travel, and great for sticking in your handbag, but come on The Body Shop, please make it in a bigger size!
3. The Body Shop Vanilla Brûlée Body Butter - 200ml
From one product from The Body Shop to another, and this next item is one of those products that's been hanging around in my bathroom for ages. You know what it's like when a product you love has been discontinued, so you just use a tiny amount, and try to eek it out for as long as possible, well that's what I've been doing with this one, and that's why I've had it for so long!
Originally realised at around the same time as my favourite ever festive scent from The Body Shop, Glazed Apple in around 2014, this was just one of numerous spicy vanilla scents that The Body Shop have released over the years.
Made from community fair trade cocoa butter from Ghana and vanilla extract, this body butter had a lovely buttery, creamy texture, and a rich almost dessert like, sweet but not too sickly vanilla scent. As well as moisturising even the driest skin, the gorgeous scent also lingered on the skin in a warming and comforting way. In fact I finished this way back in July. and even though I've washed the tub out, I can still smell the same warm, spicy vanilla scent emanating from it.
Alas this particular product and scent are long gone, and no vanilla based scents appear in this years Christmas offerings from The Body Shop, but if your willing to pay an extortionate amount of for 'old' products then can still find the odd product from the Vanilla Brulee range on eBay.
4. AVON Advance Techniques Anti Hair Fall Conditioner - 250ml
Alas this range, and you probably already know has now been discontinued but thankfully I love all of the other products that I've tried from various Advance Techniques ranges, so I can just about deal with the fact that I only have one bottle of this left.
5. Bubble T Peach Bellini Restoring Hand Cream - 90ml
I think that this particular hand cream must have been a limited edition as I can't find it anywhere. I did however recently buy a smaller Bubble T hand cream in Peach, and it's pretty much identical in appearance, texture and scent. It comes in a smaller 60ml tube and it retails at around £1.99 direct from Bubble T, and from Beauty Expert, and at around £4 from NEXT Beauty.
6. Woo Woo Refreshing Wipes - 12 x Wipes
Next up it's something for your bits, and this is a product that I was first introduced to thanks to disgraced subscription box Pink Parcel, and you can read my initial thoughts here x
Like a lot of women I sometimes despair at the feminine hygiene industry, and the way that they constantly try to tell us that we look bad and smell bad, so whilst I do used products like this at times, you do you and don't feel that you need to use products downstairs to make yourself smell good! Anyways to be honest I only normally use products like this when I'm on my period, and out of all of them that I've tried in the past these are by far the best.
Woo Woo are a really fun and modern brand that produce a wide range of products including everything from hair removal products, to condoms and lube, and intimate washes and wipes. These particular wipes are pH balanced, vegan, biodegradable and flushable.
Containing aloe vera and cranberry extract, these wipes have a light fresh, fruity scent, and they super gentle on the skin, they aren't too wet, and they don't cause any dryness or irritation.
As I say I don't use them everyday by any means but they are really good for keeping you fresh and clean when you're on the go or when you can't make it to the shower.
7. SUGU Beauty Calm & Cool Sheet Mask With Cucumber - 1 x Fibre Face Mask - 20ml
If I remember rightly I used this mask when we were having a bit of a heatwave in the UK, as I thought hope upon hope that it might cool me down!
Containing cucumber juice, centella asiatica, gingko biloba, honeysuckle and chamomile, this mask is specifically designed to calm and cool the skin - perfect for the warm weather!
The first thing that I noticed about this mask was just how wet it was, it was literally dripping with a water like liquid. Despite the wetness it was a decent quality mask so it was fairly easy to unfold. It was a typical fibre like mask with a slightly fibre textured appearance and feel.
Before
With a subtle, fresh, clean scent, because it was so wet, it initially felt quite cool on the skin. The mask as I say was quite good quality, and it fit my face really well.
Being so wet, the liquid did actually start to run down my neck, but to be honest because it was so warm, it was actually a welcome part of the overall cooling myself down process!
On Application
I left it on for about 20 minutes, and as often is, the packet said to massage the excess liquid into my skin using circular motions until it absorbed. Whether it was down to the heat, I don't know but it actually absorbed into the skin quite quickly. It left my skin feeling a tiny bit tacky but it certainly wasn't the stickiest mask that I've ever used.
Appearance wise I don't really think you can see a lot of difference in the before and after pictures, but my skin generally felt cooler and more refreshed, which was a good thing on such a warm, sticky day - I only wish that I'd stuck it in the fridge for a bit beforehand for even more cooling benefits!
After
Unfortunately I have't seen this range in my nearest Poundland since, but you can find it online from various retailers where it tends to be priced between £3 - £3.50.
8. AVON Advance Techniques Anti Hair Fall Shampoo - 400ml
Again I've talked about this shampoo at length in several previous posts, but in brief my hair really seemed to like it. Like the conditioner it contained arginine and keratin complex, it had a lovely fruity and slightly minty fresh scent and it left my hair and scalp feeling clean, and revitalised.
Like with the conditioner I have one bottle of this left to use, and whilst I will miss it, I'm pleased to say that my hair really likes quite a few of the products in various advance techniques ranges, so providing AVON don't start changing things again, I'm sorted with my hair care basics for the foreseeable future.
9. Smooth Coffee Coffee Body Scrub - 200g
Opening the pouch though I was quite surprised to see a predominantly salt based scrub. Containing arabica coffee seed powder, walnut shell powder, and salt, this scrub consisted of almost table salt like grains, with tiny black and brown specks mixed into it, a bit like Chinese salt and pepper seasoning with the chilli and garlic. Rather than smelling like out and out coffee it had a subtle, almost perfumed coffee, vanilla scent.
Being a salt based scrub it was really easy to rinse away, and it was pretty much mess free as the salt dissolved and the coffee and walnut particles where so fine they just washed down the drain. It left my skin feeling really, really smooth and soft, and I would definitely consider buying it again, and you probably should too. My one gripe is that my resealable pouch wouldn't seal back up again, so due to it potentially spilling and getting wet I couldn't store it in the shower, but for just £1 I don't really have any reason to complain.
The product was still available in my nearest Poundland (Consett) as of last week, so you should probably be able to still your hands on it, but if not and you fancy spending a little bit over the odds I have seen it on eBay.
10. Ecooking Hand Cream - 30ml
From Danish skincare brand Ecooking, this vegan friendly hand cream contains organic almond oil, apricot seed oil, and organic olive oil, as well as natural squalane.
Packaged in a paint style, metal tube this hand cream is white in colour, and it has a really thick, and creamy texture.
On Application
Despite Ecooking's claim that it's quick to absorb, I found that it took quite a bit of rubbing in, it felt a touch sticky, and it took a good few minutes to completely absorb into the skin.
Slightly Rubbed In
Once it had absorbed though, I could actually see the difference in my skin, it had a lovely healthy sheen, and even though it had by and large all absorbed, my hands felt almost as though they had a protective barrier on them making this hand cream ideal for night time, or for those colder months of the year.
After
The odd thing about this hand cream for me though was the smell! Officially described as jasmine, grape, and orange flowers, to me it smelled slightly strange not in bad way I just found it really unusual. I'm useless at describing scents but for me it smelled like a mixture of white flowers, nuts, almonds, and traditional furniture polish!
Where as The Body Shop Mango hand cream is definitely more of a daytime / everyday product, this one is much more of either an overnight intensive product or if you're clearing snow or even building a snowman, then this would perfect for protecting your hands on a freezing cold day.
This 30ml size is available for around £9 direct from Ecooking and from The Fragrance Shop, and for around £8 from Look Fantastic. The full 75ml size is also available for around £15.50.
So there you have it, my July empties, and for the second month in a row I finished 10 beauty products. Could I make it a hat trick in August - well I would say that you'll have to wait a few weeks for my post to find out, but there may be a little clue on the right hand side of your screen → ;)
As per usual if you have any questions on any of the items in the post then leave me a comment, and if you've found any fabulous bargain beauty buys, I'd love to hear your recommendations x Thanks for reading and I'll see you later in the week with a couple of posts x
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