I don't know about you, but I'm finding it really hard to understand just where this year has gone! I'm sure I say this every year but the days, weeks, and months seem to go by way quicker than they did when I was a child, but here we are, it's now less than 6 weeks to Christmas, and I can now safely say that 2021 has been a bit of a fail.
For various reasons (mainly health related) I haven't achieved what I wanted to on either a personal or on a blogging level. So with the year hurtling towards a close, all I can promise is that I'm going to give it my all in the remaining weeks of 2021, and I'm going to try and post as often as I can, whilst at the same time trying my best to maintain my own, almost impossible to achieve, standards (being a perfectionist and never being happy with anything you do full on sucks!).
L'Oreal Paris Elvive Dream Lengths 8 Second Wonder Water - 200ml
Cuccio Naturale Cuticle Revitalizing Oil - Lavender & Chamomile - 75ml
Bubble T Blueberry Hand Cream - 60ml
Vivienne Westwood Naughty Alice Eau De Parfum - 30ml
L'Occitane Shea Butter Rose Petals Hand Cream - 30ml
Oh K! Bubble Sheet Mask - 1 x 23g Sheet Mask
L'Occitane Honey And Lemon Hand Cream - 75ml
Elysium Spa Avocado & Lime Sea Salt Scrub Body Exfoliator - 200g
Lush Yog Nog Shower Gel - 275g
You're Sweet! Exfoliating Cubes - Sweet Candy Exfoliating Cubes - 8 x 10g
eos Evolution Of Smooth Shea Better Hand Cream - Eucalyptus - 74ml
Total - 11 Items
At last I did it! After 3 months in a row of finishing a massive 10 items, in September in eventually managed to go one better, and finish 11 beauty products, making it my best month of the year so far! Alas no make up but a nice mix of body care products, with a few skin and hair care products thrown in for good measure.
1. L'Oreal Paris Elvive Dream Lengths 8 Second Wonder Water - 200ml
First up one of those products, where I bought into the hype, and unsurprisingly fell hook, line and sinker in love! There was a period of time, I think, earlier this year, when this stuff was everywhere, in magazines, on blogs, and on Instagram, and being the beauty junkie that I am I couldn't resist giving it a try.
You can read a little bit more on what it does and how it works here, but to put it simply, this stuff is amazing! Although it looks like water, it's super quick and easy to use, and it leaves your hair feeling softer, looking smoother and less flyaway and smelling gorgeous.
I don't use it every wash, only when I'm going to be blow drying my hair, but it really is a revelation and it's something that I will continue to buy.
L'Oreal Paris Elvive Dream Lengths 8 Second Wonder Water has an RRP of £9.99, and is available from the like of Superdrug, Boots, Amazon UK, and Look Fantastic. If you fancy trying it for yourself though, then it's worth shopping around a bit because you regularly find for around half price.
2. Cuccio Naturale Cuticle Revitalizing Oil - Lavender & Chamomile - 75ml
Over the last year or so I've mentioned quite a few cuticle oils from European professional nail brand, Cuccio (You can read me thoughts here, here and here x) but of all of the scents that I've used so far, this one is by far my favourite.
In the salon size, glass, globe like, angled base, dropper bottle, this gentle lavender scented nail and cuticle oil contains safflower oil, sunflower seed oil, and cotton seed oil, as well as lavender and chamomile extracts.
Perfect for bedtime use, this oil is lovely and hydrating, but without feeling overly heavy or greasy. I'm currently using another bottle of the White Limetta & Aloe Vera oil, and some pure jojoba oil on my nails and cuticles, but I will definitely be repurchasing this particular scent in the future.
This particular scent comes in a variety of sizes but this 75ml size retails at anywhere between £12.99 and around £8.95 from various retailers including direct from Cuccio, Nail Polish Direct, eBay and Amazon.
3. Bubble T Blueberry Hand Cream - 60ml
Next up another hand and nail product, and this time it's another hand cream from Bubble T, and it's the first of 4 hand creams in the post! Although I'd tried a few products from fruity, tea inspired beauty brand Bubble T, up until I tried the Bubble T Peach Bellini Restoring Hand Cream that came in the February 2021 edition of Glossybox UK, I'd never tried one of their hand creams before.I enjoyed using the limited edition Peach Bellini version so much that I went out and bought another couple of hand creams from the brand, including this one.
Similar in texture and appearance, and performance to the previous hand cream that I'd tried, this one also contained aloe vera, and shea butter, and it had a sweet, fruity, almost bubblegum like grape / berry scent. Again it was a nice hand cream, it wasn't too heavy or greasy, making it ideal for everyday use.
This price for this particular hand cream seems to vary a little bit, but you can find it anywhere between £1.99 and £4 from various stockists including Amazon UK, Look Fantastic, Beauty Expert, and NEXT Beauty.
4. Vivienne Westwood Naughty Alice Eau De Parfum - 30ml
This particular scent is another product that I remember there being a lot of hype about. I can't remember whether though the hype was due to the fragrance itself, or down to the cute heart, Vivienne Westwood logo, charm bracelet that came with each bottle. My bracelet lies forgotten somewhere in one of my many jewellery boxes, and despite the initial hype, it seems as though the fragrance has now been largely forgotten as well.
With notes of black rose, ylang ylang, violet and pink pepper, this warm floral scent always reminded me of a more grown up version of one of the most well known scents of the 80's and 90's Coty Exclamation!
I would definitely have considered buying another bottle of Naughty Alice, but alas it appears to have been discontinued, and whilst you may be lucky enough to find a reasonably priced bottle, all of the bottles that I can find on the secondary market seem to be on sale for around £100 a more, which unless you're a serious perfume collector, is quite frankly ridiculous. I loved you Naughty Alice but not that much!
5. L'Occitane Shea Butter Rose Petals Hand Cream - 30ml
It took a little bit of time to absorb, as most of the L'Occitane shea butter based hand creams do, but it left the hands feeling velvety soft, and delicately scented.
This particular L'Occitane hand cream, like so many that I feature on the blog, was a limited edition, but if you're after a rose scented hand cream there are currently a few different ones on the L'Occitane website, which retail at around £8 for a 30ml travel size like this one.
6. Oh K! Bubble Sheet Mask - 1 x 23g Sheet Mask
From hands to face, but no space - the next item on September's list is a skincare product and it's a sheet mask from Korean inspired brand Oh K! Now we're all familiar with ordinary paper sheet masks but this one is just a little bit different, it's a bubble sheet mask!
Containing willow bark extract, this serum soaked mask reacts with the oxygen in the air to create tiny bubbles which exfoliate the skin, and help to reduce the appearance of pores.
The instructions say to squeeze the packet before you open it, to make sure that the serum is evenly distributed throughout the mask. The mask itself is made from charcoal fibre, which in itself can minimise pores, and purify the skin. Given the charcoal the mask is quite dark in colour, and although it's of a good thickness, and good quality, the dark colour does make it a little bit tricky to unfold because you can't really see the folds very well.
Before
With a pleasant green, herbal scent, almost as soon as you apply it you can start to see and feel the bubbles forming both on top and underneath the mask.
It initially felt quite cool on application, but as the oxygen reaction started to do it's thing, almost immediately you started to feel a tingly, tickly, popping sensation, that continued as the bubbles grew!
After 10 Minutes
The instructions advise that you leave the mask on for at least 10 minutes, and for no longer than 15 minutes, so I left it on for around 10 minutes, before peeling it off. Immediately after removal, my face was covered in a layer of bubbly, foam.
After rinsing my face with warm water as instructed, and then patting my skin dry, my face looked a touch pink, but it looked very clean, and clear, and it felt almost squeaky clean!
After Rinsing
I really love just how clean my skin feels after using bubble masks like this one. I know a lot of people aren't keen on the tingling and prickling sensation, but I love it when a product actually feels as though it's working, and after all who doesn't like impersonating a cloud with all of those lovely bubbles!
The Oh K! Bubble Sheet Mask retails between £4 and £4.50 and is available direct from Oh K! as well as from Feel Unique, Look Fantastic, Boots, and NEXT Beauty.
7. L'Occitane Honey And Lemon Hand Cream - 75ml
Next up yet another hand cream, and this one is without a doubt one of my favourite hand creams of all time and you can read a little bit more about it here x
Although I'm not a huge fan of honey, this hand cream had a warm sweet scent, cut through with just a hint of citrus. Team that comforting scent up with L'Occitane's rich and decedent hand cream texture and in my eyes you have a winner!
Alas this one has now been discontinued as well, and sadly this was the last large tube that I had left - Thankfully, I do still have a tiny, tiny little tube so I'll be able to enjoy this scent for just a little bit longer.
8. Elysium Spa Avocado & Lime Sea Salt Scrub Body Exfoliator - 200g
Now if you're a regular reader, you'll already know that I'm partial to a bargain. I love high end beauty products as much as the next blogger, but lets be real, in these current confusing times, sometimes we just don't have the money for a proper splurge, and even though prices have risen across the board you can still find a beauty bargain if you look hard enough.
If you live in the North East, or Yorkshire, then you might be lucky enough to have a Boyes store near you. Never the most organised of shops, Boyes sells everything from hardware, to craft supplies, clothing, miss matched china, and of course health and beauty products. I'm lucky enough to live quite near to a store but I've got to say that I don't actually go in that often, but I really should. I went recently and picked up a super cute 2022 diary, and a pile of beauty bits including a rainbow Wet N' Wild highlighter, and this body scrub.
I was really pleased to see a whole range of products from a brand called Elysium Spa. I'd previously tried and really liked a lavender shower gel from them, and as well as picking up the eucalyptus shower gel that I'd been looking for, I thought I'd try one of their body scrubs - there were a few different ones to choose from but I went for the Avocado And Lime Sea Salt Body Scrub.
Containing sea salt, sweet almond oil, jojoba butter, avocado oil, and lime oil, it came packaged in the cutest little screw top tub / bucket. The scrub inside was pale yellow in colour, and it resembled slightly damp table salt that you can just about clump together with your fingers.
I don't know quite what I was expecting scent wise, but I think I was probably expecting it to have a little bit more of a fruity scent. In reality though it actually reminded me of a fresh unisex, or even aftershave, cologne like scent.
Use wise, it was pretty simple, you just needed to grab a handful, and massage it over damp skin. It wasn't rough or scratchy, but you definitely feel as though you'd given your skin a thorough exfoliation - like all salt scrubs it did sting a bit on cuts and scratches (the perils of cat ownership!) so I wouldn't use it directly after hair removal but it wasn't too bad. Being predominantly a salt scrub it rinsed away really easily and it dissolved straight away leaving no mess in the shower and super soft, smooth skin.
I can't remember whether this was a £1 or just 99p, but either way it was a bargain, and I'm definitely going to try some of the other scents and formulations in the future.
9. Lush Yog Nog Shower Gel - 275g
I know that Lush is famous for Snow Fairy, but if you haven't tried Yog Nog yet you really are missing out. I shouldn't really be buying anymore shower products but I will definitely be picking up another bottle this festive season.
This 275ml size retails at £12, you can also a 100ml taster bottle for £6, and a huge 550g bottle for £20. It isn't cheap but you need such a tiny amount, it lasts for ages.
10. You're Sweet! Exfoliating Cubes - Sweet Candy Exfoliating Cubes - 8 x 10g
With a subtle but sweet scent, these cubes were way less dense and compact than the Sunday Rain ones, and they felt a lot coarser on the skin. I also felt that I needed to use a couple of these for a full body exfoliation, compared to usually just one of the higher priced ones.
To be honest I think that cubes like this are a bit of a gimmick, yes they are great for travel and they're a bit of fun, but surely it works out more economical just to buy a tube of body scrub?
As I say they were a bit of fun but I probably wouldn't repurchase these particular ones. I can't remember if I paid £1 or £1.50 for these but if you're interested check out your local Poundland.
11. eos Evolution Of Smooth Shea Better Hand Cream - Eucalyptus - 74ml
If you can't find it in Poundland then you can find it online for around £4.99 from Look Fantastic, and HQ Hair, and for around £4.13 from Amazon UK.
If you've made it to the end - Thank You!! That was a pretty epic empties post, so if you have any questions on any of the numerous products that I featured in this post then please leave me a comment below x
As you can probably see from my sidebar, October in comparison was a bit of a fail trimming my stash wise, but that means that I should be able to get my post up a bit quicker this time round - every cloud as they say! Never mind I've got a few days of November left now, so fingers crossed I can improve my total this month.
Thanks for reading and I will seen you soon with another post xx
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