April Empties

 Another month has whizzed by, so I've got my empties to show you all! I managed to get through quite a few things again this month.

I've been using this Rodial moisturiser for ages. I got it in the December Love Me Beauty Box, and initially I wasn't that impressed. After a while of using it though, I found that it moisturised my skin really nicely, and it was also great as a base for make up. Unfortunately I don't really like Rodial as a brand, and they're really expensive with a full-size tube of this coming in at around £60-£75.

Repurchase? No.

 

This Dr Brandt Pores no More Pore Refiner lost out to the Porefessional in one of my recent posts, and I didn't really enjoy using it. I stuck with it all the way to the end of the tube though! I found that it made my skin feel quite oily and almost grimey at times, although it was quite effective at blurring my pores.

Repurchase? No. 

 

I was really sad to finish this little pot of La Claree's gentle cleansing milk. This was great at removing make up, and left my skin feeling really refreshed. It's about £19 for a full size bottle, so if I'm feeling flush one day it might fall into my basket!

Repurchase? Hopefully!

Urban Veda is one of my favourite brands, so this sample was never going to last long! This has that trademark Urban Veda scent, quite floral with a hint of herbs, and my skin felt great after using it. At £8.99 a tube, I think I could see myself buying some more items from this range!

Repurchase? Yes.

 I've managed to get through a couple of hand creams this month. This Lavera cream initially put me off because I found the scent to be a bit sun creamy, but it definitely grew on me the more I used it. It didn't sink in as well as I normally like my hand creams to, and left a slight greasy feeling. 

Repurchase? Probably not.

 The other hand cream I used up was this super cute sample from the March Birchbox. This hand cream smells absolutely amazing! Rhubarb is definitely the main scent, I could hardly detect any rose at all. It sinks into your skin very quickly, and left my hands feeling soft and nourished. 

Repurchase? At some point, yes.

This sachet of the Organic Pharmacy's Antioxidant face cream came with this month's You Beauty Discovery box, and I loved it. It's had a very thick creamy formula that meant that I hardly had to use any, and it sank into my skin like a dream. I just wish it wasn't £40 a pot!

Repurchase? No, too expensive.

 

Finally, I managed to get down to the bottom of my bottle of Soap and Glory's Sugar Crush shower gel! This came with the Yule Monty set and it has literally taken me 4 months to use it all up. This has a lovely lime scent, and worked really well with the body butter I got from the same set. I'm not sure I'd repurchase Soap and Glory products individually as they're quite pricey, but I'd definitely get another set similar to Yule Monty!

Repurchase? Maybe as a set.

I can't believe how many samples I got through this month! I can't promise that May's empties will be as jam packed as this month, but I'll try my best! 

Have you tried any of this month's empties?

Birchbox-January 2014

It's finally here! After two emails and almost a month of waiting, my January Birchbox has finally arrived. Unfortunately, this has probably been my worst experience with a beauty box to date.

 

I had already decided that I was going to subscribe to Birchbox in January, but seeing that they were going to be including a Benefit product really spurred me on! I waited a couple of weeks and began seeing other people receive their boxes, but mine still hadn't arrived. I complained to Birchbox and they said they would send a replacement, which arrived over a week later.

The items in the box do not correspond to the surveys I have been given to fill out. I was meant to receive: Philip Kingsley Elasticizer, Laura Mercier body butter, Delarom Aquaconfort Mask, Benefit's Porefessional (which I did actually receive) and Premae Instant Renewal Body Oil. I'm not too bothered about this (apart from I will obviously be filling out surveys for things I haven't received) as the only thing I would have been really interested to try would be the Laura Mercier body butter. I'm just kind of irritated that I've obviously been sent a reserve box because Birchbox didn't plan ahead and think about how many extra subscribers they would have, after advertising that January would feature a Benefit product. Extremely poor planning on their part. I did eventually receive compensation for all the hanging around in the form of some extra points for my account, which I'm very grateful for!

Anyway, onto the contents of the box! The box comes with a super cute drawstring bag inside, and an adorable little booklet with ideas for tiny tweaks for the new year. Obviously this is kind of redundant, as it's now February. But still a nice touch.  
 

First up, Benefit's Porefessional. I already knew I'd be happy to get this in the box, as I've got a sample in my 'How to Look the Best at Everything' set. It is a small sample at 7.5ml, but if I like using this enough as an every day product, I can see myself purchasing the full size.

I also received yet another hand cream. This is the Lavera Basis Senstive cream, which features shea butter and almond oil. It smells and feels quite similar to sun cream, and it doesn't seem to absorb into my skin very well, leaving quite a greasy feeling. I'm not really a fan.

I did receive a Philip Kingsley product, in the form of this moisture balancing conditioner. I'm quite interested to try this out, certain conditioners can make my hair quite greasy though, so I'm hoping this will be a good one!

One of my favourite items from this box is this cute Beekind body lotion. A portion of the proceeds from this product goes toward supporting Honey Bee and sustainable pollination research which is super important. This smells fantastic, very lemony! Just testing it on the back of my hand, it sinks in very quickly and leaves behind that gorgeous scent. Very nice.

I also received a sample of Blanc Cachemire's Crème de Jour Protectrice. This came with a little card explaining in English how to use it and the ingredients as the packaging is entirely in French. This is a moisturiser, and I can't seem to spot any explanations as to why it's so popular, but apparently it's really big over in Paris at the moment!

Finally as a little extra, we received a little sachet of miso soup.This isn't really my sort of thing, so I gave it to a friend to try and she really enjoyed it. I like the idea of receiving mini food samples in boxes, I think it adds something a bit different and more lifestyle oriented, but hopefully next time it'll be something that I'll like!

The January Birchbox isn't a terrible box. These are all samples I can use or give away, but I have just been left with a bit of a bad taste in my mouth over having to complain and how long my box took to arrive. I think I'll stick around to see what February's box has in store, but if there's no improvement I may very well end up just subscribing to Love Me Beauty!