June Empties

Well June has just flown by! I managed to get loads of things used up again this month which I'm really surprised about. When I first started doing these posts I was convinced I'd have months where I hadn't used up anything, but I've proven myself wrong!

I received this shampoo from Neal and Wolf in one of my Love Me Beauty boxes and I really enjoyed using it. It smells fantastic and left my hair super soft, I only wish I'd had the conditioner to go with it! 

Repurchase? I might get the shampoo and conditioner if I'm feeling flush!

I really wanted to like this shampoo and conditioner from Beauty Protector. I loved the hair oil I had to try out, but I found that the shampoo made my hair feel sort of sticky and it also seemed to irritate my scalp a bit. 

Repurchase? No.

 

This shower gel from Soap and Glory was one of the last items from the Yule Monty set to get used up. It's a lovely zesty lemon scent and it exfoliated my skin really well.

Repurchase? Maybe, I have lots of shower gels to use up at the moment.

This Magnolia shower gel from M&S was a Christmas present that I have only just gotten around to using! It had quite a heavy floral scent which really isn't my kind of thing, but it was only a small tube so it didn't really matter.

Repurchase? No.

I think I received this bath oil from Aromatherapy Associates in a Birchbox, and I managed to get two baths out of it. It smells fantastic, and I definitely felt extremely relaxed after using it.

Repurchase? At £40 a bottle, probably not!

This lotion from Yin Yang was another Birchbox sample. I mainly used it as a hand cream and it was quite nourishing, but it didn't really do a lot for some of the dry skin I had on my knuckles. It had a really nice scent though, it sort of reminded me of herbal tea!

Repurchase? No.


 This Garnier body oil sample came with the May Glossybox, and even though lots of people seemed really keen on it, I didn't really like it that much. I might have needed a bigger sample to try it out for longer, but I just didn't feel like it was a particularly outstanding product.

Repurchase? No.

This S5 moisturiser lasted me for ages, as I only needed to use a tiny bit at a time. I think it would be better suited to people with really dry skin, as my combination skin seemed to struggle with the amount of hydration this moisturiser provided.

Repurchase? No. 

 

 If you're a regular reader, you'll know that Simple face washes are a staple for me! I picked up this moisturising face wash as my usual one was sold out. I didn't like it as much, but it was fine for what I needed.

Repurchase? If my usual face wash wasn't available, yes.

This cleanser from Essential Care is amazing. Even though it is described as a coconut cleanser, it doesn't smell like coconuts. It just has pleasant slightly herbal scent, and left my skin feeling amazing. It removed a lot of make up, although it did struggle a bit with certain mascaras.

Repurchase? Yes.

February Empties

This is my first empties post! I always enjoy reading what other people have finished using during the month and what they think of the products, so I've decided to start doing my own!

Obviously I don't have an awful lot of things to talk about, because I only decided to start doing this at the start of the month! Hopefully at the end of March I'll have a few more things to talk about. The first product on my list of empties is this Moisture Balancing Conditioner from Philip Kingsley. This sample came with the January Birchbox and I managed to get about 3 uses from it. It left my hair super smooth, but at £18 for the full-size, this is out of my price range. 

Repurchase: No, unless I could find it somewhere for cheaps!

This Dove Deodorant is a regular repurchase. I love the scents in this range, and I've always found the Dove formula works really well for me! 

Repurchase: Already have.


 This hand and body cream from Marks and Spencer was a Christmas present. I've mainly been using it as a hand cream. I didn't find that it moisturised my hands too well and I would have to reapply a hand cream at work occasionally. It also had quite a strong floral scent seeing as it is Magnolia, which I wasn't particularly keen on. I've also got loads of other hand creams to use up at the moment!

Repurchase: No.

 I love a bubble bath, and Radox is the usual brand I go for! This Eastern Spirit formula is a limited edition but it smells fantastic, I hope Radox will keep it going! I've also bought the hand wash in this scent because I like it so much. 


Repurchase: Yes.


So that's my first empties post! I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I've used up this month, and hopefully next month I'll have some more lovely products to share with you all.

Alice Eliza Nail Polishes

These polishes were a part of the huge bundle of stuff I was sent to review from Marks and Spencer's Christmas range. These aren't normally the kind of colours that I tend to go for, but I actually really like them. The purple in particular is really pretty!

I decided to do an alternating paint job, with a thin coat of the glitter on my thumb nails so that I could get a feel for all of the polishes.

 

I used two coats to get a decent coverage, although the purple was still quite streaky in places. The glittery polish worked really nicely as a sort of glittery finish, on it's own I think it could be a bit patchy though.

 

Overall I'm pretty pleased with these, they lasted quite well without a top coat even though my hands are taking a bit of a bashing at work at the moment! I can't see this set on the Marks and Spencer website anymore, but there are plenty of other cute Alice + Eliza goodies available!


*These items were sent to me for reviewing purposes, and all opinions expressed are my own. I have received no compensation for this review*

 

Christmas Haul

Hello everyone! It's nice to be back blogging again. I've decided to do a quick post about the gorgeous beauty products that I was gifted for Crimbo, as I love having a nose at what other bloggers got! I did take the opportunity to make a list for Luke and his family, so I got some lovely things from Benefit and Stila which I am itching to try out!

 First up though, the bath/shower products! I got this lovely hand cream and shower gel set from Luke's grandparents, which also came with a pretty mug. I've already tried the hand cream and it smells fantastic, and left my hands feeling super soft. 

I also got this lovely Dove set from one of Luke's aunties. I love Dove's shower gels, they leave my skin feeling so soft. I think these sets are great as well because they come with a shower puff, always handy!

This set of nail polishes came from Luke's brother and sister-in-law. I think Helen did a great job picking these out! I love the colours in this set, I don't have many metallic polishes and I can't wait to start swatching them!

I think Luke's mum might have gone a little bit crazy this year, but I'm definitely not complaining! I've wanted to try out Stila's make up for a while, and this set of lip glosses went straight on my Christmas wishlist. So many lovely colours! The shimmery shades are particularly calling to me to be tried out.

Finally, the Benefit goodies! I've been lusting after Benefit's cosmetics for ages, and I just loved the idea of the gift sets they had available for Christmas. Luke got me the How to Look the Best at Everything set, and his mum got me the Rockateur blush and the Rich is Back set. Very excited about these! (And very spoilt! Thank you so much Susan, if you're reading!)

I'm going to do some more in depth posts on these when I've had time to try them out, so you'll have to wait to see what's inside the pretty boxes! I also got a couple of samples to try out with these items.

I'm not really sure if I'll be able to get a feel for these as they are only samples, but I'm still quite interested to try them out. 

So that's my Christmas beauty haul! I hope you've enjoyed seeing what I've received, and having a sneak preview of the things I'll be reviewing in the future! What were your favourite beauty gifts this year?

Limited Collection Wanderlust Eye Palette

Another adorable Marks and Spencer christmassy gift idea to review, and my last post before Christmas! WOOHOO! This little palette is great for someone on the go. It folds out to reveal five eyeshadows and an applicator, the only thing thats missing is a mirror!

 

 



 

 

As I've already swatched this, I've decided to go for a basic make up look to show off the beautiful colours! I used the greeny blue colour as a base, and then added a layer of the sparkly silver over the top for a an icy look!

 

 

 

This is a great palette. I've used it a couple of times for work, and without a primer the eyeshadows pretty much last all day. The shadows are pretty buildable too, so you don't have to worry about looking slightly mental with the bright pink! This palette is £8.50 and is available here.

Limited Collection Eyeshadow Dust Pots

I made quite a mess trying these out over the weekend! I normally tend to stick to pressed shadows and powders, but as I was sent these as freebies for trialling purposes, I decided to get messy for once.

 



 

 

 

First up is this gorgeous blue. I loved this when I first swatched it, and I love it even more now! You can't really see it here, but it's got lovely little flecks of gold in the shadow that catch the light beautifully. It sort of reminds me of a really sparkly goldfish haha! Slightly random but there you go.



This purple is probably my least favourite of the three. Whereas the others have some depth and shimmer to them, the purple is quite flat. It's still a lovely colour, but it doesn't wow me as much. One thing to mention with these is that they are extremely buildable. You can get away with applying a tiny amount and going for a subtle shimmer, or going full on with really bold pigmented colour. 

This is the pinky white shade which I went a little bit mental with. I had to blend it for quite a while just to get it looking slightly normal! I think this would work really well as a highlighter, or for a slightly sixties look with bold eyeliner and enormous lashes.

Overall, I'm not really sure that these have changed my mind and persuaded me into loose powders, but they are great fun and if you know what you're doing, you could really create some lovely looks with them! These eyeshadow pots £9.50 and are available here.

 

Limited Collection and Alice and Eliza Christmas Goodies

I'm lucky enough to know someone who works behind the scenes at Marks and Spencers, who has very kindly sent me some of their Christmas range!

 

This is the selection of Alice and Eliza goodies I was sent. I love the cute fair isle pattern and deer print!

These are bath fizzers, and they smell great! I can't wait to try these out. The scent is described as 'Christmas spices and crisp evergreens', so perfect for winter evenings. These are available here for £4.

This is a hand warmer. I always like to have gloves handy when the weather starts to get chilly, but I really love the idea of these! You snap the metal disc inside the hand warmer to start a chemical reaction which heats up. According to the website, you can re-use the hand warmer by placing it in boiling water, however it doesn't say how long you're meant to leave it in for! It just says '5-7' and I'm not whether it means seconds or minutes. I'll have to give it a try. The hand warmers are available here in a range of covers for £5.

This is a strawberry lip balm. It smells fantastic, but I've not tried it out yet to see how well it does at moisturising! This lip balm is also available in Orange and Frozen Blackberry from here for £3.

This is such a cute set of polishes! I'm really keen to do a Nails of the Day post with these. The set also comes with an emery board. I can't find this on the Marks and Spencer website, so I'm not sure how much it costs!

The last item from the Alice and Eliza collection is this cute wash bag! This set comes with a shower cream and body puff, the website lists the set as containing a hand cream too, but it isn't pictured online and my set didn't come with one. You can buy this set here for £7.50.

 

Now on to the Limited Collection stuff! I love the bright colourful packaging! Again, loving the deer print.

First up is this cute make up set. This includes four eye shadows, blusher, eyeliner, mascara, lip gloss, and a little brush and applicator. You can get this set here for £12.50.

Here are some swatches of the eye shadows and the blusher. The shadows are all shimmery apart from the brown shade which is matte. They're all really pigmented though, and the blusher is a really cute natural pink.

This is the lip gloss and eye liner. The liner applied really easily, and the gloss is a lovely semi sheer pink.

 I was pretty intrigued by this when I first spotted it! This brush has a really light shimmer powder stored in the handle, which is applied when you use the brush on your skin.

Shimmer!

I thought I would get in a right mess with this but it was surprisingly mess-free! You can buy the brush here for £7.50.

Next up is this eye shadow palette. This has got some great shades in it, and comes with a handy applicator too.

Swatches! The silver is pretty much the same as the one in the other set, but I really love the silvery green colour in this palette. You can get this here for £8.50.

This is one of my favourite items from the selection I was sent. I love the colour of the blush and the deer printed into the powder.

This is such a pretty pink! This blusher is available here for £6.

 

This is the last item from my awesome Christmas selection! These eye shadow dusts are so pigmented, but I can see myself making a complete mess with these. There's a reason I normally stick to pressed shadows!

 

 Look at that blue! I couldn't really do these shadows justice with the light today, but take my word for it, these are gorgeous. The blue has got little shimmery bits of gold in which look awesome, the purple is really pigmented, and the pink is just a really soft light shade. You can get this set here for £9.50.

Overall, I think that Marks and Spencer has got some great stocking fillers available this year! I can't wait to try out all of these properly. Keep your eyes peeled for some more in-depth reviews soon!

*Although these items were sent to me for review purposes, all opinions expressed are my own*