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 - March 2014

First up, I have to admit to having never heard of Lulu Guinness before Birchbox announced their collaboration with her for the March box. I am absolutely loving the stripy packaging though. This month's box has mainly quite small samples, but there's some pretty good stuff!

I'm really pleased to see some more Benefit products in this months box. This is the Stay don't Stray primer in light/medium which is perfect for my skin tone. This is meant to be used for both eyeshadows and concealers, but I will mainly use it for eyeshadows. I'm pretty excited to get cracking on this, I'm sure there will be a mini review along at some point!

We also have the Pores no More Pore Refiner from Dr Brandt. I'm looking forward to giving this a go as I've been loving Benefit's Porefessional from last months box! This looks to be a very similar colour and texture to the Porefessional too, so I'm quite interested to see if I can spot any differences between the two products. 

Also in the box is this Serenity body oil from Aroma Works. Body oils aren't really my kind of thing, and the smell of this is quite strong so I think I will most probably be looking to rehome this with someone! I also have a bit of an issue with things being sent out in glass bottles. I've never had one break on its way to me, but the Beauty Protector hair oil from last month's box was unfortunately smashed on my bathroom floor last weekend when I was cleaning! I was quite upset because I'd actually been really enjoying using it so I think more plastic bottles in future please Birchbox!

 

 

I was pretty excited to see Molton Brown in the box, but then I saw that it was a hand cream. I've got so much hand cream at the moment I don't know what to with it all! However, this is definitely going in my keep pile because it smells FANTASTIC. This is rhubarb and rose, which is quite an unusual pairing, but I've just rubbed a small amount into my hands and it's just lovely. It's also left my skin feeling super soft, and absorbed really quickly.

We also received a small sample of English Laundry's No.7 for her perfume. I'm really not sure about this scent. It's listed as having top notes of pear and jasmine blended with gardenia, vanilla and sandalwood. I think it's probably the pear and sandalwood that's putting me off. It smells a little bit like nail polish remover! Perfume is a very personal choice though, and inevitably some people will love this scent and some people will hate it!

Finally as the lifestyle extra, we received a stick of rock. I love the black and white stripes and the way it ties in with the theme of the box, but this will probably find its way to the husband as it's not really my cup of tea!

Overall, I'm really pleased with this box. The samples are small, but I still think I'll be able to get a good idea of whether I'll want to repurchase the products from the sizes we've received. My least favourite items are the body oil and the perfume, simply because I don't like the scents! I will definitely be rehoming them though, so they won't go to waste!

What do you think of the March Birchbox?