January-February 2015 Empties

Empties!!!

During my dry months of not posting here (bad, I know), I had stored up many empties. So many that I even had to throw out one set of about 4 months worth before even writing reviews. Apologies for that, but I do still have a great selection of empties from the last couple months to share with you.

Haircare

Okay, I know I never mention haircare, but this is my ultimate favourite haircare product of all time. It's a shampoo, here I have the 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner. Yes, it's Head and Shoulders. Sure it's known for being a product for people with dandruff, but I beg you all to give it a try. It works wonders on any hair, it smells amazing, nourishes your roots (very important seeing as my scalp has been dry recently due to bleaching), and leaves your hair feeling hairdresser-fresh. I will continue to repurchase this. Give it a go, you may change your views. It's not just for people with flaky scalps!

Skincare

I nearly always try out new cleansers, and this was one I tried out this year and the end of last year. It's the Garnier Pure Active gentle deep clean cream wash. It was amazing. It's perfect for sensitive skin as it has little fragrance and comes in a thicker cream consistency, to which you add water and massage into the skin. I really notice that after washing this off, my skin feels at least 5 times more smooth than it did before, having a much greater effect than other cleansing washes I have used. I may well repurchase.

Two spot treatments next. Both the Clearasil Rapid Action Treatment Cream and the Burt's Bees Herbal Blemish Stick are extremely chemical. They smell chemical, they feel chemical when applied to spots, and yes they do give a burning sensation if you have an open spot. They are extremely drying (good if you have an oily spot like mine always are, but perhaps use in consideration if you have dry skin) and can cause flakiness on the skin. But when something burns me I really feel like it's working, and although it's always hard to tell with skincare, I think these did both help me with the occasional breakout.

Burt's Bees is slightly more expensive and definitely harder to get ahold of in the UK so I'll probably repurchase the Clearasil one or try out another brand's version- as most drugstore brands have a very similar product on offer.

Fragrance

Okay, bear with me because I know this is Justin Bieber's fragrance 'Someday', but this was my favourite perfume ever and one of the nicest scents I have ever smelt. It became 'my signature' and I really have to repurchase. It's sweet but not sickly sweet, slightly fruity, but still a bit perfumey without smelling like that classic grandma perfume that really just smells of... perfume. This and the Lady GaGa Fame perfume are my favourites of all time- both amazing scents this one just lasts longer on the skin.

Makeup

The L'Oreal True Match foundation was one of if not my first foundation. And it has been my favourite for EVER. It feels lightweight but gives good coverage, a satin finish and lasts really well on the skin. People rave about this all the time, but I somehow feel it still deserves more. It's really good. Really trying to use up foundations before I repurchase this one again, but I am so sure all I need in my collection is this and the Max Factor 3 in 1 foundation because these are the best ones I have ever tried (although I would like to branch out into higher end foundations at some point, sure).

Clinique Bottom Lash Mascara. This one dried up on me/ I used it up- it's always hard to tell exactly which. Although the brush is so tiny it takes a while to build up bottom lashes, it's cute and worth it, especially because I find when taking my makeup off after a night out I can't get it all off- meaning I always have regular makeup-less upper lashes and yet long spidery bottom lashes. It builds volume and length, and the fact it's so long lasting means you don't need to worry about mascara falling down all over your face. Not sure if I will repurchase straight away as bottom lash mascara still seems a bit gimicky to me- I'd rather buy a thin small waterproof mascara I can use on both top and bottom lashes.

The ELF lip liner and blending brush in Wine was quite nice. The formula was not too creamy and not too thick and waxy and of course the price of ELF products is extremely cheap. They don't have a massive colour selection but this was a deep purpley reddy brown (does that make sense?) which I could actually use for a variety of lipstick shades- as well as on its own all over the lip. The lip brush on the other end though isn't the best- seems to remove product instead of blending it out.

This was probably my favourite clear mascara or brow gel I have ever had. It's The Body Shop's Brow and Lash Gel, and I found it stuck down my brows and set them firmly in place without being as aggressive as the ELF wet gloss lash and brow mascara which really feels like you've taped down your eyebrows. Some people like that, but if you really don't want to feel like you've got loads of product on your eyebrows, this is the one. Will definitely repurchase.

Thanks for bearing with me, we've reached the final product. It's a strawberry flavoured Carmex lip balm. Carmex is hands down the best lip balm ever; it really sinks into lines and soothes, as well as smoothing out your lips, instead of just coating your lips and making them feel all glossy for a little while. This one also had an SPF which surprisingly is hard to find in a lip balm, but extremely important.

Hope this was somewhat interesting or informative to you guys- stay tuned for more posts and definitely more empties.

E.L.F. Loves and Loathes: Eyes Edition

E.L.F. Loves and Loathes (Eye Products)

This is first in a three-part blog post set, I'll be doing lip products next and then face products.

E.L.F. is an online brand but in other parts of the world you can even get them in drugstores! They're so popular because their products are really cheap, and yet they aim to dupe a lot of more expensive products out there.

Can I just firstly say that these are my opinions and my opinions only- some of you may love the products I hate, and vice versa!

So let's get into it!

I'm gonna start off with the loathes, just to get them out of the way.

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BAD PRODUCTS (2)

1.
Cream Eyeshadows
£3.95

It's not often I really hate a product, but these I really didn't get along with.

The packaging is beautiful and sleek and you seem to get a lot of product in them, but they're not smooth at all and therefore give you a patchy application. They also crease on the eyelids which is just not something you want for a cream eyeshadow- just go for the MAC ones; in this case it's worth the price.

Patchy and not that pigmented- I'm going to throw these products away unfortunately

They won't last very long because the product dries out. I've tried 4 of these and both the lighter and darker shades are all awful.

2. 

I also got free once the 6 in one to-go palettes, or something. They weren't horrendous and the blushes and bronzers especially were quite nice, however a lot of the eyeshadows really weren't great.

I don't have them anymore because I threw out a couple of the bad sets and gave the rest to a friend who doesn't have much eyeshadow.

I didn't have any pictures of this and couldn't find it on the website, but here are some pictures on google if you're wondering what it looks like.

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SO-SO PRODUCTS (1)

1.

The Mineral Infused Mascara

£3.95

This is something I liked, but I can't say I completely loved.

It's a good enough mascara, and the brush shape means this is amazing for reaching the lower lashes without smudging mascara everywhere!

However the formulation is very liquidy and thin- with this mascara you get more of a lengthening effect than volumising. Further, it's not as long-wearing as I'd like in a mascara. But this product really isn't bad by any means! And I do get a lot of use out of it.

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GREAT PRODUCTS (4)

1.

Wet Gloss Lash and Brow Clear Mascara

£1.95

This is a great product, and sadly i'm almost out. You can see my spoolies are a bit tinted from use, but they were originally completely clear.

I used this over the top of my eyebrow products to set the brow hairs in place. And boy does it set the hairs in place! If you want a brow gel that means your lashes really won't budge at all throughout the whole day, then try this out. But if you prefer a more natural setting gel, and one that doesn't make them feel slightly stiff and very set-down, then perhaps try another one. The Body Shop one is good but a bit more natural-feeling.


 2.
Eyeliner and Shadow Stick
£1.97 reduced from £3.95

I got this in a free Halloween bag in 2012 and I've grown to love it. This is a much better cream eyeshadow than the ones in the pot first mentioned in this post.

It comes with two cream eye products.

One thicker end is a lighter shadow stick which I use all over the lid- it's a beautiful colour

Green is a colour which isn't really too far from the standard brown, but adds something new to an ordinary eye look. Try doing green all over the lid and pushing a brown into the crease, or alternatively doing a usual smokey eye but running a slight dark green amongst the brown in the crease.

The 'moss' shade is a slightly darker and thinner colour which is amazing as an eyeliner. It's not too noticeable as a green than a slightly off-black, so I've used this as an upper eye liner before, but it also works amazingly along the lower lash line.

 I really reccommend this product, and will hopefully try it in other shades too.

This is in the shade green/moss

3.

Eyelid Primer

£1.95

Sorry I don't have a picture for this one, I've just run out. I don't need any more primers right now but if i'm ever searching for a cheaper alternative, I definitely will. It's like a thinner version of the Urban Decay primer potion, and although I can't say it works exactly the same, it's a primer, and it primes well enough. I can't really fault it, especially for the price.

I got it in the shade sheer, as it was before they started having the options of other shades. It's here on the website.

4.

Eyebrow Kit

£3.95

This is another product I don't own anymore- so sorry, no pictures for this! But I'm sure you've seen it before on blogs or in videos as it's quite talked about. I had it in the shade ash, and you can find it here on the website.

And for good reason! It's not too thick of a consistency so looks quite natural, the colour selection is good and the powder nicely sets the wax in place whilst adding a second dimension to the just one sole colour.

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What are your favourite eye products from ELF? What are your least favourite? Let me know in the comments below.