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.

June Superdrug Haul!

A little present to myself for finishing exams...

I really haven't bought much makeup recently, because I'm well aware that I already own way too much. But there have been a few things I've really wanted recently and after much thought decided to finally pick up from Superdrug.

I have tried some of these products already, so I'll let you guys know a few first impressions.

Makeup

Ignore the moisturiser, I'll deal with that in the skincare section!

I picked up some really exciting makeup bits.

Firstly is something I've been so excited to pick up, but at first I was hesitant as I do own many foundations, a lot of which I don't currently use because even though I buy the lightest shade every time sometimes it's still not light enough for my winter colour skin!

This is the Max Factor Face Finity all day flawless 3 in 1 foundation which was £11.99, supposedly a primer, concealer and foundation all in one (which is a claim that really annoys me). I got it in the lightest shade, light ivory 40. The match is perfect for me, thankfully. I still have used a primer with it, just to make the application more smooth. But I did find amazingly that I didn't need to use concealer when I used this! It gave me the medium plus coverage I needed.

I wanted to buy this because Max Factor and Covergirl have many of the same products just repackaged and under different brand names, and I felt like I was missing out every time someone raved about the Covergirl Outlast Stay Fabulous 3 in 1 foundation, which is clearly the same product as this Facefinity foundation. So I thought I would never get to try this product out, but thankfully it recently got released under the Max Factor umbrella very recently this 2014 Summer.

And yeah, I love it so far. The first time I tried a bit of this on my skin, applying it with the Real Techniques Essential Foundation Brush (not something I normally use), the brush and the foundation together was an amazing match and gave a phenomenal effect.

This reminds me of my favourite foundation ever, the L'Oreal True Match which I actually am in love with... But I think this Max Factor one might actually be a little better! It's early days, I tried it on briefly and I've worn it out once all night,was impressed with the results both times, but only time will tell.

The only downer is that it has SPF! I guess it's good for summer, but not those nights where you know you'll be getting photographed with flash photography, as it might cause flashback- a white cast.

It was three for two on L'Oreal, so naturally I obliged and picked up three things because I've been wanting to try the L'Oreal Paris Glamshine Stain Splash's especially the purple shade, and I thought I would buy two to test out the shade range.

They retail for £7.99 each, and I got the shades Marilyn (lighter one, on the right above, and left below), and Milady (the deeper purple pictured above left and below right).

The idea between these is that they have high pigmentation but stain your lips and so have a better staying power, and they're good.

The scent is fruity and sweet, it's beautiful, and undoubtedly the colours are beautiful. I do find they work even better on top of a lipstick (nude for the light pink one, or a deep purple for the purple one) because they enhance the colour of the lipstick and kind of seal in the lipstick because of their staining power.

And of course there are naturally comparisons to the YSL alternative, because L'Oreal and YSL are owned by the same umbrella brand.

Marilyn, Milady

Everyone always mentions this, but it really is annoying that they don't have the product name on the outsides. The packaging is beautiful though, and the applicator is sort of heart-shaped and applies quite well, although not as well as the Rimmel Apocalips applicator which is the best lipgloss applicator EVER.

So yeah, so far I quite like them, they really do stain well, I couldn't get the last of the stains of these off my swatched hand 24+ hours after and using much makeup remover! But I shall let you know how my thoughts change or develop and perhaps do a full review.

Finally for makeup, I got this single eyeshadow from the Color Riche L'Ombre Pure range in 307 Smokey. This is really hard to track down online, but I'm pretty sure this was between £3-6.

L'Oreal have some amazing eyeshadows, and this is another one. It says it's 'gel infused', and I'm not really sure what that means but I think it contributes to how super creamy, blendable and buttery this product is. The colour is also a beautiful silver shade.

I did really get this because I had already got two L'oreal products, so picking out one for free, but I do actually love this product. The pigmentation is amazing, as you'll see from the swatches below.

Single eyeshadows are something I rarely get, but this colour was so beautiful and it's something I always wear as my standard eyemakeup look for a night out, so it'll be perfect for summer. I haven't worn it on the eyes yet but I know I'll get a lot of use out of it.

However I have realised that it's almost identical to another L'Oreal silver I own, the Colour Appeal (another amazing L'Oreal eyeshadow range) in 150 'Real Silver'. The only thing that's slightly different is the texture, this one having a drier texture in comparison to the one I picked up here.

Skincare

Witch naturally clear cleansing and toning wipes, £1.99, Simple kind to skin cleansing wipes, £1.48, Freederm deep pore cleansing wipes, £1.99. They all have 25 wipes in each packet. The Witch ones I haven't tried yet, but the Simple and Freederm ones I have. This may seem an excessive number of face wipes to buy, but I'm going to use them one at a time (I've started with the Witch ones), and they'll last me for ages. 

You'll see empty-reviews of these as I finish them, letting you know my thoughts on them. I know I love the Simple ones and Freederm ones for different reasons; the Simple ones are very gentle and do clean the skin, but the Freederm ones, my personal favourites of all time, I have noticed really do make a difference to my spots, and make them a lot less horrible to go through! Seriously try these if you haven't already.

By the way, I don't souly use makeup wipes to remove my makeup. I use the Bioderma and Nivea double effects to remove my eye and face makeup. I haven't been using makeup wipes at all for probably up to a year now, but I decided to try them again just to use for a final cleanse of my skin and make sure all the last bits of face makeup are removed. I've missed having makeup remover wipes!

The Clean and Clear Dual Action moisturiser, £3.59, is a repurchase for me. I finished it back in April after it being one of my first moisturisers ever (and wrote an empty-review of it), and when I saw it I felt like I wanted to try it out again. It actually did help with spots and sank into the skin so nicely, making it feel refreshed and, well, clean. It's also oil-free so it kept my oily t-zone under control.

So those are the things I picked up!

What have you most recently bought from the shops? What makeup are you currently loving? Let me know in the comments below.