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Sunday, October 28, 2012

October 2012 empties

This post is only 13 days late as I means to write it on the 15th of this month like the previous entries. But nevermind, here it is now...

This month I haven't finished up very much, maybe it will mean I have more in November, but I also don't want to force myself to use more as that's just a waste.


1)Aussie Miracle Moist Shampoo 300ml
2)Aussie Miracle Moist Conditioner 250ml

I love them and they do wonders for my frizzy dry hair, but some months it's a bit rich for me, so I like to switch my shampoo around every so often

3)Aussie Take The Heat 3 minute Deep Treatment 250ml
Again, love Aussie hair stuff. I stopped straightening my hair about 8 weeks ago and have noticed such a difference. I don't have any split ends, which is lovely. So because of that I haven't been using as many hair products. It's been nice giving my hair a bit of a break.
But I will be purchasing some more of these when I go to Florida in 75 days :)

4)The Body Shop 'Love ETC' Body Butter 200ml
I mentioned it before, but my skin is terribly dry, so body lotions do nothing for it. I love this Body Butter as the scent reminds me of the Soap & Glory one. But that one has recently been on the 3for2 offer at boots, so I have picked up a tub of that. Again, I like switching my products around or else I get bored. I probably like both Body Butters equally as much.

5)The Body Shop Hemp Foot Protector 100ml

I hate my dry feet, this cream is brilliant, but some people might not like the scent as it's quite herbal...I use it at night.

6)Soap & Glory Scrub Your Nose In It facial peeling 125ml
I didn't really like this one, not sure why. I didn't enjoy the peppermint scent either. Will not repurchase.

7)Secret 'so very summerberry' gel deodorant 76g
Gosh I love these. I always stock up when I'm in the States and they last ages. I still have 2 full ones left, so I will be fine until I'm back over there to buy some more.
My favourite scent was 'peach', which I got in 2011. This year I got 'summerberry' and 'pear'(which I am using at the moment)
So efficient!

8)No7 Cleanse & Care Eye Make Up Remover 100ml
I like two phase eye make up removers as I find them very efficient in removing my waterproof mascara.
I got this 'cheap' with a £5 No7 voucher.
At the moment I am using a Loreal one but I'm really keen on trying the Lancome two phase 'bi facil' eye make up remover. Maybe Father Christmas could bring me some?

9)Aquafresh extra care Mouthwash 250ml
Well, there's not much to say about mouthwash, it did the job and wasn't too strong. Need to repurchase.

10)Bath & Bodyworks 'dark kiss' body lotion 59ml
Like I mentioned earlier, Body lotions aren't moisturising enough for my skin, especially now with Winter just around the corner. But I adore the scent of this lotion and took it with me on a couple of weekends away. As much as I love the scent, I really need to stop myself from buying more of this next January.
This one was 2 years old. I remember picking it up for $1 when I was in new York in 2010 as it was a brand new scent back then. I got another, slightly bigger bottle earlier this year in Orlando.

11) & 12) REN Glycolactic Radiance Renewal Mask 5ml & 15ml
I do love this mask, it makes my skin feel brighter and I prefer 'chemical' or enzyme peels to mechanical peels.(scrubs)
I have got two more travel sizes and also a 50ml full size of this :)

13)essence nail oil 3.5ml
I love this nail oil. I suffer from very dry cuticles and love to use this oil often, especially when I'm 'on the go' like on the train.
This wasn't supposed to be in this month's empties but unfortunately I left it in my jeans' pocket and it went through the washing machine. The bottle didn't crack but it was empty when it came out the machine. Luckily I picked up two more when I was in Germany back in August.

14)Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Skin Therapy Oil 5ml
Just a sachet from a magazine. I do like skin oils but the scent was too strong for me as it clashed with my perfume. It did make my skin feel very nice and soft though.

15)Glamour magazine shower gel
Another sachet freebie. This was in Glamour magazine a year or so ago and they kept the brand a secret as it was supposed to be market research. Did the trick but I didn't enjoy the scent, I have nicer shower gels at home so I didn't go through the trouble of finding out which brand this was.

So, I finished 15 items and bought about 50 new ones ;-) Haul post soon...


Saturday, October 6, 2012

InStyle and Marie Claire November 2012 Freebies

I LOVE reading magazines and especially love buying them when they have good freebies included.
Right now there are a few ones out worth buying and I picked up a couple of them

Marie Claire November 2012
This includes a 30ml L'Occitane shea handcream in one of 4 varieties. You can choose from original scent, date, rose and mango.
I picked up the original and mango one but may also get the date scented cream next time I'm at the shops.
The magazine retails at £3.70 and the hand cream normally retails at £8 each.

There was also a 50ml Dove colour radiance conditioner included with my magazine but I know some store had sachets of TRESemme hairproducts instead.

Also a sample of Clarins foundation




InStyle November 2012
This included one of three mini Benefit products, choose from Cha Cha tint(mango tinted lip and cheek stain), Benetint(rose tinted lip and cheek stain) or Sunbeam.
I picked up the first two a year ago with Glamour magazine and didn't really care for them, so I tried Sun Beam this time.
It's a golden bronze complexion highlighter, which you apply over your make up.

The magazine also includes a voucher to exchange for a free Bad Gal mini mascara at participating benefit counters as well as the same foundation sample included in Marie Claire.

The Benefit samples are all worth around £8(give or take a few pence) and the magazine retails at £3.80. However, I got mine at Tesco where it sells for £2.50.




I'm very happy about this month's 'freebies', I know I still spent almost £10 on 3 beauty products, so technically they are not freebies but I really enjoy trying out new products like Benefit or getting old favourites like L'Occitane hand cream, which is normally a little too pricey for me considering how much hand cream I use.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

August 2012 Germany Haul

I recently went to Germany to visit my family and of course I couldn't help myself but buy a few things while I was there, mostly food and of course beauty items from the drugstore.

A few months ago I subscribed to a German Beauty Box, which is being sent to my mum's place every month, so when I visited, there were three boxes waiting for me full of wonderful little surprises. This particular beauty box recently changed from being a complete surprise to now knowing in advance what's inside, since you can chose your own samples from a selection of roughly 14 products.
As well as samples, the Douglas Box of Beauty also contains one main product every month, which is usually worth around €10, making the box a very good value since the total cost is in fact €10 including shipping.
Take that Glossy Box!!

Anyway, here are some of the wonderful procducts I bought and some I had in my beauty box(marked with a BOB, which stands for 'Box of Beauty')




starting in the back from left to right:

1) Night Life by Esprit 15ml Eau de Toilette
I don't normally like cheap drugstore perfumes but I quite liked this one when I tested it and for €9 I had to buy it

2) Isana mango guava lipbalm

3) Labello(Nivea in the UK) fruity shine 'cherry' lip balm x 2

4) Clarins HydraQuench mask 15ml(BOB)
this is one of the beauty box luxury samples, so far I have used it once as my skin is rather dehydrated at the moment.

5) & 6) Synergen Handcream in 'lovesong' and 'white chocolate'
cheap and cheerful handcream, €0.65!!

7) Tana Egypt Wonder Lipstick(BOB)
This one changes colour according to the pH of your lips. Mine turned into a very bright pinkish red

8) Gucci Guilty 5ml EdP(BOB)

9) Kenzo Flower Tag 5ml EdP(BOB)

10) Estee Lauder Doublewear Light in a shade 2, my favourite foundation

11) Rexona Maximum Protection 48hr deodorant. I think this brand is called 'Sure' in the UK. I've been wanting to try these for ages but couldn't bring myself to pay £5, so when it was on offer for €3(£2.50) in Germany I snapped one up. Haven't tried it yet as I'm still finishing one of the Secret ones I bought in the US. I always buy my deodorant abroad it seems ;-)

12) Catrice glitter nail polish. Apparently you can never have too many nail polishes

13) Tetesept glitter bath perls for children. This is part of a christmas hamper I'm making for the girls. Full of pink, gllittery girly things.

14) and 15) Burberry Brit scented Body Lotion 30ml and mini perfume spray, this was a 'gift with purchase' and included a nice cosmetics bag as well.

16) Hildegard Braukmann Powder in a shade medium(BOB)
This was the main product in the Beauty Box back in June and everyone thought medium was going to be too dark(we didn't get to choose a shade) but it's perfect for me. I will definitely repurchase this one.

17) Rival de Loop Young Eyeshadow base
I've been lusting for the Urban Decay Primer Potion but it's been out of stock everywhere I went, so I decided to give this one a go. Worth a try for €2.
Have used it twice and the eye shadow stayed put, it's a winner for me!

18) and 19) Essence Nail Polish Corrector pen and nail oil(x2)
I'm not very good at paining my nails, especially my right hand and get quite a bit of polish on my cuticles, this should help me afterwards.
The nail oil is great, I bought one at Christmas and carry it in my bag at all times. They don't always have it in stock so I bought two when I saw them.(€2 each)

20) Ellie Saab Le Perfum 4ml EdT(BOB)
Don't like the smell so trying to swap/sell it

21) Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour cream(BOB) 5ml
I bought this once before on a plane but didn't enjoy the herbal scent. It was very rich and nourishing, so will keep this for my handbag or for when I go on holiday next January.

22) Lancaster Skin Therapy Oxygen Flash Mask(BOB) 15ml
This was again one of the luxury samples from the beauty box, will finish my Clarins mask first and then try this one.

23) and 24) Alien by Thierry Mugler EdT sample and 30ml scented Body Lotion(BOB).
As I mentioned in my post about my perfume collection, I really do love this scent so when the scented Body Lotion was one of the choices in a previous beauty box I had to have it.
It's slightly shimmery so I will save this for a special occasion and use it on my arms.
The sample is perfect to pop into my handbag.
Sadly my partner is allergic to perfume, so I have to be careful when I use it.

I bought more when I was there but had to leave some things behind due to luggage restriction. Will bring them home at Christmas :)

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