Empty Products

An empty product is a rare sight when you have a lot of products on rotation. It means it's become part of your routine, which is high praise indeed. I've tried to limit the amount of hair products I show in these types of posts because we'd be here for a long time if I didn't. I've also omitted most of the products I've spoken about far too often. So, what's left?

Aussie Miracle Hair Insurance Leave In Conditioner | I must have spoken about this an incredible amount of times over the years, but I'm including it now because I haven't mentioned it for ages, and my opinion has changed slightly. I've been through bottles of this stuff. It smells beautiful, and used to leave my hair noticeably soft. I don't notice this as much now, though, and use it to wet my hair more than anything. My hair's become accustomed to it, and I've since found products which condition to a greater extent. The mist isn't that fine either. I've found TRESemme's Oleo Radiance Conditioning Mist leaves my hair smoother, and while it doesn't smell as good, it has a really fine mist to it.

Lush Ultrabland Facial Cleanser | This is the other product I'm forever mentioning, but it really is great. It melts away all your makeup without stinging your eyes when you open them to find the face cloth, and leaves your skin seriously moisturised. Other cleansers, even oil ones, feel drying in comparison now. It sounds like it'd be a nightmare for those with oily skin, but that's my t-zone skin type, and I have no problems with it.

Garnier Ultimate Blends Strength Restorer Balm | Smells great and leaves my hair much more conditioned than other intensive conditioners do. I've also finished the shampoo and normal conditioner in this range, as well as the Sleek Restorer ones, and they're all great. The shampoos feel like they're doing more to your hair than just cleaning, and the conditioners noticeably condition, unlike a lot of others which just prevent your hair from feeling too dry.

Original Source Vanilla Milk & Raspberry Shower Gel | Original Source can be overlooked for more expensive, luxurious alternatives, but it's a brand I always return to. I absolutely love this scent, as well as the lime and mango ones, and they're always on offer for £1 somewhere.

L'Occitane Zesty Lime Hand Cream with Shea Butter | This was a magazine freebie, and I so wish I'd stocked up. It smells incredible, and the L'Occitane hand creams are some of the best I've used. I just don't love it enough to pay £8 for 30ml. The hand creams are no strangers to a magazine, so I'm just going to keep my eye out for them.

EOS Sweet Mint Lip Balm | It's always an amazing moment when I finish a lip balm, because it happens so rarely. This one isn't even one of the most moistursing ones I've used. It's pretty average, actually. However, it's smooth and smells lovely, and it was something I ended up applying every night before bed. I have nearly all of the scents, and Sweet Mint is one of the better ones. Honeysuckle isn't as smooth, and Lemon Drop definitely isn't. Strawberry Sorbet is, but I grew accustomed to the scent of Sweet Mint.

Soap & Glory One Heck Of A Blot Primer | One of the best primers I've used. It doesn't interfere with any of my foundations and create a rolling mess, and it makes everything last well. It's more difficult to tell with my face makeup, but when applied around my eyes, my gel eyeliner doesn't smudge as much. I already bought another tube before this one ran out, so that's saying something.

If you have any of these products, let me know your thoughts, and if you know where I can get the L'Occitane hand cream from for a bargainous price, that'd be even better!

EOS Lip Balms

I've had these lip balms for a while, and am half way through Sweet Mint, but have never given my thoughts on them before. This is mostly because they've not blown me away, but they're not terrible either; they're just nice.

95% organic, 100% natural, and paraben and petrolatum free. Packed with antioxidant-rich vitamin E, soothing shea butter and jojoba oil, eos keeps your lips moist, soft and sensationally smooth.

The packaging is what drew me, and most people, to these balms in the first place. I really like how they look, but they're not the most practical. They're bulky, and the lip balm itself is very big for your lips, especially when you wear the top down. However, because they're clear, I don't mind if I get some on the skin around my lips. Also, the packaging makes them great little gifts.

The lip balms themselves are moisturising enough, but keep in mind that I don't have dry lips. I don't think they'd do much if I did, and I'd favour my trusty Blistex Intensive Moisturiser.

Sweet Mint (mint) - Smells like spearmint.

Honeysuckle Honeydew (green) - The subtle melon scent of this one is very natural and not too sweet.

Lemon Drop (yellow) - This one has an SPF of 15, and smells like lemon sherbets. Unlike the others, the texture's almost gritty, so isn't the most pleasant to apply. Once on, though, it feels like the others, so it's not too bad.

Summer Fruit (red) - This smells like some kind of fruit juice, and I really like it.

Strawberry Sorbet (pink) - Smells like some kind of chewy sweet, like a Maoam or something.

Pomegranate Raspberry (raspberry pink) - I thought this one would be my favourite, but it's probably my least favourite. It is fruity, but there's also the scent of the ingredients lingering alongside it.

You'd think I was in love with these because I have so many, but it's because I bought them in a bundle from Amazon, making each one £2-3. I initially bought them to give as presents, and I gave a couple away, but have gradually ended up keeping the rest.

I do like these lip balms, but not enough to pay £7 a pop like they are in some stores. It's ridiculous how expensive they are over here in the UK!

Bargain Beauty Haul

I've bagged some great bargains recently, especially in the last few days, so thought I'd gather them together and have a little ramble!

The first product is the Nina Ricci Nina perfume. I was going to buy this from Boots, but found it on allbeauty.com for £31.80 instead of £54. Although it's still not the cheapest perfume out there, I thought it was a great discount.

On top sits a set of three Revlon ColourBurst Lip Butters in Berry Smoothie, Strawberry Shortcake, and Peach Parfait (all shades I've considered buying in the past). I found this little gem in TK Maxx for £7.99, instead of £7.99 each. It's the first decent beauty item I've found in there! 

I bought the Maybelline Elixir in Mandarin Rapture in Boots yesterday. This retails for £6.99, but I used a couple of vouchers towards it. There's also a 3 for 2 on all Maybelline products at the moment, if you're interested. Apart from the slight shimmer (and it's only slight), I like this so far. It reminds me of the NYX Butter Glosses, in the sense that it's balmy, glossy, and still packs a punch of colour. Unfortunately, we don't have a huge shade selection over here in the UK, but there's still a couple of others I have my eye on.

The EOS Sweet Mint Lip Balm wasn't a huge bargain, but thought I'd include it here anyway. I bought it from Amazon for £3.91 including P&P, but they've now changed the price, so I'd suggest looking around yourself. I wanted to know if these hyped little balls were any good before buying a big value pack for presents. So far, so good. I'll keep you posted!

The Witch primers were on clearance in Superdrug for £1.75, and they were buy one get one free. Two primers for £1.75? Yes, please! The Superdrug Colour Effects Conditioning Colours (£1.49) were also buy one get one free, so I picked up a couple more.

I definitely didn't need any more wipes, but had a £5 No7 voucher to use, so thought I'd pick up the No7 Beautiful Skin Quick Thinking Wipes (£7). My staff discount on top made these just 42p. It would have been rude not to! I then bought the Beautiful Skin Cleansing Balm (£9.50) with another voucher I had, and ended up paying just £2.36 for this. Lastly, on the No7 front, I bought the BB Lips Beauty Balms in Geranium and Blush Coral (£9 each). I had a £3 off voucher, and because I bought two makeup products, I received a free gift box. It contains a mascara, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and eyeshadow brush. The shades are ones my mum will love, so I'm going to give it to her as a present.

There's currently a 3 for 2 across all hair products in Boots, so I picked up the Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Reconstructor (£4.99), the Naked Rescue Intensive Care Shampoo (£4.39), and the Naked Rescue Intensive Care Conditioner (£4.39). I also had 25% off and double points vouchers, making these even cheaper.

After I bought these (and annoyingly used my 25% off voucher), I noticed that the Organix Hydrating Macadamia Oil Shampoo and Conditioner bottles were on clearance for £1.75 each (down from £6.99). They also qualified for the 3 for 2 offer and discount, so I paid just £1.02 each. I think it was meant to be because there were just three bottles left, and two of them were shampoo (I go through more shampoo than I do conditioner).

Have you picked up any bargains recently?