July Empties

If you've read any of my previous empties posts you'll think this one pales in comparison; it definitely wasn't my month for using up lots of products! 

The Body Shop Brazil Nut Body Butter

I love this body butter, the scent might not be for everyone as it is a bit sickly but I like it. I tend to use this particular body butter more on drier areas such as my elbows and knees.

The Body Shop Africa Spa Hand & Foot Butter

I've already repurchased this; it's an excellent foot cream. I can't imagine using it as a hand cream, though.

The Body Shop Dewberry Shower Gel

Can you tell that I'm a fan of products from The Body Shop? This isn't my favourite scent but it's nice. Raspberry Ripple is my favourite scent from this range.

Vaseline Cocoa Butter Vitalising Gel Body Oil

This isn't technically an empty but I just can't bring myself to use it any more. It's horrendously greasy and takes forever and a day to sink into my skin no matter how little I use so it has to go!

Dr Bronner's Lavender Hand Sanitizing Spray

I'm going to be honest and say that I didn't love the scent of this but it was quite handy to use. I kept it by my bed in the hope that the lavender scent would help me get to sleep more easily.

Cuticura Citrus Hand Hygiene Gel

This is a bit big for my handbag so I kept it by my make up/skincare to use if I needed to. It's a good budget product to have around.

Bath & Body Works Fresh Picked Pairs Pocket Bacs

This smells absolutely delicious; I'm sad that I've used it all up. If I ever make it to the States, I'm going to buy hundreds of these Pocket Bacs because they're great for my handbag.

Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Intensive Moisturising Hand Treatment

This is another product that I've not technically used up. It's very moisturising and sinks in quickly, which is great but it absolutely stinks!

L'Occitaine Shea Butter Hand Cream

I bought the smaller sized tube of this to pop in my bag and I've been impressed by it. It's definitely up there with my other favourite hand creams.

Head & Shoulders Citrus Fresh Shampoo

I always go back to this product when my scalp is playing up. It works well on my grease-prone hair and isn't irritating at all.

Clarins Water Purify One Step Cleanser

This is a decent cleansing water but I do think there are other similar products that are cheaper. 

Lierac Energizing Soothing Cream Sample

This has been my most used moisturiser recently and I've really enjoyed using it. 

Thierry Mugler Angel EDT Sample

I love the scent of this perfume, it reminds me of my granny because that's why she wears. 

BeneFit PoreFessional Primer Sample

I got this free with a magazine and it lasted me a good month or so. PoreFessional is one of my favourite primers.

Comfort Zone Renight Recover Cream Sample

It feels like forever since I finished up this sample. It's very thick so I can't see myself wanting to purchase the full size. 

Burberry Body EDP Sample

I've had so many samples of this perfume, it's ridiculous! It's just okay to be honest.

That's it! Let me know if you used up many products this month in the comments.

Stace xx

July Haul

I didn't think I bought too many products this month but I guess I was wrong!

I needed a new shampoo so picked up the L'Oreal Ever Strong Reinforcing Vitality shampoo; it's from their new sulphate free range. Having tried (and enjoyed) another (much more expensive) sulphate free shampoo, I've been keen to try another one. The E45 lotion was a necessity because the skin on my back and shoulders has been feeling so irritated recently. It's a decent moisturiser in general and something that's handy to have on hand when scented lotions are too irritating.

I popped into The Body Shop because it's my birthday month so I had a £5 reward plus a £5 reward on my reward card. I needed to replace my African Spa Hand & Foot Butter so I used my £10 of rewards on that.  From the sale I picked up a Raspberry body butter, a Green Apple shower gel and a Passion Fruit cleansing gel. I stupidly thought the Passion Fruit cleansing gel was a body wash, though. I added a Born Lippy balm in Pinkberry at the till and I've been enjoying this lip balm so much. It smells like a strawberry Opal Fruit.

I picked up the famous Rub Rub Rub body scrub from LUSH and have been loving it so far. The scent is really unexpected; because it's blue I was expecting it to smell fresh but it's actually a lot more floral.

I did a little blog sale shopping this month. From a US blog sale I bought a mini Make
Up For Ever Smokey Lash mascara but unfortunately it's very dry looking so I don't think it's usable. I bought two more Maybelline Baby Lips in Pink Punch and Cherry Me. Despite the naff packaging, these are great little tinted balms. I also picked up a Hard Candy 'bronzer' (what?!) in Tiki. It's a lovely highlight powder.

I accidentally bought another highlight powder from Lou's blog sale; this time it was Topshop's Sunbeam. This one is very pigmented and golden. I also bought a mini Burberry lip cover in Rosewood because I didn't get it in my Harrod's Glossybox and felt I was missing out! It's very cute.

I clearly had a thing for honey scented lip balms this month given that I purchased both the Nivea Milk and Honey balm and the Burt's Bees Honey balm. I have to say, I prefer the Nivea one. I picked up a couple of the new-ish Revlon Kissable Balm Stains in Crush and Rendevous. I wanted to try a waterproof mascara so picked up the L'Oreal Volume Million Lashes Waterproof in Black; I've been enjoying using it so far. I had to replenish my stock of Collection Lasting Perfection concealer in Medium, too.

I attended a make up lesson at Urban Decay that I'd won and the make up artist used this concealer on me. I really liked the coverage and texture of it so I picked up the Urban Decay 24/7 Concealer in AFI. Expect to see a review on this sometime soon. The final product in this haul wasn't purchased by me. A lady I babysit for gave me this because she didn't think the colour would suit her. I've been hankering after a NARS Larger Than Life lip gloss for a while so it was a nice surprise. This is in the shade Place Vendome. 

Swatches

Hard Candy Tiki, Topshop Sunbeam, Urban Decay AFI, Collection Medium

Maybelline Cherry Me, Maybelline Pink Punch, Revlon Rendevous, Revlon Crush, Burberry Rosewood, NARS Place Vendome

If you'd like to see reviews of any of these products, please let me know!

Stace xx

Burberry's New Fragrance - "Body"

A couple of weeks ago, FleurdeForce posted about Burberry giving away samples of their new fragrance via their Facebook page. She seemed to think the samples were 30ml (aka pretty much full size!) so I decided it wouldn't do any harm to fill in my details and see if I received anything. 

A small white box arrived last week and inside was a 4.5ml sample of Body, the new fragrance from Burberry. 

So, what do I think of it?

Well, my boyfriend told me it smelt like grannies! I have to admit that upon first snuff, it does smell a bit too mature for my liking. Burberry describe this scent as "very British and the most sensual and feminine fragrance we have ever worked on. It's sophisticated, it's modern and it's delicate. We wanted it to beálight and feminine but also distinctive - something that appeals to women regardless of their age." So that probably explains why I think its a bit more appropriate for an older lady. 

However, I've worn this a few times now and whilst I wouldn't say I love it, the mature aspects of the scent do die down throughout the day. I like it much more after I've been wearing it for an hour or so. I think I would wear this as lot if I worked in an office or had a 'sensible' job. It does wear for a very long time (I would say up to 8 hours) which I like.

This is available from anywhere which stocks Burberry fragrances. I found it at Debenhams starting at £45 for 35ml.

Will you be giving this a sniff?

Stace xx