Beauty Empties September 2017 - Lush, OGX, Freedom, Tony Moly, Yankee Candle

So I sat earlier on and tried to work out when the last time I did an empties post. It was March. That feels like such a long time ago. I half typed a July-August one but never posted it so its been awhile.

That being said, I don't have loads to talk about. I've been focusing on all the products in my Gone by 2018 project pan, and I feel like everything I started with in that is almost done. They'll probably run out one use after me posting this so Octobers empties will be huge but that's OK. I have time off at the end of October so future me can worry about dealing with them.

Skin Care

1. Superdrug Pore Cleansing Pads - If you've seen any of my empties posts before, you've probably seen these. I use them daily to help keep my skin under control and I do find they work. The don't stop the hormonal break outs I get, but all the small spots I usually get down my cheeks stop when I use these regularly. I'd probably repurchased one of these before I even opened this and I'm already using one of my two backups. Love it.
2. Superdrug Facial Cleansing Wipes for Dry Skin - I don't use these to take my makeup off at the end of the day, but I do use them if I make a mistake putting my face on or for wiping swatches of my arm and cleaning the area I do my makeup and these are fine. They're cheap and cruelty free (and I also earn points on them) so yeah, I probably will repurchase.
3. Biore Nose Pore Strips x2 - Up until this month I thought these were the best strips out there, and was really glad I purchased hundreds in a sale a while ago as Biore aren't cruelty free so I won't buy them again. I've now discovered the Superdrug do a two pack of Charcoal strips that seem to work just as well so if I need strips in the future I will buy those (not that I will as I have so many backups from different brands).
4. Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Pore Strip - These are not very good. I think that's why there's still so many floating around my collection. Wouldn't recommend or repurchase.
5. Primark Sunflower Dark Circle Patches - These did nothing and are just a bit uncomfortable to wear under your eyes as they are really thick. Would not repurchase.

Sheet Masks

1. Garnier Soothing Moisture Bomb Mask - I hate that I liked this. I was given four of these (two pink and two blue) when my skin was really bad and dry. This is the only one I've tried and I actually really liked it. I wouldn't repurchase as it's not cruelty free but I will gladly use the three I have left up. 
2. By Nature Moisturising Coconut Sheet Mask x2 - I bought a box of five of these, used one, hated it, and abandoned them. I had to add the remaining four of them to my Gone by 2018 project (linked above) to try and use them up. I really can't stand these. The mask is a really thick paper that you have to peal a backing off, it doesn't sit on my face well, the serum was really thick and chunky (they've not gone bad, they expire 2022) and they're just all round not a pleasant experience. After using them my skin did feel really nice but they're a struggle to get use. I wouldn't repurchase but I will use the other two I still have left.
3. Tony Moly I'm Real Avocado Mask - I really liked this mask but Tony Moly isn't cruelty free so I won't be repurchasing any of my Tony Moly masks. If you want a nice moisturising mask and don't care if things are cruelty free or not then I would recommend this.
4. 7th Heaven Manuka Honey Peel Off Mask - I hated this. Hated hated hated. I dedicated a whole post on my Instagram to how much I disliked this. It smells so strongly like a lemon and honey Lemsip (fake honey smell is my least favourite smell) and even though I left it on my face for about 20 minutes longer than it said to the mask didn't dry down to peel off and I had to scrub it off my cheeks. I'm trying to get through the last of my 7th Heaven masks as I don't like them so there will be a lot of these over the next couple of months. I would not repurchase this, and if I was given it I would have to re-gift as I could not do that myself.

Makeup

1. New Look Fix Makeup Setting Spray - I actually finished this maybe ten weeks ago, but as I needed to keep the bottle as I had to transfer the Freedom spray into this bottle I didn't include it last time. This did nothing for my makeup but the sprayer was really nice and I could use it to foil eyeshadow. Wouldn't repurchase it but it didn't cause a bad reaction or anything.
2. Freedom Pro Studio Fixing Spray - This did nothing and the spray head was like a jet. Would not recommend.
3. Bourjois Ultra Black Felt Liner - I found this in my stash when my Kiko eyeliner ran out and I legit maybe got four or five uses out this before it stopped working properly. I didn't like the tip and I couldn't get it to apply over foiled eyeshadow. I wouldn't buy Bourjois anyway (not sure how I ended up with this as unless it was really really old, but it was brand new) but this was definitely a fail from my point of view.

Everything Else

1. Lush Fizzbanger Bath Bomb - Autumn is here and I'm now getting back into baths (I don't know if anyone remembers this but in my old flat I only had a bath, so I've been enjoying the luxury of a shower in the morning) and pulled out all my Lush stuff. Some of its gotten a bit old and some other products have done that thing where they kind of leak into the bag and then get on other stuff. This was fine though, maybe a little old but not bad. I've had Fizzbangers before, I really like them and I will no doubt buy it again once I get my Lush stash a little more under control.
2. OGX Coconut Oil Weightless Hydrating Mist - I used to love this, and I bought it (and the other OGX products I have) when I thought they were still cruelty free. I recently learned they are now sold in mainland China and, like Nars, they are no longer cruelty free. I'm going to use up what I have and not purchase again, its a shame as the Tea Tree and Mint shampoo is one of my favourites. Really liked it, but wouldn't repurchase it.
3. Ralph Lauren Polo Sport 3 - Back when I bought this perfume I really liked it, but that was nearly three years ago and my tastes have changed since then. It was nice enough to use it up but I'm glad its gone and I wouldn't repurchase.
4. Yankee Candle in Midsummer Night - I really really liked this candle, it smelled so good and burned for a surprisingly long time, however I find Yankee Candles really overpriced so I wouldn't repurchase unless it was on offer.

Items I'm Throwing Out

1. Molton Brown Amber Cocoon Hand Lotion - This has gone bad. I maybe got a third used up in my Gone by 2018 project but when I went to use it after a couple of nights off the smell had changed. So its a shame but that's being decluttered.
2. L'Occitane Ultra Rich Lotion - I was given this when a friend de-cluttered an old gift set they'd never used. Its been well over a yeah now, I haven't used it either and as I'm not sure how it should smell but I think its a bit iffy so I'm not about to use it.
3. L'Occitane Ultra Rich Shower Cream - Same story as above. 
4. NYX Eyebrow Pencil in Shade 3 Medium Brown  -  This isn't so much medium brown, its more straight up orange. I was hoping it would be a good match for me as I have light to medium browny hair with a lot of bronze and golden tones in it. At some parts its straight up blonde on the underside. However my eyebrows are pretty dark and I usually use a dark brown pencil/powder to fill them in. I sometimes feel that even through what I'm using matches my browns it makes them look too dark for me. This however makes me look like a clown and as I don't know anyone it would match or what to do with it, I'm just getting rid of it.
5. Too Faced Melted Lipstick in Chihuahua (Delux Mini) -  I'm not having a good run with Too Faced lip products as even though this is well within the 12 months its supposed to last, it smells really bad. This is the fourth one of these I've had go bad so I will not buy any more Too Faced liquid lipsticks. I do have two backups that are currently unused so I will open and use as and when I want to.

And that's everything for this month. Next month I will most likely have a lot more, as I'll have all my Gone by 2018 items and I tend to go through face wash once every two months and two bottles of shower gel every two months so I would expect them to all fall into that update as well.

Tried anything here and had a different experience than I have, let me know

xoxo Scruffy

2017 Quarter One Empties - Hair Care - Yes To, DGJ Organics, Superdrug, 7th Heaven, Batiste

So, if anyone read my life update in January, you'll know things were a little chaotic at the end of last year/start of this year. I haven't done empties since November, December and early January don't count because of Christmas and travel, so I've been collecting these since the start of January. The only sensible thing to do seemed to be to split them down into categories and hair care was the smallest so I decided to start with it.

Not crazy big or scary. Anyone that's been here for a while might recognise one or two of these from my 17 by 2017 project, which sadly got scrapped when the boiler died in my old flat. 

So we have the Yes to Blueberries Shampoo and Conditioner (full review here) which I loved, and sadly Boots now only stock online in the UK. They smell great, don't irritate my scalp and sort my hair out. I'll definetly buy them again. Having to order online and collect in store is a pain in the bum but, in all honesty, I really think they're worth it.

DGJ Orangics Hair Juice Shampoo and Conditioner. I didn't love these as much as the Yes To Blueberries ones but they're still pretty nice. Again, zero scalp irritation and worked fine with my crazy hair. The smell is to die for though. I never thought I would like melon scented shampoo, that sounds kind of gross I think about it, but it was so nice. Thinking about it again (I finished these over a month ago) makes me really want to re-order it. Bad Kirstie, Bad. I have three or four shampoo and conditioner sets in my stash right now, and thats not including whats in my bathroom so I need to get through them before I re-purchase anything.

Onto masques and treatments (and the photo had to be blurry!!). On the left is the Superdrugs Coconut Water and Coconut Oil Masque, it's the only other product in this particular post I've done a dedicated review on (here). I really like this, its more like a thick conditioner than what I expect a masque to be, and it leaves my hair really soft and shiny. I've already re-purchased it and am half way through that one. Also because it's not so masque-like its really easy to wash out, meaning I can use it during the week and not have to stress about it taking seven rinses and an extra 23 minutes to wash my hair. 

So, want to know something funny, this is the second time I've typed up this next bit. Blogger thought it would be hilarious to not save, despite me hammering the save button about twenty times. So, I'm sorry if it sames extra sassy and angry but I worked two hours overtime, had salad for dinner and took the time to actually spell check the original post, only for my hard work to disappear off into the ether. 

And then we have this little stinker. And by stinker I mean it literally stinks. It has the same strong fake powdery honey sent of a Lemon & Honey Lemsip, and that smell does not bring back good memories (because who wants their hair to smell strongly of "my nose is snotty, I'm coughing and my ears need to pop so badly they hurt" medicine. I don't like it, it didn't do much for my hair and I wouldn't repurchase or recommend it.

So now we have an *shrug* product, something I hated with a passion and dry shampoo. If its OK with you I'll skip the Batiste as everyone knows what it is and what it does. It's that magic in a bottle that gives me an extra 20 minutes in bed some morning, if I don't mind a slightly irritated scalp for the rest of the day.

Pantene Aqua Light Something Spray, I've binned the bottle already. I got this out the Poundshop a couple of years ago and it didn't do very much for my hair so it just hung about in my collection. I don't really know what else to say, it didn't do a lot, but it smelled nice, There we go, lets be positive here.

And last, and also least, we have the DGJ Organics Argan Oil. Smelled OK but weighed my hair down more than I thought was possible. It also felt sticky and I had to wash my hands after using it. Normally with hair oil I'm wet, my hairs wet and I'm wearing a wet towel so I can just rub my hand on my hair and then rub them on the towel and bobs your teapot, no more hair oil. This stuff needed a proper soapy lather to get it off. 

Like I said, I can't believe how much more curly and bouncy my hairs been since I went back the Superdrug Macadamia Oil. Lesson learned, the thing that costs at least 2x what the thing you know works won't always be better.   

So thats all, not to painful (despite the double type). Thinking next it will either by makeup or body care. I'm currently undecided.

XOXO Scruffy

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