Hola! And welcome to another instalment in the black hole that is my beauty- (and candle) related empties.

Let’s get going!

Makeup

Five whole makeup empties this month!

The Freedom Pro Studio Fixing Spray is a great budget option that sets powders wonderfully and keeps my makeup in place much longer than it would survive without it. The Collection Fix Me Up Long Lasting Makeup Fixer was decent too, but the spray nozzle didn’t dispense a mist nearly as fine as the Freedom version.

The Loreal Infallible 24H-Matte Foundation (I’m shade Vanilla) is a long time favourite, and actually my second tube. If I need a high coverage foundation that lasts well, I always reach for this! It applies best with a brush – I find if I try to apply it with a sponge, it goes a bit patchy.

I really enjoyed using the Freedom #ProArtist Longwear Concealer – it’s in similar packaging to the LA Girl Pro Concealer but having used both, I much prefer the formula of this. It’s a medium coverage, blends nicely, has a decent shade range, and at £3 a tube really holds it’s own against the other concealer offerings at the drugstore!

Lastly I totally finished a pot of the ELF High Definition Undereye Setting Powder – I even removed the sifter to get the last little bit! It does have an annoying little bit of glitter, but I did like this as an everyday setting powder. I don’t think I’ll be picking it up again, though, as ELF products are not particularly easy to come by in the UK, and it didn’t impress me enough to go out of my way to purchase it again!

Sheet Masks

More Innisfree Sheet Masks made their way onto my face this month – this time I sampled Pomegranate and Cucumber. I still think they’re good moisturising masks at a reasonable price point, although I can’t tell the difference between them! I also used a Macadamia Oil Foot Pack – I left it on overnight (with big socks over the top) and woke up to super soft, smooth feet.

Both the Creme Shop Coconut Oil Sheet Masks and the Soothing Jeju Natural Aloe Masks came in multipacks from TK Maxx – I prefer the coconut oil ones as they seem a bit more moisturising.

The best one I tried this month was the TooCoolForSchool Egg Cream Mask. This is super hyped up online and I can see why – the fit was spot on, and it stayed damp for an incredible amount of time on my face. There was a visible difference in the plumpness of my skin after use too – and when I digging through my box of empties to take these photos, I discovered the package was still leaking goo several weeks later. Messy, but says a lot of about the essence! I’d definitely buy this one again – I might order some online!

Lotions & Perfume

If you saw my 2016 empties summary post, you’ll have seen me mention my quest to use up some of my ridiculous perfume and body lotion stash.

This month the only perfume I finished was this mini sample of the Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb in Bloom. It was OK – my mum complimented me on it – but it’s not really my kind of scent, so I wouldn’t purchase a full size. Glad I got to try it though! There was enough for two days here – I am pretty liberal with my perfume spritzing, though.

As for body lotion, I finished two more of the I Love… Body Butters from the gift set I’ve had for several years. Cranberry Celebration and Sparkling Snowflake both had strong scents reminiscent of sweets – my boyfriend thought the smell was my wax warmer but it was actually my legs! I’ve only got one pot from this set left now, and have to say I’ve really enjoyed using them up!

Skincare & Dental

Another month, another pack of Wilko Maxi Oval Dual-Faced Cotton Pads – and another tube of Arm & Hammer Advance White Extreme Whitening Toothpaste. Both staples in my stash, both affordable and effective!

I also used a tiny sachet of the Tony Moly Intense Care Dual Effect Sleeping Pack. I really like to use sleeping packs at night – they pack more of a punch than a regular nighttime moisturiser – and this was pretty good. It absorbed quickly and had a gentle, pleasant scent. I woke up with neither oily or dry skin; while this sample wasn’t enough to decide whether it’s a must buy or not, I’d definitely buy a small size to try.

Lastly I’ve thrown this nail file in here because it didn’t fit in any of the other categories! I only used this once – you can see from the photo it looks totally hammered. Do I have super-human strength nails or something? Who knows…

Shower & Bath

I made it my mission to use up this very old Spa Secrets Detox Body Scrub – I bought this from the 99p Store when I was working at Heron Foods in late 2014. Good to finish it – albeit three years later! It was a bright, unnatural blue, which weirded me out a bit. It did an okay job of scrubbing but I have a bad feeling it had microbeads in it – I much prefer sugar-based scrubs and am planning on treating myself to a fancy scrub from an indie bath and body company!

I also used up this Original Source Sweet Apple and Vanilla Milk Moisturizing Shower Milk – I’ve tried most of this range now and this is the scent I enjoyed the most, but I’m not fussed about repurchasing. As my boyfriend would say – it didn’t make enough bubbles!

I finally used up this little bottle of Soap & Glory Rich & Foamous Shower & Bath Body Wash – pretty sure this went to Barcelona and back with me in November, and I finally finished it when I was in Cambridge staying with my boyfriend’s family! What a well traveled bottle of shower gel it turned out to be… In any case, this scent is absolutely divine. It smells like warm, cinnamony, maple-syrup drenched crumbly doughnuts. Or something equally divine – I’ll probably buy the full size of this or the body scrub because I loved using both! Yum…

Both the Feel Good Formulas Rosemary Sage & Vitamin E Rejuvenating Spa Bath Soak and this very old Bath Fizzer from Wilko went in the same bath. As far as I remember, the bath soak made a lot of bubbles and had a very soothing scent, while the fizzer was a bit pathetic – but I mean, it was 25p…

The Feel Good Formulas Grapefruit Massage Bar with Shea Butter is a freebie from a holiday cottage I stayed in last summer. I don’t normally use anything like a massage bar but honestly I really enjoyed the experience of using this! It had a super soothing scent and slowly melted into the skin, and I looked forward to a relaxing massage every time I had a shower or bath. I’d estimate this lasted 8 or 9 uses, which is pretty good for a little bar. However aftwr rinsing it off, it did make my skin feel a bit too squeaky clean for my liking, so after I use the other one I have in my stash, I’d rather try something else.

Haircare

This month I have few more empties from my trusted Garnier Ultimate Blends line – my boss at work got me into this as she uses the Coloured Hair one religiously. (Hi Jo! 👋) The Weightless Nourisher Mythic Olive Shampoo was fine, but not one of my top scents from the range, and the Sleek Restorer with Coconut Oil & Cocoa Butter Conditioner was alright, but I find most of the formulas work pretty much the same so I just pick the scents I like! 

I won the YesTo Blueberries Frizz Free Smooth & Shine Shampoo in an Instagram giveaway and the scent of it was so lovely and refreshing! Sort of like fresh blueberry lemonade. It didn’t last as long as I’d expected either, so my boyfriend must have enjoyed it too… I’ve been using it with the matching conditioner and drying my hair naturally, and it’s been doing tight little curls with slightly less frizz than normal. Overall I do like it, but not as much as my favourites from the Ultimate Blends line!

I had a few nearly-empty mini products which I decided I may as well finish – The Wella Elements Renewing Shampoo and Conditioner were from a gift set I bought from my salon just before Christmas 2015. They were very gentle on my hair and I did like them, but they’re a bit too expensive for me to repurchase. The Tresemme Youth Boost Conditioner was pretty good and seemed to make my hair more shiny! But I’m not over the moon with it – I just prefer my Ultimate Blends!

Lastly I used one of these Argan Oil Hair Treatment vials. You’re supposed to use this on wet hair and leave it in for 15-20 minutes, but your girl is far too evironmentally-concious (read: lazy) to be stood in the shower for that long, so I tend to apply this kind of treatment to my dry hair before I get in the shower. I know I’m doing it wrong – don’t judge me! Anyway this did seem to help inject some moisture back into my hair but it wasn’t anything life-changing. I’ll use the other vials that came in the pack but won’t repurchase.

Candles

I wanted to use up some of my votive candles this month, as I often neglect them, so I used all 4 Chesapeake Bay Enchanted Spice votives that were left in the box. The first time I burned these they had a strong scent – but I didn’t notice much of a throw this time! I think I’m a little spoiled with my independent vendor wax and have gone a bit nose blind… #NoRegrets

I also used a Yankee Candle Festive Cocktail Votive – this was a super Christmassy, warm spicy scent, which are my absolute favourite kinds! The throw on it wasn’t amazing but it did fill my living room quite nicely, and I do have a pretty large living room with high ceilings. I can’t say it left a lasting impression though – I can’t really remember much about the smell. The All Is Bright Votive had a more subtle scent, and was more refreshing and clean – which was fine, but doesn’t want to make me buy a full size. I do think these little votives are a good way to try out the different scents and see what you like – it’s tough to tell sometimes just on cold sniff, and these candles aren’t cheap!

Wax Melts

Nut Cracker from Emily Victoria Candles has been my favourite melt I’ve had so far, period. It’s a creamy, nutty, warm bakery-type scent that fills the room and just keeps going on… and on… and on! I think it was one of her Christmas Scents so I hope she brings it back so I can buy it again…It was a scent that made me proclaim “mmm… I love this wax melt” so often, that I think my boyfriend thought I was going a bit mental.

Fireside was a smokier, musky scent that is reminiscent (funnily enough) of sitting by a burning fire. It conjures up images of lying in front of a fire in a log cabin, wrapped in sheepskin, while a strong muscly man brings you hot mulled cider… Just me? Ok.

Christmas Pine smelled like having a real Christmas tree in your living room – Emily Victoria really is spot on with her names, isn’t she? Anyway, it smelled like nordic pine with a crisp edge to it that reminds you of snow. Great Christmas scent if you are not into cinnamon and spice – and if you have a fake tree but want the real smell!

Lastly I melted a bag of Pumpkin Pie Gummy Bear Wax Melts from Cupcake Chasm. Now I don’t feel like these got a fair chance, because I couldn’t really smell them unless stood very close to my warmer, however I have since discovered that my warmer is only 11W – and to get a decent melt you apparently need around 24W. Luckily I have another one of these, plus plenty of others from this shop, so when I get a new warmer I’ll be giving them a second chance!

Total empties for February: 38

So that means I’m on track to hit my goal of 365 empties for the year – in fact, I’m already ahead! Yippee!

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed my post.
Is there anything I’ve made you want to try? Leave me a comment and let me know!