Wednesday, May 7, 2014

April Empties!

Hello everyone!


I have four products that I used up this past month, so I figured I would share them with you and provide mini reviews of my experiences with them. This will be a happy post, because I loved everything that I finished this month!

The first empty is a hair product, James Brown Detangle Leave-In Conditioner ( £6.99 at Boots). Detanglers can be tricky things...the particularly effective ones are often loaded with silicone, stripping hair of its oils. However, this product managed to detangle my hair successfully without making my hair greasy or lifeless. It has a faint, pleasant nutty scent that doesn't linger (perhaps a by-product of the Kukui Nut oil that features as a main ingredient), and it's water-like texture makes it easy to spray. I found that the lightweight nature of this spray meant that I could use as much as I needed without overloading my hair. I bought it mainly as a detangler, and can't say much about it's efficacy as a leave-in conditioner, but if you have stubborn tangles like I do then this is a worthy investment. It's definitely the best thing I've tried from the James Brown line, which I haven't had much luck with in the past (I'm looking at you, Photo Fabulous Intense Gloss Rescue...ugh). This product might give me some renewed faith in this brand.

I finished two body scrubs this month. Because I am super picky with my body scrubs (I like to use something with a little more scrub power on my lower body and a gentler pick on my upper body), I usually buy trial sizes if they're available before I invest in a full size one. The first trial size scrub I picked up was The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Body Scrub-Gelee (£5.00, £12.50 for full size). This looked a bit wishy washy in the tub, but I couldn't resist the scent...I think pink grapefruit is one of The Body Shop's most unique, refreshing, and non-artificial scents and I've always been a fan. However, my doubts about this scrub dissipated as soon as I used it. The gelly texture makes it easy to distribute over your arms and legs, as you aren't stuck working a clump of product over your skin and losing half of it down the drain. Once it's spread, the granules come out full force and do an excellent scrub job. I'll definitely repurchase this.

The second body scrub was the Soap & Glory Scrub 'Em and Leave 'Em Body Buff  (£2.50, £8.00 for full size). This one was really effective for my lower body, as it was a heavier scrub with fine but powerful granules that had excellent buffing power. It has a much more "sandy/gritty" texture than the Body Shop scrub, or indeed some of the other Soap & Glory scrubs, so you can really get good results with a dollop of this and some pressure. The scrub is scented with the Mist You Madly Soap & Glory Fragrance, which has notes of mandarin, bergamot, blackcurrant, magnolia, freesia, patchouli, and sandlewood (whew!). It made a nice change from the usual fruity scrubs I choose, and smelled luxurious without being overpowering. This is another one I will definitely buy again.

Lastly, I am on the last legs of a moisturizer that I've had on the go for quite a while, Haus of Gloi's Zazz Pumpkin Butter (US$10.00). I absolutely adore Haus of Gloi, a handmade vegan bath and body brand located in Oregon, USA. Their pumpkin butters (so named because of the pumpkin oil ingredient, not because of a pumpkin scent) are rich and non-greasy, as moisturizing as the cult favourite Body Shop Body Butters without being so thick. They have a massive general catalogue, but this particular scent is a Summer Release from last year (which should be coming around again this month, so keep your eye out!) Zazz is "tart cranberry, pink grapefruit, sparkling champagne, and crushed ginger root," and its a scent that tickles your nose and wakes you up with its zesty fragrance. It reminds me of a cranberry-ginger ale cocktail, and I absolutely love it. For the price of these products, not to mention their lovely ingredients and cute packaging, I would say these are the best body moisturizers around. You can order them from http://www.hausofgloi.com/. 

Haus of Gloi Pumpkin Butter

That's it for my empties! What did you finish this month?

xo hannah 

2 comments:

  1. I've never really been a fan of The Body Shop's grapefruit scent. I'm more of a coconut, shea and satsuma girl!

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    1. love coconut and satsuma, but find them a bit overpowering after a while! have you tried the new raspberry or peach scents?

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