Tuesday 16 February 2016

Empties February 2016 | Sephora, Kiko, Lush + More.

Since I went on a bit of a blogging break towards the end of 2015, I actually binned a lot of things I had been meaning to save for an empties post. My room here in France is so small that any unnecessary clutter left hanging about drives me up the very horribly painted walls. I did finish up quite a few skincare and some other bits and bobs, though, and I thought I'd review those for ye in one (hopefully) quick post!

Dry shampoo is my favourite thing in the world. Since I wash my hair about once or twice a week, at any given point I am made up of 90% dry shampoo. Unapologetically. Up until a month ago, I had only ever used the classic Batiste dry shampoos. Having been a fan of Aussie shampoos and conditioners in the past I thought the dry shampoo would be a pretty safe bet. This stuff is woeful. I can't express how bad it is in neither French nor English. It ticks zero boxes. It doesn't smell good, it goes on weirdly and feels wet in the hair for ages, it doesn't soak up ANY of the grease or oil in your roots - seriously, this stuff does nothing. I can't understand how this is being sold as a dry shampoo, it did absolutely nothing for my hair so I actually decided to throw this out after a few uses. Back to Batiste. 


Lush's purple shampoo in Daddy-O is faaaab. I've gone through plenty of the big bottles before and took a small one back with me after Christmas. I go between this or the Schwarzkopf purple shampoo I don't really mind. If you're a blondie or silver fox who is mindful of cruelty-free/organic/vegan/handmade sort of stuff then this is a great shampoo. I haven't always had the best luck with Lush haircare in the past but this is one I continue to repurchase time and time again!


A nail polish remover is never something I put much thought into when I purchase it, it feels like something that should just always be there in your house. I normally wouldn't even bother to include it in an empties post, only for this is quite a known brand and I feel the need to say how crap this was. I picked this up when I first moved to France having been a fan of Kiko for a while now. I honestly wouldn't recommend this at all. It was about €4 for a relatively small bottle and my cotton pad was basically swimming in this stuff to even get one hand of polish off. Somehow it actually evaporates off the cotton pad after removing the polish off every 2 nails. I got 10 nails. That's a lot of cotton pads and remover. Ain't nobody got time for that.


I spoke about my dislike for the Garnier Micellar water in a previous empties posts (see here) but in short, I didn't get on with it. I'm a fan of an oil and warm cloth cleanse but since I'm not washing face cloths twice a week here, I need something a little more fuss free. I have resorted back to micellar water (reluctantly, I promise you) and my opinion hasn't really changed too much. Look, it does the job at taking off most of my makeup, I'm just glad I have my Clarisonic to give my skin a good cleanse afterwards in the evenings which gets rid of the sticky residue the micellar water leaves on my skin. I've repurchased this purely because it's easy to find in France, but it's by no means my favourite skincare product!


Since I hadn't tried any other brand of micellar water I decided to pick up the Boots Botanics one over Christmas. I don't think this particularly converted me to micellar waters, either, to be honest. It made my face feel a little less sticky than the Garnier one but I have to say it stung my eyes a little when taking off my eye makeup. Whomp. I'll try the Sephora one next to see how I get on - am I the only one who isn't really quite on this micellar water wagon? 


I'm combining Face Mask Friday with an empties post in giving you some quick fire reviews of the Sephora brand sheet masks - which make me feel equal parts like a serial killer and Mrs. Doubtfire in the "HELLOOOOOOO" scene whenever I wear them. I've tried pretty much all of them by now but I have just 4 to show you today. In short, think they're mostly fab! I think these are an excellent treat every once in a while, and would be fantastic if you're doing a long-haul flight or journey... or Halloween, I mean whatever you're into. 


Rose is one of my favourite ones. Intended for brightening and moisturizing, it's quite strong smelling of roses (shocking news altogether, Grace). I found this really moisturizing and nice for dry skin around my nose. It also made my skin feel nourished and plumped.
Green Tea is another one of my favourites and is intended for oily skin with mattifying and anti-blemish properties. Now, this won't get rid of your acne overnight but I did find it great for mattifying the skin and tend to use this when I'm that bit greasier during my period.
Pomegranate is anti-fatigue and energizing. It smells absolutely amazing but I wasn't a massive fan of this. I don't feel like it did a huge amount other than make my skin feel a little itchy when I took it off. Thankfully I haven't had that reaction with any of the other masks I've tried so I just won't be repurchasing this particular one again.
Lingzhi is anti-aging and smoothing. I really liked this one too. Like the rose, it made my skin feel super nourished and quite plumped up. No crazy anti-aging effects but it was a nice treat for the skin nonetheless.

 What products have you recently finished? Have you tried any of the products mentioned above? Let me know below! x

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