Happy Sunday! 😊
With the fresh start of a new month just around the corner, this seems like a great time to try something new! For the month of June I plan to publish posts on Sundays as well - I have just enough ideas to carry me through to the end of the month.
It's an ambitious plan and life may get in the way, but we'll see how it goes!
A Monthly Empties post seems like an appropriate way to close off the current month. This series of posts is an opportunity for me to briefly review the products that I used up during a given month. In May, these are the products that I finished using:
* All of the prices are in Canadian Dollars. *
1 || Lavender & Espresso Calming Shower Gel | $32.00 for 250 mL | Crabtree & Evelyn || ♥♥♥♥♥
There's definitely a lavender scent in this body wash but I can't recognize the espresso. In any case, the combination of ingredients makes this smell like a really nice cologne! The best part? The scent of C & E body washes lingers for a long time on the skin! As an added bonus, the formula is really moisturizing.
As much as I enjoyed using this body wash, I wouldn't purchase a full-size version. I can see that C & E are working on rebranding now that they only have an online store left. The packaging has changed and new products have been introduced. At the same time, C & E's prices are just a bit too high in my opinion - even Nature Collection's luxury bodycare line is cheaper.
2 || Citron & Coriander Energizing Body Wash | $32.00 for 250 mL | Crabtree & Evelyn || ♥♥♡♡♡
There are some products that you try to make last because you love them so much...and then there are products that you try to finish as quickly as possible. This body was was the latter. Just like its Lavender & Espresso counterpart, this body wash is moisturizing. The scent also lingers for a long time on the skin which is great if you love it - but I really didn't.
The coriander scent is way too strong. Mixed in are tea tree and rosemary, which are also really strong scents. The combination makes the citrus ingredients in this body wash virtually unrecognizable.
3 || Avocado Bar Soap | $7.99 for 114 g | Epic Blend || ♥♥♥♥♥
If you've been following me on Instagram, you may have noticed that I started learning how to make soap at home last year. I'm still a long way away from attempting cold process soap (aka making soap from scratch), but the goal one day is to be able to make soap like Epic Blend's. Their Avocado Bar Soap is one of my favourite soaps! It's moisturizing, has the perfect amount of lather, and it smells really nice (not so much like avocado but rather like spearmint). May my future soaps be exactly like this! 😊
4 || Goats Milk Bar Soap | $7.99 for 114 g | Epic Blend || ♥♥♡♡♡
This soap is a little softer than the Avocado Bar and the lather it creates is a bit better. However, what really didn't do it for me was the scent. Reading the description and smelling the soap inside the packaging made me think that the scent would be light and slightly powdery - something closer to goat milk. When you actually open the soap it smells entirely like lavender essential oil. Maybe it's just my batch but the scent is way too strong and definitely not calming.
5 || Deep Moisture Shower Cream | Beyond / Nature Collection || ♥♥♥♥♥
Nature Collection (aka The Face Shop) stores launched the Beyond line just a couple of weeks before the quarantine. The Deep Moisture series smells heavily like baby powder, so I thought that the shower cream would too. It's actually a lot lighter and really pleasant! I wouldn't say that the formula leaves my skin super moisturized, but it's pleasant to use.
6 || Yog Nog Shower Gel | $10.95 for 100 mL | Lush || ♥♥♥♥♥
This is my new favourite scent from Lush! The mix of ylang-ylang and clove gives Yog Nog a warm, sweet fragrance. The scent reminds me of crème brûlée - although I have heard one person say that the scent reminds them of the lobster sauce from Red Lobster. 😅 I also love shimmer in products and this shower gel has a lot of it! Unlike the Beyond Shower Cream, Yog Nog actually noticeably makes my skin super soft. This shower gel feels luxurious to use!
7 || Matcha Mint Shampoo | $25 for 240 mL | Graydon || ♥♥♥♥♥
This shampoo was one of the products I picked up when Petal & Post were closing down. In terms of scent, this shampoo is the perfect blend of powdery matcha and refreshing mint. There is a little bit of grit that makes this shampoo exfoliating, but you practically don't feel anything. I didn't notice my hair being dry or really moisturized, but overall, this was nice to use.
8 || Shea Butter Ultra Rich Body Cream | $50 for 200 mL | L'Occitane || ♥♥♥♥♥
I usually don't purchase this on its own because I've had enough samples to last me a while, but this body cream is great! It smells like the traditional L'Occitane shea butter line, which is a comforting scent. It's also very rich in texture and, unlike a few popular body creams from L'Occitane, this one doesn't start to pill up when you massage it in. If you've ever tried this and found it too heavy, there is an "ultra light" alternative as well!
9 || Banana Hand Balm | $7.00 for 30 mL | Sephora || ♥♥♥♥♥
It's difficult to find a good banana-scented hand cream; usually the scent disappears after a few minutes or worse - it becomes plasticky. Out of all the banana-scented hand creams I've ever tried, Sephora's is the best one. The scent is pleasant and although it does lighten after a few minutes, it doesn't become unpleasant. Having said that, this hand cream does smell better than actual bananas. Even though there is a banana extract in the formula, it is definitely the added fragrance that makes up the scent.
What I liked the most about this hand cream is that it's super nourishing without ever feeling greasy (it has shea butter as the 3rd ingredient). Shout out to my best friend, Roxana, who gifted this to me as part of a minion-themed package! 😉
10 || Shea Hands & Body Lavender Liquid Soap Refill | $29.00 for 500 mL | L'Occitane || ♥♥♥♥♥
If I had to choose only two favourite products from L'Occitane, they would be the ArlésiennE perfume and this hand soap. L'Occitane sources most of their ingredients from farms in the south of France so they are one of the few companies who have a true lavender scent in their products. It's such a nice scent too and I love that it lingers on the skin! Because of the added shea butter, this soap won't strip your skin of moisture.
I prefer to purchase this hand soap as a refill because if you know you love this soap and you already have a container then it's a better deal to go with the refill. I also heard that L'Occitane recently re-formulated this soap to include more natural ingredients. The downside is that it looks like it went up $7 in price. When I purchased my refill, it was $22.
11 || Delightful Tea Whipped Hand Cream | $12 for 30 mL | L'Occitane || ♥♥♥♡♡
This is a plasant hand cream. The whipped texture is light and fun to use. The formula has 5% shea butter - which is a little bit more than what many of L'Occitane's hand creams have - but it's still not moisturizing enough for me. What ultimately didn't do it for me was the scent - it's light and fresh, but I didn't like it that much. If I didn't get this hand cream in a package with L'Occitane's best-selling hand cream, I wouldn't purchase it on its own.
12 || Grapefruit Guava Foaming Soap | $9.50 for 250 mL | Fruits & Passion || ♥♥♥♥♥
During the quarantine I've had the chance to truly appreciate foaming hand soaps. As I was running out of concentrated hand soap (which is also from Fruits & Passion), I was able to make soap last longer by pouring 1/3 into a foaming hand soap dispenser and filling the rest with water. Before I did that however, I finished using the grapefruit guava soap that was in dispenser. The grapefruit soap was great - it smelled wonderful and it didn't leave my hands dry!
13 || Baking Soda Pore Cleanser | Bioré || ♥♥♥♥♡
This is a travel-size version of a cleanser that I received a while back in an Influenster VoxBox. I hadn't been too happy with a new cleanser I had started using, so I decided to give baking soda another shot. My thoughts are still the same as when I first reviewed it - it smells nice and is a pleasure to use. Sometimes I do feel like it leaves a film behind on my skin, but to overcome this I started using a Belif cleanser (below) right after the Biore cleanser and this combination worked quite well!
It seems that Bioré now carries an updated version of this cleanser (and a whole line) with added blue agave.
14 || Creamy Cleansing Foam Moist | $29.00 for 160 mL | Belif || ♥♥♥♥♡
This is one of my favourite cleansers! I normally purchase the full-size version but so far I've been going through my travel-size stash. This cleanser is great for any skin type (including sensitive). It cleans the skin very well - I typically use it both on its own and after other cleansing products (e.g. face scrubs) that leave behind a film. Yes, it may feel drying (like many cleansers do) if you don't apply skincare afterwards. However, if you follow up this cleanser with toner/serum/moisturizer then those products will help counteract any dryness.
If you use this cleanser in the shower then be careful - I noticed that if water gets into the tube, it will liquefy (and potentially ruin) the product.
15 || Peat Miracle Eye Cream | $71 for 25 mL | Belif || ♥♥♥♥♥
This eye cream is the perfect example for anyone who thought that 20-25 mL is too small a volume - this eye cream lasted me just beyond a year (I've used it mostly in the evening every day). The texture is rich but not heavy. The formula is soothing and perfect for sensitive skin & eyes.
The price is a little steep because the Peat line has anti-aging properties. Peat is a natural preservative that is meant to help firm the skin. I've only ever used eye creams for their moisturizing and soothing properties, so whatever positive effect this eye cream has is simply a bonus!
16 || Jeju Volcanic Lava Pore Toner | $30.00 for 150 mL | The Face Shop || ♥♥♥♥♥
Even though my skin isn't oily, I often use toners for oily skin because I feel like they do a better job of tightening pores and keeping the skin free of blemishes. The jeju toner uses volcanic ash to control oil and remove impurities from the skin that are caused by city pollution. Every time you use this, you actually have to shake the bottle because the volcanic ash sediments settle on the bottom.
Unfortunately, the Jeju skincare line has been discontinued; however, the Jeju cleansing products are still available. If you're looking for a replacement for this toner, two good options are the Dr. Belmeur Clarifying Toner and the Belif Eucalyptus Toner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Have you tried any of the products above?
Let me know in the comments below!
Thank you for reading! 💗
No comments:
Post a Comment