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Gilchrist & Soames

Empties

Summer Empties 2014 – Body

October 15, 2014

summer-empties-body

Since I’ve been away from blogging for what seems like almost all of Summer, I’ve had a whole host of empties collecting dust in my craft room waiting to be photographed and reviewed, so instead of your typical May, June, July empty post, I’ll be posting the products I’ve used up over this summer over the next few weeks as we move into those horrible dark evenings and frosty mornings.

  1. Molton Brown Ylang Ylang Shower Gel & Body Lotion Impressions: I picked these up in one of my earlier Birchbox’s, I was pretty excited to discover that a few month’s after receiving the Shower Gel and I also had the matching Body Lotion. I’ve only recently used these in a bid to try and use up some of my vast and frankly quite worrying collection.  My overall impression was that the smell was absolutely gorgeous, although I seemed to need a lot of the Shower Gel to feel clean, even though I was using my trusty shower puff. The lotion went on better but was a little thin and “drippy”, meaning I ended up dropping some on the carpet instead of on my body. Despite that my body was left with a beautiful light fragrance all day which I was pretty happy about
    Cost: £18 for 300ml of the Body Wash £25 for 300ml of the Body Lotion £42 for 300ml of both the Body Wash & Body Lotion
    Where can I buy this: Molton Brown Website
    Repurchase: Probably not – I mean it smelt nice – but so does almost everything at The Body Shop. For such an expensive brand I wasn’t -that- blown away. I think this is more a of a status buy – you know – something you have on display in your bathroom to make you look more upperclass.
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  3. Avon Planet Spa Fantastically Firming Body Polisher Impressions: I wasn’t expecting much as I’ve never been a massive fan of Avon’s shower range, but I was pretty blown away by this. It smelt gorgeous and was really exfoliating, unlike some of their products I’ve tried before which hasn’t really had that “sand paper” effect I so desire. The fragrance didn’t really last as I always use body wash after exfoliating anyway, but I felt lovely and clean!
    Cost: I picked this up at a discounted rate in my demo book, but it was available for less than £3
    Where can I buy this: Unfortunately it’s no longer on sale for the next few campagins, but keep checking the the Avon online shop or your local representitive for details of it’s return.
    Repurchase: Maybe – there are other exfoliating scrubs I have on my “to try” and “rebuy” lists before this one, but if I see it around at a fair price again I’ll definitely be picking some more up.
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  5. The Body Shop Strawberry Body Polish Impressions: This is still from my Christmas stash (which is still going may I add) and I have used this before. It’s full of seeds and grains which is a nice touch but it’s not rough enough for me. Alas it smells nice, especially when layered with the other products in the range and it didn’t leave me skin too dry which it has done previously.
    Cost: £5.00
    Where can I buy this: The Body Shop UK
    Repurchase: Probably not, unless I receive this for Christmas (which I won’t complain about) I’m probably not going to be buying it myself.
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  7. Rituals Zensation Organic Rice Millk & Cherry Blosson Foaming Shower Gel Impressions: This has been absolutely amazing! It’s kind of like a shaving foam so this little can went a very long way. The great thing about it dispensing this way is you can control how much product you want, it’s really foamy and doesn’t drip everywhere and is small enough to just leave in your hand bag. (Great if you are having a few unexpected nights away and needs to freshen up in an unfamilar shower!) I actually took this away with me to Scotland and ended up using it as a hand wash as well as shower gel. The scent is also gorgeous and stuck with me throughout most of the day.
    Cost: £8.50
    Where can I buy this: Rituals UK Website
    Repurchase: I’ll definitely be looking out for this come Summer time next year and stocking up.
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  9. The Body Shop Strawberry Shower Gel Impressions: As with the body polish, I’ve used this before. It’s pretty pleasant to use and similar to their the rest of their Body Wash range. The scent is a light but not overly chemically or synthetic Strawberry which makes layering these products very nice indeed.These big bottles seem to last me a fair while too, especially if I’m using a “shower-puff”.
    Cost: £2
    Where to buy: The Body Shop UK
    Repurchase: As with the body polish, probably not but I wont be disapointed if it turns up under my tree this year.
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  11. The Body Shop Olive Oil Shower Gel Impressions: This was actually my second bottle of this. I’d bought it to try as my skin is quite sensitive and can become very dry and Olive based products is supposed to help. Having said that I didn’t notice much different, although it didn’t dry my skin out. I wasn’t too keen on the scent though.
    Cost: From £2
    Where to buy: Currently unavailable via the website, but check out the rest of the Olive range at The Body Shop UK
    Repurchase: Probably not. I tried it, it was Okay but not that great so not something I’ll be buying again.
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  13. Gilchrist & Soames Shower Gel Impressions: I actually reviewed this not so long ago and was incredibly disappointed with it. Hotel tat comes to mind – you know the stuff you are left you find in your room when you go to a cheap European hotel? You can read my full review here.
    Cost: From £11 (How do people spend this much money on this?)
    Where can I buy this: The Gilchrist & Soames UK site
    Repurchase: Definitely not. I’ll wait until the next time I end up in a3 star hotel in Holland to get my fill of cheap “hand wash” shower gel thankyou very much.
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  15. Noble Isle Bath & Body Wash Impressions: Hmm again, this struck me as the sort of thing you’d find in a hotel room but it was at least much nicer than Gilchrist & Soames. I managed to get a few washes out of it, it lathered well and it smelt quite nice. I can’t really say any more on it so it couldn’t have had the “wow” factor.
    Cost: £20
    Where can I buy this: Noble Isle website
    Repurchase: No. Although after taking a nosy at their website, I am very much in love with some of their packaging for Christmas Gifts.

 

Thus concludes my first ever empties post! Finally! Keep your eyes peeled for my next installments of Summer empties. Have you tried any of the products above? If so I’d love to know your thoughts below.

Totally hellbent for remembering the glory of summer by reviewing all of the empties

– Pants

Beauty Boxes

Birchbox February 2014

February 13, 2014

birchbox-featured

This month’s Birchbox has certainly come around quickly. The first thing I noticed however, is that they have reverted back to their old ways, with the little drawstring bag and the Birchbox cards, bound together by a cute strip of paper. Don’t get me wrong, I love their quirky cards and the drawstring bags have had their uses, but I am beginning to build up a vast collection of these and fast running out of ways in which I can use them, other than for sitting astride my dressing table, waiting to be put somewhere else. Alas, on with box:

beauty-protector

Beauty Protector – Protect & Oil – Full Size: £16 (Small glass vial sample)

An oil that promises to battle UV rays, heat and hair breakage. Perhaps not too suited to the current British Winter we are having, but I’ve recently become a little bit of a “hair oil” fan. Only needing 2-3 drops of this, means it will last me a good while and is teeny enough to sneak into my festival bags for the Summer. It smells nice and has the typical Oil texture you find in these hair products, but if used correctly, hair oil can make your locks look a treat!

eyeko

Eyeko – Skinny Liquid Eye-liner – Full Size: £12.00 (1.2g sample)

Gem and I have done pretty well at picking these up in magazines, see Gem’s post here. I love the Eyeko Skinny Mini, it applies beautifully and lasts all day. My only gripe with pen eye-liners is that they don’t last too long. Having said that, the tip is so wonderful, there is nothing stopping you from dipping it into one of your older liquid eye-liners if it fits. I have a fair few lying around that I don’t use because I hate the tip. This is definitely an eye-liner to give a whirl, especially if you aren’t overly confident at applying it – the pen shape is such a helpful addition. This was the smaller version, but still packs a punch and should last me a while.

janjira

Janjira – Argan Oil Concentrate Serum – Full Size: £49 (Small Sample)

At first glance, I thought this was -another- hair oil product, but this is actually Argan Oil for the face. Allegedly to plump and protect the skin, pat this into cleansed dry skin and follow with day or night cream. I’ve been using facial oil a lot recently which has helped my dry skin (thanks to all the humid air – courtesy of the heating being on), but I’ve read a few other beauty blogs that advice applying the oil on top of your regular cream, because this seals in the moisture. Anywhom, after trying this for a few weeks it was a great success and my skin felt much better so I’ll give this a go both pre and post facial moisturising. The smell is a little clinical though, and unless this transforms me back to my youth, I’m not sure I would spend £49 on facial oil. Saying that, it’s nice to have a little luxury in my beauty box.

leighton-denny

Leighton Denny – Nail Colour in “purely plutonic” – Full Size: £11 (Full Size Bottle)

Wow – Just wow … I love receiving Nail Varnishes, especially when the colour is as stunning as this. I bought a similar colour from Elf last year, but unfortunately the coverage was rubbish and I ended up with streaky, sticky and bumpy nails. Although not quite the same colour, this is a beautiful gun-metal. I applied two coats to the nail wheel, but I really didn’t need to. I’ve been heavily prompted into removing my red nails and exchanging it with this for today. Oh did I mention how utterly gorgeous the bottle is? My mind is already conjuring up images of other colours in the collection, lined up neatly next to each other.

gilchrist-soames

Gilchrist & Soames – The London Collection Shower Gel – Full Size:£13.75 (45ml sample)

This is probably my most disappointing product out of the box. A paraben-free formula with red tea, grape seed and milk thistle (unfortunately milk thistle reminds me of steroid abusers, who like to take this as a supplement to prevent themselves from growing moobs). Honestly, I need to stop receiving shower gel. I’ve reached the point now where I can no longer squeeze the tiniest bottles into my very large bathroom cabinets, and my box of “festival minis” is also overspilling into several other boxes. I think if this had a more alluring smell I’d be more excited, but on opening the bottle it was more reminiscent of sitting at the hair dressers – an array of random synthetic smells filling the air. So beauty boxes – for the next year, please refrain from sending me Shower Gel, unless it is L’Occitane as featured in my February’s most wanted.

green-blacks

Lifestyle Extra – Green & Black’s Dark Chocolate Mini Bar – Full Size: £2.29

I’ve received one of these before as my Lifestyle Extra and I can’t really complain. I love dark chocolate and these little samples are just enough to satisfy a sweet tooth, without you having to have the willpower to cut yourself off at half a bar and save the rest until later. My last bar sat untouched in the cupboard for months, but this one however was munched on, enjoyed and even shared with Brains as I typed out this review.

Halfway through yet another month in 2014. If’ you’d like to try Birchbox out, head on over to their website here. It’s £10 a month with £2.95 P&P. You also have the added bonus of collecting points when you complete surveys on your products, which you can spend in their shop on all the lovely products you get in  your box each month!

 

Totally hellbent for deep rooted nail varnish issues

-Pants