Surely there is no doubt in anybodies mind what a cake with candles means? A birthday of course! and whilst my own birthday is still a few months away, today is my blog's 12th birthday!
I can't quite believe that I've been sharing my thoughts with you for that long, as much as I love writing and blogging, I wouldn't still be here 12 years later if it wasn't for you guys. I haven't been the best or most consistent blogger over the years, but I've kept at it and I'm still here rambling on and sharing my life and loves with you all, so I want to thank you all for all of your support and interactions over the years. I know that your time is precious, and that there are so many blogs out there that you could read, yet you choose to read mine, thank you x I really do appreciate every view, like, comment and share x
As I've said before in 2019 , I'm going to try and pay back all of that support by trying to be a better and more consistent blogger. I have lots of posts planned, including lots of reviews and a few giveaways, so I hope that you'll stick around for the foreseeable future, and maybe even for another 12 years ;)
I can't quite believe that I've been sharing my thoughts with you for that long, as much as I love writing and blogging, I wouldn't still be here 12 years later if it wasn't for you guys. I haven't been the best or most consistent blogger over the years, but I've kept at it and I'm still here rambling on and sharing my life and loves with you all, so I want to thank you all for all of your support and interactions over the years. I know that your time is precious, and that there are so many blogs out there that you could read, yet you choose to read mine, thank you x I really do appreciate every view, like, comment and share x
As I've said before in 2019 , I'm going to try and pay back all of that support by trying to be a better and more consistent blogger. I have lots of posts planned, including lots of reviews and a few giveaways, so I hope that you'll stick around for the foreseeable future, and maybe even for another 12 years ;)
Despite a promise to be a little bit more consistent, this post is a little late but does it really matter? I don't think so, so let's just get on with it x Now something that I've done for quite a few of those 12 years now, are my monthly Trimming My Stash posts. If you're a new reader, basically I have too many beauty products, and whilst my spending, and hauling has definitely slowed down of late, a few years ago now I decided to try and finish as many products as I could every month, and to keep a running total of just how many beauty products I could finish in a year. In the early days I just used to post a list but nowadays I go into a little more depth and share some mini reviews of all of my finished products
The Body Shop Spiced Apple Shower Gel - 250ml
Primark PS... It's Oil Good! Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes
The Body Shop Spiced Apple Exfoliating Sugar Body Scrub - 250ml
Total - 4 Items
Looking back at last months total, I've got to say that January 2019 wasn't the best of months. I only managed to finish a paltry 4 items, including a couple of shower and body products, and a couple of skincare items, but 4 products is sill better than nothing, and in all the years that I've been doing this I've definitely had worse months x
1. Superdrug Naturally Radiant Glycolic Acid Daily Cleansing Pads - 60 Pads
First up a skin care product from Superdrug's hugely popular Naturally Radiant range. The screw top jar contains 60 fabric cleansing / toning pads. The pads are quite small and thin but they are double sided, and each side has a slightly different textures. The pads are soaked in a mixture of glycolic acid, fruit AHA's, aloe vera, and pro vitamin B5 and are designed to remove dead skin cells, and leave the skin brighter and fresher, all you do is wipe over the pads over cleansed skin, using the slightly rougher side, and then the smoother side.
Now I'd never tried these before, but I'm a firm fan of the Superdrug Naturally Radiant Glycolic Toner (read my thoughts here) and the solution that these pads are soaked in is pretty much identical. It has the same herbal / aftershave type scent, and they produce the same slight tingling sensations on the skin. My results after using these were also pretty similar, my skin looked clearer, my pores were less obvious and any hormonal spots that I had dried up really quickly.
So in theory I should love these as much as the toner, well despite having pretty much identical results I don't love these quite as much. The pads themselves are quite small and then, and although I love the different textures, I ended up using several pads to do my face and neck where as with the toner I only needed to use one cotton pad. I also found that no matter how tight the jar lid was, the pads still seemed to dry out, so much so in fact that the last couple of pads were pretty much bone dry.
I think these are great for travel but I definitely prefer the liquid version. If you fancy trying these though they have an RRP of £5.99 but Superdrug often have offers on their own brand skincare, so you can usually get them either a bit cheaper are are part of a multi buy offer x
2. The Body Shop Spiced Apple Shower Gel - 250ml
Next up the first of two items from The Body Shop Spiced Apple festive collection from 2016 / 2017. Whilst my heart really belongs to their Glazed Apple range from 2014 / 2015, Spiced Apple also went down in history as one of my favourite ever holiday scents from The Body Shop.
It's just so mouthwateringly, edible, and combines the sweet, yet fruity tartness of apple, with cinnamon, and warming spices - it really is American style apple pie in a bottle! It does smell slightly strong in the bottle, but mix a small amount with water and the scent really comes to life as the gel produces a mountain of creamy bubbles.
Alas there were no apple based scents in The Body Shop 2018 festive inventory but fingers crossed they make another appearance in 2019, till then though I have a few bottles and tubs remaining to keep me clean and apple scented throughout 2019.
3. Primark PS... It's Oil Good! Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes
Now if you are a new reader, be prepared to see these quite regularly in my monthly empties post, I buy them in multiples, and they are a regular fixture in my beauty and hygiene routine. i don't tend to use them on my face that often but I do use them for general freshening up, cleaning make up packaging, and for cleaning up swatches after photographing make up swatches.
Containing lots of antibacterial tea tree, you can get these wipes in Primark at just £1 for 2 packs of 25 wipes.
4. The Body Shop Spiced Apple Exfoliating Sugar Body Scrub - 250ml
Finally another item from The Body Shop Spiced Apple range, and I feeling particularly sad about this because this was my last tub and this was probably my favourite product in the whole range :(
With that warming, cinnamon spiced apple scent, this scrub is perfect for those cold nights. It's crammed full of exfoliating sugar grains. It's nice and gritty but it's not too harsh, or scratchy, it gives you a nice thorough scrub, and it rinses away easily and dissolves when you add warm water, and it leaves the skin feeling super smooth. I don't really have anything else to say apart from please, please bring this back in 2019 The Body Shop !!!
So they were my January 2019 empties, not the best of starts to the year, but hopefully I can do a lot better from here on in x If you have any questions on any of the items that I finished then please leave me a comment below xx
Looking back at last months total, I've got to say that January 2019 wasn't the best of months. I only managed to finish a paltry 4 items, including a couple of shower and body products, and a couple of skincare items, but 4 products is sill better than nothing, and in all the years that I've been doing this I've definitely had worse months x
1. Superdrug Naturally Radiant Glycolic Acid Daily Cleansing Pads - 60 Pads
First up a skin care product from Superdrug's hugely popular Naturally Radiant range. The screw top jar contains 60 fabric cleansing / toning pads. The pads are quite small and thin but they are double sided, and each side has a slightly different textures. The pads are soaked in a mixture of glycolic acid, fruit AHA's, aloe vera, and pro vitamin B5 and are designed to remove dead skin cells, and leave the skin brighter and fresher, all you do is wipe over the pads over cleansed skin, using the slightly rougher side, and then the smoother side.
Now I'd never tried these before, but I'm a firm fan of the Superdrug Naturally Radiant Glycolic Toner (read my thoughts here) and the solution that these pads are soaked in is pretty much identical. It has the same herbal / aftershave type scent, and they produce the same slight tingling sensations on the skin. My results after using these were also pretty similar, my skin looked clearer, my pores were less obvious and any hormonal spots that I had dried up really quickly.
So in theory I should love these as much as the toner, well despite having pretty much identical results I don't love these quite as much. The pads themselves are quite small and then, and although I love the different textures, I ended up using several pads to do my face and neck where as with the toner I only needed to use one cotton pad. I also found that no matter how tight the jar lid was, the pads still seemed to dry out, so much so in fact that the last couple of pads were pretty much bone dry.
I think these are great for travel but I definitely prefer the liquid version. If you fancy trying these though they have an RRP of £5.99 but Superdrug often have offers on their own brand skincare, so you can usually get them either a bit cheaper are are part of a multi buy offer x
2. The Body Shop Spiced Apple Shower Gel - 250ml
Next up the first of two items from The Body Shop Spiced Apple festive collection from 2016 / 2017. Whilst my heart really belongs to their Glazed Apple range from 2014 / 2015, Spiced Apple also went down in history as one of my favourite ever holiday scents from The Body Shop.
It's just so mouthwateringly, edible, and combines the sweet, yet fruity tartness of apple, with cinnamon, and warming spices - it really is American style apple pie in a bottle! It does smell slightly strong in the bottle, but mix a small amount with water and the scent really comes to life as the gel produces a mountain of creamy bubbles.
Alas there were no apple based scents in The Body Shop 2018 festive inventory but fingers crossed they make another appearance in 2019, till then though I have a few bottles and tubs remaining to keep me clean and apple scented throughout 2019.
3. Primark PS... It's Oil Good! Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes
Now if you are a new reader, be prepared to see these quite regularly in my monthly empties post, I buy them in multiples, and they are a regular fixture in my beauty and hygiene routine. i don't tend to use them on my face that often but I do use them for general freshening up, cleaning make up packaging, and for cleaning up swatches after photographing make up swatches.
Containing lots of antibacterial tea tree, you can get these wipes in Primark at just £1 for 2 packs of 25 wipes.
4. The Body Shop Spiced Apple Exfoliating Sugar Body Scrub - 250ml
Finally another item from The Body Shop Spiced Apple range, and I feeling particularly sad about this because this was my last tub and this was probably my favourite product in the whole range :(
With that warming, cinnamon spiced apple scent, this scrub is perfect for those cold nights. It's crammed full of exfoliating sugar grains. It's nice and gritty but it's not too harsh, or scratchy, it gives you a nice thorough scrub, and it rinses away easily and dissolves when you add warm water, and it leaves the skin feeling super smooth. I don't really have anything else to say apart from please, please bring this back in 2019 The Body Shop !!!
So they were my January 2019 empties, not the best of starts to the year, but hopefully I can do a lot better from here on in x If you have any questions on any of the items that I finished then please leave me a comment below xx
