Unboxing Papergang - Box No. 45 - November 2019 Edition - Hygge*

I don't know about where you are the moment but I'm debating on whether or not to start building an ark. I can't remember when we last had a day without rain. I know a lot of people will disagree with me but I would definitely prefer cosying up and watching the snow fall to having to go out in that horrid rain that wets you! So that's why I am totally on board with the snowy, wintry festive, cosy, Hygge theme of November's Papergang box.

From what I gather this November's box is the last one that will feature the cut out cardboard sleeve, December's box will apparently feature  new and more environmentally sound packaging that will reduce Papergang's cardboard usage by up to 60%. As much as I love the cut out design I can see why they're making changes, and I can't wait to see the new design.

The outer sleeve on November's box features a very wintry, almost festive, alpine like village scene with wooden houses, fir trees, mountains and lots of snow. The reverse side of the sleeve features a cut out and make reindeer model, and underneath the sleeve as per usual, is the original brown cardboard box.

When you open the box the first thing that you see is a "Merry Christmas or whatever." Christmas gift catalogue from Ohh Deer. They have some lovely Christmas cards, some really nice decorations and a whole loads of really unusual and quirky gift ideas from cactus socks to hatching dragon candles, and politician dog toys, for the person in your life that thinks they have everything.

The contents of November's box came wrapped in a sheet of white tissue paper, I always reuse my tissue paper but in this case, it was all ripped when it arrived which was a real shame, as a nice wintry white, would be ideal for Christmas, never mind x

As per usual the box contained an information booklet which lists the box contents, and talks a little bit more about the artist and designer of box, who in this case is Kong-Yew Wong, and their career, methods, and inspirations.

6 x Christmas Cards 

Something I think we're getting out of the habit of in this country, is sending Christmas cards. I know I don't send as many as I used to, and to be honest I think it's a real shame. Nowadays it's all about emails and messages, yes messaging is practical, and quick but it is a little bit impersonal. Personally I love receiving a hand written card, I think it's such a nice feeling to know that somebody has taken a minute of two out of their day, to think about about you x 

November's box contained 6 small Christmas cards, and envelopes, in 3 different designs, all embracing the same cosy, wintry, Hygge theme as the outer box sleeve. two cards featured a skiing Santa design, with words, "Be Merry" embossed in gold foil, the box also contains two cards with a snow globe design featuring a wooden house, and snow covered trees, and the words "Be Cosy". The final two cards featured the words"Be Jolly" again in an embossed gold foil, and a seal / sea lion, and Christmas presents design.

Printed in the UK onto FSC certified card stock, the cards are blank inside for your own message and they each come with a rustic, manilla style brown envelope. These aren't the biggest Christmas cards out there but they are super cute, and the designs are lovely so they would be great for work colleague, school friends, or you could even use them as gift tags, on large presents, and given the small size they would also be quite cheap to post.

These Christmas cards are exclusive to this box but as I say Ohh Deer has a huge range of Christmas cards, ranging from traditional, to funny, to cute, so you should find a card to suit most people in your life.

A5 To Do List

Seriously another organiser / To Do list? As cute as this one as with it's icy, washed out aqua colour way, and pretty alpine village design, I really don't need another planner style pad. Since I got my first Papergang box way back in May, every other box seems to have included something to help you get organised. I'm really starting to think that Papergang are trying to tell me something.

Don't get me wrong it's a nice pad, it's made in a factory when 95% of the waste is recycled, the design is sweet, and the quality is there, I just would have preferred a plain notebook, or even a proper 2020 diary.

Again this specific design is exclusive to Papergang, but there are a wide range of To Do lists, organiser pads, and planners, for sale on Ohh Deer at various price points ranging from £5.95 to around £7.95.

1 x Sheet Gift Wrap

Have you started your wrapping yet? Have you even bought any Christmas presents yet? I've definitely started my shopping, and I'm actually going to do some wrapping this afternoon go me - If you haven't done anything yet, don't worry I'm sure you'll manage what ever you need to do in the next four weeks. Now I always try to theme, or at least go with some sort of colour scheme, for at least some of my wrapping and whilst this next item doesn't exactly work with this years planner, I'm going to use this for a couple of special presents.

November's box came with a large sheet of gift wrap. Featuring the same design as the outer box, this sheet of gift wrap is printed using eco toners, and vegetable based inks onto a 100$ recycled paper. It features the same winter design as the box sleeve featuring a snowy white background with Scandinavian style wooden houses, snow laden trees, snowmen, skiing santas, and reindeer's.

This a nice sheet of good quality gift wrap - it's nice and thick and it's much better quality then you would find on the average roll or even on a standalone sheet. The is fun and festive but at the same time classy enough, that you could give it to someone of any age or gender. Ohh Deer sell a lot of gift wrap starting at around £1.75 a sheet but they don't seem to have anything else quite like this. 

3 x Gift Tags 

To coordinate with the sheet of gift wrap, November's Hygge themed box contained 3 matching gift tags - A pale aqua coloured tag featuring a snowman and some fir trees and the words "Be Merry", a white tag, featuring a snow covered house and the words "Be Jolly", and finally a charcoal, grey tag featuring a reindeer, and the words "Be Cosy". Again the quality is excellent, and the gold foil embossed text, gives a simple design, a more luxurious feel.  There are a couple of similar tag sets on Ohh Deer that sell for around 95p for 3.

Coaster 

When it's cold outside all you want to do is snuggle up under a blanket with a warm drink and a cat, so to avoid spillages and stains, the November Papergang box contains a useful and practical drinks coaster.

This cork backed coaster features the same snow covered village, fir trees, reindeer, and snowman design as the outer box, with the words "Stay Cosy" in the middle. Whilst it doesn't seem to be coated in a resin or a plastic, the coaster has a matte finish so your mug should stay put.

Everyone needs a coaster, so this is a nice addition that works really well with wintry, cosy theme. There are a large range of coasters available on the Ohh Deer website starting at around £2.95

Gold Washi Tape

You should know be now that I love anything stationery wise that sticks, so I was really pleased that November's box contained another roll of washi tape. I love me some washi tape, and this roll of gold sticky tape will be idea for a bit of festive crafting.

Washi tape is basically tearable and depending on the surface, re positional, paper tape. This tape is in a gorgeous gold tone, and it has a slightly textured finish.

This particular colour isn't available on Ohh Deer but a similar roll in a copper tone retails at around £2.50.

Universal Calendar Card 

Finally the ever present universal calendar card. This time it features two blue tones, a pale aqua and a deeper, more teal blue, and a star, snowman, and reindeer design.

Right, what do I think about this box? well I like it, I love the design and the concept. Given that Christmas is on its way the majority of the contents is really useful, and I definitely be using the cards, wrap, tags, and washi tape over the next few weeks but really? another planner? I'm probably one of the most disorganised people on planet earth and I'm all for being organised but even I don't need quite as many planners and organisers, as Papergang seem to have sent out to subscribers over the last 6 months or so.

As much as I love the concept, this constant repetition is really making wonder about whether or not I can continue to justify my subscription. I love the idea of the next months Groovy Kawai theme, but after that we'll see x Let me know your thoughts, and if you fancy trying Papergang for yourself and getting your hands on December's Groovy Kawaii themed box then please click this link to find out more x 

*This Post Contains Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links

Unboxing Papergang Box - No. 42 - August 2019 Edition - Hit The Town*

In my previous Papergang post I spoke of how much I loved the idea and the concept, but that I wasn't sure whether it was something that I could justify in the long term, will I stuck with it and I have to say that August's box is probably my favourite one so far.

The theme is "Hit The Town" and the box and its contents have a New York City theme. The outer box sleeve features a brightly coloured, line drawn, cityscape design, combined with quirky cartoons of things that we would associate with The Big Apple, including landmarks like the Empire State Building, the Statue Of Liberty, and the Chrysler Building, combined with drawings of pizza, pretzels, and even King Kong, and Godzilla!

The outer sleeve features the usual cut out, Papergang logo, and the reverse of the box features a "cut out and craft" washi tape dispenser.

When you remove the sleeve, you're greeted by the usual, brown cardboard box, open the box and the contents of August's box is wrapped in a sheet of pale pink tissue paper.

The first item in the box as per usual is the little paper information booklet, which in this case tells you exactly what's in the box, and it also includes instructions on how to make you your washi tape dispenser. As well as that it also tells you about the designer that created the August box, artist and illustrator Jacqueline Colley, and about some of her inspirations and ideas. As well as designing for Ohh Deer and Papergang, Jacqueline has also worked with companies such as Twitter, Mollie Makes, and Kate Spade.

A4 ish Desk Pad

The first item in the box, is a brightly coloured desk pad / organiser pad / to do list. Featuring the same design as the outer box, it features quirky cartoon like drawings of Godzilla and King Kong, as well as New York City landmarks, and things that we would associate with New York such as Brownstones, cocktails and apples.

This slightly smaller than A4 desk pad features 3 sections, one for days of the week and the weekend, a to do list, and a notes section. Printed using eco toners and vegetable inks, it's a nice quality, thick pad, and whilst  I haven't counted the pages there is easily enough sheets for at least 5 or 6 months, if not more.

I've already received a desk pad in a previous Papergang post (you can read it here) but I actually prefer this one, it's a bit bigger, the quality is excellent and I love the cartoon like illustrations. Like last months box there are no recommended retail prices on any of the items but similar desk pads retails at around £7.95 on Ohh Deer.

1 x Sheet Gift Wrap 

Next up a sheet of gift wrap, which features the same colourful illustration as the outer sleeve - I'm only showing you a small section of the sheet, I haven't measured it but it's probably around 8 times this size. It seems a shame to use it but you could wrap a decent size present in it. Again it's a nice quality item, a lot of wrapping paper is a bit flimsy but this is actually more like a heavy weight paper than what would you would normally expect from a sheet of gift wrap. Again environmentally conscious throughout, the factory that makes this gift wrap recycles more than 95% of their waste. As always everything in this box is exclusive and unavailable elsewhere but similar sheets of gift wrap retail between £1.75 and £1.95 on Ohh Deer.

1 x Greetings Card

The next item is what Ohh Deer are really famous for - a greetings card. If you're one of those people who likes things to coordinate, then this card works perfectly with the gift wrap. It features the same Jacqueline Colley design, the line drawn city scape, and icons that symbolise New York City, only with the words "HIT THE TOWN" embossed in a hot pink typeface. The card is blank inside so you can use it for any occasion or even just to say Hello or Bon Voyage and it contains a natural, brown envelope.

Again the quality is excellent, it's a nice sturdy card that will stand up and won't fall down with a the tiniest draft of air. The card is printed onto card stock which is FSC certified which means that is made from card sourced from responsible sources, through recycling or well managed, sustainable forest. Greeting cards are probably one of Ohh Deer's biggest sellers, and cards retail between, £2.75 and £2,95.

A5 Art Print

The NYC design also features on the next item in August's box, an A5 Art Print. The print again features a version of the fun cityscape design, on a pink background with the words "NEW YORK"printed on it in a darker shade of pink.

Like the previous print that I received in the June, Under The Sea box (read my post here), it isn't made of the thickest card, but you could easily put it in a frame or stick it up with washi tape ;) There aren't many A5 prints on the Ohh Deer website but the ones that there are retail between £4.95 and £5.95.

Enamel Pin

As well as greetings cards, and stationery, Ohh Deer and Papergang also sell a variety of enamel pins and iron patches. As I've said previously I'm not really a patch girl but I do love badges, brooches, and enamel pins. This months box features a fabulous Pretzel shaped pin. Made of metal with a rubberised fastening, it's a warm almost rose gold tone in colour, and it features tiny white / silver dots, which I guess represent sesame seeds. It super cute and I absolutely love it. Again this is a box exclusive but similar enamel pins and pin badges retail at around £5.95.

Washi Tape

I've probably dropped enough hints in this post as to what the next item is but in case you haven't caught on, it's a roll of washi tape. I used to be one of these people who didn't see what the fuss was with washi tape, it's coloured or patterned sticky tape after all but after buying a few rolls, I quickly became a bit of a collector, and I now store my rolls in a large Ferrero Rocher box, so I can see all of the pretty colours and patterns - I guess it makes sense I love stickers and if you think about it a roll of  tape is just a giant roll of stickers!

This is particular nice roll, in a bright turquoise blue, it features big yellow taxis, apples, hot dogs, pizza slices, apples, pretzels, and the letters NYC. It's a paper based tape so it tears nice and easily. I use washi tape for all sorts of things, but this would be a particularly nice one for scrapbooking or journalling particularly if you've got an trip to NYC to record. Alas I don't but I'm sure I'll find a use for it. Rolls of coloured and patterned tape retail between £2.50 and £2.95 on Ohh Deer.

Universal Calendar Card 

The final item in the August box is an ever present in the Papergang box, the Universal Calendar Card. These seem to appear in every box, and they always complement the box theme perfectly. This month the card is a pale pink colour and it features the same line drawn city design as the rest of the box but this time in grey and black.

As much as I loved last months In Bloom box, I think this is definitely my all round favourite box, I love New York, and I love Jacqueline Colley's fun, and cheerful, cartoon like illustrations. I love all of the products but the standouts for me have to be the pin, the desk pad, and of course the washi tape! Since the boxes just keep getting better and better I'm going to stick with Papergang for now, and fingers crossed that they keep up the standard. Let me know your thoughts on this box and don't forget check out the Papergang website to find out more about the box, and of course to shop from Ohh Deer.

*This Post Contains Affiliate Links

A Gift And A Christmas Decoration All In One - NEXT Mini Stationery Set Bauble

After weeks and weeks of thinking that it's too early I guess we can't hide from it now, Christmas really is on its way. My main tree has been up since last Saturday and believe it or not there are already a few presents underneath it.

I love buying presents almost as much, if not more, than I enjoy receiving them, I don't know what it is but in some people you can almost see a return to that childhood excitement as they tear off the wrapping paper. I love making the people that I love happy, and gifts can do exactly that.

Now I know that a lot of bloggers spend hours and hours producing gift guides, but to be honest I've never been one of them, gifting is a really personal thing, and what is someones stocking filler might be someone else's main present, so although they are often written with the best of intentions and personally I do love reading them, they can be a bit of a minefield, So instead what I like to do is share a few items with you that I think would make a good gift either for someone special in your life or just for that person who you want to say a little thank you to this holiday season.

I've been really good this year, and I've just about finished my Christmas shopping already, I only need a few more little things and then I'm done. As stressful as shopping can be at this time of year I still try to have a little browse and make it enjoyable, I love seeing what's out there and what the present and buying trends are and something that I've noticed a lot this year is the concept of a gift in the form of a Christmas decoration.

Specialised and Christmas packaging is nothing new, and it's something that's been around for as long as I can remember and probably way longer than that, but over the last few years I've noticed a real trend in truly decorative packaging. Look on any high street and you'll see biscuits, sweets and chocolates, packaged in decorative tins that you can reuse and display around the home, Christmas crackers, filled with beauty products, chocolates and candles, and of course lots of things that you can hang on the Christmas tree from make up palettes with built in hanging loops from the like of Maybelline and Laura Geller, (more on some of these to come) to specially designed packaging from say Benefit, Molton Brown or Burts Bees that are filled with your favourite treats. Gifting and decorations are now in some senses one the same, and nowhere is that more evident than with the humble Christmas bauble.

The stores at the moment are full of either metal, solid card or plastic tree decorations containing everything from jewellery, to fudge and chocolates, to candles, alcohol miniatures, and of course beauty products with the likes of Lancome, boohoo, Nails Inc, Baylis & Harding, and L'Occitane, and more, all selling fabulous, decorative and in most cases reusable tree decorations containing all of your favourite products.

I love the idea of a bauble containing a gift, they are brilliant for table gifts, or as stocking fillers and in this age of cutting down on waste, the fact that the majority or them are reusable means that you can either refill them for next year or you can continue using them in years to come to decorate your Christmas tree. We've already bought some of the gorgeous L'Occitane tin star ones this year which contain mini hand creams, and I know for a fact that they'll be well received by their recipients. Seeing as this is predominantly a beauty and fashion blog you might think that's what I'm going to review here, but you'd be wrong, I'm going to talk about a bauble containing one of my other loves -stationery!

I love stationery! Buying stationery is as exciting to me as buying a new lipstick or a new top, I love the stuff, and even though I have more than enough for probably a full classroom, I still can't stop buying it. At the moment NEXT have a lot of stationery bits in, both from Paperchase and from their own brand, and a few months ago now I bought a stationery set, in a plastic case, for £10 containing all sorts of rose gold, copper toned, pencils, paper clips, washi tape and pastel coloured push pins, sticky notes and magnets. £10 sounds a lot but in my opinion it was well worth it and it looks beautiful . It's still available online and in store so if you're into stationery then I would definitely consider it,  but if you want something a little bit cheaper then one of my other recent buys, the NEXT Mini Stationery Set Bauble might be right up your street.

This cute bauble comes gift boxed and thanks to the clever design and the hanging loop poking through the box you can hang the whole thing on your tree. Open the box and you're greeted with a good sized clear plastic bauble, with a bright neon coral, orange ribbon hanging loop.

The two halves of the bauble snap easily apart and reseal so you can use it again. Inside the bauble there are 5 different stationery pieces in tonal pinks, corals, and coppery rose golds.

The bauble contains a coral, almost neon peach orange pad of heart shaped sticky notes, a rose gold / copper toned bulldog clip, and 3 rose gold / copper toned heart shaped paper clips, which match the ones in the other set perfectly.

The set also contains a copper / rose gold wrapped pencil eraser, and the cutest mini neon pink highlighter pen, and finally the most exciting thing for me a roll of fabulous silver glitter encrusted washi style sticky tape.

Lets not beat about the bush if you were to split it down item for item I don't think that this set which is priced at £4 probably represents the best value for money, but the products are nice, and decent quality, and I personally will use every single one of them, throw in the fact that the bauble itself is reusable (I intend to fill it with sweeties for Mummy Lou this year) then I don't think this is too bad a gift, either as a secret Santa, or a table gift, or as a stocking filler for the stationery lover in your life. Let me know in the comments and if you have any other stationery inspired stocking filler ideas I'd love to hear them x 

Trimming My Stash December 2016 Edition - Empties And A 2016 Round Up

Happy New Year! Hi Guys x I hope you all had a fabulous new year, and that you're chomping at the bit for whatever 2017 has in store. 2016 wasn't the best year for me as you all know, and I have quite a few hurdles to jump over in the next month or so, but I'm determined to make the best of things, and do everything in my own power to make 2017 the best year, that I possibly can.

I'm not a one for making new years resolutions because I just beat myself up when I don't stick to them. I do however have a few things though that I would either like to change or like to achieve in 2017, nothing major though just the usual things for me, up my blogging game, think more positively, eat less junk food, and be a bit tidier and bit more organised.

Being organised and tidier is definitely something that I'm going to really focus on in 2017. Over the years I've accumulated so much stuff, from clothes, shoes, craft bits, books, and beauty bits, that I literally have no room to store anything else. Towards the end of 2016 I filled up several charity bags and I'm aiming to fill several more before 2017 is out. This is definitely going to be the year that (pardon my French) I sort my shit out.

From that statement you've probably already realised that in 2017 I will be continuing to trim my beauty stash. Again in 2017 I'm going to be on a mission to use as many beauty products as I can , and of course I'll be keeping track of all the things that I finish over the year and sharing my totals with you. Before we can move on to 2017 though, we need to a step back and look at what products I managed to finish in December 2016.

Elemis Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss Capsules = 7 Day Supply
AVON Ideal Flawless Invisible Coverage Foundation - Ivory - 30ml
Wilko Barely There White Lily And Sweet Rose Blossom Body Scrub - 100ml
Elemis Exotic Lime And Ginger Hand And Body Wash - 300ml
Liz Earle Botanical Shine Conditioner For Dry Or Damaged Hair - 200ml
Elemis Pro Collagen Marine Cream - 15ml
Benefit The Porefessional Instant Wipeout Mask x 1 - 3ml
Primark PS Love Your Skin Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes
The Body Shop Rich Plum Shower Gel - 250ml
Primark PS Love Your Skin Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes

Total - 10 Items 

I finished 2016 on a bit of a high, and for only the second month in 2016, my total hit double figures. In December I managed to finish 10 items, and I managed to finish a nice combination of products including body care, skin care, and make up, as well as a few products that had been hanging around for what seemed like forever.

1. Elemis Cellular Recovery Skin Bliss Capsules - 14 Capsules - 7 Day Supply

I'm a huge, huge Elemis fan, and this was a product that I'd been want to try for a long time. I got these a few months ago but I used them in the run up to Christmas to give me skin a bit of a boost. The jar contained 14 capsules, 7 pink capsules that contains rose, and geranium essential oils, and Vitamin E, and 7 aqua coloured capsules that also contain Vitamin E as well as lavender and bergamot essential oils. You don't swallow these capsules instead you twist them open, and apply the oils from inside the capsules to you skin. You use the rose capsules during the day, and the lavender capsules at night. You are supposed to do a months course and what they do is basically give your skin a boost, and help to combat some of the signs of ageing and the affects of pollution and over indulgence. It hard to say whether or not I could say any real difference after a week but they were a real pleasure to use, the fragrances were amazing, and they left my skin feeling like silk, and not in the slightest bit oily. These are pretty expensive so I'm not sure I would repurchase them on their own but if they ever pop up in a QVC TSV then I'd happily try them again.

2. AVON Ideal Flawless Invisible Coverage Foundation - Ivory - 30ml

This was another one of those products that I was convinced that I'd reviewed on the blog but after searching and searching, I've actually barely mentioned it and I don't know why that is. I know I mentioned it once in a You Tube favourites video which should give you some indication of what I think about it. I love it and over the last 12 months or so it's probably been one of my most worn foundations. The colour is pretty much spot on, it's very pink toned and I like the coverage, it's substantial but it doesn't feel too thick or too heavy and even on my oil prone skin it wears well. I already have another one of these on the go but AVON recently re branded a lot of their make up items and I believe that this particular one is now called the AVON True Colour Flawless Liquid Foundation. The packaging is pretty much identical and the shade names are the same so I don't think that anything has really changed apart from the name, I will be picking another one up soon though, so I will be sure to let know if anything else has changed.

3. Wilko Barely There White Lily And Sweet Rose Blossom Body Scrub - 100ml

This was from a generic, hat box bath and body gift set that I got for Christmas a few years ago now, which originally came from Wilko. As well a coming in a super cute hat box, every product smelled amazing. Think baby powder, mixed with L'Occitane Shea Butter, mixed with Elemis Skin Nourishing Milk Bath. This stuff had the nicest powdery, gentle floral scent and I loved it, but I didn't really love this particular product. It was probably one of the most pathetic excuses for a body scrub that I've ever encountered. It had a thick gel texture which supposedly contained exfoliating grains, well if it did, I couldn't feel any. It just wasn't very scrubby unfortunately - I like a pretty heavy scrub and this just wasn't one - shame though because I really did like the smell. 

4. Elemis Exotic Lime And Ginger Hand And Body Wash - 300ml

Another Elemis product, and unfortunately one that I think has been discontinued. Elemis used to do quite a few products in this fragrance and now the only one that I can find is the salt glow scrub. They've introduced a lot of new fragrances lately including the White Lotus And Lime which I can't wait to try and unfortunately I think that this is one of the lines that that they've sacrificed to make way for new things. Although this wasn't my favourite Elemis aroma it definitely had it's place. Don't think festive ginger and sweet zingy lime, this was a headier more intense fragrance, that in my opinion was pretty unisex, you get the heat and spice of the ginger, and almost bitterness of the lime. It was one of those shower products that left you feeling really clean. 

5. Liz Earle Botanical Shine Conditioner For Dry Or Damaged Hair - 200ml

This was one of the products that seems to have been hanging around my bathroom for what seems like forever. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit but I first reviewed this product way back in 2012. There was only a tiny bit left so I have no idea why I didn't finish it. Although some of the Liz Earle haircare formulations have changed slightly this conditioner was / is the most heavy duty one that they do. It a rich and creamy texture, that at the moment I found just a little bit too heavy. You don't need a lot of product and it's one of those those that you have to make sure that you rinse out properly. I did like this at the time, and if your hair is super dry I would definitely recommend giving this try but at the moment, my hair just didn't seem to like it that much. You can read a full review here x 

6. Elemis Pro Collagen Marine Cream - 15ml

What can I say about this stuff? other than I love, love, love it! It is hands down the nicest moisturiser I have used! It's an anti ageing moisturiser but thanks to its cream, gel texture, it isn't heavy and it isn't sticky. It smells beautiful, it feels cooling on the skin, and you can use it morning and night and even around the eye area. The one drawback is the price but be a smart shopper guys, and buy this from QVC when they have it on special offer, or in a TSV. The 30ml size retails at around £50 but shop well and you can get a whole kit for that price. I love it and my godmother who bless her heart, is in her late 80's also loves it. I get stressy every time I use some up but thankfully Santa was very generous and popped another pot in my stocking so i can breathe more easily and enjoy silky soft skin for the rest of the year.

7. Benefit The Porefessional Instant Wipeout Mask x 1 - 3ml

These are something that I've had in my skincare drawer for a few months now but I've just never got round to use them. I hate my pores with a passion, my skin constantly spews oil, and the pores especially on my nose and chin are always visible. Thanks to Caroline Hirons I now know that pores don't open and close like windows, but I'm always on the look out for products that can at least minimise their appearance slightly. These are essence partial sheet masks, that are specifically made for your nose and the surrounding areas although I guess you could position them anywhere on your face. Each one comes in an individual packet, you squeeze the little liquid pot to soak the mask then you pop it onto your face for about 10 minutes. They you wipe the remaining liquid over your face with the rougher side of the mask and let it sink in to your skin. Whilst i couldn't see any immediate visible changes my skin definitely felt smoother and tighter. I have a few more of these to use so it will be interesting to see if they have any long term effects. 

8. Primark PS Love Your Skin Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes 
10. Primark PS Love Your Skin Oil Balancing Facial Cleansing Wipes x 25 Wipes

Ah, my old favourites, I've been swatching a load of make up products lately and these babies are perfect for cleaning up in between shots. I will definitely continue to keep buying these and I already have a few packets in back up.

9. The Body Shop Rich Plum Shower Gel - 250ml

As much as I loved 2016's festive offerings from The Body Shop, my heart always sinks a little bit when this fragrance doesn't reappear. An alleged plum offering a few years ago just didn't cut the mustard like this one did. I was sweet fruity and delicious, and I'm still lucky enough to have a few pieces left from the year dot when this was first released - Come on The Body Shop, pretty please bring this one back for 2017!

So I finished 10 items in December which as I say, I was pretty happy with but just how many beauty products did I manage to finish in 2016, well lets take a look 

January - 7 Items
February - 8 Items
March - 4 Items
April - 9 items
May - 7 Items
June - 14 Items
July - 8 Items
August - 8 Items
September - 3 Items
October - 7 Items
November - 6 Items
December - 10 Items
Total - 91 Items

Well I managed to finish a massive 91 beauty products in 2016, and to say I'm pretty chuffed is an understatement. I'm well up on 2015's total of 78, and I'm 7 up on 2014's total of 84. I'm still a long way of 2013's tally of 130 beauty empties but I'm still pretty pleased with how many products I've managed to use up over the last 12 months. My aim for 2017 therefore is pretty clear, I need to keep up the good work and use up as many products as I can, and I need to keep working on using up all of something instead of getting bored and moving on to something else! 2017 is going to be about discipline so I will definitely be doing a round of Project 10 Pan sometime this year, and I'm also debating over whether or not to do a no buy month, when I don't go shopping at all and I don't buy anything for myself. That would be a tough for a shopaholic like me but we'll see x I'd love to know if you're planning on doing something similar this year so let me now if you're trying to declutter or even if you're planning on doing Project 10 Pan this year, and I'd love to know your plans and aims are for the year ahead so please leave me a comment below and let me know x