Trimming My Stash - March 2021 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews And An Update *

Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a good weekend, I'd set myself a to do list, and I can safely say that I only managed to complete 2 of the 6 things on the list! Frustrating, but sometimes we just need to celebrate what we do achieve, rather than dwelling on what we don't, so I'm not going to worry about it, things will get done when, they get done!

I've got a bit of a busy week ahead, with an eyebrow appointment, a planned shopping trip, and my second COVID vaccine, and it's my birthday on Saturday but I am going to try and get a couple of posts up this week for you, but first of all I'm going to share a late March empties post with you.
 
AVON Care Nourishing With Cocoa Butter Hand Cream - 75ml
The Body Shop Juicy Pear Hand Cream - 30ml
The Body Shop Vanilla Pumpkin Shower Gel - 250ml
Land Of Nod Salt Body Scrub Relaxing & Calming Lavender - 100g
Philip Kingsley Elasticizer - Elderflower & Rhubarb - 150ml
Elizavecca Milky Piggy Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask - 100ml
Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Gold Eye Mask - 1 x Pair - 4g
AVON Advance Techniques Reconstruction Conditioner - 250ml

Total - 8 Items 

Okay, I know that March is only the third month of the year but trimming my stash wise March was my best month of the year so far. I managed to finish a very respectable 8 items including a nice mixture of skincare, hair care, and body care items.

1. AVON Care Nourishing With Cocoa Butter Hand Cream - 75ml

Following my recent Palmer's Cocoa Butter love in, I've become re obsessed with that sweet and creamy scent. Whilst operation nail growth continues in earnest (although not very successfully at the moment) I'm going through hand cream like it's going out of fashion, and this particular one from AVON was one of my most recent buys.

My mam is already a huge fan of the AVON Care Nourishing Cocoa Butter Multi Purpose Cream, and in my quest for a sweeter cocoa butter scented life, it made sense to try this hand cream.

Designed for dry to extra dry skin this hand cream contains both cocoa seed butter, and vitamin E, It has a creamy texture, without being too heavy, and it absorbs into the skin fairly quickly, leaving my hands soft and hydrated for a good few hours. Scent wise it's lovely and sweet, and creamy with both vanilla and surprisingly coconut notes.

The one drawback is that I did seem to use it up quite quickly, it isn't the thickest hand cream that I've ever used, and I think that I had a tendency for some reason to overuse it.

I would potentially buy it again, but I think I might heed the wisdom of Mummy Lou and buy my own pot of the multipurpose cream to use on my hands - it seems to be a little bit thicker, and I think it would probably be better value for money x 

AVON Care Nourishing With Cocoa Butter Hand Cream comes in a 75ml tube and has an RRP of £2.

2. The Body Shop Juicy Pear Hand Cream - 30ml

Next up another hand cream, and this time it's a festive one from The Body Shop 2019 Juicy Pear range. From one of their sack gift sets, this hand cream contains Italian pear extract, sweet almond oil and shea butter. Light green in colour, it had a dense almost cream gel like appearance and texture.

It was surprisingly hydrating and it absorbed into the skin quickly leaving my hands feeling super smooth and smelling like sweet, yet tart, fresh juicy pears.

Juicy Pear is definitely one of my favourite ever festive scents from The Body Shop, and I really wish that they would bring it back, because the scent of the Pear Bath Blend just isn't the same!

3. The Body Shop Vanilla Pumpkin Shower Gel - 250ml

From Christmas to Autumn, and my next March empty was another seasonal item from The Body Shop. Like Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte you can always tell that Autumn is on its way, when The Body Shop's Vanilla Pumpkin range makes it's hopefully annual appearance in store.

Thankfully I'd stocked up in 2019, but what with COVID and whatever else, the Vanilla Pumpkin range seemed to be in pretty short supply in 2020, and I only managed to get my hands on one body butter.

Containing Madagascan vanilla, honey, anise, and pumpkin fragrance, this was a gorgeous creamy shower gel, with a lovely nutty, vanilla, slightly fruity and spicy scent - delicious!

Alas this was my last bottle of Vanilla Pumpkin Shower Gel, so until Autumn comes around again I'll be teaming up my remaining body butter, with a variety and sweet and spicy shower products.

4. Land Of Nod Salt Body Scrub Relaxing & Calming Lavender - 100g

Now I've never made any secret of the fact that I love a bargain, and as a result one of my favourite shops to go to is Poundland. I don't think I've ever been into a Poundland store without buying something. As well as selling a varying range of branded beauty products, they've also recently started selling their own one off ranges of products including some Lush dupes.

Packaged in a Lush alike little black pot, this product is from their much talked about Land Of Nod range, that's designed to relax and calm, and to help you to sleep. I picked up 2 products from the range a shower gel, and this body scrub which contains walnut shells, sea salt, sugar, and lavender oil. It had quite an olde world smell, I personally prefer the cleaner, fresher, more astringent scent of French lavender, but this had quite a strong but powdery, slightly old fashion English lavender type scent.

The tub contained what initially looked like a pale blue / lilac liquidy gel. It was only when you looked more closely that you could actually see a mixture of very fine, dark and light particles. It was very, very runny and if I'm completely honest I could barely feel the grains. Admittedly I like a quite aggressive, gritty scrub, but the grains in this scrub was just too fine to make any real difference, they should have just altered the packaging and labelled this as a shower gel. I love you Poundland but even at just £1 this wasn't for me x

5. Philip Kingsley Elasticizer - Elderflower & Rhubarb - 150ml

Next up, the first of two hair care products in this post, and this one is one of favourite ever hair products from trichology based hair care range, Philip Kingsley.

Although I don't use it all the time, it's one of those products that makes a huge difference to your hair, whether you use it once, or whether you use it every week.

Containing olive oil, glycerine and castor seed oil, Elasticizer is basically a pre wash, intensive conditioning treatment, that's designed to condition, repair, hydrate and strengthen the hair. All you do is apply the rich cream to damp hair, and then leave it to do it's thing for anywhere between 20 or so minutes to overnight before shampooing and conditioning the hair as normal.

It leaves my hair feeling smoother, and more manageable and it's something that I'll continue to use. I've used quite a few different scents of Elasticizer over the years (just search Elasticizer to see just a few of them) but this super fresh and fruity, Rhubarb and Elderflower version from around 2016 or so is probably one of my favourites. Alas this particular scent has now been discontinued but there are always new limited edition scents been released and the original, which was originally created for Audrey Hepburn is still widely available. A 150ml tub of Philip Kingsley Elasticizer retails at around £35 from various retailers including direct from Philip Kingsley, as well as from Look Fantastic, Feel Unique, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Boots.

6. Elizavecca Milky Piggy Carbonated Bubble Clay Mask - 100ml

The next product on the list has a little bit of a cult reputation, and it's something that I bought on a whim a few years ago, after spending too long on social media! Apparently now huge on Tik Tok, there was a time that you couldn't go on You Tube or Instagram without seeing people with cloud like faces after using this mask.

From South Korean brand Elizavecca this mask contains charcoal, clay, collagen, green tea, plant extracts, and carbonated water. It's designed to clean out the pores, and get rid of blackheads as well as leaving the skin smooth and moist.

Open the box and inside you'll find a tub of face mask with a super cute cartoon like design on the label, and a tiny little plastic application scoop. 

The mask itself is grey in colour, and it has a creamy, clay like texture. Despite all of the plant ingredients I still found that it has a sort of clay like, strange slightly plastic scent.

I personally didn't use the spatula to apply it because it was a bit small, instead I used a face mask brush, you could obviously use your fingers but it is a bit gloopy, and it's one of those masks that you seem to almost wipe off as you're applying it. 

As tempting as it is to over apply it from the full cloud like, comedic effect that you often see online, it's probably best to try and apply a thin even layer.

It immediately feels cool on the skin, with just a slight tingle but almost as soon as you apply it you start to experience a tickly, tingly, popping feeling as the mask begins to bubble and foam. It's not uncomfortable but it is quite a strange sensation.

On Application

After A Couple Of Minutes 

It takes about 5 or so minutes to full foam up, and to create that cloud like effect, then all you do is just wet your hands and massage the bubbles over your face before rinsing off the mask with warm water.

After Removal

It doesn't set solid so it's quite easy to rinse off. After rinsing my skin did look a touch pink, but it felt super smooth and it looked really clean, clear and fresh.

I really did buy this mask on a bit of a whim but apart from the funny selfie opportunities, and the cute packaging, I can really see why this mask is so popular, my skin felt smoother and it looked clearer even after one application, and it really did improve the appearance of my pores.

Despite its popularity it isn't the easiest mask to find, so eBay and Amazon are probably your best options, but have a little search online before you commit. Prices do vary but you should expect to pay around £8.99 for your own cloud like selfie opportunity, and you can look forward to a few from me because I have another tub currently on route from eBay.

7. Wander Beauty Baggage Claim Gold Eye Mask - 1 x Pair - 4g

From a face mask to an eye mask and the next product in March's list is this set of eye mask patches from Wander Beauty.

I don't think I've really got too much else to say about these so you can read my full review in my last post here x 

8. AVON Advance Techniques Reconstruction Conditioner - 250ml

Finally another hair product and it's another favourite, and again it's something that you've seen before. From their Reconstruction range, this conditioner contains AVON's unique Keratin Panthenol Complex and is designed to help reduce split ends and breakages. It leaves my hair feeling soft, smooth, and healthy and it has a delicious fruity scent.

Although I'm currently alternating the John Frieda Radiant Red Conditioner with another AVON product, I've already repurchased this conditioner, and I'm going to keep using all of the products in the Reconstruction range.

AVON seem to have had another revamp of their Advance Techniques range, and whilst the packaging has changed on this one it seems to have escaped the cull - the 250ml size retails at around £3 either from the AVON website or via your local AVON representative. 

So there you have it, a slightly late March empties post. All in all a very successful month, alas as you'll see in a week or so April wasn't quite as successful, but I'm going at it with all guns blazing in May. In the meantime though if you have any questions on any of the products that I finished in March then please leave me a comment below, and I'll try and get back to you. Thank you as per usual for all of your support and I will see you later this week with a make up review x 

*This Post Contains Added Automatic Affiliate, Added Affiliate And Non Affiliate Links

Glossybox "All I Want" Advent Calendar - Part 1 - Days 1 - 12

Now I know that some people don't like them but personally I love a luxury advent calendar. I've always had an advent calendar ever since was a child, and even though we've now come a long way since the cardboard and glitter calendars of my childhood, opening a box or a door every morning in the run up to Christmas still gives me that hint of childhood excitement.

We're well advented out in the house, between 2 people and 3 cats, we seem to have acquired 6 advent calendars. The cats have one with kitty heart shaped treats inside, my mum has a Lindt chocolate one, and a NEXT home fragrance calendar, and somehow I've ended up with 3. I have a traditional Cadbury's one, a lovely Moo Free chocolate one which was a gift from a friends parents and I also have a luxury beauty advent calendar, which this year is from Glossybox.

Pretty much every brand and store this seemed to be doing their own advent calendar this year, and there were so many that I could have chosen or gone for, but after receiving a press release, I decided to go for the Glossybox UK All I Want Advent Calendar. This to the best of my knowledge is Glossybox UK's first advent calendar, and as expected it proved to be extremely successful and it did in fact sell out. I'm super grateful that Mummy Lou ordered it for me as part of my Christmas present, the retail price was originally £99 for non subscribers, but subscribers like me got the chance to pre order it for just £75. I also had some Glossy Credits which you could redeem against it, so we paid a little bit less in the end.

The designs itself is beautiful, wrapped in a pink ribbon, it's predominately in shades of pink, rose gold, and grey. Open the door and you're greeted with 24 different sized boxes all filled with goodies and shred, the boxes themselves are stacked on 4 little shelves within the box. That's not all though adhered to the inside of the left hand door is another box, with a 25 on it which is just the icing on the cake in my opinion, it's really nice to have an extra gift on Christmas Day itself.

Unlike the calendar that I got last year, this one probably isn't quite as reusable, but I'm definitely going to think of a way to reuse it, obviously you could refill it as it is, or you can use the individual boxes either for gift wrapping or for storing decorations. I'm definitely going to try and resuse it even if I just put something on the little shelves, we'll see, but it's definitely too pretty to just recycle.

Even though I had a few hints (okay a full contents list!) it's still exciting opening the boxes every morning and seeing what's inside! I've been posting day by day pics on Instagram but like in previous years I thought I'd share some initial impressions about the products inside on the blog, some of them will be full reviews with swatches and so on and with some products I'll just be telling you about more about what it is, what does, and an idea of the retail price so you make your own mind up as to whether or this calendar was worth the money - so a little but here are days 1 - 12.

Day 1 - NARS Velvet Lip Glide - 3.4ml - Immoral

Ah, NARS, who doesn't love a bit of NARS. They're one of those brands that I would happily buy everything from, providing I had unlimited funds that is,  I love their products, and thanks to the Glossbox All I Want Advent Calendar I've been able to try another one.

Lip colours are the one area where NARS and I haven't really got on, but this one thankfully was a winner. NARS Velvet Lip Glide is the perfect mix of a lipstick and a gloss, they apply with the smoothness of a gloss but with the intensity and pigmentation of a lipstick. Containing waterlily and white tea they are moisturising on the lips and have a smooth satin to semi matte finish.

Immoral is a beautiful creamy, cool fuchsia pink shade, it's extremely pigmented and it feels smooth and nourishing on the lips. I am officially in love with both this colour and this formulation. You can see a quick pic of it below and I am also wearing it in upcoming December 2018 Glossybox Unboxing Video x The one pity is that this shade appears to be a limited edition and quite hard to find, if you're in the USA though you can be this shade in this deluxe mini size as part of duo for around $16. Glossybox estimate this deluxe mini size at around £13.72 - a full 5.7ml Velvet Lip Glide retails at around £23. Although it might be quite difficult to get your hands on this particular shade, there are lots and lots of other shades to try, and I'm definitely going to be splashing out on a few more of these in the future x

Day 2 - Nip + Fab Hydrate Dragon's Blood Fix Plumping Serum - 30ml

I've tried a few products from Nip + Fab, mainly from the Glycolic and Kale ranges but I've never tried anything from their Dragon's Blood range before. A few people have told me how much they like this product and apparently Kylie Jenner is a fan too.

The idea of dragons blood sounds a little bit scary, but no komodo dragons, Smaugs, or Drogons have been harmed in the making of this product, dragons blood is in fact the sap from the Croton Lechleri tree, which when teamed up with velvet flower extract and hyaluronic acid provides intense moisture, plumpness  and comfort to all skin types but especially dehydrated and sensitive skin that is prone to redness. My skin is strange at the moment I have a few hormonal spots on my chin but at the same time, it feels quite dry, so I might give this ago in the run up to Christmas to see if it can perform a festive miracle or two x This is a good 30ml size which Glossybox value at around £11.97, the regular 50ml size retails at around £19.85

Day 3 - Yankee Candle Small Jar Candle - Berry Trifle 104g

I do love a candle especially when it's cold and dark outside, there is something so warming and soothing about candlelight, especially when it smells as good as this one does. Apparently there were two different scents but the one I got was Berry Trifle. I love food and fruit scents so this one is right up my street. It has a mouthwatering warm, fruity, berry scent with just a hint of vanilla and creaminess. Between us, me and Mummy Lou could probably own our own candle store and we I first smelled this I thought we already owned this one, but the one we actually have is the similar smelling Berry Jam, so Berry Trifle is a welcome addition to our extensive candle library. This is a Yankee Candle Small Jar Candle, which burns for 20-30 hours, they retail at £8.99 so this was a nice item to receive.

Day 4 - Philip Kingsley Body Building Conditioner - 60ml

Now, I'm a huge Philip Kingsley fan, Elasticizer is a must have and I regularly use the brands shampoos and conditioners and I have a few other bits to try. I've tried a couple of their conditioners before but I've never tried this one before. I've reviewed the corresponding shampoo before (read my review here) but this is new to me. I haven't had a chance to try it yet but once I've cleared a few more products out of the shower I'll be giving this ago.

According to Philip Kingsley (who are a professional trichology brand) this is an ultra lightweight conditioner that's ideal for fine hair types, it's designed to add moisture without weight, and it's designed to thicken the appearance of each individual hair strange, and detangling the hair as well as combating frizz and fly aways. Sounds good? I'll probably let you know what I think in a future empties post x This 60ml size is quite hard to find but it retails at around £7.00, the 75ml size retails at £10 if you fancy giving this a go.

Day 5 - MDM Flow Greater Than Mascara - 6.5ml

I've tried a couple of lip products from this UK, cruelty free brand before, but I've never tried any of their eye or face products. Now I haven't opened this that because I've already got a couple of mascaras on the go but it sounds pretty promising. According to everything that I've read this is a highly pigmented black volumising mascara, with a indented brush designed for increased volume and clump free application. It's also apparently long wearing but it contains a unique Easy-Off formulation that makes it easy to remove with either water or a water based eye make up remover. Sounds good and I can't wait to give it ago - I'll let you in a future post what I think about it if you're interested. This full 6.5ml size of the MDM Flow Greater Than Mascara retails at around £18.

Day 6 - 3INA The Lip Primer - 10ml

I've used a few bits from 3INA in the past but this is new to me x I've never much of a fan of lip primers if I'm honest - the majority either seem to dry your lips out or they just look like you've covered your lips in concealer, this is a little bit different. As well as being paraben free, vegan, and cruelty free, it's also water based. It's basically just a slightly iridescent pink, liquid cream. It matiffies the lips without making them dry or sore. I've mainly be using this under both lipsticks and glosses and it definitely makes the majority of them that I've tried last a little bit longer. You can also use it as a lip nourishing produce and on top of lipstick to give a more mattifying effect. This is a full size and retails at around £9.95.

Day 7 - Patisserie De Bain Strawberry Cupcake Bath & Shower Creme - 50ml

I was a little bit excited when I saw this, I do love fruity smelling shower products and this is the scent of summer in a tube just what you want when it's freezing outside! Patisserie De Bain are the sister brand of Yorkshire based company Rose & Co. I've tried a few Rose & Co products, and my mum is already a huge fan of Patisserie De Bain's Sugared Violet range, but this is a new scent to us both. This vegan friendly shower product apparently smells exactly like strawberries and cream, yummy! I'm in a wintry and warming mood at the moment when it comes to shower products so I'm going to hang on to this one and keep for when it quite so vile outside x This product has an estimated RRP of £2.99.

Day 8 - Real Techniques 200 Expert Foundation / Face Brush

I do love a make up brush and I was thrilled to open one of my little boxes, and see a make up brush from Real Techniques. If you haven't heard of Real Techniques where have you been?? It is an excellent, and affordable make up brush for make up artists and You Tuber's Sam and Nic aka Pixiwoo. I love their brushes and this is a limited edition version of one of their most popular brushes, their foundation / face brush. Their brushes are cruelty free, soft, durable and silky, and in this case in particular they look amazing. This brush which perfect for applying both cream and liquid foundations has super soft, densely packed duo fibre hairs. The body of the brush in a gorgeous almost rose gold, pink metal, and a almost rubberised feel plastic. I can't actually find this brush for sale on it's own so it's definitely a limited edition, a comparable brush would retail for around £9.99 but if this one has taken your fancy then it is available as part of the newly released Everyday Essentials Set which retails at around £19.99 and contains 4 brushes including this one and a Miracle Complexion Sponge.

Day 9 - Charles Worthington Take Aways Volume & Bounce Body Booster Mousse - 50ml

Now I've got to be honest I don't really use hair mousse, my hairdressers occasionally uses it before she blow drys my hair but it isn't something that I use at home. My mam on the other hand has crazy curly hair, and as a result she loves her mousse, so she's already nabbed this, and fingers crossed she likes it. From celebrity hairdresser Charles Worthington's line this mousse contains collagen is designed to boost volume, and give body, bounce, and lasting volume x This is a travel sized mini and has a retail price of around £2.49.

Day 10 - Bare Minerals Skinlongevity Vital Power Infusion - 7.5ml 

I actually have a tube or two of this but as yet I haven't tried it. You may be familiar with bare minerals as a make up brand but did you know that they've now branched out into skincare. It's a natural progression I guess for a natural brand that already produced make up with so many skincare benefits. This sounds amazing and I'm actually going to try it out tonight. Containing Bare Minerals patented Long Life Herb Extract. this is basically an all round skin replenisher, which is designed to promote a more youthful appearance, by adding moisture, and diminishing the appearance of fine lines, pores, wrinkles and uneven skin texture. You simply apply it to the face and neck after cleansing both morning and evening. You can either use on it's own or under your normal moisturiser for extra boost. According to Glossybox this 7.5ml size retails at around £7.29.

Day 11 - Bellapierre Cosmetics Kiss Proof Lip Finish - 3.8g

Bellapierre are another mineral based make up brand, all of their products are toxin, paraben free, and cruelty free, and contain only naturally derived ingredients, I own a few of their products already including some of their pigments and I've been pretty impressed with the things that I have tried but this is something new!

Now this product has flummoxed me a bit - At first I wasn't sure exactly what it was - was it a lip gloss or was it a lip sealer like Lipcote, designed to keep your lipstick in place no matter who many people you kiss under the mistletoe, it turns out it's probably a combination of the two. Kiss Proof Lip Finish is a hydrating clear lip gloss that is designed specifically to be worn on top of Bellapierre's Kiss Proof Lips Cremes, transfer what is in essence a matte product to a long lasting glossy one

Obviously you can use over any lip colour and I actually tried it over NARS Immoral and wow the difference in appearance was phenomenal, for a pretty satin finish to a full on almost mirror like gloss finish in one sweep. The gloss is a bit runny but it gave a fabulous almost mirror like finish to the lips and believe it or not it improved the wear time of something that was already pretty long lasting. This is a full size and retails at £15.

Day 12 - MUA Make Up Academy Eyeshadow Palette - Cosmic Vixen 

and on day 12 my true love, or Glossybox in this case, gave to me a full size MUA Make Up Academy Eyeshadow Palette. Although they are definitely at the lower end of the price spectrum, Make Up Academy Eyeshadow Palettes are pretty amazing and I already own quite a few of them but I didn't have thankfully I didn't have this one.

This palette is both talc and cruelty free and contains 15 fabulous shades in a mixture of textures, mattes, shimmers and high pearl finishes, this palette isn't for the faint hearted, there are some pretty out there shades in it. From pinks, almost reds and corals, to mauve's, purples and plums, there are some bright colours in this palette. Fear not that because it also has a few gold, taupe's and bronzes so it isn't all scary. If you like the idea of Urban Decay Naked Cherry with just a touch of Naked Heat thrown in then this palette is a fab budget alternative.

All of the shades feel soft and silly and the shimmers and pearls almost have a creamy feel to them. As you would expect pigmentation wise it's the shimmers and pearls that will blow your socks off, smooth shimmery, buttery and delicious colour payoff. The mattes on the other hand whilst feeling soft and silky vary slightly, the pay off on the darker colours in fine, but some of the paler shades are a bit chalky.

In reality I probably wouldn't have bought this palette, a lot of the colours are just slightly too bold for me but even though I've just managed to swatch it I'm really thinking that I could make more of the colours work for me than what I first thought. It's definitely going to be one that I'm to experiment with in the new year. This is a full size palette and retails at a pretty fabulous £5.

So 12 days down, (well more like 16 now) and a week and a bit to go before the big day - Verdict? So far, so good - A good assortment of products, full sizes and prices, and a few fabulous new discoveries - Highlights? too many but NARS, 3INA, Yankee Candles, and Real Techniques are the things that excited my most, we'll see though when I've had a proper play. Don't forget you can keep track of the days and the boxes on my Instagram and I'll be posting days 13 - 24, hopefully on Christmas Eve. In the meantime if you have any questions on any of the products in the calendar so far, I'd love to hear them so leave me a comment below xx

Trimming My Stash And Life Lately - April 2018 Edition - Empties And Mini Reviews

Well. well, well the last few weeks have been fun in my world haven't they! Thankfully it eventually appears as though we're starting to turn the corner. On Tuesday I celebrated my 40th birthday, obviously given the events of the last few weeks, the celebrations were majorly scaled back but I had a fabulous day, and I was well and truly spoilt as per usual by my amazing family and some very special friends x I got some lovely pressies some of which I'll be sharing with you on Instagram but the biggest and best pressie of all was having my mam home. She was discharged on Tuesday afternoon and whilst she has an outpatient appointment next week, hopefully she's well on the way to a full recovery.

This year seems to have been very stop, start when it comes to blogging but hopefully with things returning back to normal at home, and a change in my own mindset and outlook I'm hopefully going to able to get some of those posts and videos up that I've been planning and promising for what feels like an eternity. First though I'm going to take a very late look back at April's beauty empties.

Primark PS Cuticle Oil - 10ml
Philip Kingsley Moisture Balancing Conditioner - 20ml
Lavera Fine Loose Mineral Powder - Transparent - 8g
Dawin Miller Joy White Jasmine And Cranberry Body Wash - 120ml
AVON Advance Techniques Anti Hair Fall Conditioner - 250ml

Total - 5 Items 

Well despite all of the trials and tribulations that April had to offer I still managed to finish 5 beauty products. Although I didn't manage to finish any facial skincare items this time round, I did manage to finish a make up item, so I'm classing April as a trimming my stash win!

1. Primark PS Cuticle Oil - 10ml

I've talked about this product a few times now, and to be honest I can't praise it enough. I've used a lot of cuticle oils over the years, and this is without a doubt one of the best that I've used and it's also the cheapest. Crammed full of avocado oil, this oil is easy to apply, and it absorbs super quickly, and at just £1 a bottle you can afford to slather it on. This is now one of my beauty must haves and it's something that I'm going to continue to stock up on and use regularly.

2. Philip Kingsley Moisture Balancing Conditioner - 20ml*

This travel sized product came in a set that I was sent to review way back in 2015 (You can read my review here). I've no idea why I didn't finish this sooner but here we are. I'm a big fan of the Philip Kingsley brand and this was another nice product. It was a nice lightweight conditioner that was ideal of fine hair, or if you wash your hair on a daily basis. If your hair is very dry this might not be enough for you, but you could team it up with Philip Kingsley's famous Elasticizer if your needs a bit of extra boost.

3. Lavera Fine Loose Mineral Powder - Transparent - 8g*

At last a make up item! and this one was another press sample, and this time one from natural beauty store My Pure. Having quite an oil prone skin I love face powder, and I'm a particular fan of loose powder and if you are as well, this one was a good one. Yes, like all loose powders it was a touch messy, and you did get a bit of fallout, but it wasn't too chalky, and it really did take down the shine especially on my t-zone. If you're looking for a cruelty free, loose powder from a natural and eco friendly brand then this could be a one to try. You can read a full review here. 

4.  Dawin Miller Joy White Jasmine And Cranberry Body Wash - 120ml

While sorting through my beauty stash a few months ago now I discovered a Christmas gift set from a toiletry brand that I hadn't heard of, Dawin Miller. Joy definitely isn't a festive type fragrance in the traditional sense and it's something that you could easily use all year around, it's definitely more of a floral, than a fruity scent, and the heady scent of the jasmine really did dominate with just a hint of the tart berries. I love the scent of jasmine and white flowers so I really enjoyed using this lovely foaming shower gel. I can't find any trace of this brand or any information about it so I don't honestly think that it's something that I'm going to be able to repurchase it but I do have a hand and body lotion, and some body cream to use up, so I can go on enjoying the scent for a little bit longer.

5. AVON Advance Techniques Anti Hair Fall Conditioner - 250ml

Argh ! I have no idea what happened the picture here but I can assure you that I definitely did finish this bottle of conditioner. This is without a doubt one of the nicest hair conditioners that I have used in a long, long time. With a very similar scent to the accompanying shampoo that I talked about in March's trimming my stash post (read my thoughts here), this creamy condition probably has a touch more of the peppermint scent to it, which gives a cooling and refreshing hit. Also containing bamboo, keratin and arginine, this stuff leaves my hair feeling silky, smooth and very hydrated and shiny. Like with the shampoo I'm not sure it made too much different to my hair loss but since I've started using both the shampoo and the conditioner from this range I've noticed a definite improvement in the condition and the appearance of my hair. I've already repurchased this product and it something that I'm going to keep buying

So they were my very late April empties, if you have any questions on any of the products that I've mentioned than please don't hesitate to leave me a comment below, or contact me via email or twitter, Thanks for reading and thanks again for keeping me sane over the last few weeks xx

*Press Samples