The Products I Loved And Hated / Empties #1

If you follow me on Twitter then you’ll know that this blog post has been the most troublesome blog post possible. I had finished the whole post, ready to hit the publish button when I tried a keyboard shortcut that deleted the WHOLE post. Pictures, words, everything. I’ve never truly hated/loathed technology before but at that moment I couldn’t have been more angry at my mocking laptop..Seriously I swear it’s still smiling at me. I’ve learnt my lesson and please take my advice when I say, SAVE EVERYTHING and BACK IT UP as you go along, I wish I had!! After trying to get it back doing everything humanly possible I failed miserably. So here it goes for the second time…

It’s been too long since I sat down at this desk and blogged for all of you readers. I missed a whole week's worth of posts – this is a sad time for me. I decided that I’d fill you in on what happened to me last week during my absence, so here it goes;

Things that happened since the last time I blogged:

1.    I went on holiday, a short one at that but a holiday. I hadn’t been on a holiday in 3 years so it was great to leave my house and get away for a bit. Because I hadn’t been on holiday for a while I’d also forgotten how to pack, so I ended up taking my whole entire wardrobe, well what was inside it anyway. It was a squeeze admittedly and I did that whole ‘sitting on your suitcase to be able to zip it up’ scene that you see in countless movies – turns out it’s a technique that works and I plan on using it again. So, after the suitcase blip I had a wonderful time and only ended up wearing a few tracksuit bottoms that I packed for emergencies because the weather ended up being super rainy verging on torrential with thunder storms. This made the playsuits, shorts and crop tops I packed pretty useless, so hey that was fun!

2.   I became a vegetarian. I’ve tried this a few times before but failed miserably each time. This isn’t because I have little willpower it’s simply because I was literally just not eating meat (which you’d expect from a vegetarian of course) but I didn’t replace the protein nutrient that the meat would have given me, making me tired and in need of meat nutrients..This time I am determined to make it work, I’ve done my research on veggie protein replacements, stashed up on vegetables (you should see my fridge, it looks like a forest of fruits and never ending greenery!) and I’m loving every moment of it. If any of you have any fantastic, yummy veggie recipes you want to share please give me and e-mail/tweet and I’ll try it out! Even better if you could recommend some veggie cooking blogs/books!

3.   I added another lipstick to my collection..shameless I know. This lipstick however, is the BEST lipstick ever and is my favourite of them all! More on this later!

4.   I spent ALL my money (which wasn’t a lot to start with) on a Topshop sale.. I am a sucker for a bargain…oooopsss.

5.     July ended. I’m still trying to come to grips with this one, how could July have ended already? I feel like it was yesterday that I wrote my July wish lists and all my other posts for that matter. Time flies when you’re having fun I suppose…Bye July, until next year yeah?

So that’s you filled in with what’s been happening in my life for a week..moving on to the post!

A little earlier this month (sorry last month) I said that I was going to be introducing new types of blog posts to my blog. I would like to say that I have kept my word but I think I am a little guilty. This month, despite it being the ‘holidays’ I haven’t blogged nearly as much as I would have wanted to. As a result I haven’t introduced many ‘new types’ of blog posts. BUT ALAS (Alas? No one says alas anymore I’m not quite sure where that came from..some sort of medieval force overcame me..ahem..moving on..) this blog post is a new type of blog post that I am introducing to my blog – Empties!

  A lot of you will probably be aware that an ‘Empties’ style post is a post where bloggers/vloggers talk about the products that they have used up and why they loved/hated them. I love reading/watching these types of blog posts and hopefully you do to because that is what I am going to be doing in this blog post! I’ve been keeping all my used up products and stashing them away safely so that I can ramble about them right here, on this very blog, on this very page..

 

Sorry it's so covered in make-up..

LOVED. The first product that I used up is my Dior Loose Powder in colour 601. I literally love this powder. I’d been using a No7 powder for a very long time, No7 is a cheaper, drugstore brand and while there is nothing wrong with that I noticed the quality difference between the powders. My No7 powder was a faithful little compact powder which I used up, it wasn’t a loose powder like this Dior one but it was a pressed powder. I really liked my No7 powder and it was so handy (literally) for popping into my handbag when I was out and about. In comparison the Dior packaging was so cumbersome and clumsy that I would never trust it inside my bag for the fear of the lid flinging off when I forgot to screw the lid on all the way and powder making a grand escape all over my bag (I speak from experience here..). While Dior’s packaging was slightly inconvenient for out-and-about use it was perfect for powder top-ups and for my morning makeup routine. When my No7 powder ran out I used the Dior powder for all occasions, even in-bag situations (sellotape for sticking down the Dior lid was a lifesaver here.) I’ll definitely miss this product. I have found a cheaper replacement that I’m currently loving though so I will be blogging about that shortly!

LOVED. TRESemme Salon Finish Hairspray has been well and truly loved also. I will mourn this little can of hairspray (until I buy another can of it I won’t be able to reach eternal happiness.) I bought this little gem of a can on an emergency beauty haul before Clothes Show TV Launch Party.. yes, that’s right, I forgot to pack hairspray on my way to an event like that – what was I thinking? Well, clearly I wasn’t. Anyway, I was in such a fluster I merely picked this up randomly off the hairspray shelf and darted back to the hotel room to get ready.  I will be forever grateful that the shop I walked into had such an amazing hairspray that turned out to be a total lifesaver that night. The can says ‘Extra Hold’ and let me just say it certainly does just that. My hair was moulded into shape the whole night but it still had a natural flow in it which many ‘firm hold’ hairsprays fail to provide. When I have a hairspray I want to do its job well and hold my hair in place but minus the Tracy Turnbald effect..motionless hair…

Photo taken from Google Images. Tracy from Hairspray and her motionless hair (perfect for the 60s era Trace!)

 Lee Stafford Dry Shampoo – I had a love hate relationship with this product. For starters I cant remember how long I’ve had it stuffed in my drawer for. All I know is that it’s been longer than three years because that’s how long I’ve lived in my house and I specifically remember packing it for the removal guys. I desperately wanted to get rid of this product, not because it’s the worst thing I have ever bought, because it’s not the worst thing I’ve ever bought..it’s ok – just ok. I’ve never found that many dry shampoos actually work very well, a lot leave a hefty amount of residue which isn’t ideal, attractive or part of the customer care you expect from a product which is supposed to make your hair look better not worse. This dry shampoo gave that sort of dandruff effect when you sprayed it on, maybe I was using it wrong, I certainly didn’t have dandruff that’s for sure. All I know is that it wasn’t the best dry shampoo that I’ve used, it made my head itch (again, not a symptom of dandruff that I didn’t have but rather sensitive skin) BUT a pro for this product is that it smelt gorgeous. Maybe I should have used it as a body spray instead? I won’t be buying this again. I didn’t hate this product but I certainly didn’t particularly like it either…  

Beyonce's Heat Perfume - Certainly a LOVED product. Originally bought this for my Mum last Christmas and while she loved her gift I also couldn't resist snatching a squirt here and there. Mum soon caught on though and gave me my own bottle in order not to use up all of hers! Although I really loved this perfume to the last drop the original and unique 'spicey' smell is more of a winter scent than a summer one so I won't be re-purchasing any time really soon. 

Lancôme La Vie Est Belle Perfume, meaning 'life is beautiful' and so is this perfume! I LOVED this perfume for sure. I've had it since February when I received it on my birthday and I've loved it ever since. It lasted 5 months which is pretty good considering I bathed myself in this delightful scent! I am certainly looking forward to when I can afford re-purchasing this perfume, it is one of my favourites and I received many compliments and queries about what I was wearing whenever I had it on! 

Nina Ricci Fantasy Limited Edition 2012 Perfume - just take a moment to look at the adorable little illustrations on this bottle - so cute. Everything about this perfume was amazing, from the bottle to the actual scent. I am so sad that this was a Limited Edition, it was one of my favourite perfumes to wear and display in my room. The bottle is far too adorable to throw away so I'll be keeping this cutie for a while until I'm over my loss...*sniffle*...

That's all the empties I have for now! I hope you've liked the new styles of posts I've been introducing. I plan to introduce many more while still keeping my traditional posts! Phew... that took over 3 hours, darn technology (at times anyway!). Until next time!