Empties #21

I have a really positive empties post for you today, only one of them got a thumbs down from me!  I have also started including a 'rating' where I have rated the product out of 10, hopefully you will find this useful, it makes sense in my head!

Empties #19

Empties #18

Hello!  I've really been struggling to fit in blogging round my job and other activities recently, especially with the dark nights making taking photos near impossible!  As I've moved away from home for work, a lot of my weekends are taken up with either going back up or having people down visiting.  However I managed to do some bulk photography which should keep me going for a while. Does anyone know of any decent daylight bulbs or lights?  This would make life a lot easier, can't wait for light nights again!

Empties #15

All products in this post are cruelty free, how exciting!  What's more, they're all actually suitable for vegans too which is certainly a first!  I don't think I have much left which isn't cruelty free thankfully, just a few make up things which take ages to use up.  

Jason Volumizing Lavender Pure Natural Shampoo

Thoughts: This is a SLS free shampoo and it worked pretty well, had a good lather. I didn't notice it to be particularly volumising but I never do with shampoos to be honest! Suitable for vegans.  £5.59/454ml delivered here.
Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Possibly but I like to change up my hair care!

Jason Super Shine Apricot Pure Natural Conditioner

Thoughts: I decided to go wild and not get a matching conditioner... This smells really good, although combined with lavender it's an odd scent! Seems to work well enough, stops the tugs!  Suitable for vegans.  £5.59/454ml delivered here.
Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: See above!

Superdrug Crystal Anti-Perspirant Deodorant

Thoughts: This is the best cruelty free deodorant I've used so far. I'm not a big fan of aerosol sprays though and it does contain aluminium which isn't great but it will do for now! Suitable for vegans. £1.29/250ml here.
Cruelty-free?: Yes, BUAV Approved.
Repurchase?: Yes.

Neal's Yard Remedies Organic Eye Make-Up Remover

Thoughts: I had high hopes for this but I was quite disappointed! It didn't really work that well and had a very strong smell. I think I'll go back to The Body Shop's Camomile one! Suitable for vegans. £10.75/100ml here.
Cruelty-free?: Yes, BUAV Approved.
Repurchase?: No.

Lush Blackbery Bath Bomb (not pictured)

Thoughts: I really liked this bath bomb! Smells great and has a good fizz to it, it also contains frankincense and bergamot to clear the mind and induce a feeling of well-being. There's also a little surprise inside which is such a cute touch! Suitable for vegans. £2.99 here.
Cruelty-free?: Yes.
Repurchase?: Yes.

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John Frieda Luxurious Volume Shampoo & Conditioner

I have a lot of hair, however the hair itself is fine and it is weighed down as there is so much.  I was offered the chance to try some John Frieda products and after describing my hair to the PR, I was sent items from the Luxurious Volume collection, and also a Full Repair Deep Conditioner.

Unfortunately I didn't get on very well with the shampoo and after a few weeks I just had to stop using it and gave it to my mum!  I haven't used shampoo with SLS in it for about a year now and I think going back to it has made me realise why it should be avoided!  I've mentioned before about a dry patch on my head - I think it might be psoriasis - which has been okay recently but since using that shampoo it got sooo much worse!  Then as soon as I went back to my SLS free shampoo it pretty much cleared up - crazy!

Aside from that unfortunate occurrence, I don't think it it made my hair particularly voluminous at the roots, perhaps around the ends there was a bit more body.  My mum commented that my hair was looking shinier though!

I also wasn't very keen on the smell, it was quite chemically and reminded me of the smell of hair dye!   Another weird negative is that (this is probably going to sound ridiculous and might just be me but I thought it's worth mentioning!) the shampoo and conditioner bottles looks exactly same except for their respective word written on the back so when I was using them in the shower I would have to bend right down and pick them up to see which was which as I don't have very good eyesight so couldn't see for further away haha!  It's such a minor issue but it annoyed me a little bit!  Sorry John Frieda, I wish I had more positives for you!  The shampoo and conditioner are £8.99 each (eek!) on the Boots website.

On the contrary I actually really liked the Full Repair Deep Conditioner.  It smells amazing and made my hair feel really soft and silky.  It actually smells a lot like the LGNs London Roses & Diamonds perfume I have oddly enough.  I brush my hair before washing it then go to sleep with it wet (so classy!) and when I brush it in the morning after using this there are no tugs, pretty impressive for my hair!!  This is definitely something I would buy again.  The deep conditioner is £6.99 on the Boots website.

I have a few other items to review but I want to get more use out of them first as they are more styling products and if you know me at all you'll know I don't often actually do anything to my hair other giving it the occasional brush!  So you can keep an eye out for that in the next few weeks.

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Liz Earle Botanical Shine Shampoo & Conditioner

I was needing a new shampoo and conditioner so I decided to try the Liz Earle ones as they just sound so promising.  They are 'all natural', SLS-free, paraben-free, cruelty-free products, and I'd heard good things about them, especially the shampoo.  I remember it being on QVC when they first brought it out and they were talking about how amazing the shampoo is and that it gets all the build up crap out of your hair from previous hair products.

I only got the travel sizes of both as they are not cheap and didn't want to splurge without trying them first.  The full size (200ml) is £8.50, and the travel size (50ml) is £4.75; so it is still quite expensive but worth it to try.

I would love to say I loved these, I really would - but I genuinely just didn't get on well with them at all.  I found it hard to get a good lather from the shampoo to start with, which has to be expected when it doesn't contain SLS which is the main foaming agent in these sort of products.  I found I had to use quite a lot of shampoo to get a good lather, when it says on the tube that a little goes a long way.  I think that your hair gets used to not having SLS as I've found with that, and other SLS-free shampoos (such as Naked) that if you repeat then you only need a tiny bit the second time, and the more you use it, the better lather you will get.

Now, 90% of the time I go to bed with my hair wet, I put a towel on my pillow and go to sleep.  It has always worked out totally fine for me - I know it makes a lot of people's hair greasy the next day but I've not really had that problem.  So I did this, as usual, but the next day my hair was just huge and frizzy!  I have long, thick hair and it just kind of exploded when I brushed it.  The next time I washed it I applied mousse to try and control it, but I must've put too much on as it ended up looking greasy at the ends.  The next few times I just left it again and once I even blow-dried it (shock horror!) but for some reason it would just end up looking like rats tails and slightly greasy at the ends - but not because of mousse!

I am so disappointed, I've no idea why this shampoo doesn't suit me, I don't think I've experienced this with any others before.  As for the conditioner I can't really say as I've only used it with the shampoo but as they should work best together I'm not rating it very highly!

Obviously it will be different for everyone but I just wanted to share how I found it with you.  The reviews on the website are all so good but it just shows you how differently your hair can react.

Has anyone else tried this?  Now I'm on a hunt for new ones to try, I think I'll get Organic Surge next.

<3

Empties #6

This is quite soon after my last empties post actually, I must have been very busy over the festive period!  I've been working my way through some non cruelty free items which is good, also some samples I've accumulated over the years!  These will be in the next empties post :)

Boots Botanics Soothing Eye Make Up Remover

Thoughts:  I really liked this, it worked pretty well.  It was a bit oily but this didn't really both me as I would cleanse or tone (or both) afterwards.  

Cruelty-free?: Yes, although there is some questioning about Boots own brands, however their statement seems okay to me.

Repurchase?: No, they have rebranded and it now has a different formula.

Bionsen Stick Deodorant

Thoughts:  I bought this in the hope it would be cruelty free.  Trying to find cruelty free deodorant is a nightmare, especially on the high street or in supermarkets!  It was average, I don't feel like it kept me dry all day.

Cruelty-free?: I emailed them and I got automated reply that they would "endeavour to respond as soon as possible".  This was in September.  SEPTEMBER.  I'm going to assume NO.

Repurchase?: No.

Rituals Yogi Flow Foaming Shower Gel Sensation

Thoughts:  I loved this!  It was so fun because it foamed (such a child!) and felt so soft and lovely on the skin.  It smells really good too even though it's got sweet almond oil in it and I hate almondy things!  

Cruelty-free?: Yes.

Repurchase?: Definitely! It is quite pricey though but perhaps as wee treat!

Benefit They're Real Mascara

Thoughts:  This mascara was pretty good.  However I found that you would have to leave it to dry for a couple of days before it gets good, I hated it when I first got it!!  

Cruelty-free?: No, they sell in China.

Repurchase?: No.

Lush Ultimate Shine Solid Shampoo Bar (not pictured)

Thoughts:  You can see my full review here, but I just wanted to say how I really liked using this to clean my make up brushes! 

Cruelty-free?: Yes.

Repurchase?: Yes, to share between my hair and my brushes!

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Lush Ultimate Shine Solid Shampoo Bar

Apologies for the stock photo, mine is currently a lump of squidge in my shower!
[Photo from Lush no copyright infringement intended]

I bought this shampoo at least a year ago and it has been lying in cupboard until a few weeks ago when I ran out of my previous shampoo.  I haven't done a shampoo review before as I'm not particularly enthusiastic about hair products, as long as my hair is clean and I can get a brush through it I'm quite happy, so here we go...

Ultimate Shine is solid shampoo from Lush and one bar costs £5.25.

The smell is quite subtle, clean and fresh, but it doesn't really linger on the hair.

It lathers up really nicely and you only need one use as after rinsing it left my hair literally squeaky clean!

Unfortunately this contains Sodium Lauryl Sulphate as the main ingredient which is disappointing for Lush, so it wouldn't be suitable for people who try to avoid this.

I actually used this for cleaning my makeup brushes as it works really well for that so I can't say for sure how long it would last if you used it solely on your hair.  I would say that for me - although I haven't finished it yet - it seems to be lasting a similar time as a 100ml bottle of shampoo, with me washing it about twice a week.  So it would probably last slightly longer than this if you weren't using it to wash your brushes!

If you have not used a shampoo bar before, don't be scared of them!  They are actually fine, albeit slightly messy to work with.  I recommend keeping them in a soap travel container rather then then tins you can buy from Lush.  I got one of the tins the first time and it just gets stuck, it sort of suctions itself once it's wet making it very difficult to get back out again!

Once dry my hair did look a bit shinier I think, and I got quite a lot of comments from people asking if I had dyed it!  I think that because I had been using a colour protecting shampoo before, when I moved onto this one it stripped any dye residue which had been holding on?!  I don't even know if this is possible but that's my theory!  I also found myself washing my hair less often but then again that could be sheer laziness and nothing to do with the shampoo!

I would repurchase this, however not straight away as I have ordered the Liz Earle shampoo and conditioner so I'm looking forward to trying them!

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