little white truths

I've decided I'll try to slowly do a post today, even though we have a house full of super exhausted people - including myself.

Sometimes going through the motions of what represents a 'normal' day for you can make you feel a little more grounded, even if it can't help you feel better or less tired. That's what I reckon.

Anyhoo. It's high time for an empties post because my empties box is overflowing, and as soon as I've finished this one I might whip out the products for the second monthly post straight away - just because I'm feeling overwhelmed by empties, much more than I am by open products for once! 

Let's have a quick look:

Full review here. This was from Maslow & Co and I liked it enough that it made a monthly favourites post, although it's not the best product of its kind that I've tried to date - although it's one of the more inexpensive ones, so it's a great starting point if you're interested in trying an essence.

I liked it because it made my skin brighter and more awake, plus it felt firmer and more toned to boot. It's one of those products that gives you a slap in the face, in the best of ways, and I liked how fresh and healthy my skin looked after use. Purchase? Maybe, I'd like to try other essences first.

EIR NYC Fresh Eir Deoderiser

This was another product from Maslow & Co - it's a three-in-one deodorant, air freshener and hand sanitiser. I've reviewed it here.

I do love multipurpose products and while I didn't try it as a hand sanitiser, I did try it as a deodorant/air freshener and it worked well for those purposes. Note, though, that it costs more than I'd typically spend on those kinds of products and while I didn't mind the fresh, herbal scent, the strongest note was sage and that's not something I want to smell like - although I do love cooking with it! Purchase? No.

Asap Soothing Gel

Both of the above items I included in a recent declutter post (see here) because I needed to get through some of my smaller travel-sized items, and I'm not big on gels because I have dry skin and usually need something heavier, but this was a good product to crack open now that it's summer: a gel did feel nice in all this heat.

Believe it or not, I really enjoyed this product! So much so that it's on my radar now and I'd love to buy a 15 to 30ml tube for occasional use. The product claims were met because it did reduce inflammation and soothe damaged (dry and dehydrated skin like mine); and it did feel healing and calming on the skin and also reduced the appearance of redness. It's designed for oily skin but I loved it too!

Nip+Fab Glycolic Fix Daily Cleansing Pads

These have been doing the rounds in the beauty community and I've wanted to try them, so I was happy to see them appear in a recent sub box. Five pads was enough to really get a feel for the product and how it worked over time.

In short, I didn't think much of these but I'd say that's because, while these are meant to be radiance-boosting pads, soaked in exfoliating glycolic acid (2.8%), that's far too small an amount to do much (for my skin, which is used to stronger glycolic products).

So for me, these didn't restore texture and resurface the skin, they didn't tone much but they did feel reasonably moisturising so that's something at least. Purchase? No.

Antipodes Apostle Skin-brightening Serum

I reviewed this recently and in that review (see here) I noted that while it wasn't a bad product, I've also used better from Antipodes and I'm keen to slowly keep going through the range.

What's good about the product is that it spreads well and absorbs almost instantly, given how thin it is, so I have no concerns that it's interfering with my moisturiser's ability to absorb. While this is how I like my serums, I used this at least once a day (often twice) for around three months, and I reckon if it were going to offer any cumulative benefits, it would have done so by the time I finished it - so it's safe to say this didn't do much for my skin. 

While I did enjoy using it and it had a temporary brightening effect after application, it hasn't made my skin happier overall like the Antipodes Chia & Kiwi Seed Superfood Serum (reviewed here) did, so I can definitely say that the latter is the better product (at least for my dry skin). Repurchase? Probably not.

Be a Bombshell Silhouette Mascara in Night Fall (black)

Full review here. I'll be brief: this came from Lust Have It ages ago and it doesn't do much for my lashes at all. It adds some definition but it does little in terms of length and thickness.

Also, the brush is badly designed because it tends to deposit clumps of product on my lashes and I have to do extra work to spread the mascara out and make it look even. This means I need an eyelash comb when I use it, and who can be bothered with that.

Also, the brush is too big for those of us with hooded eyes. This means I struggle to deposit the product close to the lashline, and it also means I wind up with mascara on my upper/lower eye areas that I need to clean up. This of course means that I now have bare patches on my face where I've removed the mascara blobs and lifted my eyeshadow and concealer in the process. Damn annoying. But at least it doesn't smudge or flake throughout the day. Purchase? No.

Evolu Anti-ageing Day Cream

This was another product from Maslow & Co and it's the only product from that box that I wasn't sold on (aside from the eye cream in that box). I've reviewed it here.

It's a white cream that's medium thick and it's light enough when applied that it almost feels like a cream/gel hybrid on the skin, so it should suit those who don't like their creams too rich.

When squeezed out, the product has a faint, pleasant green scent that shouldn't bother most people, but once applied to the skin it has a distinctly plastic smell that I really don't like. It's one of those scents that lingers, and I can still smell it on my face for a while after use (and had the product expired? Surely not!).

Some of the product absorbs so it does hydrate a bit, but some of it doesn't so the cream leaves behind a slightly tacky finish that I don't love because I don't like products I can see and feel on my skin for a while after use. Purchase? No.

In sum

Interestingly, the two best products in this lot were an essence and a mini! That Asap gel really surprised me and the only other good thing in this bunch was the Marc Jacobs foundation.

That's all from me. Hope you enjoyed this brief post (which admittedly took ages to write hehe), and can't wait to check back in soon when I'll hopefully be less exhausted. Fingers crossed. Wish me luck!

Speak soon x