little white truths

Hello and welcome to my first empties post for June.

You may have heard me say that I'm keen to get through as many products as I can this month - especially makeup because I'm soon to do my mid-year makeup inventory post - but I'm also hoping to get through some other stuff since I have products waiting in the wings that I'm itching to open.

Happily we're off to a reasonable start, and I may well sneak in three empties posts this month if possible.

Goodness Every Evening Cream and Certified Organic Chia Seed Oil

I wrote mini reviews for these not long ago when I posted on the sample kit these came in. See that post here. I like both these products but I think the oil is the better one, and indeed it's something I may well buy in future.

The evening cream is nice but it's super rich so it won't be for everyone. For me, it was best used overnight to keep my dry skin feeling comfortable until morning: I think it's definitely best to use this as the last step in your skincare routine because nothing you put over it will penetrate, given how rich it is. I would also steer clear of this is if you have oily skin: it's full-on and quite heavy.

The oil is just beautiful and I wish the sample had been bigger. It's one of those rare oils that hydrates without feeling greasy - it's not quite a dry oil but it's close. Indeed, I could wear this under makeup without issue (sometimes oils are too slippery and interfere with whatever you put over them, but not this one). Love. So that's a yes to buying the oil and a no for the cream.

Divine Woman Hydrating Cream Cleanser and Illuminating Day Cream

These came in a set from Maslow & Co and I thought I'd reviewed them, but looks like I haven't so I've made a note to give you my comments on the kit soon. See my unboxing post here.

I liked the cream cleanser but didn't love the moisturiser. My issue with the moisturiser was that it didn't hydrate my dry skin that well: it was one of those moisturisers that seemed to sit on top of the skin, rather than delivering nourishment where I need it most. It also left a bit of a weird finish (it was borderline powdery) and my primer sometimes balled up over the top, so I preferred to use it only on my neck and chest. It did smell nice and lemony though, so it wasn't all bad.

The cream cleanser I really liked: it smelled good and felt lovely and soothing on the skin. It wasn't the best for makeup removal but I've certainly used worse, and I preferred to use it in the morning anyway. I'd whack it on and leave it there for twenty minutes while I changed nappies and what have you, and it kept my skin feeling comfortable until it was time to wash it off. I wouldn't buy it but I did enjoy it.

So that's a no to purchasing both.

Essasno Argan Oil of Morocco Nourishing Shampoo & Conditioner

These came from The Parcel and I was pleased to see them because I like travel-sized haircare and they filled a spot in my collection. I've reviewed them here.

Unfortunately, however, these didn't work for me. The shampoo didn't wash properly and I needed three washes to get it feeling even close to clean, plus I couldn't use a pre-wash treatment because it couldn't handle removing it.

As for the conditioner, all that did was leave my dry hair feeling coated, meaning that it reduced the time between washes. On top of that, my hair still felt dirty and looked frizzy after use so it's safe to say that neither product worked for me.

So that's a no to repurchasing both of these.

OGX (Organix) Hydrating Macadamia Oil Intensive Moisture Mask

Full review here. I've had this product for ages because it's not often that I get time in the shower to apply a hair mask, but I've now finished it and I'm happy about that - it was getting pretty old.

It's the best hair mask I've ever used and it's an HG product for me. What I love about it is that it leaves my dry, frizzy hair super shiny, soft, manageable and hydrated. Like the matching OGX shampoo and conditioner, it's also the only product I've ever found that almost completely de-frizzes my hair - even that hard, wiry stuff around the hairline that's almost impossible to tame - so I don't need to use leave-in conditioners or straightening treatments when I use this because the hard work is already done. Repurchase? Yes.

Cremorlab Snow Falls Melting Cream

This came from Maslow & Co and while I didn't hate it, I didn't love it either. I've reviewed it here.

It's super thick so it won't be for everyone, and I couldn't use it as a day or night cream because nothing I put over it would penetrate this and sink in - plus it wasn't that good at hydrating (it coated my skin, rather than nourishing it), so the only way I could use it was as an overnight treatment and it did work well for sealing in other products. Mind you, I wonder whether it broke me out: given how thick it is, I wouldn't be surprised if it clogged pores. Purchase? No.

Jergens Age Defying Multivitamin Moisturiser

Full review here. Like every Jergens product I've used, this one came from The Parcel. I didn't mind it but I've used better products from Jergens so I personally would pick either the Jergens Shea Butter Deep Conditioning Moisturiser (reviewed here) or the Jergens Ultra Healing Extra Dry Skin Moisturiser (reviewed here) - both of which feel more nourishing on my skin than this one did. It was ok and a little went a long way so it lasted a while, but it wasn't my favourite. Purchase? No.

Mieux Derma Grain & Grit Gentle Cleansing Exfoliant

I didn't like this product at all: it just didn't agree with my skin. I've reviewed it here. It came from Maslow & Co and my issue with it was most likely the peppermint it contains, which 'cools' my skin to the point of irritation. Imagine putting toothpaste all over your face: that's how this felt on me. Needless to say, it got sent to the body scrub section because I wasn't keen to keep using it on my face. Purchase? No.

Nivea Daily Essentials Cleansing Creme Wash

Full review here. This was a bit of a 'meh' product for me. While I'll all for cream cleansers for my dry skin, this one didn't remove makeup very well and it also left a slightly tacky film on the skin (no matter how much I tried to remove it), which isn't what I want from my cleansers - that's my moisturiser's job. In the end I got through it by mixing it with another cleanser I don't love and using the mix to clean my makeup brushes. I might have kept going with it on the face but I have too many cleansers at the moment so I was happy to double-purpose this one.

In sum

Hooray for empties! Some of the products in this lot I'm really glad to see the back of, while others I will miss - the OGX mask, Divine Woman cream cleanser and Goodness oil in particular. Everything else I'm happy to say goodbye to.

That's all from me! Hope all's well with you, and speak soon x