little white truths

I decided to make July 'samples month', since I wound up with a bunch of sachets and minis that I needed to use up. The timing worked well because at the beginning of the month, I was just about through a round of Happy Skincare products and I thought it was time to clean out my stores.

I may well do one of these posts every few months or so, since it'll encourage me to use up things that I receive in beauty subscription boxes or as gifts with purchase. It's so easy to put these things aside (one generally gets much more excited about full-sized items than one does sachets!) and forget about them for ages. But as much as I don't like sachets, with some products (not all - eg the La Roche-Posay sample mentioned below), it is possible to get a feel for whether you like the sample or not - even if you've only got a few ml to play with.

Here are the samples I've used/am still using this month:

MOR Hand Creams, Basil & Grape and Blackcurrant Iris

This is my second round of trialling these samples. If you haven't tried MOR products, you must. These hand creams feel lovely and velvety, and the packaging is divine. I'm not such a fan of the Basil & Grape (too sweet for me) but the Blackcurrant Iris one is beautiful. I also have a tube of the Sugar Rose Tiger Lily hand cream, because I fell for the antique chair pictured on the tube and HAD to buy it and display it (how bad's that?!). If you search online, you can find the full sizes for a good price (eg Daintybelle sells them for $12).

Egyptian Magic All Purpose Skin Cream

I've gone through a full-sized tub of this in the past, so I feel nice and qualified to review it : ). The bonus of this cream is that you can use it for so many things - face, body, hair, as a mask, for extra dry patches, as well as for scars, stretch marks, burns and the like. I'm in the minority here, but I'm not blown away by it. Plus it retails for $49.00 for 118ml. You'd have to love it for that price. 

I think my issue with it was mainly that my expectations were far too high - it's a cult item that's used and loved by women the world over, including celebrities (so of course it MUST be amazeballs. Ha). But my reaction was more meh than wow. This may also be because the Happy Skincare oils I'd been using prior to this were better, and they do similar things for a cheaper price. Plus Happy is Australian and I like supporting local brands.

Olay Regenerist Revitalising Hydration Cream (RRP $34.99 for 50g)

I've used this before and was happy-enough to sample it again. It's SPF15, which is important for me in a day cream. I like it, but it's not something I'd buy for myself (I received this in a subscription box). It's quite heavy/greasy and therefore good for winter. I tend not to use it as part of my usual skincare routine, but apply it during the day if I need some hydration. And then I have to apply powder afterwards to get rid of some of the shine. Ha.

La Roche-Posay Effeclar Duo (RRP $27.95 for 40ml)

I've tried this a couple of times and I'm not quite sure where I sit with it. I remember really liking my last sample of it, but this one didn't wow me on the first couple of uses. By the third, I liked it better. It's hard to tell much from such a small amount - you need a few more applications to properly trial a product like this. It's supposed to reduce severe imperfections and unclog pores in 30 days. There's only a few days' use in a 3ml sample, but I reckon the product could deliver. I've also read some rave reviews on it, so the jury's still out. Have you tried it? What did you think?