little white truths

I promised myself as part of my 2016 declutter series that I would clear out my sample and travel-sized items before year's end. It's so easy to wind up with troughs of these, and if I didn't keep on top of them, I'd be drowning in them by now.

As you can see, I have ten items above: some of them have been hanging around for ages while others are relatively new. My aim is to at least try them before Christmas and write mini reviews or full reviews for them all (I won't be able to write full reviews for the items that don't contain enough product). Hopefully I'll finish most of them off by then so I can move them out of my collection.

What I'll do now is let you know what items I'm testing, and later on I'll update this post with mini reviews of each.

Goldwell Kerasilk Colour Shampoo & Conditioner

These came from beautyheaven and I've been meaning to use and review them for a while. They contain keratin and tamanu oil and are designed for colour-treated hair.

I remember using a straightening spray from Goldwell ages ago that I really loved (a sample came in Violet Box) so I'm hoping these are good. The shampoo should cleanse gently while protecting the colour of your hair, and the conditioner should moisturise, condition and enhance colour brilliance.

I don't have colour-treated hair these days but products like this often work just as well for dry, damaged hair. Fingers crossed.

Mecca Cosmetica Sunbrella Invisible Superspray SPF 50+ 

This is Mecca's completely clear, fast-absorbing, sunscreen spray for face and body. It's apparently a weightless, 4 hour water-resistant formula that's suitable for sensitive skin and offers maximum broad spectrum protection against age-accelerating UVA and UVB rays. 

This came in a Beauty Loop box and I've been dying to try it since it came out, so fingers crossed it's amazing!

Nars Liquid Laguna Bronzer

This also came in one of my Beauty Loop boxes and it's been sitting at the back of my cupboard for months. Nars products generally don't work for me as well as they seem to do others, and I haven't used a liquid bronzer before so I'm not sure how I'll go. It's a new version of the fabled Laguna and it's had some mixed reviews, so we'll see.

This eye cream is apparently a potent, anti-ageing formula that promises to strengthen the delicate eye area, helping with sagging skin and reducing the appearance of wrinkles. I'm in need of a decent eye cream and this 2.5g sample should last a good while, so I'm looking forward to testing it. Mind you, I hope I don't like it too much because SK-II products certainly don't come cheap!

Kate Somerville Goat Milk Moisturising Cream

This has done the rounds in the beauty community lately so I'm looking forward to trying it. It's been formulated for sensitive, dry or damaged skin, or those prone to redness or rosacea. It should repair dry skin, soothe and exfoliate gently, and hydrate and condition at the same time. It sounds like something my skin would like so we'll see how it fares.

The Body Shop Oils of Life Intensely Revitalising Sleeping Cream 

I'm always up for trying another one of these, but I don't have high hopes because The Body Shop's Oils of Life range hasn't wowed me thus far: the products I've tried have been nice, but not super effective. We'll see.

Chantecaille Jasmine Lily Healing Mask

This is apparently the ideal skin solution for sunburned, jet-lagged, irritated or wind-chapped skin. It helps cool and calm reddened skin, reduce inflammation, repair damaged tissue and promote cellular turnover. You can use it as a dedicated mask or as an overnight cream.

This sounds like something my skin would like and I haven't had much experience with Chantecaille skincare so I'm happy to give it a go. I'll likely use it as an overnight cream because I have so many masks on the go these days, but I'll test it for both purposes so I can report back.

In sum

I'm looking forward to trying these and letting you know how I go! I'm also looking forward to using them up so I can move a few extra things out of my collection before year's end.

Here's to clearing out the stores in readiness for the New Year : )