November Empties

How on earth have we got to the end of November already!!

I've been working through my stash and not buying anything new so a lot of my empties are samples. I'll do a list of everything I have used and comment on those that really stood out for me.

Full Size:

Neal's Yard Remedies - Frankincense & Mandarin Body Polish

Neal's Yard Remedies - Geranium & Orange Shower Gel

Neal's Yard Remedies - Purifying Palmarosa Mattifier - The tube may be small but it lasted months. Not sure it actually did anything though, I've not noticed a difference not using it

Neal's Yard Remedies - Wild Rose Beauty Balm - Noooooooooooooooooooo! Totally gutted to be at the end of this magical balm. I feel like I have parted with a best friend and don't know when we will reunite. I'm going to hold off buying this until I have worked through my stash but I WILL be repurchasing. Full review here

bubb & DIMPLES - Nourishing Organic Body Balm - Another multi-purpose balm. See my full review here

Weleda - Rasiercreme - For some unknown reason, Amazon sent me a German shaving cream. Still it doesn't matter that I couldn't read the instructions - its shaving cream! I really liked this but at £7.15 for 75mls it was expensive, especially as it only lasted me about 5 weeks.

Weleda - Citrus Deodorant - Full review here

Lavera Basis Sensitiv Shampoo - Full review here

Naked Shine - Shampoo & Conditioner - I know, I know. These aren't great but the really work for my hair! 

Samples & Minis

The Organic Pharmacy - Antioxidant Face Serum & Antioxidant Face Gel - Yuk. Both smelt of bitter orange and did absolutely nothing for me

Alva - Handcream

No7 - Beautiful Skin Day Cream - Finally used up from Christmas last year. Not one I will buy again

bubb & DIMPLES - Shea Butter - See my full review here

Marble & Milkweed - Nourishing Body Oil - Delicious body oil, shame it wasn't bigger! Full review here

bodhi - Mint Thé Bath & Shower Therapy - Mmmmm, the best shower gel. Full review here

Peppy Galore - Nurse Peppy Hand Cream - This hand cream was perfect for me, just the right amount of moisture. Full review here

Glow Skincare - Rose & Macadamia Face Cream - To heavy for my skin

What have you used up this month?

Review: Lavera Shampoo & Trilogy Conditioner

I've probably mentioned before but I have a really difficult time finding an SLS free shampoo that I can use. I have thick, thick, thick hair which is also long and frizzy! 

After reading a few reviews, I decided to pick up the Lavera Basis Mild Shampoo (£6.45 - LoveLula.com) and I've been using it for about 5 weeks now. 

The shampoo feels very odd to me - I don't know how to describe it; it's very gloopy and kind of sqwadges out of the bottle into the hand. I found, like with the Neal's Yard Remedies shampoo in my empties post here, that I had to use a small amount on the roots of my hair and rinse first before shampooing properly. I think the hair must have to be very, very wet for the shampoo to be able to effectively spread around the hair without leaving unwashed bits. I quite liked using this shampoo, once I worked out how best to use it on my hair. I could really smell (and enjoyed) the organic wheat and rose essence and I suppose it did make my hair feel soft. 

I usually wash my hair every three days - day 1) wear it down, day 2) half-up and day 3) tied up with a bit of dry shampoo on the roots. 

However since using the Lavera Shampoo, I have to dry shampoo on DAY 2!! I don't know what it is, maybe the shampoo makes my hair heavier or something but this was just not good enough for me. It takes time and effort to wash and style my hair that I want to get as much use out of it before I have to go through the process again - I don't want to do this more often than I have to. I was really disappointed with this shampoo after reading so many good things about it.  I certainly wont be buying it again.

As for a conditioner, I haven't had such a problem with this as I have the shampoo. I guess because essentially it goes on the ends in a creamy layer rather than all over. I bought the Trilogy Clean + Balance Conditioner on sale at Lucyrose.biz for £5.50. Bargain, thought I - a conditioner for oily and combination hair that removes product build up! Again, I just wasn't impressed. It has a very runny formula, much more like a shampoo, that I didn't feel that it provided any real benefit to conditioning the roots. Another one that I wont repurchase.

What shampoo and conditioners do you use and recommend?