Empty Products #20

The first empties of 2022 and my first empties in quite a few months! With the pandemic etc. I’ve slowed right down on how quickly I go through things and definitely don’t get to play with and use products as often. I will continue to write empties posts as long as my blog is active, there might just end up being more of a gap between installments!

Haircare

1. Function of Beauty shampoo

I will miss seeing this pink shampoo when I shower. I finished the matching conditioner in my last empties and this set worked really well for my hair. My third set arrived in September 2021 and I started using it in October 2021. I kept the five hair goals the same except for one, I switched nourish roots out for fix split ends. This shampoo lasted me about 6 months which does help justify the price of Function of Beauty a bit more.

Repurchase: Yes.

2. Wella Professionals Oil Reflections Light Luminous Oil

I started using this oil in May 2020 alongside the shampoo and conditioner from the Oil Reflections range. It contains 100ml of product, I wash my hair two or three times a week and I have long hair so that gives you a good indication of how long products like this can last. I didn’t use this after every single hair wash but for the majority I did. A little goes a long way and I found it applies best when the lengths are still slightly damp, but the oil can be applied to dry hair too. It helped to smooth the ends and keep hair looking sleek and shiny. The oil didn’t weigh my hair down or make it greasy. One of the main ingredients is camellia oil which gives off a lovely scent.

Repurchase: Yes, I would happily use this again.

3. Giovanni 2chic Frizz Be Gone Smoothing Hair Mask

This hair mask is housed in a lovely pink tube and the packaging is lightweight and sleek. The shea and almond oil give the product a nice scent but that’s where the positives stop for me. I didn’t hate this product but I don’t feel it did anything. It claims to have 20 benefits but I didn’t notice any major differences compared to now that I’ve stopped using this product, perhaps I’m not the target audience. I also think this may have caused an occasional skin reaction, areas of my neck and fingers would become dry and itchy and I had to apply hydrocortisone cream to calm things down. It may just have been a coincidence but something I did notice when using this mask.

Repurchase: No.

Skincare & Fragrance

4. Clinique Dramatically Different moisturiser

I purchased this in 2020 when I needed a new evening moisturiser. I’ve used a couple of Clinique’s facial products in the past so I knew the chances of me not getting on with this were low. The moisturiser comes in a see through bottle with a pump so it’s easy to tell exactly how much is left. The moisturiser itself feels nourishing and lightweight and is also a good day time one for under makeup. Where the product falls down a little bit for me is the fact it doesn’t have SPF, I purchased this as a night time moisturiser to begin with so it’s not a big issue but when I started to use it in the daytime when I was getting closer to finishing it and wasn’t wearing makeup or foundation with SPF due to the Covid situation in New Zealand I realised I do like having a daytime moisturiser with SPF. Also, this is quite expensive compared to other moisturisers I’ve used in the past that I’ve liked equally as much.

Repurchase: Probably not.

5. Natio Clay and Plant Face Mask Purifier

This was the very first face mask I started using years and years ago and this is the third tube I’ve finished up. What I enjoy about Natio’s products is they are nice and natural, don’t contain ingredients that irritate my skin and are affordably priced. I do feel like this face mask has changed and I don’t love it quite as much as I used to. What I used to enjoy was being able to feel the clay set without irritation and still remaining gentle on my skin. Now the formula feels very thin like a watery lotion as opposed to a mask. Not ruling out purchasing this in future but it’s no longer my go to.

Repurchase: Not sure.

BODY

6. Eugaia Bloom Hydrolysed Marine Collagen – Passionfruit & Lime

I had never tried anything like this before and I was curious to see if I would like it and notice any differences. Eugaia is one of Shaaanxo’s brands. The product is made in New Zealand and it aims to support hair, skin, nails, gut health, joints and bone health. Ideally each tub lasts one month with one serving per day, I tried to have a serving most days but my tub lasted longer, some days I either forgot or didn’t have time. What’s great about this though is that it’s easy to mix and you feel like you’re being healthy. This is not a dietary supplement or meal repalcement and the flavour did taste nice, I didn’t get a weird aftertaste or feel grossed out when drinking it. The best part is that when you mix the powder with water there are sparkles from the kiwifruit powder. Overall I noticed a couple of differences: stronger nails and brighter, clearer skin (could be a combination of this and not wearing makeup). After finishing this flavour I purchased one of the Strawberry & Lime tubs but didn’t like it as much, it tastes sweeter and more artificial.

Repurchase: Undecided – the product is a little pricey but not as steep compared to others on the market. I would only consider repurchasing the Passionfruit flavour.

7. The Body Shop Japanese Cherry Blossom Strawberry Kiss body butter

I have tried both the regular Japanese Cherry Blossom and Strawberry body butters from The Body Shop and am a big fan of both! This scent is an amalgamation of the two and I would describe it as a floral strawberry. I purchased the body butter online so I couldn’t be certain if I was going to like it or not but after a few uses I was converted. This body butter isn’t part of the OG range and is slightly more expensive but it’s worth it in my opinion, the product feels extra luxurious and nourishing.

Repurchase: I think so.

8. The Body Shop Vitamin E Body Butter

I remember trying this years ago and being a fan and I wanted to revisit and try it again ever since. I didn’t enjoy the scent as much this time around. The product itself isn’t bad and is up to the brand’s usual standard but I won’t be rushing out to buy this again anytime soon.

Repurchase: No.

9. The Body Shop Pink Grapefruit Body Butter

I had never tried anything from this range until this and I picked it up on sale at the start of the year as it was in the old packaging and The Body Shop is transitioning to the more sustainable eco-friendly new packaging. I love how fresh and zesty this has been for summer and I really enjoyed using it. The formula was lovely and felt soft and moisturising.

Repurchase: Maybe, I enjoyed the smaller size of this scent for something different.

10. Nivea Anti-Perspirant x2

You know the drill by now, these feature in every empties. Lately I have been alternating between the Clear and Silky Smooth roll ons.

Repurchase: Yes.

What was the last product you finished up?

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Re-reviewing Function of Beauty

This post is not sponsored or affiliated with Function of Beauty. Products purchased by me and all opinions are my own.

In February I shared my experience with shampoo and conditioner I purchased from Function of Beauty back in 2020. I’d been using the products for a few months by that time and felt I was well informed to talk about them. In that post I mentioned the products were middle of the road, not the best I’d used but certainly not bad either. After writing that post I realised I had been towel drying my hair more often using my previous formula and went back to letting my hair air dry (which is what I normally do) and saw an improvement. I mentioned in my previous Function of Beauty post I noticed more split ends which could have been due to the increase in towel drying my hair.

I decided to give the brand the benefit of the doubt and thought I would make a second order and see if my experience was more positive. Spoiler alert, my revamped formula was really enjoyable from first use and I’m glad I gave the brand another chance! Again, I got the 8oz (236ml) shampoo and conditioner as this lasts me a decent amount of time and stuck with the Strike a (r)ose scent with light intensity. I was also more decisive with the colours this time and knew I wanted a girly, pink set!

I updated my hair type and hair goals this time around which is what I think has made a difference. I said I have wavy hair that’s medium thickness (rather than coarse which I selected last time) and my scalp doesn’t get oily or dry, it’s normal.

One hair goal I kept the same and others I changed. I will list the hair goals I chose first time around that I changed and then list the five I chose for my second formula.

First formula hair goals that were changed:

• Deep condition
• Fix split ends
• Anti-frizz
• Replenish hair

Second formula hair goals:

1. Straighten – Relax and style unruly hair with a biolipid complex that leaves a sheathing film which naturally disciplines hair even in humid conditions.
2. Nourish roots – Stimulate your hair roots and facilitate the transport of key nutrients to hair bulbs and shafts for healthier, fuller hair.
3. Hydrate – Restore your hair’s moisture balance, prevent future moisture loss and treat your hair with long-lasting hydration.
4. Shine – Enhance your hair’s natural shine, luster and reflection while improving your overall hair health without weighing hair down.
5. Strengthen – Increase your hair’s resilience and elasticity, stimulate healthy hair growth and protect your hair from breakage.

Delivery was super speedy! The products only took about a week to arrive from Amercia from the time my order was shipped. The products sat in my cupboard for a month while I finished my first set and I started using the second set straight after they were finished. I could instantly tell the difference and how much better these hair goals are suited to my hair. This time around I signed up for the subscription service so I will automatically receive another set of shampoo and conditioner in September. I’m extra excited for that as I will be trying one of the subscriber only scents Milk(shea)ke which is described as a rich and creamy shea butter and warm vanilla fragrance. I love vanilla scents so I can’t wait to smell this one. I’m also going choose the medium scent intensity to see how long the scent sticks around. Everything is customisable up until September so if I change my mind about colours, the size or the scent I can edit the formula as much as I like.

Function of Beauty shampoo and conditioner feels like a luxury treat that I’ve really been enjoying the past few months. My hair feels soft and looks shiny and healthy (partly due to a haircut in April as well). It does show it pays to pick the right hair goals as that can affect how the products perform.

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It has been over two months since my last blog post, say hello in the comments and let me know how you’ve been! I didn’t mean to disappear for so long but I’ve had some stuff to deal with and in all honesty I’ve been enjoying taking a bit of a back seat from the online world and laying low. I’ve been meaning to get this post finished for a while but the weather wasn’t great for photos (blaming you winter) – I’m glad it’s finally up!

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Function of Beauty Experience

This post is not sponsored. I purchased these products myself and all opinions are my own.

Over the past year or so I have heard the name Function of Beauty crop up numerous times in the YouTube and blogging world. Function of Beauty allows individuals to decide what goes into their own custom hair products.

The site quizzes you on hair type, hair structure, scalp moisture and allows you to select up to five hair goals that you’d like your unique formula to deliver. You can choose a fragrance and how strong you’d like the scent to be but there is a fragrance free option too. You can name your formula, choose the colour (there is a dye free option) and the size you want to purchase. Shampoo and conditioner comes in 8oz (236ml) and 16oz (473ml) bottles and you can purchase a product individually or as a set. Pumps are included but if you re-order you can opt out of getting new pumps each time and re-use your existing ones. Before the checkout process there is the option of adding custom hair treatments like a mask or a serum to your order and you can even choose how frequently you’d like to receive your formula. I chose the one off option as it takes me a while to get through shampoo and conditioner and if I like the service I can re-order later on. I decided to try Function of Beauty when I was beginning to get low on my previous shampoo and conditioner and it sounded fun to be able to choose what was going into my formula and tailor it to my needs.

Function of Chanelle

Unique formula number: 2984668
Hair profile: Coarse + Wavy + Normal

The hair goals I chose:

1. Deep condition – Moisturise and deeply condition dry damaged hair from the inside out, restoring hydration lost from heat and/or chemical processing.
2. Fix split ends – Smooth and coat your split ends for a sleek hair surface while building moisture content to minimise future split ends.
3. Straighten – Relax and style unruly hair with a biolipid complex that leaves a sheathing film which naturally disciplines hair even in humid conditions.
4. Anti-frizz – Hydrate and soften hair texture while protecting strands from frizz, static and breakage.
5. Replenish hair – Replenish damaged, nutrient-depleted strands and protect your hair from environmental stressors.

Size: I purchased the 8oz shampoo and conditioner set without any additional hair treatments. I basically just wash my hair and let it air dry. Occasionally I’ll dry it with the hair dryer or straighten it but I don’t mind my natural hair and tend to keep things simple.

Fragrance: I was going to get a fragrance free formula but Strike a (r)ose sounded nice so I opted for the light strength of that. Strike a (r)ose has top notes of rose, black currant, sandalwood and orange blossom. Function of Beauty describe it as, “a cool, modern rose fragrance with a bit of edge.” When placing the order I selected the peach fragrance by mistake. I got in touch with the customer service team who switched the scents for me straight away. I love the rose scent and I’m glad I went for the lightest strength, I can still smell it the days between hair washes and it’s nice and subtle.

Colour: I couldn’t decide on a colour for the shampoo so I went for dye free and chose light purple for the conditioner.

As the products are custom made, from the time I placed my order to the time it arrived it took about three weeks which is not bad at all. When my order arrived it was well packaged, there were no leaks and everything matched what I ordered. Inside the box are stickers to decorate the outside of the bottles and a brochure with details about your formula. The box everything comes in is personalised too which is a lovely touch.

I ordered my shampoo and conditioner last August and started using them in November. There’s still about one third of product left in each and I wanted to share my thoughts once I’d had a chance to use them for a decent amount of time. Do I think it’s the best shampoo and conditioner I’ve ever tried? No, but I do like using these and my hair feels clean without feeling stripped and dry afterwards. I got my hair cut at the end of November and I do notice quite a few split ends, one of the hair goals I chose was to help with split ends. I will see if I notice less when I finish this shampoo and conditioner and go back to Wella. I also don’t think the products by themselves provide as much anti-frizz as I would like. I have been using a hair mask from Toni & Guy after conditioner and massaging in a hair oil when my hair is almost dry. That’s what I think actually makes my hair look straighter without having to reach for my GHD. My hair is naturally a little wavy but the frizz is more noticeable if I don’t use the hair mask and oil.

Once I finish these up I am on the fence as to whether I’d purchase from Function of Beauty again. Doing the quiz is fun and perhaps I’d change the hair goals a little bit to see if that made a difference. The products can be pricey if you don’t find a good offer or coupon but if you pick the right hair goals it’s worth it. I’m glad I tried the brand and I’m not disappointed, the shampoo and conditioner are pretty good. My mind will be made up about whether I’d repurchase or not once I try the Wella Elements products I’ve got waiting in the wings to use next.

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Would you be interested in making your own shampoo and conditioner and trying Function of Beauty? What hair goals would you choose?

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Empty Products #2

I see quite a lot of other empties posts and I’m always amazed at how fast bloggers go through products. I don’t know whether I’m not using a product properly or if I’m being stingy but I seem to go through products at a snail’s pace in comparison. I’ve only got 10 products here and I’ve been building up this little stash since November 2015. If anyone can tell me where I’m going wrong and how to use up things quicker, please enlighten me!

I’ve broken my empty products into two categories; daily and not daily. Starting with not daily because there’s less of those:

1. TRESemmé Salon Silk Shampoo & Conditioner

I have had these big bottles of shampoo and conditioner since December 2015 and have not had to buy shampoo and conditioner for six months as a result. These aren’t empty quite yet but they are very close and I didn’t want to wait and hold onto them until ‘Empty Products #3’ because who knows when that will be! I have enjoyed using both of these, my hair does indeed feel soft and silky, the smell is pleasant and these are great value for money. The shampoo is about half the size of the conditioner but I shampoo the roots of my hair not the ends and I normally use twice the amount of conditioner just on the ends anyway. I wash my hair every second or third day so that gives you an idea of how often I use these.

Repurchase: Not straight away but yes.

2. The Body Shop Vitamin E Body Butter 200ml

Just thinking about finishing this body butter makes me a bit sad. I finished this around February and while I am happy with the Brazil Nut which I’m currently using, I enjoyed using the Vitamin E because of how hydrating and nourishing it was for my skin. I apply body butter on the same days I wash my hair. The skin on my arms isn’t the smoothest and I find using a body butter every few days in conjunction with a body lotion daily combats that and really helps. I personally am a huge fan of the Vitamin E scent but you might not be if you don’t like rose scents. The scent does fade though.

Repurchase: Yes, definitely! This makes a nice spring/summer scent.

3. Cutex Nourishing Nail Polish Remover

To be honest, I was disappointed with this product. It’s not the worst nail polish remover I’ve used but I found I had to tip product out onto the cotton pad or the cotton ball for each nail. In the past I’ve been able to soak the cotton pad once and it does a whole hand. Trying to remove red nail polish was a pain, as I wiped each nail the cotton pad would come into contact with my skin and stain it. Another thing I didn’t like was the sticky residue it left on my skin, I had to wash my hands two or three times to get rid of it. I didn’t find it very nourishing either. I’m currently using another nail polish remover from Cutex and it is a lot better, my nails feel stronger and it doesn’t leave them sticky. One thing I did like was that this didn’t have a strong nail polish remover scent, it was almost vanilla-like.

Repurchase: Nope.

4. Maybelline Fit Me Concealer ’15 Fair’

You all know how much I loved this concealer and it was pretty much the only one I used for the past year. I really liked the doe foot applicator in particular, it grabbed the perfect amount of product and one layer of the product was all I needed. I do think since using the Collection Lasting Perfection Concealer that it is better for my skin. Looking back now, the Maybelline did make my skin oily sometimes and the coverage of the Collection is better.

Repurchase: Yes, on the whole it is a good concealer.

5. Rimmel Match Perfection Foundation – 081 Fair Ivory

This foundation along with the Maybelline concealer above was my go to everyday combination. I still vow this foundation is the most perfect colour match for my skin and it saddens me that the formula was recently changed and this shade is no longer part of the range. If you like dewy skin, you’ll love this and it’s still easy enough to make matte if that’s more your thing. I’ll miss you Fair Ivory!

Repurchase: I would if I could! I purchased a bottle of 010 Light Porcelain in the new formula and thankfully, I’m liking that a lot!

6. The Body Shop Shea Body Whip

This is the second one of these I’ve used up and I’m going to say it is hands down my favourite product from The Body Shop! This is the body lotion I apply everyday before I get dressed and the scent is just glorious and the product soaks in very quickly. One of these lasts me about four months. The only negative is that once the product starts getting low it no longer pumps out. I end up removing the lid and tipping it upside down into a container to get the remaining product out.

Repurchase: Yes. I have a body lotion to use next which was a birthday present but I’ll be going back to this after that.

7. Impulse Into Glamour Body Spray

I used up one of these in my last empties post as well so I’ll keep things brief. I have purchased this particular scent for years and I love it! This is my first can of the smaller size and I do prefer the old, larger cans as you got more product.

Repurchase: Of course!

8. Nivea Invisible For Black and White Deodorant x 2

I have been using this deodorant for the past year or so now and I am a fan. This deodorant is a good all rounder: smells lovely, does it’s job and lives up to the promise of not leaving marks on your clothing. I find the formula nice too, it’s not powdery and doesn’t feel thick or heavy on the armpit. Being glass, it’s also really handy to see how much you have left.

Repurchase: Yes.

9. The Body Shop Shea Hand Cream

Hand cream is one of my favourite things to apply and I like to apply mine at night right before bed. The Shea range is my favourite from The Body Shop and one of the things I like about the scent is how subtle and gender neutral it is. This little tube will last you a couple of months and is perfect for popping in your handbag or keeping on your nightstand. This hand cream is lovely to apply and soaks in pretty fast so you won’t be sitting there not able to do anything à la a freshly painted nails situation.

Repurchase: For sure!

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Empties posts are some of my favourites to read! It also feels very therapeutic knowing you’ve finished a product and the thought of being able to crack into something new/go shopping for replacements. Have you tried any of the products mentioned here?