Ashamed of my beauty product hoard!

[IPokeBadgers]

I have spent some time this morning trying to sort and tidy my beauty and toiletries cupboard and I am actually feeling very and at the sheer volume of stuff that I have, much of it lovely and expensive and unopened!

I reckon it could take me a couple of years to get through it all!

Buying make up as well as lovely bath and shower stuff seems to have become my go to/default pick me up when I want to impulse buy...... but seeing the hoard has brought me down.

anyone else like this and are there any threads that would encourage me to stop buying stuff and use all the lovely products that I have?

please tell me I am not the only person like this?

I've used up a nice shower gel and a am getting through my body lotions. I have nearly finished the Dr Nick Lowe night cream but have a Boots NO 7 one in the cupboard.

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Two empties this week:

1. Benefit They're Real mascara: definitely won't repurchase. It made my lashes look spidery and the hard plastic brush was very unwielding... Can't believe there was so much hype about this mascara - can only assume it was marketing/ beauty bloggers being paid to spread the word online

2. Biologique Recherche P50 toner: a Caroline Hirons favourite (she loves it!) it really really didn't work for me - caused irritation and spots, even after going very slowly with it/ trying over longer period of time. V disappointed but luckily only bought a small bottle. Wont repurchase.

This week I'm hoping to finish: Body Shop papaya shower gel, Caudalie facial oil, Oskia cleansing gel, and try and make a dent in my Naked 2 eye shadow palette (without looking like Pat Butcher from Eastenders...)

I've had to open a new moisturiser today. Have had to move out of flat and into parents. So couldn't pack in backpack my Molton brown pump moisturiser.

Opened travel size clarins body moisturiser. Love it. Will def repurchase (or make subtle hints for birthdays).

Almost finished batiste cherry dry shampoo. Next on hitlist is boots own (not got high hopes for this).

Am slowly making a dent in no7 eyeshadow. Pale beige (boring).

And a bourjois pink sparkle.

Found a years old Barry m dazzle dust in navy sparkle shadow too. Proper pat butcher. May wear it to work tomorrow. For fun.

Oooh I have a few of those. Love them. You've reminded me to dig them out. There's one in Oyster which is extremely similar to one of the shades I'm working on in my N2 palette and might look fab over the top.

Though I doubt you'd ever use one up!

Another empty (well, I ended up chucking it so I'm counting it as 'empty'):

Guerlain mascara (the double ended one in gold packaging): rubbish. Never quite went on right - unless you're really really light-handed it makes eyelashes clump together and look spidery. I persevered with this for a few months though, but yesterday decided I'd had enough - and when I put on my Clinique HG mascara today I asked myself why I'd gone on for so long wearing this crappy Guerlain one! Definitely wouldn't recommend.

I'm very aware that pretty much all my reviews are negative btw - i'm obviously hard to please in the beauty department! The good news is that I'm definitely narrowing down the stuff that I know I do like - and in the future will stop wasting money buying things that I don't love!

I haven't finished anything lately. Humph. It doesn't help that I mix and match so much. I did actually buy a couple of pay day treats at the Clinique counter today as well, which was shite of me, BUT one of them was the Moisture Surge spray I'd been looking for for ages. Finally found it jj!

Jj your negative reviews are great because they are preventing me from buying expensive crap. What's up with Guerlain and mascara btw? Just binned a trial size one because it gave me panda eyes. A cheap Rimmel one is 100x better.

I've used a few sheet masks (refreshing) and a Missha Perfect Cover BB cream sample in shade #21 (very good) and a single-use Laneige sleeping pack sample (lovely texture and very hydrating). A lot of my Korean stuff is sample and trial sizes so I am getting empties already.

Finished a bottle of Redken Anti-Snap. Its a protein leave-in thingy that stops you getting spilt ends, and sceptical as I was when I was pressured into buying it in a salon, it bloody works.

I didn't have split ends for a whole year. Unheard of with my bleached mess.

Also the bottle lasted me about two years using it religiously, and you can get Redken on sale on feelunique and lookfantastic all the time. So very good value for money.

I'd definately recommend it to anyone else with Wurzel Gummidge challenging hair that breaks a lot. Now I just have to find a sale somewhere before I buy it again.

That's useful to know AnnaRose, I have the same type of hair and not even a haircut has fixed my split ends! So will give the Redken a try thanks

And yes to worzel Gummidge hair haha! Sorry to derail thread but it's 3 for 2 on lookfantastic AnnaRose. The reviews are fantastic, I think you may have saved my hair

Caved today. Bought No7 P & P Advanced Intense Serum. My skin's looking tired and this does it for me. I'll finish up (the pretty useless) Liz Earle Superskin stuff on my neck. Will be so glad when it's finished.... a week at most.

Guerlain hasn't done well on here, has it?

I've rediscovered my Bobbi Brown Blush in Tawny since de cluttering and it's a good one for a natural flush. No shimmer (which isn't natural and can look odd post 50 I think). My Clinique blushes have had to go away for now. Far too much shimmer for these grey days.

eliza do you honestly find it good? I got a voucher for money off it yesterday but thought it was still too spendy for a product I'm not sure makes any difference.

Finished up a lipliner today. L'Oreal Infallible. Avoidavoidavoid! It actually hurt my lips putting it on! I dug it out this week and was determined to use it up as the nude colour was actually quite nice. Still had to use loads of lipbalm. Wouldn't repurchase in a fit. The Rimmel Exaggerate are lush to apply so will be sticking with them in the future.

I'm doing well this week - 2 mascaras, a foundation and a lipliner! Feels great actually.

Annarose Yes, I think so. Thing is, I used to use it and have stopped since using the liz Earle and I find I'm looking tired out. It may just be .... I'm tired out, of course! People swear by Vichy and I've an eye serum of theirs which is bloody marvellous for lashes (no longer buy RapidLash) so guess I could have tried a Vichy one. I don't use the No7 moisturisers just the serum.

I've gotten that Vichy one in the past. Its gorge - hugely moisturising, but I stopped buying it when I realised that it was basically the same product as the Aldi one. I switched to that instead.

How effective is the Aldi one then? Have you tried the No7 serum?

Another empty today (woo!!):

Dr Hauschka Normalising Day Oil: to begin with I liked this, but increasingly I went off it... It's very strongly scented (rose), and while it doesn't irritate my skin I don't see any massive changes either. As it got older (I've had it for over a year) I think the ingredients might have deteriorated as the last couple of times I used it it seemed to give me some spots - although apparently (someone on this thread told me) oil goes off after a while so maybe that was why. Either way, I think there are better facial oils out there and I wouldn't repurchase this one.

Nabootique let me know how you get on with the Clinique Moisture Surge spray...Glad you got hold of it in the end! I've nearly finished my bottle and I would say that although it's not an absolutely necessary step in my skincare routine I have found myself using it all the time and do really like it... Definitely the best of all the hydrating toners I've tried, and would repurchase.

FrugalFashionista glad the negative reviews are serving a purpose and stopping others spending their money on crap products! I also agree re: cheaper mascaras being just as good if not often better than the really expensive ones (my sister just tried a Chanel one that she had to bin it was so bad...)

annarose I'm def buying the red ken stuff. My hair needs something like this! (But once I've finished my macadamia nut oil stuff - body shop).

No empties today. But did wear blue eyeshadow to work. Sparkly. Blue. Eyeshadow.

I enjoyed it.

Oooh, sparkly blue eyeshadow....love it! Did you get any comments/compliments?

Eliza I haven't used the No7 one as I'm a bit tight.

The Aldi one is a hylauronic serum i.e. Basically feels like a lotion. V moisturising and would be good for dry skin. I honestly couldn't tell the diff btw it and the Vichy one. But I don't have dry skin so not convinced I need it.

Serums are things that I always think I should use, but never can see much difference from......its a product I always struggle forking out for.

No. No compliments. It was pretty blue. I think they were all a bit shocked.

I hope you sat and giggled to yourself ememem84 while they all looked at you and wondered what was going on.

I have another empty: a Crabtree and Evelyn Gardeners Hand Therapy. Different texture to a lot of their other handcreams and I think absorbed better. Slightly unusual smell, very, um, herby - but then i think it is blended with a herb garden in mind: rosemary, lavender, sage, thyme all in there.

Would buy again in future - if there isnt already one lurking in the house somewhere - I'm a bit scared to look!

I LOVE C&E Hand Therapy and adore the smell. Can't justify forking out for it but my mum often buys it for me.

Annarose I'm 53 so definitely will spend £20 (it's a £5 off) at the moment.

The menopause is changing me in many ways, sadly.

Annarose I'm the same with serums. I am currently using a Vitamin C one from Boots, Superfacialist. Love the orangey fresh smell and how it absorbs into my skin....and I have ttried to be consistent using it at least once a day for the last lot of weeks.....but i am not sure it has made any noticeable difference to my skin.

I think the serums feel very nice on skin but I am not sure. I did use a clarins sample one and my skin looks lovely but if I didn't use it would it look any worse. You tend to use less night cream or moisturiser instead.

Anyone else use those polyfilla type wrinkle filler things out of interest?