Are you addicted to beauty products? If so, please join - we are "Beauty addicts anonymous" 💜

[Experiment627]

This is "Beauty addicts anonymous", a wonderful community of beauty product addicts & we have been going a hot minute... some may say we are enablers... many would say that they are much more intentional about their stashing and usage since joining this sisterhood.

Calm shower gel from M&S, either the advent calendar or a box. I'm a bar soap woman but as gels go, this was good. Nice smell and I'm clean😁

I key hyaluronic acid. This is a regular for me. I think it actually does have an effect on wrinkles.

L'Occitane body milk. I'm not a major fan of body milks as they tend to be a bit thin and not as moisturising as a cream.

Versed moisturiser. I liked this. It felt nourishing and was a lovely texture.

Just an aside - I assume most of you have spotted the advent calendar thread? Can't believe it's that time of year again.

8. No 7 Booster Serum 5ml, this must be from an Advent Calendar, it is a very tiny tube. I liked it as it felt really good to use.
9. Aveeno Moisturiser 354ml - first time I have used anything by Aveeno but it was a good moisturiser and really cheap. I have a feeling there may be another one in the stash.
10. I am trying to use up bars of soap and this was just a tiny hand soap which I probably brought back from a hotel.
11. Just finished an M & S Instant Radiance Hot Cloth Cleanser which was definitely out of date. Worked well and have just found another one.
12. Out today went a small atomiser of Aqua from M & S. This has been discontinued and I am quite disappointed. I do have a 100ml bottle lurking around somewhere.

So 12 items out and nothing purchased, have no idea how many more to go. One day I may count everything.

I have flights back to UK for November and I suppose all the advent calendars will be out then - 'oh dear'!

Hi everyone - I’m definitely a product addict and trying to work my way through my base products. Always buying something new looking for my HG. How long does it take you to use up a base product - tinted moisturiser/foundation? Mine seem to go on forever and can’t finish one. Currently have Nars TM, IT cosmetics, NARs light reflecting, No7 hydraluminous in rotation.

@OchonAgusOchonOh I have not spotted the thread... will you let us know the ones that are most popular? TBH I will probably go with the H&B one again and the Macmillan one...

@cheesypeas123 welcome! I rarely get to the end of a foundation like product before having to chuck.

The thread is here - www.mumsnet.com/talk/style_and_beauty/4595857-beauty-advent-calendars?page=1 Not that I'm an enabler or anything 😁

Liberty, John Lewis and M&S seem to be getting a lot of mentions so far.

Dd had H&B in 2020 and 2019 and loved it. Unfortunately they stopped doing it in Ireland so she ended up with M&S which she enjoyed too.

Thank you @Fraaahnces this is really helpful info!

I have heard of Yesstyle before, but not the others. Good to know that it can take up to 3 months - I may need to order sooner than planned! I'll go through my stash at the weekend to see how much of everything I already have and figure out when I can justify placing an order.

Do you ever have to pay import duty for overseas orders?

I think I have enough sunscreen to last me for the rest of the year, but I will be interested when I run out. I hate thick sticky sunscreens as I'm prone to breakouts, so I'm often on the lookout for something that is more like a serum.

I have an empty:

74) Farmacy Green Cleaner - loved this. It was excellent at removing makeup. One of the best cleansing balms that I've tried

@MidnightMeltdown I live in Australia, and haven’t needed to pay anything. I imagine that info should be on their websites.

Thanks @OchonAgusOchonOh! I joined the chat!!!

@MidnightMeltdown that cleanser looks interesting- where is it from?

I may have gone wild on Aldi skincare

Excellent. See you over there.

Hey again ladies, stash of empties here, a lot of cleansers but still searching for my HG.

Elemis rose cleanser - I love this, fragrance lasts better with small pot. Not great at removing some mascara tho.

Sweed mascara - this is good, chucked after a few months but I like it. Have another in stash.

Goldfaden scrub and cleanser - like the scrub especially, also the eye cream that came with this set.

Cult 51 night cream - from F&M AC, love this but preferred the day cream, that was lovely.

Fresh soy cleanser - in a freebie bag I think, not a fan.

Oh yes @MidnightMeltdown that Pharmacy cleanser is excellent actually. The only thing that removes the Sweed mascara. Where was it from as I finished it recently too?

Also love the Pharmacy Green Clean, but tooooo expensive! (Especially here in Aus.)

Thanks @Fraaahnces - I'll check it out! Looking forward to trying stuff! 

@Experiment627 and @clary
The Green Clean cleanser was in last years Cult Beauty advent calendar. It's £32 for 100ml on Cult Beauty which is pretty pricey for a cleanser, but I have seen it on offer before.

I like cleansing balms but I seem to get through them so quickly!

@MidnightMeltdown - it’s a lovely balm, but I have to be honest… I wouldn’t spend lots on cleansers. You’re better off spending more on actives and moisturizers that stay on your face. The Curel makeup melting cleanser is a balm you can buy at the Chemist there for A LOT less and it’s just as effective and more gentle. Or use an oil cleanser. There are so many great ones out there and they’re all great. The trick is to use it simply to break up your makeup and sunscreen, wash it off and then use a gentle foaming cleanser.

Yes I tend to agree @Fraaahnces, it's nice to have a good cleanser, it's not worth spending a lot on something that you wash down the sink. I've often read that moisturisers also aren't worth spending a lot on either. They say that you should put your money in a good serum.

This is why, when choosing an advent calendar, I tend to pick one with a nice serum. The rest is just bonus!

Push before advent ladies ?!

Skin laundry hydrating mask. Was good but like others, not keen on single use masks.

Aurelia refine and polish exfoliating mask. Really liked this.

Clarins super restorative day cream. Love it. Definite repurchase. Nice fragrance, moisturising but not too heavy.

92/100
10 samples.

will reset to 92/120 which should be most (ish) of stash.

Have sorted through my stash this morning and categorised it a bit better. Man I have a lot of skincare in there

Have put the different category items in the various makeup bags I have acquired.

One empty - copper peptide cream from the F&M AC (I think). Very nice but not as good as Cult 51 or Elemis.

Am going to try to lose some items that I really will not use (or that i just have too many of) and sell as bundles on ebay.

That is a good idea @clary

I have two empties to report:

• Ulta Beauty soft cotton scented hand gel wash: the pump thing on this stopped working (basically squirting the stuff randomly, but never anywhere near your hands) so I used up in the bath/shower. Not scented enough for me.


• Make-up remover pen: not sure where I got this... yonks old, does not work well - this is a chuck

Really want to have a purge of my make-up - have way too much and sure stuff has gone off.

Hello ladies! 💐 I hope everyone’s keeping cool and safe during this summer 🥵 Also wishing a speedy recovery to those who have contracted COVID-19 in the meantime.

Welcome @cheesypeas123! 🤗 The amount of foundation used per application is 0.17 ml on average (allegedly). Thus, a 30-ml bottle should be enough for 176 applications, i.e. six months of almost daily use.

My July empties* were as follows:

1. milk_shake Moisture Plus Shampoo (10 ml; £1.49) – a thick white cream shampoo which smells like pina colada. It has no SLS, but foams well. Beware if you have extremely sensitive skin on your scalp, as it contains sodium hydroxide (caustic soda).

2. milk_shake Moisture Plus Conditioner (10 ml; £1.49) – a thick pale orange cream conditioner which smells like coconut. It made a noticeable change to my bleached hair – it really felt like my hair had a massive moisture boost without making it unruly! I believe it was the papaya extract that did it. I have another papaya hair mask in my stash, and it has a similar effect on my hair.

3. milk_shake Normalizing Shampoo (10 ml; £1.49) – a thin amber-coloured gel shampoo with a very subtle cedar and coriander scent, specially designed for hair which gets greasy very quickly. Unfortunately, I could not judge its effectiveness as oily roots have become the thing of the past for me, but overall, it was a nice gentle shampoo which did not strip my hair of its moisture or colour.

4. Meow Meow Tweet Baking Soda Free Deodorant Stick (Grapefruit) (50 g; £15) – my ultimate HG.

5. Formula 10.0.6 Down To The Pore (a pack of six individual pore strips; £5.25) – they expired in June 2021. They also contained sodium hydroxide. I purchased these strips due to many positive online reviews, and I must admit they are very good.

6. Juice Beauty Stem Cellular Anti-Wrinkle Moisturizer (1 ml; GWP) – it was manufactured in 2019, so it was on the verge of expiry (and, frankly speaking, smelled a bit off) when I opened it. The fact that it is ‘green’ skincare and has no synthetic fragrance to mask its scent might have been another reason for its unpleasant smell. It was OK but not big enough of a sample to form an opinion about how good it is.

7. Three 0.1 ml sachets of Juice Beauty Phyto-Pigments Flawless Serum Foundation in 08 Cream, 14 Sand, 17 Medium Tan (GWP) – a very thin serum foundation with no scent. I wish I could choose the shades, as Sand and Medium Tan were too dark for me. The Cream shade was similar to Erborian’s Clair (please see below), so I would only use it during summer. I also wish that the samples had more ml in them so that I could try and layer the product as I need much fuller coverage. Apart from that I really enjoyed the durability of this foundation – I wore it when there was +34C outdoors, and it didn’t melt off, and didn’t become blotchy. I will definitely try a bigger sample if I can.

8. Erborian Super BB Créme au Ginseng SPF 20 in Clair (1.5 ml; GWP) – this is a new, full-coverage version of the original Erborian BB cream specially designed for acne-prone skin. It contains physical SPF 20, and is a couple of shades darker than my skin tone but works fine after I get a tan. It was not sitting well on my combination skin, not even when I used a mattifying primer. So, I won’t purchase a full size, and will stick to the CC cream from this brand during summer.

*It took longer than I expected, but my first goal of 2022 – to finish 22 samples (travel-size and sachets) from any category – is finally complete! ✔️

@CherryMargo I have made a note of the Milk shake shampoo - I still mega greasy hair

Thanks @Experiment627 and @CherryMargo . I’ve been using my NARS TM exclusively over the past couple of weeks and going to try & see it out to the end. I think I always get sucked in by the latest & greatest and don’t take into account how many foundations/CC creams I already own! Going to try and finish a few before I buy anymore 🤣

@Experiment627 Fingers crossed, you'll see good results if you try this shampoo! 🤞 The online reviews are polarised tbh – some swear by it, some say they didn't like it at all. Unfortunately, milk_shake do not sell travel sizes, so you can only choose from 10 ml (which is probably not enough to make an opinion), 300 ml or 1000 ml.

Also, you might want to look into B2 and B6 supplements as they help regulate sebum production 😉

Thanks @CherryMargo I take vitamin B complex every day when I remember