Beauty addicts anonymous - come join us if you are a beauty product lover and hoarder!!!

[Experiment627]

Not sure what thread number we are up to here but ALL ABOARD if you get JOY from buying and trying beauty products!!!

We sometimes enable but we also share out thoughts, support one another and generally share our love of beauty consumerism!

Thank you @Experiment627 and @PomRuns 😊

Will try to finish off a few more products by the end of the year if I can. It's certainly interesting to see that I'm using up more than 10 products per month on average!

@wheresmyshoe - coffee goes in mouth, not THOSE parts!!! AKA, you are not a percolator!

@PomRuns so glad you enjoy this thread! We have been going for 7 years I think!!! Amazing!

@Fraaahnces how on earth did you come up with Tutankamen's earlobes? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 maybe I will try some K-beauty in 2023!!!

@wheresmyshoe I also used a coffee scrib a while back... what a mess!! And so hard to remove!

Hope you all got your hands on the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals last month 😉

@MidnightMeltdown congratulations on achieving your goal! 🥂 125 items over the course of one year is the result I could only dream about!

@Fraaahnces best of luck with your no-buy next year! Please share your stats once you complete your inventory.

As for the empties, I had none in October, and here are the only items I managed to use up in November:

1. Meow Meow Tweet Baking Soda Free Deodorant Cream (Grapefruit) (68 g; £15.25) – my ultimate HG.

2. Laura Mercier Oil Free Dual-Action Eye Makeup Remover (100 ml; £16) – it expired in October 2021. I really wanted a non-oily eye makeup remover, and this is what the product name claimed it was. But in reality, it was so oily that I needed to wash my eyes twice with a face cleanser just to get rid of the yucky residue. Furthermore, the packaging was also quite annoying (too much spillage). All in all, an utter disappointment.

3. Bobbi Brown Vitamin Enriched Face Base (50 ml; £46.68) – it expired in June 2018 🤢 It had a very intense tangerine scent, and its texture reminded me of spreadable butter. The scent made me sneeze during and immediately after application, the shea nut oil which was its main ingredient made me break out pretty much every time. However, every foundation from my stash sat very nicely on top of it so I did use it on those rare occasions when I would apply makeup. For obvious reasons, I would not repurchase but would recommend it to everyone with dry skin and a less sensitive nose.

4. Drunk Elephant A-Passioni Retinol Cream (5 ml) – my Space NK birthday gift from 2020 but I believe it expired by the time I opened it because the Kate Somerville +Retinol Vita C Power Serum which I received together with it was manufactured in September 2018 (TWO YEARS before I received it as a birthday gift!), and face cream’s shelf life is usually no longer than 36 months. The DE retinol cream contained sodium hydroxide (a preservative which I’m trying to avoid in my skincare), and had a strong retinol scent which I didn’t particularly enjoy. It had a nice texture, and absorbed quickly. However, I would not purchase a full size because my skin found it too harsh, and reacted with redness, itchiness and extreme flakiness.

Not sure how many items I can finish this month, as I am always too knackered by the end of the year, and start slacking on my skincare routine 😕 but I will do my best.

I was very good re makeup during sales. Only purchased a concealer bogof for the equivalent of about €4. (I swear it’s a dupe for the Nars radiant creamy one, only the colour is better for my pale olive skin. They are less romantic and call it “green beige”.) I also purchased my fave BB cream. I’m nearly out and this one will always be in my makeup box. I never wear it alone, but mixed 50/50 with sunscreen and it’s perfect. (I also have a full sunscreen layer underneath, never fear.) I had contemplated purchasing a couple more of the Kaja beauty bento eyeshadows, but I can “dupe the vibes” with eyeshadows I already have. I really only need a couple of matte eyeshadows for contouring. I’m in no hurry.

I purchased some skincare packs for my kids and a couple of travel/trial packs for myself and some of my fave sunscreens. (My sunscreen stash has been radically diminished lately due to all three kids going away on various beach holidays with friends and each one has different skin needs. They have kept the sunscreen because I have put the fear of god into them about skin cancers and the genetic melanomas that have taken out close relatives of mine at young ages - also, I embarrass them by rocking up with a UV-protective umbrella and giant sunglasses that make me look like a preying mantis.) Anyhow, I didn’t buy much or anything radical, but a couple of things I go through at a rapid rate of knots and a couple of things I’ve been tempted to try in mini, trial sizes.

Thank you @CherryMargo 😊

That's worrying re. Space nk manufacture dates. I always wonder how long retailers hold on to products before we receive them.

As a general rule, I try not to keep things in my stash for longer than 2 years, but there are definitely things that slip through the net.

Perfumes and makeup in particular, I tend to keep for years and years!

I really need to have a good sort through my makeup over the Christmas break and chuck out the older stuff. I'm sure that there are some 10 year old foundations that I haven't touched in years! 🤢

I am trying also to use up all old skincare. Time goes by so fast and before you know it, everything is out of date!

I find some products go off quicker than others . Liz Earle is one of my culprits.

I think I have some Mac eye shadows that are 20 yers old ... Must chuck !

There is a lot of BS on YouTube, etc. about the “dangers” of preservatives, etc in skincare. I think you’ll find that fungi, viruses (herpes) bacteria (ie, impetigo) and even parasites (scabies) that can go hog-wild without them are much more dangerous. Most of these preservatives are “natural” anyway - vitamin c & e-based, plus very safe, low-dose, very highly-tested in-vitro anti-bug ingredients as well. I always get annoyed at the absolute hysteria perpetuated by the EWG, etc about ingredients lists, because they talk about things being carcinogenic, hormone-interrupters, etc, but don’t cite the actual amount of exposure required to cause these issues and they are actually bloody enormous. MUUUUUCH higher than a lifetime of cosmetic use. You’re talking industrial toxicity.

*This is not me saying that I approve of animal testing, btw. I absolutely do not.

I have finished the LRP effaclar toner, my first chemical exfoliator and I'm not sure yet if its helped my skin as I have just come out of 2 months of the worst skin I've had since a teenager, a family member passed away so a lot of stress.

My skin has cleared up now, I'm moving onto a Superdrug naturally radiant toner so we will see how that goes. I've one other toner in my stash after that, the Aldi one.

@VisitingThem I am so sorry to hear of your loss. Sending you a mahoosive hug xxx

I have some empties to report:

• Atrixo enriched moisturising cream: my apologies if I have already mentioned this one. I did a month of using this as a night cream - amazingly my face did not fall off!
• Odylique Breathe Ease for children (essential oil blend): this is so helpful when my son or I are bunged up. I always have something like this on the go. This one is quite pricey but organic...
• Sainsbury's source of nature nourishing hand cream: basically the only product from the ones I have tried that I have tolerated. Not the best hand cream ever but definitely not the worst. Very inexpensive.
• The Ordinary natural moisturising factors + HA for scalp: hmm so this year I have been more "adventurous" with my hair care. And I feel like my hair is in better condition... that said my scalp is now quite irritated... that could be the Plantur 39, my age, or something else. I do not think it is this as I only used once every 10 days-4 weeks... on the other hand really have no clue what this actually did. No RP here.

This morning I broke into the Q+A aha thingy from the H&B advent - actually really liked it! This is a great reminder to use advent stuff up more quickly! I am trying very hard to do this with the Nivea calendar (although seriously yesterday's thing was a scarf clip?????????? HOW does that relate to beauty???).

DOH!

Forgot the NIvea empty: Nivea Irresistibly Smooth deep moisture serum dry skin (75 mls) - this was two applications. I liked it but not enough Nivea smell for me.

I have another Nivea empty:

• Nivea soft refreshingly soft moisturising cream: reminded me a but of the Atrixo - fine on body but too lightweight for my hands (just 25ml)

I have some more empties:

• Boots No7 menopause skincare nourishing overnight cream: I have actually tried 3 of the 4 products from this range but the other two have gone to my SIL. This cream was ok. I just don't believe that all skin can be the same - just cos it is perimenopausal/menopausal - so I am already negatively biased!
• Superdrug Me+ CDB oil booster: great addition to body creams, also nice on the face, it is quite calming. Has a mild smell.
• Ayumi tumeric & bergamot face mask: I adore one of their shower gels - which smells divine. This really did not smell of much at all - I guess this is just as well as it is for the face. That said this was ok but not amazing.
• Kingfisher fennel with fluoride toothopaste: HG for me. Have bought in bulk now (12 tubes) as this brought the price down a lot... did not think about expiry dates when I did that 🙈

Two sunscreens down…
One is the Andalou Naturals Brightening Vitamin C BB Cream (sheer tint). It used to come in a tan shade which was perfect for me. It was still sheer, but yellow-based. This one is just too pink and it looks weird on me. Pity, because apart from that, it’s a lovely, glowy product that can be reapplied all through the day. It smells great and it doesn’t sting. I had to powder this to cover the pink, kind of defeating the purpose.
The next was the Skin1004 Madagascar Centella AirFit SPF50++++ sunscreen. This is a combined chemical and physical sunscreen that is nice, but not my favourite. It is nicer on the dec & neck than the face, but makeup still sits well on top. I have ordered their Madagascar Centella Water Fit Sun Serum SPF50++++ to wear on my face as I prefer this kind of texture and chemical sunscreens suit me better these days. As it’s getting close to a billion degrees here, I hope that it arrives pretty damn quick!

Hope you do not melt @Fraaahnces !!!

Thanks @Experiment627 - all my uk friends are sending me snow photos and making me jealous!

Don't be jealous - it has now turned to lethal ice!

While lethal ice isn’t fun, there’s nothing romantic about months and months of temperatures hovering around 40’c and melanoma-dodging either.

Fell off this thread completely, i'm going to continue using my products but will not start counting them until New Year.

Few empties:
Vaseline aloe vera lip tin- this was ok, I don't use vaseline alot as I sometimes find it dries my lips out more.
Ted Baker violet & bergamot body wash- this smelt nice although it didn't lather up as much as I would have liked.
Soap & Glory Sugar Crush hand food- I love soap&glory stuff, not too expensive. The Original scent is my favourite but this was ok. Absorbed well into my skin and my hands felt soft afterwards.

Not sure if i've asked this before- any suggestions for a good hand cream in the UK? This cold weather is playing havoc with my hands. The pads of my fingers look& feel constantly dry/rough and my hands look quite wrinkly and old.

Good point, well made @Fraaahnces I think the expectation is that by Sunday the temp will rise and it won't be so cold anymore.

In other news: my skin is a bit buggered... thinking it is the effect of Boots No7 menopause range which I have now fully stopped using.

@Minnie123456 I really rate the Cerave salyclic (sorry spelled wrong- can never work it out) acid foot cream - works great on both hands or feet, or the Garnier hand cream (red tube). Also Vichy and La Roche Posay have great hand creams.

Some recent empties.

Body Shop Vitamin C face mist - from last year's AC I think. nice enough but have preferred others I've used so wouldn't RP on that basis.

Body Shop Moringa Body Butter - this is well over 10 years old didn't have much scent (possibly lost it) but was still a nice consistency. I like their body yogurt better so wouldn't RP this.

Beauty Pie concealer - a staple item for me, already have 2 replacements in the cupboard.

Beauty Pie Japanfusion cleanser - really liked this, would RP (once out of cleansers!).

Rituals of Mehr body cream - loved this, smelt divine. Also like that you can buy refill tubs that fit into the outer packaging. Will RP once I use up my other body creams.

Cien Pro Vitamin colour protect conditioner - I liked the shampoo so was optimistic about this, but I found I had to use a LOT of product to get enough conditioning. Wouldn't RP.

I have a few more empties:

• Superdrug Me+ vitamin C booster: this vitamin C is in oil so hopefully that meant it did not oxidise. As in an oil different to use than other vitamin C products I have tried. Can be mixed in with body creams/face creams. I liked it but did not see major reduction of my hyperpigmentation.
• Lacura healthy glow rose oil: I think this is supposed to be a dupe for the Pixi one - not that I have tried that. I actually really liked this. Nice rose smell. Very nourishing.
• Lacura orange & bergamot hand wash: like the Bayliss & Harding ones (which I think this is copying, and they in turn are trying to copy but seriously failing to do so, Molton Brown) there is not much in the way of a scent.