Do you get the urge to splurge on beauty products? Are your cupboards full of your stash? Join this group of beauty addicts!

[Experiment627]

Going strong for more than 8 years! Full of great reviews, reports of empties and despair over our ever growing stashes!

I also agree that there is far too much plastic waste. As there are no other affordable and practical alternatives for our consumable items, we are currently stuck with it. I think we need better and easier recycling incentives and to find more landfill-friendly ideas (like refills in sachets instead of new bottles, etc.) Not all companies are on board though.

Here are two examples of what I am talking about. Both are Japanese products. I don’t use either of these specifically, but this is how I buy my shampoo and conditioner and refil old bottles. I use a different HL product and refil one I have had for years. Not perfect. They still contain plastic, but far less than bottles and take up much less room.

@Fraaahnces I agree. Hopefully there will be more adopters in the beauty industry if such initiatives.

With my laundry detergent, for example, I switched years ago to a subscription service that minimised waste (SMOL) and now I am going a step further as I recently saw laundry sheets available & these have even less plastic & waste.

I asked my mum (who was born during WW2) how she washed her hair, what hair care products were available. She said she used to make a soap solution and pour that over her hair. No conditioner.

I feel bad about the plastic too, but try and recycle everything I can. We’re pretty good elsewhere, in terms of cars, flying, recycling, reusing things, etc so hopefully that offsets the beauty products a bit.

And here are some more empty plastic bottles. Finally finished some full sizes!

Pink Coco body lotion - 414ml. Loved this, great consistency and smelled amazing. I’ve also got the honey one and the vanilla one stashed but using up some other things first.

Garnier Ultimate Blends honey conditioner - 400ml. This was great too, left my hair really soft and shiny and had a lovely scent. Now started the coconut one in the same range.

Bioderma Atoderm shower oil - 200ml. This worked really well as a both a body wash and a shave oil in the shower. I do prefer a scented body wash though.

Elizabeth Arden Advanced Ceramide capsules - 7 capsules. Got these in a Red beauty box. The serum had an oily consistency, to the point that it felt like a facial oil rather than a serum. It would probably be great for really dry skin, but too much for my normal/combo skin. The capsule thing annoyed me too.

Cowshed cuticle oil - 11ml. Smelled absolutely divine.

I have been concerned about the conditioners, sunscreen, cleansing oils and balms I use and my own contribution to the city’s fatbergs. (Even though most of it is apparently human sebum according to the plumber 🤢🤢🤢)

We have a septic tank, like most rural houses - our fatbergs are entirely our own! Not that we have any, had to have the tank drained when we first moved here 20+ years ago and there were DISPOSABLE NAPPIES clogging it up, FFS, who TF flushes disposable nappies down any kind of toilet, mains sewage or otherwise??? Disgusting. People treat their toilets like rubbish bins. We ban bleach and allow only body waste and toilet paper to be flushed. If everyone had septic tanks they’d be a lot more environmentally aware.

But yes, there’s a lot of waste and nastiness in cosmetics and skincare. We need many more recycling schemes like John Lewis and Boots.

I’ve been sitting here wondering where that lovely rose fragrance is coming from and realise it’s coming from my face and hands! It’s the Perricone firming and lifting moisturiser I got in some box or other, absolutely gorgeous.

Nappies?!?! Yuuuuuck! That is truly vile. Where I live was once known for having lovely old Queenslander-style houses on sprawling blocks with giant trees. This has made way for high-density living plan and now there are four-six houses jammed into the same space with all the plumbing and storm water meeting in old, inadequately-sized sewerage and drainage. Brisbane was never known for its city planning.

We’ve got a septic tank too and it definitely makes you more aware of what goes down the toilets when it is your garden that will be flooded with sewage!

I once saw a documentary about the London sewage system and the massive fatbergs they have to clear and the amount of baby wipes etc that get flushed down there. There should be massive warnings across the packages, not just small text on the back.

Finished a 30ml Ren atlantic kelp shower gel, really liked this.

Empties:

the ordinary squalene cleanser this was shit and there was next to nothing in the tube. I think it lasted me less than a week. Big rip off.

glow recipe blueberry cleanser didn’t like this either and only used it up as I’m trying not to waste so many products.

soap and glory balm cleanser was ok. I preferred the inkey list balm cleanser for the same price.

as you can see all my empties are cleansers and I’m almost completely out. I am totally out of cleansers I actually like so I do need to do a restock as I’m down to my Kmart cleanser and a cetaphil one which I don’t like either. I think I need to go shopping tomorrow.

I love that one

I'm now on a no buy until after the new year. I treated myself (i'm getting really good at treating myself now🙈 I blame this thread🤪) to the H&B AC and I bought some Ouai shampoo from Liberty. I used my credit on the shampoo so that doesn't really count?? I really need to declutter my make up box although I'm afraid what I might find lurking in there!!
Few more empties from me:
So...?Marbella Magic body mist-this had a lovely sweet scent which I loved. I probably won't rp until the summer as it is more of a summer fragrance

L'occitane dry skin foot cream-this had a weird medical type smell which I didn't like. I won't rp as I think using a normal moisturiser regularly would do the same job, although I do have another in my stash as it was gifted to me during the week.

L'occitane revitalising conditioner-as with the shampoo I really liked this and will probably rp when I make room in my stash.
Full-17
Mini-9
Samples-1
Chuck-1

Another load of empties
The boots botanics cleanser was my favourite one ever and I must have been through at least 20 bottles
Bastards have discontinued it

A small number of smell empties.

A bottle of citron shower gel left over from a centre park's visit. actually quite pleasant definitely a morning wake up type thing

clarins mens exfoliating cleanser. really liked this i may rehuy it sometime although i'm practically swimming in cleansers lately. may look after christmas and see if it's inappropriate reduced gift set ehich often works out cheaper than buying the individual item

L'OCCTAINE cherry blossom body cream. OK bit nothing special although i do love the shower gel and perfume from that range

Nivia cherry blossom shower gel .. just what you expect from Nivea. pleasant smell, creamy texture, foams up alright

Not new, but I ran out of my Some By Mi eye cream and already had the Beauty of Joseon eye serum in my stash. Just wanted to let you know that this is just as gentle but even more effective. It uses retinal instead of retinol, but a very low percentage. Retinal is the strongest form of Vitamin A you can get with a prescription. Like all KBeauty skincare I love, it’s light, unscented and effective. Thought I would share. *NB I also use tretinoin, but obvs not near my eyes!

I’ve just dug out about 10 new things from my stash - a couple of moisturisers and cleansers, facial oils and serums, the Votary apple toner which I’ve been waiting to try for ages, a Lumene mask… oh lots of lovely stuff that would have cost me an absolute fortune at RRP.

Some more empties. Looks like l am getting somewhere even though my stash is still huge 😗.

Lacura exfoliating face wash. I like to use it when I am showering for my face. Nice gritty texture and smell. Cheap as chips. I have already RP.

Fair cosmethics body cleanser. A mini from a hotel. Does the job. Nothing special.

Deliplus face mist with rose water. I absolutely loved it. From Mercadona in Spain. Super cheap. The spray is super thin and the mist spreads everywhere very thinly. Great for refreshing my face. Sad news: it has been discontinued but I have a spare one.

Sample caudalie moisturising sorbet. Nice texture and awful smell.

Lacura spa hand lotion rice milk and cherry blossom. A dupe from Rituals sakura. Came in a set and I have ised it on my feet for bedtime. A tad greasy on the hands but the smell is great. Have other set to go too.

Aveeno daily moisturising cream. A staple at home.

Garnier ultimate blends shampoo delicate oat milk. Liked the smell, texture and does what it says. A bit boring but ok.

Colgate fresh gel toothpaste. We like the taste of this gel, refreshing without being too minty. Would rp.

Derma V10 mascara. Had it for a while and it has dried out so bye. Nothing special and would flake. Won’t Rp

I just used up an Origins Plantscription serum. I really like this and would rebuy but have several serums to get through first. Using up the stash is going painfully slowly at the moment, I think because I've used up most of the samples and small sizes and now I'm working through the full sizes, which takes ages.

A few empties here although no pics as I forgot.

A small size Seated Queen cold cream cleanser. I know loads love this but I found it just ok.

A full size Garnier Banana hair mask thingie. Found it ok but not wonderful.

a Charlotte Tilbury eye make up remover. Wasn’t keen but used it up while on holiday last week.

A full size Garnier After Sun cream. About five years old but managed to finish it up on holiday last week.

I know I put something else in the hotel room bin but can’t remember what!

Still have lots of things to use up so not buying anything for a very long time.

One empty. Sanctuary Heel Balm. I used this before. It's great. I have another in my stash and would happily RP when other things used up

Empties:

Sukin lime and coconut body wash - 500ml. This smelled lovely, more lime than coconut though. There’s another bottle in the stash.

The Ordinary 10% azelaic acid serum - 100ml. I’ve been using azelaic acid for about a year now and it’s really helped calm redness and flushing on my cheeks. This one is really good value but not my favourite formula - it’s very thick and makes some moisturisers pill. I’m currently using a Paula’s Choice one, but will probably go back to my favourite Face Theory after that.

M&S Warm Neroli perfume - 30ml. This came in last year’s advent calendar. It was ok, but nothing special and the longevity was crap compared to some other M&S perfumes I’ve tried.

Murad rapid dark spot correcting serum - 5ml. I found this quite drying, but my skin has been looking very clear while using it (though I suppose that might be the Paula’s Choice azelaic serum as that also has salicylic acid in).

Lip balms - Burts Bees vanilla maple and a mini Laniege lip sleeping mask in mango. Both really lovely, multiples of both in these and other flavours already stashed.

Beauty Pro revitalising foot sock - waste of time, did nothing.

Another empty. Goats of the Gorge body lotion. It's being binned half full because it's gone off before I could use it up. Very short shelf life, unless it was in the shop for ages? I only bought it a few months ago. It's started to separate. Seemed to work fine, smells nice. Have concerns about an ingredient that I thought was a cleaning agent and didn't understand why it would be in a body lotion.

Today's empty is wow cleansing milk I didn't like it much. Took a lot of wiping to remove my makeup. Won't RP

Another empty. ISDIN spf eye cream. Have used it every day and liked it because it didn’t sting my eyes. Have replaced with Ultrasun though which is spf 30 rather than 20.