Can’t stop buying & hoarding beauty treats? You’re in good company here!

[Experiment627]

Welcome to our little corner of beauty bliss! If you can’t resist trying the latest beauty launches or your shelves are bursting with favourites, you’ve found your tribe. This is the place to chat, share reviews, swap tips, and celebrate all things beauty — from budget gems to luxury treats.
This thread has been around for ages, and many of us have even tamed our beauty-buying habits thanks to the wisdom and support shared here. We post our empties and chucks, helping each other make smarter, more satisfying choices next time we shop.
All beauty product addicts welcome!

A lot look more pink on me as well as I have very pink lips as told at a beauty counter. Can never trust swatches. I wouldn't mind i try to avoid pink as have rosacea and they make me look rosier. 🤷😍

@Doglover73 Ah that would explain it actually. I have very pale but very warm colouring (soft/true Autumn) but my lips are quite a deep pink. That's probably why I struggle with lip colours, they need to be overtly warm (as well as muted, bright colours do not suit me) to counteract the pinkness of my lips. Thanks, I'd not thought of this before but it actually makes sense!

I actually like my colouring but I do struggle with make-up as I'm so warm-toned that I can't even wear neutral colours. The Charlotte Tilbury 'suits everyone' (no it doesn't) Pillow Talk makes me look like an extra from The Walking Dead. And a lot of warm tones are also bright, which makes me look like a clown.

Just finished this amazing oil/serum from the Liberty 2024 advent calendar.
Liberty no longer sell it! Can anyone that’s tried it recommend a similar product?

I’ve just counted the number of perfumes I have.

55 😳😳😳🙈🤣

To be fair, 47 of those are 10ml or under (and 16 of those are tiny tester sizes). I don’t think I need to buy any perfume for the rest of all eternity now!

Will do an inventory on other stuff tomo but think perfume is what I have the most of!

Ok, I’d planned a head start but after a serious going over the stash I need to do 100 again this calendar year. Here we go with 3/100:

Votary day cream - it’s pleasant but prob too light for my skin, any simple type product can dupe it.

Dear Polly - Vilhelm, I’ve already bought a larger size on Vinted, absolutely love it, beautiful casual day scent on me.

elnett - critical for my cruddy fine thin stringy hair. Bought a huge one to replace as on offer in Boots.

Some empties and declutters to start the new year

2 pairs of MZ Skin eye masks from the Harrods advent. I liked the vitamin infused pair best but too expensive to actually purchase when the cheaper ones in a tub are just fine.

ROZ hair oil - I liked this a lot. I think it's a US brand so not that widely available here. I would RP but I have a lot of other hair oils to use up before I need to consider buying one again.

Had a bit of a make up sort through today. I'm binning 3 mascaras and a primer as they've all been open longer than recommended.

One black and one brown Tartlette tubing mascaras - really like these, they don't budge. Would RP if I didn't have a bag full of mascaras waiting their turn.

Pat McGrath Labs Fetish Eyes mascara - hated this, smudged terribly. I stopped using it ages ago and it's sat in a box ever since.

ELF Halo Glow - I like this but I've not used it since early summer and it's been open well over 12 months. Doesn't quite pass the sniff test now. Not an immediate RP as my favourite dewy Milk skin tint replaces the need for a separate product to look glowy. I don't love the applicator, it would be better as a pump rather than a sponge tip.

I have just finished a couple of perfume testers. I am still away, so thought they’d be handy. They were Phlur Mussing Person & Father Figure… both fine, but nothing groundbreaking, and Byredo Gypsy Water. WHY do I love the expensive one??? (I knew I loved it before, and have a hand cream at home.) I have come to the part with my Abib Sun Stick where I have to be careful not to scratch my face. I love this one and it lasts forever, but I still prefer to use a light sunscreen gel or cream as I feel like I can guarantee a much more even application. It’s very hot atm and it’s absolutely working, but I don’t trust myself.

Dr.Ceuracle kombucha tea mist - love this. Hydrating, sinks in and feels lovely. Already have a full size which isn’t in mist form. Will decant some and reuse this bottle for swim/gym bag.
SDJ delicia drench body butter - I LOVE the shower oil from this line (fave 2025 disovery) but I was only ok about this. I was going to complain that it’s really hard to spread and would prefer it in lotion form, but I recently got a new mini and it’s much easier to use. So I think this had just been opened a long time. Will use if I get them in kits and such like, but wouldn’t rp a full size at full cost.
Hada Labo hydrating lotion - the smallest gwp I have ever seen 😂 this is 9ml. I was given it when I was buying a separate hada labo cream for dh. It’s good. One of those staple type of products but I do prefer the blue premium one.

@FrancesteinI also annoyingly love gypsy water and it’s on my list to buy.. but I need to clear out loads of other perfumes before I allow myself any purchases. Booo

@AndeanFlamingo ATM I am always suspicious of lip products with “Glow” in the name. They often have that pink staining dye that is often incorrectly referred to as “ph-adjusting”. Have you tried the Bee Glow on your wrist?

2 haircare empties today:
Only Curls Purple Conditioner. Cannot recommend this highly enough if you have curly/wavy blonde or grey hair. My hair is 50% grey and this was an absolute transformation.
Only Curls Curl Cream. Actually not empty but got rid of it. Partly because my hair isn't wavy anymore and partly because it was rubbish even when I had the right hair.

Now on the search for new purple hair products for straight fine hair.

Whoa, I had no idea about this! And yes, turns out it's bright pink on my wrist too. The picture didn't come out brilliantly but you can see the colour difference between the product in the tube and on my wrist. Has anyone had any experiences with Guerlain customer service? I'm wondering if they'd be likely to agree to a refund given the colour is really not as expected.

I'll be avoiding any lip products with 'glow' in the name from now on. Thank you so much for sharing this, you've saved me a lot of money and a lot of future frustration!

NB. Photo won't upload, I might try again later.

@AnnaMagnani We use Lush Daddy-O purple shampoo on my daughter’s fine straight hair and it works really well.

First empties of the new year:

Beauty of Joseon Radiance Cleansing Balm - 100ml. I was a bit meh about this at first, probably because it’s unscented, but ended up really liking it. Feels lovely on the skin and gets mascara off with no effort.

Some By Mi Snail Truecica Miracle Repair Toner - 135ml. This was a lot more watery in consistency than I was expecting and I didn’t notice any miracle repairing going on. Didn’t like the medicinal scent either.

Clarins Multi-Active Revitalising Treatment Essence - 10ml. Only a tiny sample but still got several uses out of it. It was fine, but K-beauty does toners cheaper and better.

Erborian Multi Perfecting Skin Oil - 10ml. Really liked this. Absorbed quickly, didn’t break me out like a lot of oils do and made my skin feel really soft.

Tree Hut Rainbow Sherbet body scrub - 510g. Tree Hut scrubs are my favourite and this was a nice, fresh scent.

Lush Pumpkin Spice Latte and Golden Pear shower gels - 110g/120g. Preferred the pumpkin scent. The pear one smelled exactly like pear drop sweets.

Tocca Florence perfume mini - I got another mini in the Look Fantastic fragrance advent so used the rest of this one up. It’s a lovely scent but quite similar to Miller Harris Secret Gardenia and I have a 100ml bottle of that one.

I have a few empties to report:

some of them not pictured.

Herbal essences shampoo lavender. Really lovely, kind to hair. Loved the smell. My DD on the other hand was not a fan.

Aveeno shower gel. A staple.

Palmolive raspberry and blackcurrant foam handwash. Nice to use something different for a change but it lasted very little. Nice ce smell and kind to hands, which are awful at the minute with my eczema out of control.

Jonhsons bedtime lotion. Consistency was ok. The smell is beautiful, they used to make a cologne for children with this scent and I loved it. They discontinued the cologne but still produce the rabge with the same scent, that’s why I purchased it. Glad it’s finished it lasted for ages.

Imperial leather cherry blossom and almond oil body wash. Very creamy floral smell. Quite nice . Would rp

@AndeanFlamingo I looked at the ad and the ingredients. They have the ph-adjusting dye but they call it “Eosin” (sounds like a cell for fighting infection, or maybe an elf from Lord of the Rings)…. They say it is an ingredient that “refreshes the colour”. Sure, Bob….

@Francestein I can't believe I didn't know this but I'm glad I do now and I'll be looking out for this ingredient in future. I contacted Guerlain CS asking for a refund, given that the colour is so vastly different from expected. I'm not holding my breath but you never know.

And the rest I found:

Lacura exfoliating face wash. I know scrubs are nt great but I love this cheapy.

Sure cotton dry 48h. It didn’t do much for me although I found the scent pleasant. Have a few more to go through.

Tulipan negro nube de algodon shower gel. My dd loved this. Very sweet gourmand scent, although it was too runny.

I went through my stash today and it’s actually not too bad! I don’t even have an extra face wash after the one I’m currently using, can anyone recommend one?? I’m using one from an AC just now and normally just use ‘Simple’ face wash.

The most I have are shower gels and body lotions, and hair things I never use. Going to make a real effort to use them all before I buy any more!

Also going to give away things I’ll never use that came free with things. Like moisturiser / cleansers for blemish prone skin etc (which I don’t have).

@Ilikeyoursleeves I absolutely love the Bulldog gel cleanser. You can get it in Boots, usually for under a fiver. It's marketed at men but I love it because it's very gentle and also brilliant for taking off eye make-up (I use it like a cleansing balm with a cloth). I love getting fancy cleansing balms in beauty boxes but I only ever buy this one. I'm not using it at the moment as I'm using up some advent calendar cleansers but my plan is to have two of these, one in the shower, to use like a normal cleanser in the morning, and one for taking make-up off in the evening.

Ooo thanks! Can you use it with water? I don’t like using balms and cloths as I never feel my face is clean, I need to wash something off with water!

@CorneliaStreet I think I was the same with the BoJ cleansing balm. It is quite a good one. I do like a bit of scent though so I'm always a little underwhelmed at first with unscented ones even when they perform well.

@Ilikeyoursleeves Yes, it's supposed to be used with water. I just like my products to be multi-tasking so tried it as a balm anyway 😆

@AndeanFlamingo I think my son uses Bulldog cleanser so I’ll nick a bit of his to try it out thank you!

I use Grace and Stella foaming facial wash in the shower, works for me :-)