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!

I'm a big fan of Nivea Hydro Care SPF15. I also have a Calipso one that I will use now that I finished the Nivea one. I dont think I've ever had a tinted/coloured one.

I used the Hello Sunday rose SPF 50 on hols last year, nice tint and coverage. For every day use I really like Aquaphor which has SPF 30

Thank you. Everyday at the moment I am using an old chubbystick found at the bottom of a drawer.

I've been surprised how much I like it.

Pur 4 in 1 Tinted Moisturiser. This was a RP. I bought my first tube of this in Marks and Spencer and was able to try out the colours. When I came to RP, M&S stopped stocking it and I bought online and got the wrong shade. Meh. And now the Pur are no longer doing my shade. So I’ve RP’d a Nivea Tinted Day Cream, only £5.49, compared to £36 for the Pur.

Threw out the last little bit of a Cotswold lavender liquid soap cos I was so bored of it 😀 it was fine, a hostess gift, but lavender is not a preferred floral for me

I have a dilemma. A few weeks ago I bought the Glossier Milk Cleansing Balm in the SNK sale for about £10.

Here's a review on it.
https://reallyree.com/glossier-milky-jelly-cleansing-balm-review/

My experience is nothing like this review. It doesn't emulsify into oil or turn to milk with water. It's like putting a layer of thick glue on my face. Water does nothing and I end up scraping it off with a wet cloth exactly as you would if you'd put glue on your face.

Am I doing something wrong? Is this a bad batch? Is the above review just fabrication?

Has anyone else tried it? I've tried it twice and it's just unusable, I can't even think of a way I could repurpose it. Should I just bin it? It feels wrong when I've only recently purchased it. I'm never going to use it though.

@OvaHere It’s not you. The glossier cleanser is shite. You’d be better off with a real cleanser or oil.

I have plentiful stash of good cleansers. The description on this one got me and sounded like it would be one I'd enjoy. Got that very wrong. I've used a few cleansers I thought were subpar but never one that literally can't do the job.

I would return it @OvaHere . I know it's only a tenner, but it might be worth alerting SNK to the fact that it's unusable.

@OvaHere i second @keepincool , you should get a refund for it. If it's no good and not doing the job, they need to be told.

I have a few empties to report:
*Espa positivity bath & body oil: this was gifted to me by a friend - nice relaxing smell but leaves a ring on the bath and makes everything very slippery. I used the ends of it up in the shower and that was actually a good idea... although still same issue with residue.
*Jubilee Stella Inspired fragrance: I just got a sample size. Not a great match to the sadly discontinued Stella. No longevity at all either.
*Montale Intense Roses: again a sample size - I got the wrong one, as there is a Montale perfume that is supposed to smell like Stella but it is not this one. This has echos of it but has a very over powering blackcurrant note.

Couple of empties this week!

Beauty of Joseon Centella face mask. I thought I a little bit of itch to start but it settled and my face felt lovely afterwards and into the next day. I like a mask but forget to do them very often. I’d use this one again.

Votary super renewal serum - I liked it as a retinol alternative, nice texture and smell. I would rp based on the product but at £85 it’s a small bottle for the money

24 used up so far.

@Experiment627 far be it from me to be an enabler 🙈 but I got a dupe of Stella from perfume parlour not too long back and to me it smells a lot like the original and is a,lovely scent. I only ever get the 3ml roll on oil as they last forever and its not hardship at £3-4 if I dont like it ive found many new and old gems with perfume parlour

@Mackemlass79with Stella dupes we can break all the rules! I have tried that Perfume Parlour dupe - Star Lady I think it is called. It is a good dupe - I will most likely order more but first I have a lot of other perfumes testers and the like to work through.

I have finished a tub of Biodance collagen pads.My skin was a dry, tight mess when I bought this. It helped, but I don’t know why I thought I would like splatting wet pads on my face any more than I do sheet masks. I would have been better off buying a cream version.
VT PDRN capsule cream. Lovely, but small tub. I have returned to my Hada Labo one that is twice the size and a third the price. I lost a bloody lipstick that fell out of my pocket at work. It was a Clio Butter Balm Crayon. Loved it. Also finished my Cotton Candy Laneige Lip Mask. Not my favourite but results don’t lie.

I have some empties this weekend:

32. Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Cleanser 30ml.
33. Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment 15ml.

I suspected these would be too harsh for me so I sold them. I'm regretting it though now as I realised I could have used them on my scaly feet. Oh well!

34. Trudon Ernesto small candle.

Lovely but no need to repurchase.

35. JVN The Essential Dry Shampoo 67ml.

This was decent but didn't last very long. I think my favourite dry shampoos so far have been Living Proof and Ouai so I think I need to retry those next.

36. The White Company Spa Retreat body oil.

Lovely but no need to repurchase. I also think this one might be discontinued anyway.

37. Augustinus Bader The Retinol Serum 7ml.

Nice to use but not enough product to gauge whether it actually did anything or not. It was a good introduction to retinol though. I looked it up and it contains 0.06% retinol so at least I know my skin can tolerate that amount with no problems, which will help guide me if I want to try any other retinol products.

Good luck in your quest. I fear to open cabinets and doors because I have hidden put away products that I forget about.

Empties:

Mamia bedtime bath. Lovely cheapy. Smells like Johnson’s and it’s a nice buy.

Glow cleansing body wash. A copy from Home bargains of the sol de janeiro version. Too gloopy, no bubbles. Didn’t like it.

Jojo Maman Bebe bubble bath. Not great bubbles.

Aveeno cream is a must in our home.

Savon liquide d’Avignon lavender. I love Lidl’s version of L’occitane. Great fragrance, lathers well and it’s scent is lasting on the hands. Good price. A recurrent purchase for me.

Heno de pravia glicerine and white tea body splash. This huge bottle comes from Spain and is my second one. I use it to wet my DDs hair when I brush them in the morning. Lovely floral scent.

Aldi’s almond cream copy for L’occitane. Pleasant scent but doesn’t absorb quickly. Wont rp

More empties here...

Erborian skin hero au ginseng, bare skin perfector - felt nice going on but I'm not sure it did much. It was only 5ml and I have another 5ml to use as well (I think they came as samples when I bought my BB cream direct from Erborian) but I wouldn't RP.

Byredo Mojave Ghost - very nice but doesn't last long

BioEffect EGF serum - another 5ml, I think from an advent. Very nice but too spenny for me to buy at full price. Happily I have 2 x 15ml from other edits, so I can keep going with it for a while.

Soap and glory bright and beautiful brightening sheet mask - nice but I have other sheet masks so don't tend to buy them, just use them as and when I get them in advents and edits.

13/100 so far this year

I've finished a few this week:

Rhute scalp and hair treatment. I wouldn't repurchase this. I've also tried kerastases version and a hair growth booster serum from eBay that was recommended to me by someone else. And I had better results from a £15 eBay purchase than either of the expensive ones. I've gone on to repurchase the eBay one.

Reedle Shot 100 Face Mask - Would definitely repurchase. I used this at night the put on peptide creams. My skin was glowing and plump the next day. I am going to purchase the actual serum and see if it boosts my peptide and ceramide cream effects on days I don't use Tret.

Redkin Extreme shampoo and conditioner. Would not repurchase. This was quite drying on my fine colour damaged hair. Actually chucking before the conditioner is 100% empty.

Nizoral Shampoo - Quite drying but definitely helps reduce hair fall when used once or twice a week in a more moisture based routine

Evelom Cleaner - would repurchase. Feels lush on the skin - very rich, smells great, creamy and not drying like some cleansers. You don't need much so it lasts surprisingly long.

@OnlyFoolsCats - not wishing to enable you - but the VT Reedle shot serum is included in the Style Korean Girls Therapy Box. I've purchased from SK a few times and you can generally get a good deal with codes, or new customer discount. It does take a while for orders to arrive though.

Edit - it is the VT Red Booster serum, so might not be the one you want.

https://beauty-detective.com/stylekorean-girls-therapy-box-2026/

100% enabled 🤣. But this is a cost saving in reality. #girlmath

Absolutely!

I have full fantasy carts in YESSTYLE and Olive Young. Literally can’t afford them, so that‘s a thing. I cycle through skincare pretty quickly, but my makeup is so, so old. I honestly need to bin almost all of it. I have been avoiding it. I have lots of spontaneous buys sitting there entirely unused but I wear the same face every day. I am going to be ruthless and bin all of it and just replace a couple of lipliners and eye liners and buy a new blush when I can work out what suits me. Apart from mascara (which is a blonde girl necessity), I can’t get excited by makeup anymore.

I forgot the photos! Clockwise from top L… All the bits I’m binning. Any undecideds go in Time Out. Eyes I am keeping (minus the bottle of liquid highlighter to be binned), Lips to keep, Skin to keep. There are a lot of products that I am undecided about. They’re going in time out for a month and if unused, being binned also.