A Dupe For LUSH Dream Cream?

I love LUSH Dream Cream. My skin just drinks it up and goes all soft and lovely. However it does cost £10.75 for 240g and comes in a pot that you have to stick your grubby mitts in. Enter the Botanics Organic Moisturising Body Lotion. It costs £5.10 for 250ml making it less than half the price, comes with a handy pump and whilst it is eerily similar to Dream Cream it is, dare I say it, better?

Both have an earthy, herbal kind of scent which I’m not overly keen on but the Botanics is much less strong. Point one to Botanics. Both glide over the skin making a little go a long way and sink in quickly leaving my skin well moisturised. Except the Botanics lotion is slightly thinner so spreads better.

Call me mad but the scent, the texture and the results are very similar for me. The Botanics version just manages to be cheaper with better packaging and less smelly. It’s going on my rebuy list! X

*Bought by me*

Botanics Organic Face Moisturising Eye Cream

Yes it’s another Botanics skin care review. I buy a lot of their stuff for the same reason I buy a lot of Simple skin care, it’s cheap and usually doesn’t irritate my skin. This eye cream is £6.12 for 15ml and I bought it at the tail end of winter when my under eye area had become incredibly dry. It comes in a hygienic little squeezey tube and lasted at least 5 months with nightly use.

It’s a relatively thick cream with no detectable scent. It sinks in quickly and did a very good job of soothing my parched skin without irritating it. In short it did exactly what I wanted it to do without costing a fortune. I have a few other eye creams to work my way through but I’d happily buy this one again when the others are done.

*Bought by me*

Botanics Organics Face Nourishing Cleanser

Hands up everyone who still feels that if it doesn’t foam it isn’t making you clean. I know you don’t need bubbles to get clean but it’s a psychological issue. I’m used to my cleansers foaming! I’m also used to them drying my skin out which is why I decided to try a cream cleanser despite my misgivings. This cleanser promises to remove your makeup leaving you with super soft moisturised skin. 

The cream itself is fairly thick, off white and has a mild earthy kind of scent to it. The bottles states to apply and wipe it off with cotton wool  but I find that leaves be with more than a little makeup still left on my face. I prefer to massage it in with my fingers then wipe off with a hot damp face cloth.

The thing is I still feel the need to wash my face after using this. It doesn’t leave any residue and as long as I use a damp cloth with it is does get everything off but still. Maybe I’m just weird (shh you in the back) but I like the ritual of actually washing my face. I like this enough to keep using it but I’m not quite converted to cream cleansers just yet. Has anyone got any suggestions for cleansers that will knock my socks/ makeup off?

A 250ml bottle will set you back £5.10 at Boots but keep your eyes peeled for their frequent 3 for 2 offers! 

*Bought by me*

Botanics Rose Water Toner

I’m a fan of the Botanics skin care line. I have a whole load of products from it that I’ve been using from it and I plan on reviewing all of them in the very near future. The extremely low price point and effectiveness of most of the products make them a firm favourite for me but unfortunately this product is a bit of a miss. Firstly the good stuff.

The packaging is cute with its little metal screw on lid which makes it look all sciencey and medicinal. The bottle is plastic so it’s travel friendly. I personally like rose scented things and at £4.07 for 150ml it’s very recession friendly. 

But why oh why oh why do they insist on putting alcohol in it? It’s the second ingredient in the list and the strong smell of alcohol hits you as soon as you apply it confirming that there is a lot of it in there. This means it irritates my sensitive skin leaving the dry bits dryer and the oily bits producing more oil just out of spite. If I wanted to tone my skin with alcohol there is an old bottle of vodka somewhere in a cupboard left over from my student days. It would probably have a similar effect. Just no. 

I don’t hate it enough to throw it out without finishing it but I definitely won’t be repurchasing it. I suppose every line has to have its misses and for me this toner is a big fat vodka scented fail. Sorry Botanics, do not want! X

*Bought with my own pennies*

More empties?

I’m having to do another empties post earlier than scheduled as the little box I keep them in was full! It’s amazing how quickly things get used up when you stop faffing about with new goodies and actually crack on with the half empty bottles in your bath room. This month’s no buy went disastrously wrong so I’m starting afresh. 

Botanics Daily Hand Therapy SPF 10 – I like this hand cream and have several tubes of it. It sinks in quickly, doesn’t have an overpowering scent and the SPF is an added bonus. The only down side is my hands start to feel dry again quite quickly so I have to reapply often. £4.07 but often on offer in Boots. 

ELF Shine Eraser Blot Sheets – These are an absolute staple in my hand bag and now I’ve run out I’m panicking. My local Boots doesn’t have any brand of blot sheets in and I don’t want to put an ELF order in just now because I know I’ll go nuts. These do the job very nicely for only £1.50! 

Boots Vitamin E Moisture Lotion SPF15 – This 100ml tube lasted me forever! And at £2.85 it’s fantastic value for money. It didn’t irritate my skin and was certainly moisturising enough on my dry bits although it was a tad greasy and took a while o sink in properly. For that reason I won’t repurchase as I just don’t have time to hang around in the morning waiting for my moisturiser to sink in. 

Superdrug own brand eyelash curler – Meh it was ok. Cheap (less than a fiver I think) and didn’t pinch but not so amazing I’d go out of my way to repurchase it again. 

Rimmel Sexy Curves Mascara – I really did like this and if it weren’t for the fact that I have about 10 unopened mascaras sitting around I would repurchase. It’s not often I properly empty a tube of mascara before the formula goes off but there is nothing left in this one! Current Boots price (on offer) £6.19.

Bare Minerals original foundation sample – it’s not for me. 

Blistex Intensive Moisturiser Lip Cream – I’ve gone through a thousand of these and I’ll buy a thousand more. Smells, tastes and feels disgusting but works like magic. £2.54

Nivea Rich Nourishing Body Moisturiser – didn’t like the smell or the texture. It was so thick it was difficult to spread on the skin and just seemed to sit on top of it rather than sinking in. Would not repurchase. £3.56

Umberto Giannini Dry Shampoo – The bottle was faulty which has put me off buying another one. £5.61

Spa Lavender and Peppermint SOS Foot Treatment Scrub – Bought from Aldi of all places for a couple of quid (I forget exactly how much). This is very thick, very abrasive and smells gorgeous. Just the thing for perking up iffy feet in between attacks with the ped egg. 

Radox Shower Smoothies Shower gel – LOVE THESE. They smell divine and don’t dry my skin out. Only down side is the bottles don’t last very long. £2.54

MAC Brush Cleanser – Already had a back up. Love this for spot cleaning my brushes (I use baby shampoo to deep clean them). Make sure you put it in a spray bottle. It’s easier to use that way and lasts longer! £8.50

L’Oréal Perfect Clean Gentle Foaming Exfoliating Scrub – I really just buy these face washes for the little scrublets that come with them. This one was fine in the summer but over the winter it became too drying for me. I’m currently using the pink (gentle) one but it’s still a tad drying. £5.10 

TREsemme Colour Protecting Shampoo – Nothing special really but you get a huge bottle for £3.26 which makes it good value. Doesn’t strip the dye out of hair. I’m trying to move to SLS free products though so I probably won’t repurchase. 

Batiste Original Dry Shampoo – I prefer the smell and the colour of the brunette version so I won’t buy this one again. £2.35

Pantene Colour Care Conditioner – Didn’t really do much for my hair at all. Will not repurchase £4.07.

Sadly not much in the way of makeup in this round. Hopefully that will have changed next month! On the plus side this means I’ve used up roughly £58 worth of products so at least I know that money wasn’t wasted! X

*All of the above products were purchased by yours truly apart from the Bare Minerals sample which was free with a mag... which I also bought myself*