Empties | July

There's something incredibly wonderful about these sample entries. For me, anyway.

It always freaks me out how much I have and have yet to use. It's why I'm always incredibly excited every time I post a Sample Selection Saturday.

With empties, I'm always super excited to see those empty jars pile up. You have no idea how excited I am when I take all those empty bottles to the recycling bin.

Seriously. You have absolutely no idea.

1. Lush Herbalism: Gentle. Natural. Playful. Green. It was nice using a cleanser that was so much fun to use. The ground almonds were fine enough that they didn't tug, pull or nick at my skin and provided a coarse graininess that gently exfoliated my skin.

2. L'Oréal Ombrelle Face SPF 45: The absolute best chemical sunscreen that I've tried yet. It doesn't make me ashy, lasts a long time, doesn't irritate me and doesn't feel heavy on my skin. Best of all, it provides ample moisture. It's amazing.

3. Coconut oil. This is one of the few HGs I can own up to. This jar was pretty full when I first mentioned it, but I use it for so many things including cooking. On the beauty front, I use it for oil pulling when it's in its liquid form (whiter teeth is just one of the benefits), as a daily moisturizer, as a hair treatment and as a makeup remover.

Pro tip: Coconut oil has a multitude of uses, including helping to speed up healing from bites and minor irritations. This has been hit and miss with me and mosquito bites, but when it does work it's amazing!

Sample Selection Saturday empties

4. Weleda Wild Rose Body Lotion: My nose hurt so bad after wearing this. Not only that, but it left me feeling a bit dry. All around, total let down.

5. Lush Mask of Magniminty: Amazing! It kind of looks like mint chocolate ice cream. I love the mint smell and it left my skin a bit calmer when I used it. Strike that, markedly calmer. Don't think those were chocolate bits though, I think those were beans based on Lush's ingredient list.

6. The Face Shop's Intevia Emulsion: Ugh. I don't normally like slamming products, but this was all sorts of bad. Well, not really. But any good that this product was is eclipsed so totally by what's bad.

7. Innisfee Eco-Science Skin (toner): Unlike the previous sample selection, this is part of a line that you can still purchase. It took me forever to realize this sample was toner, as opposed to serum. It's runny, but a little thicker than toner. It smells refreshing and was gentle on my skin.

Sample Selection Saturday | Weleda Wild Rose Pampering Body Lotion

Sample Selection Saturday is a new column where, every week, I will review a sample that has somehow landed on my lap.

Wild Rose body lotion was a bonus that I got when I purchased Weleda's Skinfood.

My body was definitely not pampered by this lotion. I applied it after my shower first thing in the morning and I used it all up in one go. Several hours later and my nose is still recovering from the fake rose smell.

In brief: The good and The ugly

The good:

It's a pretty good-sized sample (20ml).

It comes in a pretty tube, easy to tote around in a purse and use as hand lotion.

The ingredient list. With the exception of fragrance, because I never know exactly what that entails, I only had to look up one ingredient. Glyceryl Stearate SE is an emulsifier (stabilizer) derived from vegetables. It can be found in cleansers, shampoos, conditioners, creams and lotions.

The ugly:

The smell. I'm not one who loves scented products as it is, but I think this might even offend people who do like scents. You'd think with "wild rose" in the name it would smell like roses, but it does not. The scent is so unbelievably artificial and its a poor imitation of a floral. It is way too overpowering.

Makes sense, though. Fragrance is the seventh ingredient on the list.

I don't normally like lotions. I find them to be a bit watery in consistency and don't moisturize my skin as well as a cream or an oil. This Wild Rose body lotion was not an exception.

This is a very light moisturizer, probably better suited for summertime use.

(For reference, it's summer now and it still doesn't make the cut with me.)

Would I purchase?

No.