make-up remover – Beauty Playbox

AVON Nutraeffects Active Seed Complex Balance Daily Cream SPF 15

A decent face cream with SPF. No mattifying properties, reasonably hydrating. Didn’t cause break-outs. My two gripes with it are packaging (it’s glass, but the base is wider than the mouth of the jar, so it’s hard to use up every last drop – I’m a scrooge, yeah) and scent. The scent was very strong and would stay with me through half the day. This is the only reason I would not be repeating the purchase.

Elmiplant Bioten Honey and Arnica cleansing gel for normal to combination skin

My skin is oily, but this one was a match. It had a pleasant scent and I enjoyed using it. Lasted a long time, too. No break-outs, no redness. During winter it made my skin feel a bit tighter than necessary, but it remained plump and fresh.

I have to say that all the Elmiplant products I’ve tried so far (face cream, hand cream, this cleanser), I’ve really been pleased with. Need to get something else from their range.

Oriflame Optimals Purifying Toner for Oily Skin

A relatively gentle toner with a pleasant scent. Nothing to write home about, but I would probably buy it again, because it’s no frills and gets the job done.

Oriflame The One Waterproof Eye Make-up Remover

This is a two-phase product that I have unfortunately not been able to use properly, because my flatmate at that time would forget to shake the bottle, so eventually one phase ran out completely. (Hi, flatmate.) Despite this, I was satisfied with how this removed mascara and eye liners (including the Oriflame eye liners which are notoriously hard to remove), so I will more than likely get it again at one point and write a full review.

Сто рецептов красоты (Sto Retseptov Krasoti) Cucumber Eye Make-up Remover Lotion

This worked like a dream. Honestly. I know that Sto Retseptov Krasoti change their formulas all the time and don’t shy away from parabens etc. in the slightest, but this sucker here worked. There is better skincare out there, but for this price? Come to mama. I’ll repurchase this one as well to write a full review – unless it’s been discontinued already.

AVON Naturals Hair Care Essential Balance Mango & Ginger 2-in-1 Shampoo and Conditioner

Can I just say… Tone it down, brands. All y’all name your products in a way that’s not at all Twitter-friendly.

I bought this product for its scent alone. Previously I had a shea butter and apricot one from the same series, and it smelt so good, I never wanted to do anything but wash my hair over and over again so I could just bathe in the scent. That’s saying a lot, because washing hair is one of my least favourite beauty procedures. This scent doesn’t disappoint either, but somewhere in the middle it became tiring. Not sure why I buy these ten-gallon packages, because commitment to one particular scent or formula is totes not my thing when it comes to bath products.

Shampoo-wise, it’s a good product, but didn’t match my scalp and hair exactly. It’s a hard thing to do, though, so I hold no grudge against it. It’s a 2-in-1, and if you’ve got short hair, or maybe even well-behaved mid-length hair, then I dare say the 2-in-1 will work, at least occasionally. Everyone else would need to use a conditioner with it.

Maybe I will repurchase it, but in a smaller size.

P.S. How many convincing words can one fit unto one label? Natural, science, technology, essential, care, balance… It’s either natural or tech, tho, but whatever.

Dove Hair Therapy Nutritive Solutions Daily Moisture Shampoo

I love Dove hair gels, deodorants, and body lotions — in fact, I’m going to do dedicated posts about each of these things soon enough — but their shampoos are horrible for me. The scent is harsh. The product foams up a whole lot. It’s not ‘moisturising’ in the slightest, rather, it stripped my poor scalp off of all oils, sending it into an overdrive each time, leaving me with greasy roots in something like 12 hours. The formula is thick and feels soft during the application, but it was very harsh afterwards. This is one of the worst shampoos I’ve tried in a long while. Will not repurchase, will not recommend.

Eveline Lip Gloss

This thing is old. It’s so old, I can’t even tell you the colour and the correct product name. I bought it on a sale long, long time ago, used it as long as it was usable, and then I just kinda forgot to discard it. It had a lovely vanilla-ish scent, and it was one of the less stickier glosses. They have since then discontinued this particular product, I think.

Oriflame All-Over Makeup Remover

(FYI, that’s not a piece of gum holding it. It’s an unfortunate bunch of sticky tack.)

Needed a make-up remover, and this was on some epic offer. I was a little hesitant, because the previous variation of Oriflame makeup remover (green rectangular bottles) was not good. It wasn’t particularly offensive, it just… didn’t remove much. This one is a certain upgrade of the formula, but if you need a heavy-duty remover, then this is still not your guy. I want to check out their waterproof makeup remover, see if it’s any better. Will probably repurchase if on offer.

Oriflame Volare Perfume

Very rose-scented, a little too much for me. The bottle was redesigned, however, and I’m going to buy that thing just for the bottle alone, because it’s in a shape of a crystal rose, and who doesn’t want a crystal rose on their vanity?! No one, that’s who.

Chistaya Liniya 48 hr Phyto-Deodorant in Calendula

Rather on the wet side, and a little bit harsh smelling, but overall I was pleased with it. What I loved most perhaps was the packaging. It is upside-down. How brilliant is that?! No weird balancing acts required to use up all of the product. I wish it were in a bit of a less… cone-like shape, though, because at times I found it hard to grip. Might try other scents, but I think calendula is the lightest of them all.

Pur-Lisse face cream sample

This came with my Lip Monthly bag. I hesitated using it at first, because it’s for normal to dry skin, and I’m as oily skinned as they come. However, this was a very nice cream. It moisturised well enough and didn’t leave any greasy residue. It smelt pretty much like nothing — an odd trace of non-offensive dust, maybe?.. Don’t know how to describe it. Anyway, these non-smells are a huge plus in my book, and I rather more prefer them to any kind of artificial or natural fragrance. No irritation, no break-outs, no rough patches. I cannot say this was an ideal match for my skin, though.