DECEMBER EMPTIES

My camera has gone a little bit crazy today with the lighting- so sorry about how blue toned all these photos are! It's been insanely overcast today which hasn't helped anything either, but fear not my photos will get back to normal eventually! Anyway, this is my December Empties post and as you can see all I've actually managed to finish this month are moisturisers. I did have another moisturising product that I would have liked to include here but sadly I left it up in Leeds so it will probably have to wait until next month! For me, December has been all about trying to salvage my skin from the inevitable winter dryness I always suffer. Instead of sticking to my usual routine (which is pretty much based solely on using oils rather than body butters or lotions) I thought I'd try some new products out as I had so many unused moisturisers lurking in my stash.

First up is Superdrug's Coconut and Shea Butter Body Butter. I think I picked this up when it was half price in Superdrug (meaning it was really cheap, around the £1.30 region) mainly just because I liked the sound of  a coconut and shea butter mix. It was a good decision on my part as for the price it was a really nice product. It absorbed well, offered deep and long lasting hydration for my skin and it smelt really beautiful because the coconut scent was quite subtle and not as overpowering as other *ahem* The Body Shop's *ahem* coconut body butters tend to. It's also worth bearing in mind that Superdrug own brand products are not tested on animals and this body butter is Vegetarian and Vegan friendly. I think I'll definitely pick this up again in the future as it was cheap, did a good job and I got a few compliments on how it left me smelling, definitely worth a try if you're a student like me or on a tighter budget now that Christmas is over!

[Probably worth noting that although this is a really cheap product I did get through it really quickly, in just over a week using it twice a day.]

I did a full review of this product which you can read here. After finishing it I feel the same way I did at the beginning really, it is just a lovely product. It has an RRP of around £10 (depending on where you buy it) and you can definitely tell the difference in quality between this and the other moisturisers I used this month. This body butter is thinner than the Superdrug one but no less hydrating and its scent is lovely and sweet (but not in that fake sort of way) and reminded me of Fizzers sweets which I used to have as a child. I bought this from TK Maxx for £3 which was a great bargain, I'd definitely repurchase this if I could get it at such a great price again. My main issue with this body butter was that because it is is thinner and more of a liquid consistency than other body butters when I knocked this off my bedside table I lost about a third of the contents to my rug. it was a sad occasion and did put me off repurchasing it a little bit. However, all in all this is a great moisturiser and perfect for mornings and evenings because it sinks into the skin so quickly!

Notice a theme here? I got a bit hooked on Shea this month. I loved the scent of this body lotion and it did a good job of moisturising my skin. However, the effects didn't last as long as the two body butters although this probably absorbed the quickest. For me, it's always a toss-up between what I have time to use and what I would ideally like to use! I think if it had been summer then this body lotion would have been the perfect product but it wasn't quite good enough for my winter skin needs. But if you're looking for an affordable product that contains Shea and has that gorgeous Shea scent then you might want to try this. However, as much as I liked this (and I really did like it) I think I'd rather try other products before repurchasing this one.

I picked this up in the Summer along with the Satsuma and Grapefruit scented body lotions (which I love the fresh smell of) but have generally found that these Body Shop Body Lotions are not very moisturising. What they are great for though is leaving a long lasting scent on the skin and the Strawberry scent is really sweet and girly and young and although it won't be to everyone's taste if you like Strawberry scents that linger then this is something worth trying. It is, however, definitely more of a summer product as it is light and refreshing rather than deeply hydrating. The pump packaging is really useful to minimise waste and make it easy to apply but as you can see from my photo it also makes it really hard to finish up that last bit of product that just refuses to be pumped! All in all, I'm probably not going to repurchase this as I still have half of the Grapefruit and a full bottle of the Satsuma lurking at home but it is something worth considering in the Summer or for those of you who only need light moisturisers as it does sink in really quickly making it perfect for mornings or 'top ups' before you get changed to go out in the evening.

So there you have it, not many products finished this month but that probably just means that there will be quite a few next month!

What products have you gotten through this month? Any recommendations for moisturisers to try, especially Shea ones?