Products I’ve Used Up: May // Burt’s Bees, Molton Brown, Boots, Essential Elements

As of May, I am on a “no-spending” spree. Naturally, I now see everything I’d love, but having sorted through my stash of cosmetics and skincare, I realise I have so much to use before I can justify getting more. With that said, I’ve been pulling out half-used products and finishing them up – even those that didn’t impress me. I thought it would be a good way of doing some quick reviews and also hold me accountable to finishing products and getting the most bang for my buck, if I post some details about them here and most importantly whether they’re on my repurchase list!

The first product I used up is one that sat around my bathroom forever. Burt’s Bees has always been my absolute favourite lipbalm and when I saw this cleanser a year or more ago I was dying to try it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have been more disappointed. Add to that that Burt’s Bees are now owned by Clorox (a non-cruelty-free company), and you can guess that I won’t be repurchasing this.

This cleanser is made with orange oil and of course, smells deliciously like oranges. That’s about as good as it is though. While it didn’t damage my skin or have any negative reaction, it just didn’t do anything. I never felt massively cleaner for using it, didn’t notice any difference in my pores, it just was an expensive product with little more to it than the name. I’m also pretty disappointed that a company so proud of its natural roots would partner up with a company that is not animal-friendly. Hopefully they’ll go their separate ways before long.

The second product I finished up was a miniature bath and shower gel by Molton Brown. While it smelled amazing and I generally love this company, I was disappointed to see that this product contained parabens. I was surprised by this, as Molton Brown is not a cheap purchase and it’s one of those “birthday-gift” fall backs for me. In any event, if you’re content using parabens, then this is worth trying. It retails for around €22 / $24 per larger bottle.

I am tentatively including this next product in here, although honestly it’s one that I’m very on the fence about in terms of cruelty-free. I suppose my main reason for posting about it is to draw your attention to the fine print I’ve mentioned often before when it comes to animal testing. Boots has been standing by a “cruelty-free” label for some time now, but frankly I’m not convinced. My main source of query comes from whether or not they sell products in China where animal testing is required by law. This is one massive source of anger for me – if a company says it’s cruelty free, but sells in China they are immediately, absolutely NOT cruelty free and are lying and apathetic to animal welfare. I will be doing a full post on this shortly. In any case, I have finished this product and will not be repurchasing until I have found out more information. I will also be making a DIY teatree skin cleanser, so I’ll post about that if it’s successful (if you’ve tried one before, let me know how it went!)

Finally, my star of this post – a sample Essential Elements shower gel. I’m still working on two shampoos and thoroughly enjoying them, but this little beauty is all finished. It smelled amazing; like sweet mint. Bliss in the morning! This gel is eco-friendly, 97% natural, paraben-free, fully biodegradable and not tested on animals. THAT my friends, is how to do cruelty-free. Oh and it’s made in the USA! I have seen that it’s available online and I loved it so much that I’m considering purchasing some when I run out of my stash.

Have you tried any of these products? Thank you for reading!

Avril

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