I turfed through loads of stuff this week — and it took me long enough. It is with some sadness that I present what I have used all up, because I was hoarding all of these. It had to be done, though, and all came in especially useful in recent times.

Trust me, this one is all used up, barring jabbing the top of it open with an awl, or something:

I mean, that’s not even one eye’s worth of make up remover. Au revoir, LANCÔME Non Oily Instant Cleanser for Sensitive Eyes {€28.50} — je t’aime pour toujours. This removes the smokiest of the smoky eye, and doesn’t make my vision all vaseline-y up, like some equally effective but oil-based removers can do.

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I had been hoarding this stuff forever. Initially, I found the scent of DERMALOGICA’S hydro-active mineral salts {€31.50} to be a bit pong-y, and who knows, it may have been my own sense of smell that needed adjusting. Or I just got used to it. I don’t know! But I needed it bad these past few weeks, first as I was recovering from an injury sustained from horseriding, and then I needed the even badder to recover from going back horseriding.

This sea salt concoction is stuffed full of relaxing essential oils, including lavender, clary sage, and cinnamon, amongst many. Bonus: my skin felt like silk, in addition to my muscles being completely soothed.

SRSLY, all gone…

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Speaking of lavender, here’s PIXY NATURAL’s Lavender Bath Bomb {€3.45}. Well, duh, it got used all up, you may be thinking. No, not so ‘duh’, as I have tried bombs in the past that fizzled out juuust before having totally dissolved, leaving me with a freaky moonrock lookin’ thing that, funnily enough, disintegrated when I let it dry out, to try to use it a second time.

This fizzes all the pieces, in the best possible sense. It’s got little bits of actual lavender in it, and I turned to this relaxing little thing when I’d used up the Dermalogica salts, and I wasn’t sorry.

One thing, though.

There’s the plastic wrap this comes in, and then another round of wrap, which I didn’t discover until I was in the bath, ready to drop the bomb, as it were, and had to fumble with wet fingers to liberate it. Just so ya know.

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Goodbye, Merumaya Intergrative Effective Skincare, in more ways than one…

This was another thing for which the scent was an acquired taste, but once I got into it, I loved it. The brand have an extensive line, and this, their Iconic Youth Serum {£34.50}, was like rubbing velvet and angel feathers all over my face. I found this to be notably effective when used at night, as I awoke radiant.

Sadly, the brand are no longer available in Arnotts — you’ll have to buy online at merumaya.com. As a way towards easing our pain, shipping fees will be dropped to match those of the UK, from a tenner to £3.95, or freeeeeee if you spend over £40.

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Here’s a Q&A I did with Merumaya founder Maleka Dattu, just as a matter of interest!

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