The Beauty Diet Update – How am I Doing?

Well I’m nearly a month into my Beauty Diet and Project 15 Pan and I have a few updates for you.  I’ve used up my Liz Earle shampoo and conditioner, and finished both of my facial exfoliators.  I was sad to use up the shampoo and conditioner, as I really rated both products, despite initially taking a few goes to get to grips with the shampoo.  I won’t do a review of these here, as they’ve been a popular choice with the blogging community and I’m sure you’ve read any reviews on them.  Suffice to say,  I will be repurchasing them in the future, and I cut the tube of conditioner to get three extra applications from it.  I was hoping that the exfoliators, along with a dermabrasion scrub I have would last me until the end of February.  However, I clearly didn’t have as much as I thought left, so I’ve finally finished my ‘bad’ exfoliators after about 6 months of use. 

Before I started my Beauty Diet, I did have two Christmas gift sets on order from The Sanctuary (at £9 each, they were a bargain).  They both contain facial scrubs, and I can nick my boyfriends facial scrub which I love, so I'm not going to run out any time soon! 

One of my goals was to not buy any shower gels for a whole year.  I thought that this would be a tough challenge.  However, we’re nearly at the end of January and I’m still on my first shower gel, which wasn’t a large bottle,  and I usually have two showers a day!  At this rate, this challenge is going to be a piece of cake!  

I try to use up my ‘worst’ shower gels first, so at the end of the year I’m left with my most luxurious.  I chose what I assumed to be a cheap and chemically shower gel I received in a gift set at Christmas, toffee apple body wash.  However, I’m seriously impressed with my choice!  It smells lovely, it produces loads of lovely thick suds, and despite its bright blue colour, it doesn’t irritate my skin at all (something I’m prone to).  The gift set I received it in also contained a chocolate shower gel, a toffee apple and a chocolate body lotion, a soap that looks and smells like chocolate and a sponge that looks like a piece of chocolate cake.  I had assumed it was a very cheap pressie, but clearly I was wrong.  Looking at the packaging, it is a Boots product, so I can’t wait to try out the other bits in the gift set.

I’ve nearly finished using up two body moisturisers, which I already had on the go before I began this challenge, but I’m not quite there.   I’ve been trying to moisturise my body every night before bed, but I have slipped a few times.

In terms of my spending, I haven’t been completely saintly, but I’ve been pretty good.  I did purchase Across the Universe nail polish by Deborah Lippmann (£16), but after the lengths I went to get it, I’ll forgive myself that!  I also purchased 8 bottles of Diet Coke to take advantage of Nails Inc polishes offer.  Although this cost just over £9, I do drink lots of Diet Coke, so I don’t actually count this as breaking my Beauty Diet!  I have also spent all my boots points (around £18) – it’s astonishing how many essentials I’ve needed this month – everything seems to have run out at the same time.  Toothpaste, deodorant, cotton wool, plasters, paracetamol, tampons, savlon and I’ve no points left! 

Today I took the decision to buy some products in Boots that I really needed.  First of all I got some Flexitol Heal Balm, as my feet are currently in a terrible state, and have got to the stage where they are actually painful.  I have inherited bad feet from my Mother, and I’m not pleased!  If there was one part of my body I could swap, it would definitely be my feet.  I also purchased some Scholl Skin Softening Cream, as I find that this also works a treat.  I’ve no idea why I got both products – I just couldn’t chose I suppose. 

I also decided to buy some new shampoo.  Once I’d finished my Liz Earle, I moved onto a some bottles of shampoo and conditioner from The White Company.  However, they did absolutely nothing for my hair.  The shampoo smelt like an old fashioned perfume (not in a good way) and the conditioner didn’t penetrate my hair at all.  I decided that I couldn’t stand a whole month of using them!  I’m going to leave them at my parent’s house next time I visit as ‘emergency’ shampoo and conditioner, as I’m frequently in London overnight, but I like to travel light and usually never bring either product.  As neither of my parents use conditioner, if I do decide I need to wash my hair, I usually end up having to buy a full sized bottle (hence the conditioner mountain). 

I bought a shampoo by Naked.  I’ve not tried this brand before, but I’ve seen some rave reviews from other bloggers, so I thought I’d give it a go, particularly as it’s free of parabens, sulphate, nasties etc.  It cost a very reasonable £4.06, although there was a 2 for £6 offer on in Boots (which I resisted).  I’ve no idea why I bought the shampoo for long and straight hair.  Although my hair is now shoulder length, it’s far from straight.  I think something took leave of my senses in Boots today...

So, I’ve slipped a bit – I’ve spent around £30 on essentials and one luxury purchase and another £9 on Diet Coke (with free nail polish) and £18 worth of Boots points.  That’s actually quite a lot of money and it makes me realise how much I usually fritter away on beauty bits and pieces.  I’m not going to be too hard on myself in February, as I’ll definitely want to get some things in preparation for my holidays.  However, I hope to not buy any beauty products until my payday on 26^th February. 

I will update separately on my Project 15 Pan.  Sorry for rambling on! Thanks for reading!  xx