Firstly, a HUGE thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway. And a massive apology from me for not announcing the winner yet. Don't worry, nothing's gone wrong, I still have a mystery beauty box which is so full of things I had to move it from an old Boudoir Prive box to an empty Lux box in order to fit it all in. I've been absurdly busy now I am back at work and I'm still in that crazy adjusting to my new routine mode. And now I am busy tapping away at my laptop whilst on a train to Scotland to spend time with my Mum who has a special birthday on the horizon, and I didn't want to draw the winner until I was in a position to actually send the box! So, if you could hold out a teeny bit longer I'd appreciate it a lot :) Im only 5 followers away from 50, which will surely mean another giveaway on the horizon as well!

Anyhoo, I have today for you a really old collection of empties. Doing it monthly wasn't working for me. Some months I get overexcited and open so many different beauty products that I don't finish anything at all. So now I'll just collect empties until I have a decent enough stash to write about them, then I'll put up a post. Sounds good, no?



Not a huge amount for this post, but I get the feeling I have other empties photos lurking around so I'm sure another post will be along soon.

• The Sanctuary Luxury Bath Foam - this was part of a gift set. nice and bubbly, with a slightly different scent to what I would choose myself.  I probably wouldn't buy it again but at the same time, if I am given any as a gift I will be more than happy.
• Balance Me Super Moisturising Body Wash - I went off Balance Me for a bit after the beauty box market became a bit saturated with the products but in all honesty, that's very unfair on the brand. I enjoyed using this shower gel a lot, it was nice and moisturing and I felt lovely and clean after using it. I would buy this again in the future (this one came in a beauty box).
• Dead Sea Magik moisturiser - I got this in an early beauty box, used it all up and then popped the empty into a drawer in my bedside table. Classic hoarder behaviour. This was a nice sample and it was moisturising but didn't especially wow me. I probably wouldn't buy it again but I'd be interested in trying more products in the range to see what they're like.
• Korres rose SPF6 moisturiser - I've had a couple of samples of this through beauty boxes. Its no good for me as a day cream, but not bad as a night cream/intensive moisturiser/makeshift hand cream. Im not a huge fan of rose-scented things so all in all, this wasn't really for me. I wouldn't buy this in the future.
• Batiste Dry Shampoo - love these mini cans, so useful for travelling. Dry shampoo is the best at taming my fringe if I was to spruce up my slightly wild hair during the day (my hairline etc is not really formed in a fringe friendly way, I have a bit of a widow's peak and a whopping great cows lick, but a fringe is cheaper than botox for the lines on my forehead, so I find a way, oh yes). I buy the ginormous dry shampoo cans for home and the minis for travel and handbag (and I've had plenty of minis in beauty boxes, which is fine by me). Batiste probably isn't my most favourite dry shampoo but it does a fine job at a good price. I'll be buying again (and have probably half a dozen times over since taking this photo!)
• Balance Me face moisturiser - its been a while since I took this photo and I wont like, I don't remember anything remarkable one way or another about this moisturiser. My skin is very picky, so it was unlikely to be a resounding success. Most of these types of products work best for me at night, as my skin tends to get greasy otherwise. Wouldn't purchase again.
• Body Shop Passion Fruit body butter - passion fruit things are my absolute favourite. But not all body butters were created equally and I find this body butter leaves a bit of a greasy residue on my skin that others have not. Still, if you buy when there's an offer on you cant go wrong with slathering a load on after a bath or a shower to help your skin feel soft and smooth. I'll buy body butters again but not the passion fruit one. Woe.
• Witch skin clearing primer - helps prevent breakouts and primes your skin for foundation? Brill. This primer worked reasonably well on my skin, I didn't see any extra breakouts when I used this. I haven't purchased it again since as I've been trying out different products, but I would give this one another whirl for sure.
• TIGI Rockalot dirty secret dry shampoo - you might be able to see from the price sticker on this that I picked this up in the clearance at TK Maxx, along with the dry conditioner. Its not a bad dry shampoo, leaves your hair looking slightly less powdery than bastiste will. I'd buy it again if there was an offer on.
• Korres Mint Tea Body Milk - picked this up from TK Maxx as well (I love going there to look at beauty products. Sometimes you can find some amazing things!) and I really liked it. The mint made it slightly cooling on the skin which was great in the heat (I did say these empties were old!) as I'm prone to heat rashes etc (delightful, eh?). Would definitely buy this again. 
• Boots Botanics 3 minute deep conditioning hair mask - I've been using this for years and it doesn't disappoint. About a fiver for this big tub, no matter how overly generous you are in scooping some out it lasts for ages and I love the scent and the effects on my hair. Would definitely buy again.

And that, my dears, is another one of my empties posts. Not a bad mix of things I liked and things I didn't. I didn't actively hate any product, but some weren't best suited to me.

What products have you been using up lately?

Recently I hit 25 followers on Google Friend Connect. I know I also have a few other followers who keep up with my blog by other means, so there could be a few more of you out there, following by mythical ways I don't quite understand! I'm really grateful to have any followers at all, and its nice that so many of you have added me to Twitter, etc as well to keep the conversation going.

I wanted to do a little giveaway as my way of saying thanks to everyone for reading my blog and for commenting and chatting away with me on Twitter. I've long thought that I wanted to put together my own beauty box for the giveaway, but to make it a little bit more special than the ones we receive in our subscriptions, and add in a few other bits and pieces too! The only mandatory entry into the giveaway is to leave me a comment. I've suggested you say what sort of posts you'd like to read but honestly, leave me any comment at all, I like receiving them!

I don't want to give away (no pun intended!) too much about what's in the box as I think it might be nice to make it a surprise! What I will say is there's definitely more than 5 items Its more like 20!) and hopefully there's a range of products to keep any potential winner happy! Maybe if you are dying to know  more you can let me know in the comments and I'll reveal a spoiler or two? Perhaps you'd like to know some other information, like a couple of the brands in the box? I will tell you I have recycled a Boudoir Prive box to put the prizes in (yep, I've had this box a long time! But I haven't had the contents for as long, I promise)

This particular giveaway is open to folk in the UK for this round, sorry to any of my international chums, maybe we can organise a box swap or something to make up for it?! So, without further ado, click the link below and enter via Rafflecopter, good luck!