It’s been months since I last did a post like this and I still haven’t used up that much! What can I say, stuff lasts me a long time… Lots of Benefit this time so that’ll be interesting at least. Let’s get right into it:

Starting with these sachets I got from Bumble & Bumble (do sachets even count as samples?), their famous Surf shampoo and conditioner. The shampoo and conditioner doesn’t have the same dramatic effect as the Surf Spray, but they are a lovely pair. They lather easily, the conditioner is light so won’t weigh your hair down, and they’ll enhance your natural texture. Sadly, my hair has no natural texture (unless flat is a texture) so I won’t be investing in these, sticking to the more heavy duty spray instead.

Next up, I had a sample of the Urban Decay Naked foundation. Getting colour matched was pretty funny – “I’ll be the palest shade” “oh no, I don’t think so, I’ll try this one” “Er, that looks a bit dark” “OK, maybe the next one” “Is that the palest one? I’m usually the palest shade” “Hmm, I’ll try one more” …. “So when you come back just ask for the palest shade” Anyway, I got the palest shade (eventually) which is the perfect colour for me. It’s light and quite sheer, which I like in a foundation so I would buy this again. My one complaint is that it does cling to dry patches so I can’t wear it is my skin is dehydrated – which is almost always sadly. But I find this with most foundations so I do like this.

Another product that I love is Benefit’s Stay Don’t Stray eye primer. I really like this as it’s a good multi-tasker for both neutralising your eyelid area, and helping your eyeshadow to last. It’s not silicone based so it’s not slipperly. I want to try and get a more budget friendly one, but I think in the meantime I’ll be buying this (the full size will probably last me forever anyway!).

This Balance Me Super Toning Body Polish was a bit disappointing. As I’ve said before I’m not a bit fan of purely rose-scented products as this is, but I can overlook the smell if the product is good. Sadly, this is not. There’s just not enough of the exfoliating element to make it a decent scrub. I do love that it’s natural ingredients with ground walnut shell instead of the evil microbeads, it just needs more of them in there! I’ll be sticking to sugar scrubs for a good buff.

I got these dinky Benefit skincare products as part of a set a wee while ago and this is the last of it. I really liked the Total Moisture Facial cream. It has a medium consistency so you can apply a light layer for  during the day or layer it up for night time. It sunk in quickly and didn’t clog up my skin so I got on with it well. I don’t think I’d buy it but that’s only because there are more affordable alternatives. The packaging is lovely though.

Similarly, I also really liked the toner. It had a lovely fragrance too.

Unfortunately, I didn’t like the facial emulsion AT ALL. An emulsion is supposed to be lighter than a moisturiser, but I found this to be so sticky! To be frank, it was really unpleasant to apply so I didn’t even get through this little bottle (which is also a terrible design for a cream tbh).

And that’s my recent samples. Let me know if you’ve tried any of these and what you thought of them.