One of you lovely people asked me if I had used the bb seaweed mask from lush and to cut a short story shorter I decided to do a quick bit on what I'd recommend from lush. Obviously all of there heady, candy shop scented bath bombs ,massage bars and shower jellies are a given. I've ALWAYS got 2 or 3 laying in my underwear draw or on top of my wardrobe where I keep what is now becoming quite a large collection following Christmas. But the real question here was concerning skin care. So moving on..
I found the seaweed mask was pleasant it did what it said on the tub and made my skin soft. But the point in the mask I believe is to soften AND reduce redness ('calm' the skin). My problem was that I don't have uneven or blotchy skin there for when I used it I didn't notice any lasting difference to my skin. As for the texture scent look of the product I think it goes with out saying lush will always have this down to a t. My only issue (which isn't even an issue!) is that it wasn't suited to my skin type. I didn't benefit from it. Although I can imagine a lot of people do and that's why I hesitate to say it's a bad product because it's not- I would personally just choose something that enhances my skin a little more. But at £5.75 for a tub that you'll get 5-6 masks out of you can probably afford to try a new one each month - 6 quid is pretty darn good considering the amount of fresh ingredients they use in these masks compared to 'mudd' and other well known skin mask brands. So that being said I guess the next question is what would I recommend?
I've always been a huge fan of American cream conditioner it smells like I imagine a sweetie vanilla milkshake would smell like. And it lingers. Not the product but the scent, which results in your pillows smelling like it which is lovely. It's a little more then I'd spend on an every day conditioner but when you alternate between say a L'Oreal or Aussie (two of my fav high street conditioners!) and this it lasts well over a month or two in the medium bottle size.which costs just uner £9 I believe!
Anyway - Back to skin care! Herbalism is one of the first LUSH skin products I ever tried. I've never suffered with any skin problems which I suppose is quite lucky, even in my teen years. I tend to get combination skin all year round mostly dependent on weather. I found herbalism worked well with absorbing and cleaning out oilier areas and moisturizing the dry areas. The result after a few nights will be obvious to you even if you do have acute acne or break outs every so often I think this really could be something that would help any skin type. Again its just under £6 which yes you could spend on a tube of garnier scrub or something like that in boots but I cant stress how many fresh and vitamin rich ingredients go into lush products especially their face cleansers. Its really easy and kind of fun to use. I break of a walnut sized amount into wet warm hands crumble up and then spread around my face & jaw. Then rinse! I wrap the rest back up and keep it in the bathroom as its mostly humid in there and doesn't dry it out.
Something quite similar for anyone scared of trying the green mush above, is this. Its called Angels on Bare Skin. Lush claims;
'Angels on Bare Skin evens out skin tone, reduces redness and improves the health and appearance of your skin – giving a natural healthy glow.'
And hoorar it does. I'd say its a little bit more bland and boring compared to herbalism but if you have sensitive skin, or simply want something free of anything artificial then this is your pup! Every ingredient it contains is 100% natural so nothing to mess up the natural balance of your skin. Its quick and easy to use just like herb and makes your skin feel really smooth. Costs £5.95 and mine lasted me 5 weeks. So there's no excuse not to try it! Again I would suggest keeping it in the bathroom in the plastic pot provided so it doesn't dry out to much!
Other lush stuff I enjoy;
I LOVE their solid shampoo bars. I don't know weather its still the novelty reaction of people double taking - 'so its like soap? solid bar of soap? for your head?' or weather its because they are such great products, but either way I've been buying these since I was 14 and I have no intention of stopping. My favorites are probably Ultimate shine and Seanik. I use them along with the american cream conditioner. I think these are great when you're trying to give you're hair a rest from all the high end high perfumed and high chemical products. I keep mine in a shampoo tin shown in the picture. Its a lot more economical too, buying them the way they are with no plastic and then popping them in the tin when you're home. Also GREAT for travel I took Seanik (the bright blue seaweed one) on holiday with me and it worked wonders on pool hair! Really compact and easy to store. I even keep one in my gym bag! They range from £5-6 each and mine last around 2-3 months alternating them with other shampoos.
I hope you've enjoyed reading a bit about what I think of lush, its always a store I feel people are put off by because it appears so different but different can be good and in this instance IS good. They are producing some really great cosmetics and I think they deserve to be tried at least once! They do plenty more then what I've wrote about here including solid deodorant solid toothpaste shower jellies and the list goes on. Its like a willy wonker factory for bathrooms. Here's a little collection of bath bombs I currently have sitting in my room (not all lush..but mostly). There are plenty more I haven't opened yet but this is all I could fit in the box!
Katie x
