Lush Haul

Ah yes, who doesn't love a little bit of Lush? I was given the Lush catalogue recently and saw a few products in there that I just could not resist. It was really interesting to read up on the Lush philosophy of "fresh" skincare without preservatives, as well as the charities that Lush supports with the sale of certain products.

First and foremost, what would a Lush haul be without a bath product? I picked up the A French Kiss Bubble Bar, which smells beautifully of lavender. When crumbled under the water tap and properly bubbled up though, it smells quite strongly of rosemary and I couldn't help thinking of preparations for chicken dinner while I sat there in the tub. Maybe not the best contender for a romantic evening, but the bubbles were proper fun. I usually cut up the bubble bars into three pieces, so each one can last me three baths. Still not the most cost effective bath product out there, but at least I'm not dropping nearly $10 on a bath.

Lush is one of the more mainstream natural skincare brands out there, and while natural can be a good thing, it definitely compromises convenience in some of Lush's products. I picked up the Aqua Marina Cleanser, which is supposed to be good for irritated, sensitive skin. Calamine takes down redness while aloe vera gel soothes the skin. Kaolin helps draw out impurities in the pores, and the seaweed wrapped around each chunk of cleanser hopefully adds some vitamins to the skin as well. The product sounds great in theory, but when I actually tried to use it, I just did not get on with it. It comes in soft chunks that you're supposed to sort of melt down into a milk with a bit of water in your palm, but I found this very hard to do, and I ended up spilling a lot of the product in the process. It didn't do a whole lot in terms of soothing breakouts, and overall is just too much of a faff for me to put up with. I get that being preservative-free is a big thing now, but the inclusion of fragrance is even more problematic than parabens. While there is no conclusive research that topical applications of parabens has any side effects (the horror stories are based on ingestion of parabens), fragrance is consistently shown to cause irritation on the skin. I suppose people like their products to smell good, but honestly this product smells pretty bizarre.

One thing I really wanted to pick up as the Ultrabalm Body Balm. It's a really thick balm that only consists of three ingredients: jojoba oil, candelila wax, and rose wax. It's very emollient and moisturizing, and I like to apply it to any dry patches on my body, such as my knees, elbows, and heels. I've seen lots of reviews saying it works well as a lip balm too, but it does smell kind of funny, so I haven't taken that leap yet. Another product to help with dry, flaky skin is the Stepping Stone Foot Scrub. I tend to neglect taking care of my feet, so I wanted something to help soften the skin and get rid of the flaky bits. This scrub is a pumice based bar that also contains moisturizing oils. The key here is to not get the actual scrub bar wet. Just wet your feet, and scrub the dry bar over the skin. It's not a bad product, and it did help get rid of the really rough patches, but I did hope for a bit more of a softening effect. I think an actual pumice stone might be easier to use and just as effective.

I also received a small sample of the Mask of Magnamity, which can be used as a deep cleansing face wash or mask. It contains the usual combination of bentonite and kaolin found in many clay masks, as well as honey, which is one of my favourite skincare ingredients due to its anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and nourishing properties. It also contains ground aduki beans to give you a bit of exfoliation when washing off. I haven't tried this mask yet, because I'm a bit on the fence about the inclusion of peppermint oil, which is an irritant to the skin and I certainly have found it irritating in the past. I probably will give it a go at some point anyway, and we'll see how I get on with it.

What are your Lush favourites?