LUSH A Crash Course in Skincare face mask

LUSH has a product line called Fresh Face Masks that are made from fresh fruits and veggies, kaolin, honey, essential oils, and yogurt.  Because they’re made from all these fresh ingredients, they have to be refrigerated, and can only be purchased in a store.

These are some of my favorite LUSH products, and I make a point of buying one just about every time I’m at LUSH.  The biggest drawback is that from production to expiration, fresh face masks only have about a three week shelf life.  Now, in some cases, you can extend the shelf life to about eight weeks, depending on what the ingredients are, how cold your fridge is, or how the mask looks or smells.  But you get so much product that it’s difficult, even in six to eight weeks, to use all that mask.

That said, the fresh face masks are some the best masks I’ve ever used on my face.  A Crash Course in Skincare is probably my favorite of the bunch.  It’s good for all skin types and is made from avocado (moisturizing) and yogurt (calming, but also good for oily skin), with some kaolin in there to deep clean pores.  It doesn’t look very pleasant, but it smells wonderful.  I think it also did a good job of cleaning out some impurities without drying my skin out, and my face looked great for several days after using Crash Course.

Ingredients:

VEGETARIAN, Fresh Organic Avocado (Persea gratissima), Kaolin, Organic Yoghurt, Glycerine, Talc, Fresh Organic Lemon Juice (Citrus limonum), Sandalwood Oil (Santalum austro-caledonicum vieill and Fusanus spicatus), Lavender Oil (Lavandula angustifolia), Lemongrass Oil (Cymbopogon schoenanthus), Chamomile Oil (Anthemis nobilis), *Citral, *Geraniol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

LUSH Cupcake face mask

Cupcake is more than just a face mask – it’s an experience.  OK that might be melodramatic, but anytime you can experience chocolate without worrying about calories is a great thing, right?  Right!

Cupcake is a chocolate and mint mask for people with oily and/or acne prone skin.  The rhassoul mud deep cleans your skin and the cocoa butter and  cocoa powder soften it.  All that mint provides a nice tingle, though this could aggravate sensitive skin.  My skin felt so nice and fresh after I finished this mask, and it’s especially nice in the middle of the summer.

Ingredients:

Rhassoul Mud and Linseed Infusion (Linum usitatissimum), Glycerine, Talc, Cocoa Powder (Theobroma cacao), Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Fresh Mint (Mentha piperita), Sandalwood Oil (Santalum austro-caledonicum vieill and Fusanus spicatus), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Spearmint Oil (Mentha spicata), Peppermint Oil (Mentha piperita), *Limonene, Perfume}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

LUSH Catastrophe Cosmetic

Catastrophe Cosmetic is the face mask for oily, acne-prone skin.  It smells wonderful, like blueberry yogurt (even though it has no yogurt), and cleans well.  Calamine lotion and chamomile sooth red and irritated skin, fresh blueberries are a good antioxidant, and the calamine also cleanses.  This isn’t a grainy mask, so it won’t irritate blemishes, and it will help reduce skin irritation.

And this feels lovely straight out of the fridge on a hot day.

Ingredients:

Calamine Powder, Talc, Irish Moss Gel (Chondrus crispus), Fresh Blueberries (Vaccinium myrtillus), Glycerine, Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), Rose Absolute (Rosa damascena), Chamomile Oil (Anthemis nobilis), Sweet Wild Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis), *Limonene, Perfume, Colour 18050}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

LUSH Vanilla Dee-Lite lotion

Vanilla Dee-Lite is one of the  products that contains the Vanillary scent.  This is a very light lotion – thin, but creamy.  A good lotion if your skin is normal or you want to skip perfume for the day.  It sinks into the skin VERY quickly and doesn’t leave any kind of greasiness behind at all.  If you really need a heavier lotion, Vanilla Dee-Lite isn’t the lotion for you at all.

My only complaint about this is the scent.  The Vanillary scent is nice – except on my skin.  It’s a combination of Vanilla, Jasmine, and Tonka Absolutes.  While the scent is really heavy on vanilla, the jasmine (to me) gives it an off note.  On the dry down, the scent smells slightly of plastic.  This might just be me, so don’t be afraid to try this product based on my scent review.

Ingredients:

Hibiscus Infusion (Hibiscus sabdariffa), Spring Water, Pure Organic Coconut Water (Cocos nucifera), Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (Cocos nucifera), Stearic Acid, Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Fresh Kiwi Fruit (Actinidia chinensis), Glycerine, Triethanolamine, Illipe Butter (Shorea stenoptera), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Jasmine Absolute (Jasminum grandiflorum), Tonka Absolute (Dipteryx odorata), Tamanu Oil (Calophyllum inophyllum), Cetearyl Alcohol, *Coumarin, Hydroxycitronellal, Perfume, Methylparaben, Propylparaben}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

LUSH Sugar Scrub

LUSH strives to be more environmentally friendly by creating products that use little to no packaging, something that very few companies can claim, and I commend LUSH for that.  The latest in this long line of products was introduced sometime in late 2008 or early 2009 as a solid sugar scrub.  So far there are two in the line, Sugar Scrub and Sugar Babe.

Sugar Scrub is half a sphere and about the same size as half of one of LUSH’s bath ballistics.  These are really only designed for one use, so at about $4 a scrub, these aren’t very economical.  The other drawback is that this is a very hard scrub.  As I’ve mentioned in several reviews, my skin isn’t very sensitive, but I thought the scrubbiness of this was almost painful.  If you have sensitive skin, skin that is fragile and tears or bruises easily, any kind of skin condition (like excema or psoriasis) or are taking any kind of medicine (including chemotherapy) that might make your skin more fragile, please do not use these solid sugar scrubs.  They are simply too hard and scrubby for skin like yours.  Stick to a softer scrub.

With that out of the way, let me tell you what I really liked about Sugar Scrub.  First, while it’s designed for single use, you can get two uses out of it.  When wet, these allow a lot of sugar to be left behind, so instead of rubbing with the scrub itself, you can scrub the remaining sugar on your skin until it dissolves.  Second, this did a heck of a job of exfoliating, and my skin was soooooooo smooth and soft.  This smells really nice too, and has a light herbal scent to it.  You’d expect a sugar scrub to have a very sweet smell, and this doesn’t.  It’s a nice change of pace.

Ingredients:

Fair Trade Sugar, Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar (Tartaric Acid), Sodium Laureth Sulphate, Fresh Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), Fennel Oil (Foeniculum vulgare), Lavender Oil (Lavandula angustifolia), Fresh Ginger Root (Zingiber officinale), Glycerine, Cocamide DEA, Lauryl Betaine, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume, Chlorophyllin (CI 75810)}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

LUSH Bubble Bars

If you’ve never heard of a bubble bar or seen one before, LUSH’s bubble bars are bubble bath in solid form.  You crumble the bars up, throw them in a bath, and watch them bubble.  Before you crumble up a whole bubble bar though, you should know that these things have serious bubble power, and most users break them up and use a smaller section in the bath.  Since my son is the only one who uses them in our house, bubble bars just get crumbled and stored, and I pick out pieces from the bag for his bath.  I generally get about 7-10 baths out of each bubble bar this way, with mounds of bubbles that make my little guy happy.

I’m doing the same thing with the Bubble Bar reviews as I did with the Ballistics and doing them all in one post, so here goes:

I only bought Karma bubble bar because… well… I didn’t actually buy it.  I got it free in a store promotion, and I’m not one to turn down free stuff, unless I really can’t stand the item.  While I’m not crazy about the Karma scent, I thought “Hey!  Free bubble bath for Mr. Pants!”  Can you really argue with that logic?

Anyway, Karma is a pretty orange and yellow swirled color, makes mounds of bubbles, and the scent lingers.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar (Tartaric acid), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Cocamide DEA, Patchouli Oil (Pogostemon cablin), Orange Oil (Citrus Aurantium dulcis), Lavendin Oil (Lavandula hybrida), Pine Oil (Pinus sylvestris), Lemongrass Oil (Cymbopogon schoenanthus), Elemi Oil (Canarium commune), Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), *Citral, *Geraniol, *Citronellol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Colour 18050}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Ma Bar is another LUSH candy scented item, but this one doesn’t smell sickly sweet like other items are prone to.  This one is half chocolate and half honey toffee, though it smells more like vanilla to my nose.  Either way, not bad.  And the scent is light.  This is just an all around good bubble bar.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar (Tartaric acid), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Cocoa Powder (Theobroma cacao), Cocamide DEA, Sweet Wild Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis), Bergamot Oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia), *Limonene, *Linalool, Benzyl Benzoate, Sugar Cube}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Retro Bubble Bars (available only online):

I’ll let you in a little secret:  my son likes pink bubble baths that smell like candy, which just cracks me up something fierce.  I only discovered this little tidbit of info after buying him a Happy Birthday bubble bar.  The bar itself is a light to medium pink with a slight floral scent that softens even more in the bath.

VEGETARIAN, Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar (Tartaric acid), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Cocamide DEA, Bergamot Oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), African Marigold Oil (Tagetes erecta), Beeswax Absolute (Apis mellifera), Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), *Citronellol, *Linalool, Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), Laureth 4, Colour 18050}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Marzibain smells just like its namesake marzipan, which is a confection made of almond paste.  Marzibain smells just like almonds and has a light sweetness to it.  It even has a little almond on top.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar (Tartaric acid), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Cocamide DEA, Benzoin Resinoid (Styrax benzoin), Cassie Absolute (Acacia farnesiana), Rose Absolute (Rosa damascena), Whole Almond (Prunus dulcis), Benzyl Benzoate}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

LUSH Bath Ballistics

Instead of doing one review for each ballistic, I’m going to review all of them in one post.  This makes more sense to me since I don’t take baths and buy them for my son’s baths.

If you’ve never used a ballistic before and you’re a bath taker, run out and get one of these right now.  They are a lot of fun.  Once they hit the water, they fizz (the reason we call them fizzies in our house) until completely dissolved.  They scent and color the water, too – makes bath time fun!  Or if you’re a five year old boy, at least a little more tolerable.  Some ballistics have cocoa butter in them too, which adds some moisture to the water.

Avobath is green and smells like lemon-lime fruit loops.  Very strong scent, colors the water a pretty green.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Fresh Organic Avocado (Persea gratissima), Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Olea europaea), Lemongrass Oil (Cymbopogon schoenanthus), Bergamot Oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia), Rosewood Oil (Aniba rosaeodora), *Citral, *Geraniol, *Farnesol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume, Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), Green Glitter (Lustre holly sparkle)}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Big Blue makes you feel like you’re floating in the ocean.  It colors the water a medium blue (it’s really quite pretty), smells like lavender and lemon, and even has seaweed bits that float after it dissolves.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Coarse Sea Salt, Perfume, Arame Seaweed (Eisenia arborea), Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum), Lavender Oil (Lavandula augustifolia), Seaweed Absolute (Fucus vesiculosus), *Eugenol, *Geraniol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Colour 42045}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Blackberry is one of my favorite smelling ballistics.  The fruity blackberry and bergamot scent is powerful without being overwhelming, and lingers long after the bath is gone.  And pretty purple water.  One warning: this will leave a little bit of a purple film on the tub.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Perfume, Bergamot Oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia), Frankincense Oil (Boswellia carterii), Colour 18050, Colour 42045}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Butterball doesn’t really color the water since it’s white, but it contains cocoa butter and smells like chocolate.  Do I need to say more?

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Synthetic Musk, Ylang Ylang Oil (Cananga odorata), Perfume}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Honey Bee colors the water this horrendous color of yellow (seriously, it looks like urine), but it smells so lovely and wonderful, like Honey I Washed the Kids soap.

VEGETARIAN, Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Rhassoul Mud, Honey, Perfume, Aloe Vera Extract (Aloe barbadensis), Organic Aloe Vera Gel (Aloe barbadensis), Sweet Wild Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis), Bergamot Oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia), Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), *Limonene}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Ickle Baby Angel and Ickle Baby Devil are LUSH’s smallest ballistic and are made specifically for the kiddos, to help them relax and have sweet dreams.  They’re small enough that they really don’t color the bathwater, but they have a nice fragrance to them.  I don’t think it really calms down the kiddos, but they like it all the same.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Lavender Oil (Lavandula angustifolia), Sandalwood Oil (Fusanus spicatus), Chamomile Oil (Anthemis nobilis), *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume, Colour 18050}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Think Pink smells like candy and makes the bath water a gorgeous dark pink.  And the smell lingers long after the bath is gone.  Don’t tell my son and husband I said this, but my son loved this one.

VEGETARIAN, Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Perfume, Lavender Oil (Lavandula angustifolia), Tonka Absolute (Dipteryx odorata), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Neroli Oil (Citrus amara), *Limonene, *Linalool, Pink Heart Confetti, Colour 45410, Colour 18050, Candy Flowers}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Waving Not Drowning colors the water a light purple and and smells like lavender.  It’s pretty and pretty relaxing.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Lavender Oil (Lavandula augustifolia), Ylang Ylang Oil (Cananga odorata), Fennel Oil (Foeniculum vulgare), *Benzyl Salicylate, *Geraniol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Farnesol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume, Colour 18050, Colour 61585}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

Retro – these are available only online in the LUSH Retro section.

Gingerman looks like… well… a gingerbread man.  The smell is supposed to be gingery, but I find that the addition of all the flowery oils makes it smell more like grandma and less like ginger.  Honestly, it’s not that bad, I’d just like it to have more gingery oomph to it (I like ginger).  On the total plus size, this one is super easy to break up so you get 4 or 5 baths out if it.

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Perfume, Ginger Oil (Zingiber officinale), Mimosa Absolute (Acacia decurrens), Rose Otto (Rosa damascena), Geranium Oil (Pelargonium graveolens), Jasmine Absolute (Jasminum officinale), Juniper Berry Oil (Juniperus communis), Ylang Ylang Oil (Cananga odorata), *Citronellol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Colour 18050}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

LUSH Handy Gurugu hand cream

First, the good things about Handy Gurugu: this is one of the best hand creams I’ve ever used.  It is very thick and rich and it moisturizes the worst skin SO well.  The biggest plus is that it’s not at all greasy.  HG has all these wonderful butters and oils in it, and they sink right into your skin.  And as little bit goes a long way.

Now, the worst thing: the smell.  Most people like it, but me, not being most people, can’t stand it.  I tried to use it up as quickly as possible, but since a little bit goes a long way, it was taking me forever.  I finally had to give it away when I had about 1/3 of it left because the smell nauseated me so badly.

If they made this with the Porridge scent, I’d buy it again in a heartbeat.

Ingredients:

Rose Water (Rosa centifolia), Shea Butter (Butyrospermum parkii), Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Organic Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), Triethanolamine, Fresh Organic Lemon Juice (Citrus limonum), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Rose Absolute (Rosa damascena), Chamomile Blue Oil (Matricaria chamomilla), Organic Evening Primrose Oil (Oenothera biennis), Organic Peanut Butter (Arachis hypogaea), Organic Pumpkinseed Butter (Cucurbita), Organic Cashew Butter (Anacardium occidentale), Organic Almond Butter (Prunus dulcis), Tincture of Benzoin (Styrax benzoin), Cetearyl Alcohol, *Benzyl Salicylate, *Coumarin, *Geraniol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Farnesol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume, Chlorophyllin (CI 75810), Methylparaben, Propylparaben}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

LUSH Honey I Washed the Kids soap

Let me just get this out of the way right now:  Honey I Washed the Kids soap smells good enough to eat.  And then when you’re done using it, it makes your skin smell good enough to eat.  And if you don’t believe me, you haven’t smelled it.

LUSH describes this as a toffee and honey soap.  While I smell mostly honey in it, I don’t doubt the toffee part.  There’s a sweeter-than-honey note there for sure.

And this is so creamy and wonderful.  It lathers like a dream and rinses fairly clean, leaving a little bit of moisture behind.

LUSH really needs to make this in a shower gel.

Ingredients:

VEGETARIAN, Honey Water (Aqua), Propylene Glycol, Rapeseed Oil; Sunflower Oil; Coconut Oil (Brassica napus; Helianthus annuus; Cocos nucifera), Water (Aqua), Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Hydroxide, Perfume, Beeswax (Cera alba), Sweet Wild Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis), Bergamot Oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia), Aloe Vera Extract (Aloe barbadensis), Sodium Chloride, Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), Titanium Dioxide, *Limonene, *Linalool, Benzyl Benzoate}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils

LUSH Porridge soap

I’m not much of a soap user.  I use shower gel in the shower and liquid soap for washing my hands, but I was really eager to try Porridge simply because it smells so good.  It’s a creamy smell, like oatmeal with a hint of vanilla and brown sugar.

Porridge lathers well and didn’t really dry my skin out.  It contains ground oatmeal, which is great for exfoliating.  I just use this as a hand soap, and my hands do feel a lot smoother when I’m done.  LUSH describes this as a soap for sensitive skin, and mostly it is.  Oatmeal is great for people with skin conditions because it calms skin, and the coconut oil is a great moisturizer.  Unfortunately, the oatmeal isn’t ground very finely, and once I got down to the middle of the bar (where most of the oatmeal has settled), the bar became way to scrubby and actually hurt.  This would work a lot better if the oatmeal were ground more and spread out throughout the bar.

All in all, I think this is a really good soap with a wonderful smell.

Ingredients:

Water (Aqua), Propylene Glycol, Rapeseed Oil; Sunflower Oil; Coconut Oil (Brassica napus; Helianthus annuus; Cocos nucifera), Pinhead Oatmeal (Avena sativa), Fresh Organic Orange Juice (Citrus Aurantium dulcis), Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Perfume, Labdanum Resinoid (Cistus labdaniferus), Sweet Wild Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis), Sodium Chloride, *Limonene}

*Occurs naturally in essential oils