Lush Haul



I did wonder whether to call this a haul or not, as it wasn't so much me buying these bits but rather them being bought for me! (Lee ordered a lovely big box for me online :) )

 

I am completely and utterly (and unashamedly) obsessd with Lush at the moment, and love discovering new products - I can't wait to try more of the limited edition Xmas products!

Soft Coeur Massage Bar - £4.75

If like me you're a chocoholic and already use Cocoa Butter, you will LOVE this: made with cocoa butter, shea butter, honey and other so-good-you-could-eat-it ingredients, it smells like Honey I Washed The Kids and melts immediately on contact with your skin. This is my second bar and it definitely goes down a treat (wink, wink).

 

 

 

The Comforter Bubble Bar - £4.25

Like Soft Couer, The Comforter is a repurchase (many times over) - it's probably Lush's biggest bubblebar on sale and turns your bath into a fabulous pink, bubbly, berry-scented pool of loveliness, with only a little bit of bubble bar at a time!

 

 

 

Pop In The Bath Bubble Bar - £2.90

This is a lovely wee bubble bar that smells quite herbally (despite it's flowery appearance!), and contains the same blend of essential oils as The Olive Branch shower gel.

 

 

 

Think Pink Bath Bomb - £2.50

Very flower power and very appealing to those who like things all things pink and girly (i.e. me), this also has the added appeal of smelling like vanilla - yummy.

 

 

 

The Melting Snowman Bath Melt - £1.95

This is a new addition to the Xmas limited edition items (...i'm presuming it is anyway, I could be making this up!), this gorgeous little chap is fragranced with cinnamon, clove, patchouli, benzoin, lime and sweet orange oils - Xmas in a bath melt! As a bath melt, it also contains bicarb of soda, shea butter and cocoa butter to moisturise your skin.

 

 

Karma Soap - £4.10/100g

I think this was included as a free sample as it's pretty small, but it will be handy to keep by the sink and try it out - especially since everyone rates the Karma fragrance!

 

 

Can you recommend any other must-have Lush products for me to try?

 

Melanie x

 

Product empties - October 2012

(If you couldn't tell, I am in love with Typic!)

I'm going to be one of those really annoying people here and say 'I can't believe it's November already!' because I genuinely can't - it literally seems like minutes ago I was writing my September Empties post!

I've actually got through quite a bit this month. Here's what I finished:

Amie Cooling Clay Mask - Amie is not usually a brand I would go for (largely because I don't know much about it, and I had presumed it was for teenage skin), but this mask was included in the box of goodies that lovely Robyn (she has a blog too) sent to me, and I was so pleased because I genuinely did like it. As the name suggests it was lovely and cooling/tingly on my skin, and definitely gave it a glow. I would buy this again, and am interested in what else Amie have to offer, especially since they are cruelty free.

Jergens Naturals Ultra Hydrating moisturiser sample - I can't really give this a proper 'review' as such as there was literally only just enough for one use (I really like to slather my body moisturisers on) but I did like the fresh scent, and the way it sank into my skin really quickly. I've noticed that Jergens claim they are cruelty free on their packaging, but I would want to research them further before I bought any of their products.

The Body Shop Love Etc EDP, shower gel and body moisturiser - It's surprisingly hard to find cruelty free perfumes, therefore when I sniffed Love Etc one day in The Body Shop I snapped it up! I am rubbish at describing scents but it's really fresh and lovely, and is often on special offer in gift boxes etc (which is what I bought for something silly like £10). Better still it is available in EDT and EDP but is still really inexpensive (I think the 50ml EDP is about £18?), and i've ended up with 3 bottles of it in varying sizes! The shower gel and moituriser were nice to 'layer' with the perfume, but I think these things are a bit gimmicky, and I didn't find the moisturiser particularly moisturising.

Elizabeth Arden 8 Hour Cream Body Treatment - another one of my mum's products that I ended up inheriting (she doesn't use a body moisturiser), again I got through this quickly given that it is a travel size and I get through body lotions by the bucket load! It's quite a thick product but is absorbed into the skin surprisingly quickly, and has quite a clean, 'inoffensive' scent. I liked it, but not enough to buy the (expensive) full sized version.

Lush Snow Fairy Shower Gel - this is a bit of a love or hate product for many people, but I personally LOVE the bubblegum smell of this. Lush's shower gel's are rather overpriced, but I'm tempted to buy more of this over the Christmas period.

Collin Regenerating Collagen Gel - This came in a Glossybox (back when I used to subscribe to it), and to be honest I found it a bit of a non-product. It can be used either thinly as a serum under moisturiser, or layered on thickly as a mask (which I tended to do) but either way I didn't find it did anything to my skin apart from sting it! It just shows you though, the Pixiwoo sisters love this range - it must just be me!

Maybelline Master Precise Liquid Eyeliner - (previous review here) Generally when I go for liquid eyeliners I like the 'felt tip' type, which is what this is, but I did NOT like this. Smudged really easy and dried out quite quickly.

Botanics Brightening Eyemakeup Remover - Another product that I recently reviewed, and unfortunately didn't like either. 'nuff said!

Melanie x

Review: Lush Hair Doctor

I've made no secret of my love for Lush of late, and the more products I try, the more in love with Lush I become!

Haircare is always something I have been a bit lazy about - generally I just shampoo my hair, rough dry it and let it do it's own (crazy) thing - but recently i've made a resolution to be kinder to my tresses and hopefully make it look a bit healthier!

My scalp has been particularly dry and itchy, and therefore the idea of putting something heavily based with chemicals did not seem like a good idea at all, hence why the preservative-free hair masks offered by Lush appealed.

Hair Doctor (£6.75 for 95g both online and instore) is a preservative free pre-shampoo hair and scalp treatment based on seaweeds and muds (but includes tons of other yummy ingredients such as coconut oil, jojoba oil and peppermint) to sooth the scalp and condition, strengthen and moisturise the hair.

Key ingedients as highlighted on the Lush website are red henna and rosemary absolute to add shine, fullers earth (basically Bentonite Clay which contains a load of essential healing minerals and is very efficient at drawing oils and toxins from the skin/scalp) to absorb grease, and peppermint to stimulate blood flow (and make it smell immense!)

 If like me you are curious as to what the chemical-sounding ingredients are (in italics), Cetrimonium Bromide is a compound capable of being absorbed by the hair cortex and also works as an anti-septic, Propylene Glycol is a chemical made by reaction of propylene oxide with water and acts as an emulsifier, and Glyceryl Stearate is an ester of stearoc acid and glycerin, used as humectant (moisture retainer), skin conditioner, and moisturizer.

As there is no preservatives in Hair Doctor, it has a use-by date and needs to be kept in the fridge otherwise it is in danger of going off (just treat like a dairy product!).

It is an incredibly thick, almost paste-like mask (actually not dissimilar to Playdoh!), that is very muddy (unsurprisingly) in texture, and doesn't look the most appealing colour wise, but it definitely smells amazing: largely minty, with traces of herbs and 'earthy'-ness!

The girl in the shop advised me to use the entire tub's worth of product on my head (I had thought I could get away with two uses, even with my amount of hair!), which I did.

You apply to dry hair, which took me a good 10 minutes or so to do given that you use from cold and so it is more solid than you would expect - I think there must be a technique to putting it on! - massage it in then leave for around 20 minutes.

Your hair definitely feels very 'heavy' with it on, and as it dries you do look like you've been mud wrestling or something, but the amazing tingle on your scalp tells you it's working, and it leaves your hair smelling amazing for literally days afterwords.

I did worry that washing Hair Doctor out my hair could be a nightmare given how thick it is (both the treatment and my hair!), but it actually washes out really easily - although I would advise you spend an extra few minutes rinsing then deeply shampooing your hair to be on the safe side.

To be honest I don't think it makes my hair particualrly soft, but it makes it shinier, and definitely soothes my scalp, as well as giving your hair that deep-down clean feeling.

A few people online have complained that the scalp tingle is more like scalp fire with this and HATE it, but I personally love it (it must depend on scalp sensitivity).

I've since used another tub of this up, and think I will use it as a monthly treat for my hair and scalp.

Do you use any hair/scalp treatments?