LUSH Has Crack In It! June 29, 2009

At least that’s my theory for why people go GAGA over this stuff! And now I’m one of them! This is my haul, I only got two things cuz man….it’s expensive haha

From lush1

I got the Aquamarina cleanser and Mange Too massage bar!

I’ll describe the massage bar first. It’s a bar of solid cocoa butter, that melts from body warmth so you could use the bar directly on the body to massage or let it melt in your hands and then apply to body. I got it because I wanted something super moisturizing to use on my legs, so that when I bare my legs in the summer they can shine in the sun hahah. I picked this one especially because it smells like white chocolate…well I guess all their massage bars smell like white chocolate since they are made out of cocoa butter, but the other ones had other flavors mixed in too. And I can smell something else in the Mange bar and I couldn’t really place my finger on what it was, but I read later that it’s supposed to have peppermint in it so I guess that’s what it is. It smells so so good! I got my mom to try it out too and she liked it i dunno if I would trust it though as a moisturizer on its own [like on dry skin], but it should help lock in moisture after a shower or if you layer it over lotion. Oh yeah and the Mange bar seems like a better deal for the price cuz they are all around $7-$9 and the Mange was $9.75 for 3.5 ounces and some bars are like the same price, but much smaller.

Now onto the Aquamarina…

From lush1

So being a Lush noob, I didn’t realize this wasn’t a soap when I bought it and when I went to use it I expected soap, but it’s really more like clay. On the Lush forums they describe these roll types of cleansers as “squidgy” haha. It doesn’t lather whatsoever, and you kinda just rub the stuff across your face and it leaves behind a white film and the film is kinda hard to rinse off! Like..actually really hard to rinse off. Not everyone has this experience though so maybe if I exfoliate beforehand then it can’t stick to my face, so I’m gonna try that out next. A lot of people will describe the scent of Aquamarina as fishy, and I guess I can see how they would think that, but mine doesn’t smell fishy to me, but more like it came from the ocean, probably due to the seaweed. The clay part smells like old lady floral, but I don’t hate it! I think I’m getting used to these weird, natural, LUSH scents. It’s really addicting!

I recently came to the conclusion that I have sensitive skin, after thinking my whole life that my skin wasn’t sensitive. But then I started thinking why is my skin always red or pinkish? And then I thought maybe my skin is sensitive or even has a mild form of rosacea. That’s why I picked out Aquamarina because it’s supposed to be soothing to sensitive skin and reduce redness because of the calamine in it. So far I think it has helped with my redness. A con though is I can see how it could be drying since one of the main ingredients is kaolin clay, and the first time I used it I really had a problem rinsing and my skin ended up feeling tight later. I want to try Dark Angels next! The sales associate recommended it to me, but they sold out at the store I went to.

LePooke did a video about how if you order LUSH from the UK it’s cheaper cuz they price their stuff a LOT cheaper over there for some reason. Maybe over there it’s really normal to buy lush like, “oh it’s just LUSH” haha I dunno!

So there you have it, my new obsession. Please help me so I don’t buy up the whole store!

Put Oil on Your Oily Skin? November 2, 2008

I’ve been lemming this for a long time and finally caved and bought it. Apparently this oil has a similar structure to human sebum [the oil that is secreted from your pores] and by applying this to your skin it can trick the skin into producing less oil. If you know me I’m always on the lookout for something that will make me less oily! What is this magical oil, you ask? It’s Jojoba oil!

image source: Amazon.com

Back label:

Desert Essence Jojoba Oil is a pure and natural plant extract that will penetrate and moisturize your skin without leaving any oily residue. This luxurious oil can be used to remove makeup and to cleanse clogged pores, leaving the skin clean. Soften your hands and feet by massaging them with Jojoba Oil after bathing. Treat your hair and scalp to a rejuevenating massage with Jojoba Oil – especially food for moisturizing the scalp and to prevent dry skin or dandruff. This makes it suitable for even the most sensitive skin. May be used as a leave in hair treatment while in the sun or as an aftershave moisturizer.

Ingredient: Simmondsia chinesis [Jojoba] Seed Oil

I got mine from Trader Joe’s for $6.99, 4 oz. I added it to my oil cleanser and I want to also mix some with my moisturizer. It’s a light oil and absorbs quickly. So far I only used it for 2 nights so I’ll report back and tell you what I think about it later!

Fancy Shmancy Soap! September 21, 2008

Sorry, the pictures I took are horrible! My camera just won’t cooperate today!

From the back label:

Purity comes from deep within skin with triple milled D:tox System purifying body bar. Super-cleansing activated charcoal and volcanic ash lift pore-clogging toxins, oils and debris – readying them to be rinsed away.

Hand-harvested, antioxidant-rish acai and goji berry infuse skin with the vitamins so critical to smooth, beautiful, purely touch-worth skin. The result is skin with noticeable clarity, gently fragranced with essential oils of luscious fig and clean green tea. Toxins lost. Purify found.

I got this soap a while back, but haven’t gotten around to trying it until now because I was trying out one new thing at a time and by the way the coconut oil as a facial moisturizer was a bust. It gave me clogged pores in placed I never had clogged pores before. So, since my skin was so congested and gross, I needed something to really purify my skin and this Giovanni Charcoal and Volcanic Ash soap seemed to fit the bill.

When I read that it contains volcanic ash, it immediately reminded me of the volcanic ash scrub that MAC came out with in the future earth collection. However this is in a bar form and doesn’t have particles in the soap that will physically exfoliate the skin. It comes from the D:tox System line where there is a soap, body wash and moisturizer [there might be another product, but those were the only ones I saw at the store].

This is just a first impressions review because I can’t really say anything good or bad about it until I had a chance to use it for a couple weeks. It was weird that I searched the internet and the Giovanni website for this product and it wasn’t there. It retails for 4.99, look for it at natural food stores or places that carry Giovanni products.