Lush Reviews

LUSH Face Mask Catastrophe Cosmetic

After a very long time, I had five empty Lush pots. You know what that means – I can claim a free face mask, woo! It has been a while since I’ve had any new Lush products, so as soon as there was a good time I headed over to get it and this time I picked Catastrophe Cosmetic, one I have never used before.

As with all Lush face masks, it will need to be kept in the fridge and used with 28 days. Use a generous amount and put onto clean skin for 10-15 minutes before washing off. The clay-like mask itself is a grey/blueish colour which is thanks to the main ingredient; blueberries which are full of antioxidants. The other main ingredients are calamine powder and chamomile blue oil. I have tried other face masks like Don’t Look At Me and Rosy Cheeks and I remember in particular Don’t Look At Me having a really positive effect on my skin.

Catastrophe Cosmetic is very soothing when applied and with having the bits of blueberries, it adds to that natural vibe Lush is so known for. It also smells sweet and gorgeous which lasts as you wear it. You can feel it tighten on your skin but not too much. The main drawback I would have would be the consistency of the mask, it is very thick and clumps can get a bit stuck on your fingers as it dries while applying. It’s a mask that is suitable for anyone really no matter your skin type. Ultimately, I don’t think this is my favourite compared to some of the others and I would be inclined to try other Lush face masks first before coming back to this one but it is not bad at all.

LUSH X ASOS Exclusive Bath Bomb Duo Set

Following a collaboration between the two companies, certain Lush products are available for purchase on the ASOS website. One of which is the bath bomb duo set which is exclusive to it. It comprises of two bath bombs – Intergalatic which is a predominately bright blue bath bomb and White Noise, a bath bomb that is more of a lighter grey/blue colour. Intergalactic contains peppermint oil, grapefruit oil, vetivert oil and cedarwood oil. I would say it’s the more striking of the two based on colour alone. White Noise contains cedar wood, sicilian red mandarin oil and patchouli oil.

The Intergalactic bath bomb was a lot more colourful and turned the water into a bright blue colour, with glitter visible. While the bomb is fizzing away there were lighter blues, pinks and purple colours which looked really pretty. It also smells really nice, as Lush products tend to be! Out of the two, this one was definitely my favourite and it was the one I went for first. It’s a good contrast to the White Noise bath bomb as it’s louder in presence but the White Noise bath bomb is a bit calmer. Visually, it isn’t as much to look at it, it turned the water into a predominantly grey colour although like the Intergalactic bath bomb, it made the water glittery which is always nice.

It has been a while since I’ve had a Lush bath bomb so it was a welcome treat. It made for a couple of very relaxing baths and like the above face mask, I didn’t pay for this one either as it was gifted. I definitely want to go to Lush at some point in the near future and treat myself to a few new things because unfortunately one side-effect of enjoying these products is that I no longer have them!

Unicorn Horn – Lush Bubble Bar Review

Today I’m writing about another Lush product! As you can probably tell from some of my past blog posts, their products will always be my favourite. This time I’m looking at the Unicorn Horn Bubble Bar.

Just like a real unicorn horn.

This Unicorn Horn Bubble Bar looks and smells great and basically if you like soothing lavender oil bath soaks then this is a pretty good go-to. This bubble bar is nicely presented as a large horn shape with pink, purple and yellow colours swirled around it. It also has a pretty glitter finish to it. The scent is sweet, uplifting and inviting. It’s like if pink or purple had a scent, then that would be a fair representation.

To use this bubble bar, you have to break it apart under the running water. I liked to crumble it in my hands first to make the most of the texture and wonderful scent on my fingers. You can use the whole bar; this probably would give you the best experience but for me I used over a third of it. As a maximum I would say you could get three baths worth out of this. Even though I used a lesser amount, you still get a large amount of bubbles thanks to the Guar gum in the ingredients. It’s up to you how much you want to use.

For mine, the colour of the water came out as a light pink/purple. The brighter colour you want, the more of it you would have to use. I understand that sounds pretty obvious but hey! I have also seen people suggest using bath bombs with this to create a ‘cocktail’ – that actually sounds pretty fun! I did use their Unicorn Lip Scrub before I got in the bath, does that count? It’s all unicorn related, anyway.

The picture doesn’t do the colour justice, but you can see bits of the crumbled horn.

As always with Lush, when you have a bath with one of their products you can always tell the difference notably through the oils that they use. Lush’s Groovy Kind of Love bath bomb which I recently used had a similar effect through the use of rosewood, bergamot and ylang ylang oils. The oils used in the Unicorn Horn are lavender, neroli and ylang ylang. The ylang ylang used in these products gives it that sweet note.

As of late, I haven’t been sleeping that well, so I thought I’d treat myself with this. Even though I used this in the morning, it still relaxed me for the day. I should give it a go in the evening too, it’s probably just what I need before bed. Overall, I would recommend this product for a bit of sparkle, self care and relaxation.

Lastly, as a note, Lush stresses that no unicorns were harmed in the making of this bubble bar, which for me personally is a massive relief. In terms of packaging, they have made a point of stripping away any usage of excess paper and all packaging is recycled and recyclable therefore more sustainable. Price wise these are £4.50 each, so reasonably affordable if you’re after a little treat.

Mini Skincare Reviews

It has been a long time since I last discussed anything skincare related on this blog. Given that I now have more free time on my hands, I thought it would be fun to pick a few things out that I am currently using and talk about them. I am by no means an expert, but as with everything on this blog, I do it for the fun!

There is a theme to this as well. All the products that I am discussing have all been gifted to me from friends from around Christmas and my birthday just gone. I want to show appreciation for them and as these are products that I haven’t bought myself, I think it makes it more interesting.

In uncertain times like this, I think self-care is important for anybody and it can mean anything (ok, within reason) that helps your physical and mental wellbeing. I do enjoy skincare as a way of self-care as I really do like that fresh-faced feeling. It’s probably why I seldom wear makeup. Not that I don’t look after my skin normally, but I think lately I’ve been able to take a bit more care so my skin is feeling the best it has been for a while.

But anyway, here are five things that I have picked up to talk about today;

Magical Moringa Beauty Balm – Lush
This beauty balm creates a soft mattifying effect after each use. You take a little bit onto your finger, allow it to warm a bit and then apply after moisturising. If you are wearing makeup it helps keep it in place as a primer, but I tend to use this one daily as part of my routine without using any makeup afterwards. It definitely gives you that soft ‘finished’ feeling after use. Just make sure your face has been exfoliated as I have found a couple of times it if it isn’t then it can struggle to rub in properly and leave bits, so it may not be the best if you have dry skin. Having said that, recently I haven’t had this issue. Maybe it’s because I’ve been making a bit more of an effort recently. A plus point is also that because you don’t have to use much at a time, I can guarantee this will last a good while.

Ultra Violet Brightening Purple Clay Mask – Generation Clay
I mean with this one you had me at purple. In all seriousness, I really like this clay mask. Even though I’m only using a 15ml tube, this is still going to last me a while yet as you really don’t need to use a lot for full coverage. The downsides with a lot of face masks is that they can get rather messy, but this one is very easy to apply and only requires a thin layer. It dries very quick and gives you that nice tightening feeling which is only I can imagine botox to feel like (ha!). Very easy to wash off and leaves your skin feeling nice and clean! Thumbs up from me.

Let The Good Times Roll – Lush
This face and body cleanser smells so good and every time I use it I begin to feel hungry. No lie. Then again, in fairness some of the ingredients do include Popcorn and Cinnamon powder. To use it, you take a bit of the cleanser into your hand and add a little water to make it into a paste. I also love the texture of it before applying, it reminds me a bit of Play-Doh. If you have already splashed your face, you can put it straight on and rub it into your skin. As it’s fairly ‘fresh’, it doesn’t have a particularly long-lasting use by date so it is wise to start using once you get it. It leaves skin feeling clean and soft.

British Rose Exfoliating Gel Body Scrub – The Body Shop
First impression is the gorgeous smell that greets you as soon as you open the lid. I love the smell of roses and this says it is created with real rose petals and essence of hand-picked roses from Britain. Always good to know! The product itself is light and the granules are not harsh on the skin, making it easy to exfoliate. It leaves skin feeling soft and I always feel super fresh getting out the shower when I have also exfoliated and this was no exception. Did I mention the lovely scent?

Unicorn Lip Scrub – Lush
Now I love a good lip scrub and it’s even better when it’s filled with fruity flavours and colours! As with any other lip scrub, you put a bit on your finger, place it on your lips and buff away. For once, if you do fancy licking any of the excess then you actually can. In case you’re wondering, it tastes a bit like sherbet-y childhood sweets. The scrub itself is like sugar that’s bound together a bit more which makes it less messy. As somebody who is prone to getting dry lips at times, a product like this is brilliant. Then all you need to do is to put on your favourite lip balm afterwards to make your lips feel really moisturised.

June Diary

Where has this year gone? I cannot believe that we are now over the half way mark in the year. It’s also that crazy thing where it feels like it has gone quick, but still so much has happened in between. Having said that, I don’t feel like I’ve especially been up to too much lately, I’ve just been at work and then generally pottering about at the weekends. Despite that, I feel like I have a lot to look forward to this month including a few days in Berlin and finally having a week off work this year! People are so surprised when I say I’ve only taken 1.5 days off so far on annual leave. The reason I haven’t taken any more time off so far is because I haven’t really had anything planned or booked, so I’d hate to take time off and then just waste it. As tempting as watching Jeremy Kyle every morning is, I’d rather save my time up!

Last weekend I went on my first night out clubbing since about February. When I was in my early twenties I used to go out clubbing at least every few weeks but nowadays it seems to be every few months. I’d like to say I don’t go out as much now because my priorities have changed and I have better things to do, but the truth of the matter is that I don’t have as many people to go out with anymore which is the same for my friend so we decided to go out together just the two of us. In my last post, I talked about seeing KISS in concert soon after the bombing in Manchester. Well, as you may know, last Saturday there was another terrorist attack in London, killing 8 people. As a result, Broad Street (which is the main nightlife area and therefore a target hotspot) was cordoned off to traffic by Police.

Me and my friend @sarahloublogs ready to go out, complete with Snapchat filter!

 I absolutely commend the fast response of the Police in keeping us safe but it does make the whole threat feel more real. It’s a quite scary actually. We had planned on going to Pryzm on Broad Street but decided to head away from it given what was going on and head to Hurst Street instead. It is such a scary world we live in, but we have to keep living our lives so they don’t win. Even a couple of weeks ago, me and my boyfriend went to Lichfield for a little trip out as the weather had been nice (but quickly changed, thank you British weather) and I remember walking around the town thinking it must be safer than going to Birmingham, I suppose a bit ignorantly. Only then a few days later I read there was a suspicious package found outside the cathedral which we visited while we were there. I don’t think it came to anything but once again it’s another reminder that you cannot be too complacent wherever you go. Overall the chances of actually being caught up in anything is slim but it’s good to keep vigilant.

In a lighter topic, I think one of my weekend rituals lately has been having a Sunday bath. It’s only really been the past year or so I’ve been taking baths again. I tend to go for showers because it’s quick and easy but at the weekends when there’s a bit more time it’s nice to just relax and have a soak. I must admit one other reason lately is because I’ve started using my “Fun” bar which I got from Lush weeks ago as a little treat for myself. It’s essentially an all-purpose Play-Doh for the bath. So, you can use it as bubble bath, for your hair, for washing and of course you can play with it if you like. I’ve been curious about them for a while because well, funnily enough, they do look quite fun! I bought the Monsters and Aliens one which comes in 3 coloured sections; pink, purple and green. These are complete with cartoon eyes for each part which is quite amusing!

Just a bit of fun!

What else have I been up to? Well I’ve been having food and cocktails the past two Fridays which has been nice! Last Friday evening, me and a work friend went to Ask Italian in Sutton Coldfield. I am such a fan of Italian food so this was a perfect choice. We had dough balls to share to start and then for the main I had a pasta dish with pancetta, chicken, cheese etc. It was so nice, though I felt like I could have exploded afterwards! Italian food is so filling, but SO GOOD! This Friday just gone I went to Verdo Lounge which is a nice café/bar which is in walking distance from where I live. I’ve been a few times over the years for drinks but have never eaten there. I started off with a tea pot cocktail which was actually really nice. It included things like rose wine, gin, jasmine tea etc. so I was a bit wary but thought it sounded interesting so gave it a go. I then ordered a dish called Bang Bang Chicken Noodles but when it came it was barely warm! Not the best first impression of the food, but to be fair they took it away and gave me a fresh dish which was piping hot and another tea pot cocktail on the house. Result!

It looks like just normal tea at least!

Yesterday, I went on a long overdue trip to a big Chinese supermarket called Wing Yip which is about a 15-minute drive from where I live. It’s much bigger than the usual Chinese supermarkets you would find in town, so there is a lot more choice and there’s 4 of these stores in the UK in total. I love going to Asian stores as I find them really interesting and there are so many ingredients that you can buy for cooking that you can’t find elsewhere. Oh, and you see fruit there that you don’t see anywhere else – I saw what looked like very hairy strawberries which I believe originated from Thailand. Even with all these unusual items, I still came out with a lot of noodles and treats as per usual! In particular, I bought a Pandan cake there which was from the Caffe Chino brand which is a Chinese café located in the centre of Birmingham. I had it last night with a pot of tea; my Saturday nights do get quite rock and roll sometimes I must admit! It actually tasted really nice and it was the fluffiest cake I’ve ever had – spongier than an actual sponge! I also bought lots of ramen packets as they’re always handy to have, also got some instant Miso soup, Mochi etc. All the good stuff, of course.

Wing Yip’s big arch.

As you can see, I lead such a varied and interesting life! To be fair, next weekend and the week following will be busy with me going to Germany and then having the rest of the week off work so sometimes it is just nice to relax. I’ll be taking my dad out at some point during this week off as I’m going to be missing Father’s Day while in Berlin so that’ll be good too. As they say, it’s the calm before the storm. I do find a lot of the time I’m either not very busy or I’m busy. I must admit, I am really looking forward to having my first holiday of the year, even if it is only going to be for about four days. As always, I write a subsequent travel blog after I come home from a trip and this will be no exception, so I can’t wait to discover lots and have lots of write about. I’ve never been to Germany before (unless you’d like to count a 2 hour stop over at Frankfurt Airport for a connecting flight to Hong Kong) so I am so excited to see what Berlin has to offer!

Don’t Look At Me – Lush Face Mask Review

The mask in all its blue glory

As the bank holiday weekend draws to a close I wanted to treat myself earlier so I ended up buying a couple of things from Lush. Over the years, I have bought many things from Lush, but never any of their face masks and today I decided to finally buy one out of curiosity because with Lush products you can always tell the difference. And what an interesting name for a face mask that you will hope will make you want people look at you because your skin will obviously look so much better! I must admit more than the name the thing that attracted me to this face mask was the vivid blue colour of it. There were a couple of other masks there that I was deciding between but this one was definitely the most striking.

These face masks cost £7.25 each for a 75g pot and must be kept fresh in the fridge and used up within a few weeks. So not the cheapest or particularly long lasting, but good if you fancy treating yourself! My skin has been looking incredibly dull as of late and this one was recommended to me by the staff at Lush. I can see why by looking at the ingredients; for example, lemon juice is one of the ingredients and lemon is known for its brightening properties. This mask is rice based and it’s the crushed rice that is the exfoliator and so it doubles up as a scrub as well as a mask. Interestingly, looking at the ingredients there is also organic silken tofu listed which helps the mask to moisturise. I must admit I don’t think I’ve ever had a face mask where tofu is listed as an ingredient or even knew about its skincare benefits. I’ve learned something new today!

Looking like a Smurf for a bit

So, what is it like? Once I opened the pot the zingy and zesty scent of the lemon and grapefruit was very noticeable – but in a good way, it gave off a light and fresh feeling. The mask itself felt quite gritty because as mentioned it is an exfoliator based mask but the application is easy enough and starts to dry properly after about 10-15 minutes which is the recommended amount of time for leaving it on. I ended up running a few errands while it was drying so I left mine on for a bit longer but it doesn’t really matter. When taking the mask off the rice was fairly gentle and you can feel yourself buffing away all the dead skin cells which in turn also gives you a brighter complexion. I must admit though having the mask on itself looks quite funny – I look like a Smurf extra!

Straight away my skin felt a lot smoother, moisturised, cleansed and generally better in itself. Though I wouldn’t say I would have looked in the mirror and been shocked at the difference I can tell it has done it good. Despite the small pot and feeling like I generously put it on myself, I feel like there is still so much left so I am a little concerned as to how I am going to use this all up in time! This is mostly because I wouldn’t recommend using this any more than about once or twice a week because of how rich the ingredients are, but I’m sure it’ll get used somehow. I’m looking forward to seeing my skin improving even more and I think I will definitely try some of the other face masks Lush has to offer in the future.