Let's get Lush

Hello everyone, today I bring you a post based on products from lovely LUSH. After running around town buying some staple cleaning products in order for me to catch up on belated cleaning duties, I noticed my conscience was niggling away at me to go treat myself. obviously ,I caved in and went into one of my favourite shops for bath and beauty products, LUSH!

I had in mind what I wanted to buy and when the lovely lady in the store offered her kind help, I couldn't wait to quiz her on what was to offer. knowing I wanted a fresh face mask, I felt a little overwhelmed looking at all the choice but the assistant gave me step by step options that were suitable to my needs.

I asked the store member for a fresh face mask that would be suitable for dull skin and was suggested "Brazened honey". "Brazened honey" includes ingredients of honey, lime, ginger, sage and coriander. It's main ingredient is Kaolin clay that is commonly found in most packet face masks. This face mask even contains small ground almond shells , allowing it to gently exfoliate the skin also. The mask smells fresh and fruity, very expected from lush. I want to eat it but I retract.

I was even politely given a live demonstration in store of the mask on the back of my hand ,to decide if I felt it was suitable for me.  

As the mask is kept in the fridge, it feels soothing as I massage it in to my face and the small ground almond shells start their exfoliating duties. I leave the mask on for 10 minutes before noticing little parts of the mask beginning to flake off on my top, indicating it's time to be washed away.

As I wash it off,  my skin is left feeling smooth , vibrant and dare I say glowing ?! I was so impressed that I continued to use the mask consecutively for three days , each time being impressed by it's effects. Now, I don't recommend using any exfoliating product on the skin three times consecutively, but I was so impressed that the contents did what it said on the tub that I couldn't resist pampering myself with it again and again. I have only just used less than half a tub of product, so this has been great value for me also.

My only downside to this face mask is that it was a little drying on my skin though I do have dry skin and the result may be different for those with oily skin types.

All fresh face masks have a short shelf life , which may be disappointing to some but it further implements how fresh the ingredients really are. The shelf life sticker can easily be seen on the back of the tub and what's amazing is that if you collect 5 empty face mask tubs, return them in store for a free one on them!

"Brazened Honey" retails for £5.95 in Certain LUSH stores.

"New" shampoo bar

The next item I purchased from LUSH was the "NEW" shampoo bar. I have used the lush shampoo bars in the past and have been impressed by how long they last and how well a job they do at cleaning my hair. Noticing my hair was looking rather limp and thin that week, I grabbed this for it's scalp stimulating properties that targeted towards my tired hair.

"NEW" shampoo bar has a strong clove and peppermint scent, that definitely awakens my senses if not my hair. "NEW" shampoo bar includes ingredients of clove oil, glycerine, cinnamon and nettle with it's main cleaning agent being sulfate. There's been an added cinnamon stick on top of the shampoo bar for decoration, which even though I appreciate , does actually scratch my head when I use it.(ouch)  

As soon as you swipe this shampoo bar on wet hair, you are emerged in a rich and thick lather. It's amazing how much lather you get from just a couple of swipes of this shampoo bar on your head, and it really cleans the hair thoroughly. My hair looked shiny and clean and I can already see that this shampoo bar is going to last me a whole month. 

Shampoo bars are also great for travel because they are light and there's no risk of any pesky leaks in your college bag.

"NEW" shampoo bar retails for £5.50.

"The Godmother" soap bar.

After explaining my love for snow fairy shower gel that limits it's perky face at Christmas time, the store assistant recommended I try "The Godmother" soap bar. I didn't actually purchase this little slice of soap, the assistant said my "smiley attitude" had made her smile too so she gave me this piece of soap for free! Yes, nice gestures do still exist ! I wanted to just hug her when she popped this in my LUSH bag but I held back as I thought that would be a tad inappropriate. 

so if you are a lover of snow fairy shower gel, then you will be spell bound by the sickly sweet scent ,( reminiscant of pear drops), of "The Godmother".  This fuchsia and pink coloured soap includes rapeseed and coconut oil. I have enjoyed using this soap , with it's fragrance lingering around the bathroom long after I initially used it. It can at times be very strong smelling, so bare this in mind if you're likely to get headaches from strong scents. 

I was able to get a light lather though I don't think I will be repurchasing this soap any time soon. I have dry skin, and even though this didn't exacerbate that, I believe lush will have other shower soaps to offer with more moisturising properties. I also find myself going through bar soap far more quickly than I do with shower gel, though I do keep this bar in a little tub to prevent if from vanishing in the shower when I'm not using it. 

"The Godmother " retails for £3.10 per 100 grams. 

"Popcorn" lip scrub.

The final treat I have to show you is "Popcorn" lip scrub."Popcorn" lip scrub contains only six ingredients and smells of , surprise, POPCORN! I actually don't like popcorn but love the flavour. Confused?

This lip scrub smells delicious with jojoba and cocoonut oil to moisturise the lips once they've been scrubbed. I dip my finger into the tub , scrub away gently in small circular motions and then lick away all the sugary and salty goodness. I enjoy using this cute little tub of a lip scrub, but I can't help but feel that it's expensive when considering the main ingredient is caster sugar.

This lip scrub does it's job ,leaving me with soft and smooth lips and I am eager to try the other lip scrubs in the range available though I am in no rush to repurchase a scrub any time soon. 

"Popcorn" lip scrub retails for £5.50 for 25 grams. 



I hope you have enjoyed this little review of some Lush products I have to show you. LUSH is a great company who have the most helpful and polite staff I have ever encountered in store. I recommend keeping products in tubs or the tins available to purchase in store to keep them in good condition and prevent them from washing away down the plug hole too fast. 

#Haul : Skincare and Mens fashion

Who's still keeping up with their new years resolution? If you are, then keep going and bravo!  Nothing better to knock away any January blue's than a bit of retail therapy. I have to admit I haven't been so eager for the January sales this year. It makes me sad to see all lovely things I had bought a week prior to Christmas at 70% off , so I only snatched a couple of items from the sales. The skincare items included in this blog are mostly Christmas presents though they are things I have wanted to try for a while. 

~ floral hoodie , River island ~

So the first thing I have here to show you is this floral hoodie from River island. No surprise with the run up to spring, floral prints have burst onto the shop floors and I'm loving them. I chose this hoodie as not only did it have a dark floral design but it contrasted well against the light grey in the centre. It allows me to wear a bold floral print without it being like having a bouquet thrown at your face. I'm still on the hunt for a floral back pack but I hope to grab one soon.

~ Beanie and gym T-shirt, New look ~

The next items I bought were from new look. There's a lot of baseball, sports and gym style shirts out in stores at the moment with a vast majority made in mesh. Though I have't got one of those yet, I did pick up this red sleeved sports top which is easy to throw on on days were I just want to chill and lounge around the house. The black beanie also pictured above was £3 so if the price didn't sell itself to me, the accent hash-tag defiantly did. I can't resist a hash-tag!  I love seeing people out in about in town wearing black beanies and white shirts, the contrast of the two colours draws my eye.

~ Skincare~

With a new year and a new start ahead of me , I also got some new skincare.  Majority of the skincare is from superdrug's optimum range. The great thing about when I got these products is that they were on 3 for 2! I have tried the apple skin renewal moisturiser from Iuperdrug and really enjoyed using it so I have now ventured into their overnight skin renewal serum. As well as their apple skin renewal range I received two products from the super grape antioxidant line. The sturdy plastic packaging for both of these looks more expensive than it actually is ( see picture below) . The day cream has an SPF 15, they are both 50ml and both paraben free. I look forward to testing and reviewing these for you.

~ Badger balm , Lip balm set ~ 

 (excuse the chunky thumb). I have something to rival my trusted and beloved Burt's bees lip balms. I'm yet to try this lip balm set but the flavours include tangerine breeze, pink grapefruit, lavender & orange and vanilla Madagascar. errrm yum! With ingredients including beeswax, virgin olive oil and rosehip , I can't wait to tuck into these and smother my smacker with them. Has Burt's bees met it's match ?

~ Clarins , Liquid bronze self tanning ~ 

Clarins liquid bronze self tanner is a product I see and hear continuously in the youtube community. After a small debate with myself, I decided to give it a go. I hear great things about this product and look forward to writing a review about it in the future.You just add a small amount to a cotton pad , wipe it over your face and your done. Simple.Though this retails for around £18 , you do get 125mls of product making it great value in comparison to so many other face self tanners. 

~ Bodyshop, camomile silky cleansing oil ~

The last product I have is a face cleansing oil. It's the fourth bottle pictured above. unfortunately I didn't take a snap of it on it's own. With more and more people becoming more conscious of their skincare and what's in the products they use to clean their faces, cleansing oils have hit the town hard. I've noticed in the youtube community and stores a lot more beauty oils and balms are being favoured so I've decided to try them also. This is the body shop camomile silky cleanse off oil that has a light , clean and slightly sweet scent. I can't wait to slap this on my face and discover the results.

So that is the end of my haul. A little long winded perhaps but I wanted to show you all the things to expect reviews for in the future. Have you tried any of the products mentioned above? I'd love to hear from you, so feel free to leave a comment or add me on Instagram.

The mint apple :)