Thanks to the power-outage at work, I had time to put all this together!
So this will probably be a longer, image heavy post to make up for not posting much over the past week!
I'm not going to do a Lush facial or bathbomb review quite yet just because I don't think I have tried enough to be able to compare and review them adequately. So for now, here is my review of my favourite, staple Lush products!
To start off, for those of you who don't know Lush or don't know it well, Lush is a large international retailer that works
very much like a small company. They do minimalistic packaging as you saw from my stash photos because they too don't want to put any marketing costs onto their products. They don't do advertisements or commercials outside of their quarterly 'Lush Times' which is more of a catalog than anything else printed on recycled newsprint paper. They are environment friendly, many of their products are vegan and they are very much against animal testing and only buy their products from fair-trade and organic sellers/producers. They are a company of high moral standards. They would even hold off from producing one of their lines if they cannot find a fair-trade provider (couple of months ago, their henna dyes were all out-of-stock due to the fact that they couldn't order from the best henna providers in Iraq). Their customer service is also great! Their sales associates are trained and really know their Lush products and I've never encountered a pushy or rude SA. They are there to help and you can tell that they all love the products that they help you with. Everything is hand-made! A lot of it is made locally in Vancouver (where I'm from) too =D. And the best part, you're also able to sample everything in the store (except bathbombs, but they have demos for those in the store)! They give you a good amount to try out first and their refund policy lets you return things pretty smoothly (I've never had to return anything, really). They are not cheap though...but you know that the higher price isn't from packaging and marketing, but for paying for the labour of handmade products (made in Canada so you know they're at LEAST getting $8/hour, though I think its more like $11), and for the high fair-trade, organic quality products. They have gotten big purely through word-of-mouth or from winning awards from magazine polls/reviews and they have a HUGE following (much like mmu addicts) and community at the NA Lush Forum and also the original UK Forum. *takes breath* okay I think that's it for now just on the company itself!
Now onto the products! hahaha
I can't pinpoint what are my favourite Lush products so there is no ranking to my reviews. BUT I will start with my very first Lush product that I still love and hold dearly:
Seanick Shampoo puck!
So this looks kind of funny right? I was first intrigued by Lush from these solid shampoo bars and my sister bought me this while I was just standing in the store with her (she was secretly trying to reel me into Lush XD). I wanted something that would strengthen my hair and make it shiny and soft and the SA recommended this. The lather from this thing is RICH and I've never gotten better lathers from traditional shampoos (like Pantene and such...I used to be a HUGE fan of Pantene...) After my hair dried, it was oh-so-voluminous and soft and shiny and made my hair feel so light since it doesn't leave residue or buildup. I have used that puck so much now that it's broken into pieces but I'm still using it. My best friend also uses this and she's on her third one now just cause she uses it daily (after 9 months). I bought more shampoo from Lush so I rotate but I always end up going back to Seanick. And let me tell you, seaweed is GREAT for your hair...it nourishes it sooo much...my second favourite shampoo also has seaweed in it, Hard (which is for hard-water -- lots of mineral water) makes my hair super shiny too...eventhough I live in a soft-water area.
American Cream Conditioner
This is my favourite scent from Lush! I buy other products (like ShimmyShimmy massage bar and Flosty Gritter bubblebar) just for the similar scent! Again, it makes my hair shiny and I love walking around and just getting a whiff of the scent here and there. A lot of Lush products smell different in the pot/bottle but once you use it in your hair or on your skin, they smell sooo delicious. I am a fan of sweet scents as you will come to realize from the rest of my reviews =) What I love about AC is that you can also use it as a leave-in while your hair is damp just to smooth out any frizz or whatnot. It's light enough so that you can leave it in without it being greasy but strong enough to make your hair oh-so-soft. I am about half-way through this bottle...my best friend is on her second. We got into Lush at about the same time but again, I bought a WHOLE lot more than her so I'm always on rotation. They're considered staples when I leave them by the shower and this one is never put away in my Lush closet! haha the SA's from Lush keep recommending this to me too...time and time again! haha I just tell them that I already love it! =D
whew...this is taking much too long...I will try to keep it shorter!
Honey I Washed the Kids
This scent is very close to my love for AC, in fact I think they are about tied. This is also a Lush best-seller and one of their trademark products. I normally buy this for people to get them hoooked! haha I have one of these by my sink for my hands, one in the shower, and one ready for travel packed away! Lush usually has those sales where you reach $35 and you get freebies...whenever I'm close to 35 and don't know what else to get, I just stock up on HIWTK and buy the difference of my total to reach 35! haha No other traditional and big brand soap has ever made my skin as soft as Lush soaps...and the lather and scent of this is so rich and delicious. Most hard soaps make my skin dry (like Dove and Ivory) but since Lush soaps are so jam packed with natural goodness, all of that is put back into your skin to nourish and moisturize it.
Buffy
Buffy was a gift from my sister (to also hook me into Lush XD) and I will be buying another one once this runs out! I have a lot of dry patches on my legs and this one scrubs them nicely and leaves a nice moisturizing layer of cocoa and shea butter behind to even out my patchy dryness. I also love Sweet Japanese Girl, which is the facial bar equivalent to this bar which gets rid of the dry patches on my face. That one is just more mild for your sensitive face =) Just be careful not to rub too hard, or it will start to hurt! Exfoliate gently like you would with any other exfoliator =)
Prince Shaving Cream
Yes, Lush sells shaving creams too and now I am never going to those foaming shaving gels! This does take some getting used to. It's like putting on a thick layer of moisturizer (but its not as thick as moisturizers and more whipped) and then shaving with that (mind you, when I'm in a rush, I really do just shave my legs with my Lush moisturizer XD) Since its a cream, it moisturizes your legs so much more than a foaming one would (none of those chemicals are added for the foaming effect) and ooo you can just SEE the difference after I've used Prince to shave my legs with (they glow and shine =D). I should do a test with traditional shaving gels on one leg and Prince on the other to look at the difference...but I have no more of that junk at home...haha Here is another image of Prince just so you can see the creamy-ness of it!
Ultra Bland and Ocean Salt cleansers
These two are my favourite cleansers and the best part is, I love to use them individually and also together at once! Ultra Bland is oil based, and as someone with a super oily complexion, you would think that I would stay clear of this stuff. But after reading some reviews (btw, you can read reviews for ALL the Lush products by hundreds of people at
www.lush.com), it taught me that it's because oil draws out oil. This is also a great make up remover because it just allows
all your makeup to slide off gently. But since it is oil based, I do want to make sure that I am not leaving too much oil on my face, so I like to use Ocean Salt to wash off the excess! Ocean salt has actual ocean salt in it so it is pretty abrasive. Many sensitive skin people stay away from it because of that but I've found that mixing the cream-based UB with it makes it just the right amount of exfoliation and using Ocean Salt alone has gotten rid of all my blackheads and has cleared out the dirt buildup in all of my pores. OS is also great for manicures and pedicures! And mixing it with Lemony Flutter cuticle butter (another staple favourite) gives you the softest - hands - EVER.
H'Suan Wen Hua
I still haven't figured out how to pronounce this properly...its something in mandarin! But this hair mask makes your hair super shiny, soft, and light! Some people don't like the smell because it is a very strong cinnamon and vinegar scent. But like a lot of Lush scents, you grow to love them and eventually you crave for the smell. I like to leave this in my hair overnight and am left with frizz-less, shiny locks after I wash it out =D It also makes your hands super soft after you spread it all throughout your hair. This is one of my gift items to others to hook them in! hahaha
The Comforter
This is a wonderful concoction of berry goodness and let me tell you, you get TONS of bubbles out of this thing! The big bar can last about three baths and my bubbles OVERFLOW and I'm like a kid again playing and blowing bubbles around. As most reviewers say, they're Hollywood bubbles! Like the baths that you see in movies =D oh nooo...I think I've exceeded my upload limit...I was going to show photos of the bath with the bubbles!
I guess that's a sign to end this long post! I have more favourites, mainly the moisturizers, that I forgot about while gathering my favourites since they were sitting by my bed (I moisturize before sleeping) so I will make another post for those (maybe, I sort of mentioned them here anyways).
Well there you have it, the Lush of my life =D
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