FIRST LUSH HAUL!!!

01/27/2010

SO, I've been excited about this LUSH Haul for WEEKS, ever since watching a You Tube Video on LUSH. From there, I watched about two dozen more, then next thing you know, I finally placed my own order! YAY!


If you haven't heard about LUSH, it's a "Fresh Handmade Cosmetics" company selling mostly bath and body products that are fresh, organic, vegetarian, free from animal testing, and free (or nearly free) from preservatives. As such, it's actually (I think) a little overpriced for what it is (I mean, technically, you can get something pretty similar from Burt's Bees for cheaper). However, it's FUN, and sometimes THAT is what matters, no?


Now, this is only a HAUL, not a review, as I've only used these for about 2 days each. I don't feel that's enough time to evaluate skin/bath/products, but I will give first impressions. Reviews will come later.


What really attracted me to LUSH, I think, was mostly my bad experiences with my horrible skin. As I've said before, my skin is incredibly sensitive, and I seem to end up having bad reactions to most products that I try (apart from Philosophy and Bliss Spa products, when it comes to skincare!). I think I'm allergic to some minuscule ingredient that I haven't yet discovered, but my list of "OK" products is fairly small. (I even had to give up on Clinique's 3 Step System. It really made my skin soft, but it made me breakout and itch, even after finishing up the 30 day trial sized system. I was totally sad. I wanted to love Clinique). So, if you don't have irritatingly picky skin, you may be perfectly happy with a bar of Dove. If so, this may not be the product line for you.


But, let's just jump on in!


1.
ROCKSTAR SOAP
$7.95 for 3.5 oz. *With all products, prices/sizes vary IN store. You can even obtain free samples IN store, but I unfortunately am two states away from any of these shops!*
Okay, first thing, forewarning, is that these don't smell as perfumed as I've come to expect from my bath products. They look handmade, and they do all have an organic-y waxy undertone to the scent. In all honesty, I think LUSH may indeed be an acquired taste, as it seems that many YouTubers initially hated the products then, over time, became LUSH junkies.
But, that aside, this one, as you can see, is a lovely shade of bright pink. The scent is a mixture of wax, Cherry Cola, and pink bubblegum, which I really thought was nauseating in the packaging; HOWEVER, I did actually enjoy it in the shower. And, the scent lingers on your skin... in the sense that you can actually catch whiffs throughout the day, but it's not so strong that anyone else noticed I smelled like Bubblegum.
With the soaps, do be careful to either cut them into chunks and put the chunks in the shower one at a time OR to actually store them outside the shower... because if you go to the trouble of spending 8 bucks on a soap, it better not melt in the shower!!


2.
HONEY I WASHED THE KIDS SOAP
$7.95 for 3.5 oz
I LOVE this soap! It's a very muted caramel scent, with a touch of honey, although I think it's more weighted on the side of the caramel. It's sweet, it's soft, and it's oh-so-cute to look at! Again, at $8 for a soap, this is definitely more of a luxury item, but I really do enjoy it, and if all goes well, I'd purchase it again in the future.


3.
BABY FACE FACIAL CLEANSER
$9.35 for 1.2 oz
This is VERY small for a cleanser that's almost $10, but it's cute. It's small and round with an adorable little face, and the product promises to give you baby soft skin. It's made of shea butter, cocoa butter, fresh avocado, and is intended for sensitive skin. It works pretty good as a makeup remover (except not as great with mascara) and was not the least bit irritating to my eyes, which was shocking. It DOES leave my skin feeling soft, which I love. It will take some time for me to see if it does anything to improve/degrade the quality of my skin, so we'll see.


4.
$8.95 for 3.5 oz.
Okay, this is one I actually almost didn't purchase at all. But, OMG, I'm so glad I did. I actually already went and ordered a 2nd LUSH order JUST to get another one of these. I LOVE it!
The base of this soap is calamine, and it actually smells a little like calamine lotion, which is actually strangely soothing to me. It also has chamomile, rose, and tea-tree oil, and is intended for sensitive/problematic skin. I've been using this morning and night for about 4 days, and my skin loves it! Usually, after I wash my face, my skin looks splotchy and red since it's so easily irritated. With this, though, I don't get that effect at all. If you have really, really dry skin or you don't like the scent of calamine lotion, this may not be the one for you. But for me, it was love at first lather!


5.
THERAPY MASSAGE BAR
$8.75 for 2.2 OZ
The idea behind massage bars is pretty much that you can either use this for an actual massage, or you can melt the product a bit into your hands (or just rub from the bar directly) and use it more as a lotion. Since I have extremely dry skin at this time of the year, the idea of a massage bar was VERY intriguing to me, so I definitely jumped right into this one!
The therapy massage bar is recommended for sensitive skin as well as stretch marks, although I can't really speak to how it works on the latter after just a few days use. The scent, on the website, is a mixture of lavender and orange, although I think it just smells "organic-y" and cedar-ish if you can imagine a scent like that. I'm not a huge fan of the scent, but I DO love the way my skin feels when I smooth this bar all over my arms and legs. Be careful, though, these are pretty moisturizing, and they leave a bit of a sheen to the skin. You may want to wait a minute or two before putting your clothing back on!


6.
MANGE TWO MASSAGE BAR
$9.75 FOR 3.5 OZ
This massage bar is a lot bigger than the first, although the concept is pretty much the same. This one claims to be a mixture of white chocolate, honey, and peppermint, although it smells more like a mix of white chocolate, cedar, and wax. It does leave my skin EXTREMELY soft, although the scent on this one is a bit strong and it actually will compete with a perfume/body spray if you use that. It feels SO nice, but I'm just not at all crazy about the scent, so I'll have to wait and see on that one.


If you're interested in LUSH but feel the prices are too high, you have a few options
1. Visit the store if you have one. In the store, you can specify your size and can definitely find something to meet your budget. Online, the prices and sizes are more set, so there's less room to downsize.
2. Try the UK LUSH site. I'm told that with current conversion rates, it comes out quite a bit cheaper than the USA site. I just wasn't patient enough to figure out the conversions along the way, plus some of the items/promos are different.
3. Sign up for the LUSH emails. LUSH seems to have a lot of promotions. Right now, if you check out with code GIFTFORYOU10, you get 15% off your order. If you order 2 massage bars, you get a free tin to store one in. On the UK site, the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes promotion is still ongoing, in which you get large samples of 9 LUSH products for a pretty decent price (the US price was $25; I haven't done the conversion to determine the UK cost).

OKAY, that's it for now. If you use LUSH, like LUSH, hate LUSH, or have ever been to a LUSH store, tell me about it in the comment below. As always, thanks for reading!