Lush Face Masks, A Round Up

There are still a couple that I've to get my hands on, but I've tried out the majorty of Lush's facemasks, and I am here to share my verdict to help you decide what you need for your skin!

Don’t Look at Me

It smells absolutely delicious, the scent reminds me very much of the ocean salt face a body scrub, which I have used in the past and adored.  So it was with great delight to find a facemask that would somewhat replicate the good of the scrub, as Don’t Look at Me is also very exfoliating.  Upon applying, as you spread the mask over your face you really feel the ground rice rubbing into your pores and working its magic!  You can also feel the lemon juice seeping into the pores and creating a tingly sensation.  Afterwards my skin feels cleaner, smoother and looks a lot brighter too! 

Mask of Magminty

Let me start by telling you this, never have I ever felt my skin so squeaky clean after just one use of a facemask.  This product is a Lush self-preserving face and body mask, designed to gently clean and exfoliate whilst worn.  Made with peppermint oil and primrose seeds – the ingredients work amazingly together, making your pores feel super tingly and leaves the feeling of an extra deep cleanse.  To use, I like to smooth a generous layer of the mask over my face, paying special attention to my nose, cheeks and chin – as these are the areas that tend to breakout most often.  I tend to leave it on between ten to fifteen minutes at a time, as I find that this is the perfect amount of time for it to dry without giving it the opportunity to flake off.

Cup’O’Coffee

Cup O’ Coffee is the mask that you need in your life if you like to exfoliate like me! I feel a need to give my face a good scrubbing when I wash it, and so anytime that I do use a facemask – I tend to give my face a scrub with an alternative product after… just for good measure.  The ground up coffee beans used in this mask are just perfect for this, as the particles are so, so fine that you can safely scrub away at your skin without having to worry about actually causing it any harm.   When you scoop the mask out to apply to your face, it’s a really sticky constituency – but yet is super easy to smooth across your face.  What I really like about applying it is that you can give your skin as scrub as you apply it.  I like to use a semi generous amount over my face and leave it on anywhere between 10-25 minutes at a time.  This mask doesn’t dry or harden as you wear it, which is great because it makes it so much easier to wash off.  When I’ve given my skin its coffee fix, I use some warm water to rinse it off, scrubbing as I go to give my skin a really good exfoliation.  After use, my skin looks as though it’s just been given a new lease of life!   Sometimes I swear its glowing.  It also makes my skin  feel really smooth and clean – especially around my nose where I tend to get the blackhead breakouts. 

Catastrophe Cosmetic

Catastrophe Cosmetic is packed with lovely ingredients including blueberries, rose, calamine and chamomile which when are mixed together in this concoction make a gorgeous smell, which I think is exactly like Parma Violet sweeties!  For best results, I recommend using this mask on freshly washed skin – I know that some people like to apply a light moisturiser beforehand, but I personally feel that this would prevent some of the benefits on the mask.  One of the things that I love most about this product is that it is perfect for problematic skin like mine.  I enjoy it because my eczema causes my face to dry out abnormally quickly – and I always need to apply a moisturiser straight after I wash my face.  All of the ingredients help to soothe my skin, especially the areas around my mouth and eyes, as these tend to be the places that suffer the most during a breakout.  The one main problem that I do have with this mask is that it tends to flake off as it is drying – sometimes even before it has dried in completely.  I like to wear any facemask for around 15-20 minutes at a time, however I have come to find that this mask tends to only be suitable for around a 10 minute session before it starts to flake away.

Cupcake

Two of my favourite things in this world are mint and chocolate, so after reading all about the different fresh face masks that Lush have to offer Cupcake stood out to me for this exact reason.  Packed with cocoa butter, mint and cocoa powder this thick and creamy mask promises to draw out dirt and impurities, as well as giving your face a deep cleansing experience.  This is a really thick and creamy mask – so as you apply it takes a lot of rubbing in to get the maximum coverage from the amount you are putting on.  This of course is not a bad thing, as it allows you to rub in the minty goodness, and gives your skin a real tingly and cleansing experience at the same time!  I like to use Cupcake all over my face and give my skin a generous coating with each application – however I think it would work perfectly well for a treatment a across the tea zone or other problem areas too if preferred. What I love the most about Cupcake is that it really does give my skin a proper good cleansing – I always feel that my pores have had a good clean with every use, and it doesn’t take any time at all to get the results. 

What's your favourite from the bunch?  Any you'd recommend I'd try?

Until the next one,

You Beauty Box

After my lust list post, I went ahead and placed an order for this months You Beauty Box - the samples looked amazing and I just really fancied splurging a little bit.  I signed up for the gold membership which allows you to pick 4 products you would like to try for just £10.95 and free delivery - which is a pretty good price if you ask me!  Alongside my picks, I also recived a sample satchet of a serum, a travel sized toothpaste, a £5 off voucher for a boutique in London and a save £20 when you spend £60 or more on another online website - not bad for under £11!  Here's what I went for this month - which was actually a pretty hard decision to make as there were lots of good samples to choose from!

Nuug Revitalizing Facemask

This cute little pocket sized facemask is something that I’ve been dying to try for a while – but didn’t fancy paying a bomb for online!  I had heard so many good things about the Nuug range, they’ve got something for every skin type and have now also created a mask for dry lips (which I really need to try now!)  My box contained The Revitalizing mask – flaxseed and peppermint oil working together to revitalize and plump dill, tired skin for a radiant look.  I applied the gel like mask to my face, and as I spread it evenly it began to create a really tingly and fresh feeling all over, which I adored because I love to feel that the mask is actually doing something.   The little pot suggests wearing for 5-10 minutes for the best results, however I kept mine on for about 25 minutes.  I was having a chill morning midweek, and felt that my skin really need a little extra tlc.  This mask really didn’t disappoint, it left my skin feeling so smooth and clean, and even better the tingly sensation continued even after I washed away the gel!  I would definitely recommend washing off in the shower though, as it was quite tough and a little messy washing off over the sink.  I finished my little morning pamper with the sample sized sachet of Verso Super Facial Serum, which I really liked the feel of.  It was a thick cream/gel like consistency, and really helped my skin keep that fresh and clean feeling throughout the whole morning!

Bloom and Blossom Rejuvenating Mist Spray

I am so in love with this, it is so refreshing on my bare face, and feels really nice when I spray some onto my make up. I've found that a couple of sprays of this bad boy really helps my make up set, and I don't look like a sweaty patchy mess anymore at the end of any work shift! It smells like lemon and lime, which is one of my all time favourite scents - I just love citrus!  They also supplied a really decent sized bottle too, this 40ml spray will last me at least 2 months I reckon, as I don't wear make up everyday.  It's perfect for chucking into my handbag for a freshen up on those days when I'm non stop, and fits nicely into my make up bag too.

This Works

This is another fab product that I'm glad I got to try out, as it feels so good!  The cream it really thick, yet when you apply it to the face it turns into this really light weight cream, you can't even feel it when it's rubbed in!  I've been using this as a base to my make up, and I've noticed that it really does make my pores look a lot smaller, especially on my cheeks where I'm most conscious of them.  This is the perfect primer for you make up, or the most amazing moisturising for those days when make up just doesn't sound appealing in the slightest. 

Oils of Life

If I’m being completely honest, this particular sample was one that I wasn’t really crazy about – which is sad as it was one of the ones that I was most looking forward too.  It’s quite a small sample at around 7ml, but I’ve had three or four uses out of it now and still have some left in the bottle.  I’ve been using it at night after a shower, and it does get rid of that tight skin feeling  - however it’d not done anything special.  It’s probably something that you need to use for a long period of time to see a difference – so if it’s ever on sale I will maybe give it another go!

Overall, I'm really happy and impressed with this purchase.  The majority of the samples were great sizes, enough to get a proper feel for the product so I know now if I should splurge on the full size bottles or not.  The You Beauty Box is really flexible, you don't need to subscribe for several months at a time, and you can stop whenever you like too which I love.  I'm going to wait and see what next months box will bring - this probably won't be something that I treat myself to every month - but I certainly look forward to the next one I place an order for.

What's your favourite beauty box right now?

Until the next one,

Cupcake

Have you ever been in desperate need of applying a face mask, but decided against it because you just don’t have enough time to apply it, wait for it to dry and wash it off before going about your day?  If that sound about right, then fear not my friends – for the mighty Lush have just the facemask for those times!

Cupcake is one of my go to face masks from Lush, which I manged to pick up free back in May when I returned five clean black pots to my local store.  It’s a fresh face mask – meaning that you have to keep it in the fridge for the best results.  Because of this, I find that any time I am able to pop into store, it’s tend to be one of the ones that sells out the fastest, so I always miss out.  Thankfully though, I popped in on a Wednesday – a Lush delivery day (yay) – so I managed to bag myself this old friend.

Two of my favourite things in this world are mint and chocolate, so after reading all about the different fresh face masks that Lush have to offer (you can read about Catastrophe Cosmetic here) – Cupcake stood out to me for this exact reason.  Packed with cocoa butter, mint and cocoa powder this thick and creamy mask promises to draw out dirt and impurities, as well as giving your face a deep cleansing experience.  Thankfully, my skin has been pretty good to me for the last few months after I switched up my diet a bit – so I don’t have to worry about major breakouts for the mean time.  I did however fancy a real good cleansing experience, and so since my other other options at that time of day were Rosy Cheeks and Don’t Look At Me – which evidently are two which I have tried in the past which I have enjoyed but not repurchased since – I decided that Cupcake would do the job just nicely for me on this particular occasion.

Like I said before, this is a really thick and creamy mask – so as you apply it takes a lot of rubbing in to get the maximum coverage from the amount you are putting on.  This of course is not a bad thing, as it allows you to rub in the minty goodness, and gives your skin a real tingly and cleansing experience at the same time!  I like to use Cupcake all over my face and give my skin a generous coating with each application – however I think it would work perfectly well for a treatment a across the tea zone or other problem areas too if preferred.  Now for the good bit, it only take around five minutes for Cupcake too do its magic and start to dry up on your face, so depending on how much time you have to spare, you can have this bad boy off and left with glowing skin in a total of just 10 minutes top!  Although I tend to leave mine on for an extra five when I have the time – I promise that five is enough time to give you that “just cleaned” sensation! 

What I love the most about Cupcake is that it really does give my skin a proper good cleansing – I always feel that my pores have had a good clean with every use, and it doesn’t take any time at all to get the results.  It’s definitely one that I will purchase myself again in the future – and it’s so good that I’m even prepared to pay for it and use my black pots for a different mask next time!

What’s your favourite fresh face mask right now?

Until the next one,

Catastrophe Cosmetic

So after running out of all of my last Lush facemask, and having manged to save up a total of 13 black pots since the festive period, I decided that it was time to trade in five of them in exchange for one of their fresh facemasks.  Not sure what I was l would come away with seeing at I headed in the day before their weekly delivery, I was delighted to find that they had several pots of Catastrophe Cosmetic, which is one that I have had in the past and very much enjoyed.

Catastrophe Cosmetic is packed with lovely ingredients including blueberries, rose, calamine and chamomile which when are mixed together in this concoction make a gorgeous smell, which I think is exactly like Parma Violet sweeties!

For best results, I recommend using this mask on freshly washed skin – I know that some people like to apply a light moisturiser beforehand, but I personally feel that this would prevent some of the benefits on the mask.  One of the things that I love most about this product is that it is perfect for problematic skin like mine.  I enjoy it because my eczema causes my face to dry out abnormally quickly – and I always need to apply a moisturiser straight after I wash my face.  All of the ingredients help to soothe my skin, especially the areas around my mouth and eyes, as these tend to be the places that suffer the most during a breakout.  As my eczema had been acting up this last couple of weeks, it was really nice to be able to apply a facemask that was beneficial to my skin – but not harsh enough to cause it any irritation. 

This fresh face mask is a very thick mixture, which although is very nice for when you’ve applied it to your face and are enjoying that chill time during the treatment - because it is so thick I find that it can be a little difficult to apply to the skin, as large pieced tend to clump off as you rub it in.  To avoid this, I recommend applying a little at a time and rubbing it in as much as possible to avoid any wastage.

The one main problem that I do have with this mask is that it tends to flake off as it is drying – sometimes even before it has dried in completely.  I like to wear any facemask for around 15-20 minutes at a time, however I have come to find that this mask tends to only be suitable for around a 10 minute session before it starts to flake away.  That being said, I really do enjoy washing this mask off, as when you start to run away at it with the water, it turns into a beautiful paste like consistency which feels really moisturising and smells amazing!  When washed off completely, I don’t even feel the need to grab at my moisturiser the second it is washed off, which is unusual for my bad skin.  Even better yet, I’ve found that this mask instantly makes any angry blemishes look slightly less irritated, which is always a boost!  This mask will always make a return in my fridge whenever my skin starts to act up, as it is the perfect way to soothe any irritation and add a little more moisture!

What’s your favourite fresh facemask at the moment?

Until the next one,