NEW LUSH GOODIES!

Anytime I walk into a Lush store, I find myself wanting to look at everything despite how many times I've already looked at it before. Mid-September I stopped by to pick up one of my favorite and regularly purchased products, the Cupcake fresh face mask, and I ended up leaving with more than I had intended to purchase.

For my birthday this year, my mom went to Lush to get me a gift-card and the salesperson was kind enough to give me some free products for my special day. This was the first time I had ever gotten the cupcake mask and I fell in love with it after the first use. First off, this stuff smells like a chocolate mint cupcake. It's so pleasing to have on my face! After I've left it on for about ten minutes and have rinsed it away with warm water, my skin feels smooth and brand new. My skin is seriously so soft for days! It also helps a bit with oil control. By the end of the day, my face is really shiny but cupcake keeps it down to a minimum. The only bad thing about it is that since it's fresh, it has an expiration date. Typically the mask is good for a month or a little more, but there have been times when I've bought one that's been in their fridge for a while and I'll only have a week to use it before it expires. 

Since I bought the cupcake face mask, the salesperson asked if I have trouble with oily skin and acne. Yep, that's me, so she recommended that I try the herbalism cleanser. She tried some of it out on the back of my hand, and it felt like heaven! It's got little scrubby things in it, which are actually rice bran for exfoliation, and left my skin extremely smooth and bright. I compared the backs of my hands after I had tried this out, and the difference was insane! Herbalism has no soap in, but uses rosemary oils to help tame problematic skin. Trust me, this will get you clean! And since's there's no soaps, you can get it really close to the eye area and I know we've all gotten soap in our eyes while using facial cleansers. I've been using this every morning for about three weeks, along with the cupcake mask a few times a week, and I've had tremendous improvement. I have almost zero oil on my face at the end of the day and my breakouts have really calmed down. There are a few minor cons about it, such as it's messy. After you've used it, it kinda likes to hang out in your sink so make sure you rinse it down the drain. Overall, this is a fantastic product and I would definitely give it a try if you've got oily/problem skin! I'm definitely going to start buying this regularly now.

After using herbalism on the back of my hand, the salesperson (I really wish I would have asked her her name!) gave my some vanishing cream moisturizer to try. On my hand, it felt so light and dreamy. I really liked the way it felt but wasn't up to buying it so she gave me a free sample container of it. When I used it at home after I had washed my face, it was thick and heavy. I found it difficult to apply and it gave my skin an almost sticky feeling and was rather greasy too. According to Lush's website, this is supposed to be great for oily skin because it will feel lightweight without leaving residue, but I think it's just the opposite. This has great reviews on lush.com so I'm not sure as to why it felt great on my hand but not my face. I wasn't a fan of this and won't be buying this in the future.

Whenever I went to check out, the cashier saw me look at the charity pot lotions earlier and asked me if I wanted a small pot. I'm such a sucker for charities that I just couldn't say no. It's my weakness, but at least it's a good one! All the proceeds from the lotion goes to fund and support grassroots charities all around the world. The lotion smells like almonds and butter, it's yummy! I love to rub this on after I've taken a shower. It makes me feel like I've got baby skin! It also works great on parts of the body where skin is thicker, like elbows and feet; for some reason my left elbow is always really rough and now it's completely smooth. It's like magic. Another plus is that it's in a black pot, so if you save up five of those, you can bring them to Lush and great a free face mask! This is a great product so I'd suggest you get it. You're doing yourself and someone else some good!

For the most part, these are really great products and I'm more than happy with my purchases. If anything I've talked about has sparked your interest, stop by a Lush store and they'll be more than happy to let you test stuff out and give you samples!