The Rough With The Smooth Solid Body Scrub - Lush Oxford Street

I started working for Lush in October of 2014, which means I was just in time for Halloween holiday products; all kinds of magical wands and sparkly pumpkins and it was in this season of trick-or-treating, I found one of my favourite Lush products to date; Lord Of Misrule Bath Bomb. 

Named after a pagan festival ‘The Feast of Fools’,  in which the town would name a peasant king for the day and allow all sorts of feasts and frivolities, this patchouli and black pepper scented bath bomb is the ultimate blend of sweet and spicy.  Who wouldn’t want a speckled green bath bomb that looked to be wearing a crown? I was sold. 

Of course, with my love of the bath bomb I was also quickly introduced to the perfume, the FUN bar, the shower cream and eventually...the scrub. 

When deciding what to pair with my (currently) Oxford Street exclusive Rough With The Smooth solid body scrub, I thought why not make it a complete Lord of Misrule bath? I fished out my penultimate Lord of Misrule bath bomb (the problem with loving a seasonal product!) and threw it in the bath with a splash of Lord of Misrule Moisturising Shower Cream for some bubbles. 

The shower cream is a little creamier (shocker) than the shower gels I’ve used from Lush before but in actuality it’s just thicker and glossier as well as being a little more moisturising so it gives great bubbles too. The lovely Lucy at LulabelleMUA picked me up a mini bottle of Shower Cream from Lush Oxford Street; they sell them in four sizes 100g, 250g, 500g and 1kg. 

Now, this past week we’ve been having a typical English summer – torrential rain followed by a day and a half of blistering heat and then back again. But of course, this means that I too followed natures course and behaved like a true Brit – I threw on a strapless summer dress and stayed out all day, playing in the sunshine. By 6pm the following evening I was uncomfortably pink, being the English Rose that I am I had forgone the sunscreen and burned like a bitch. 

Give it an extra four days and although I’m no longer sore from the sun, I’m peeling.
Sexy as hell, right?
For someone who usually takes pride in being soft-and-smooth, any kind of peeling freaks me out. Luckily, The Rough With The Smooth seemed perfect; murumuru butters and castor oils are said to be healing and supporting in the recovery of general skin complaints (including burns - score!) and hydrating for the skin.  Pairing that with the perfect creamy-come-crisp scents of Lord of Misrule and this product was just what I needed. 

Aesthetically, when you first use Rough With The Smooth it looks great; a warm, reddish brown with smooth on one side and (you guessed it) almost corrugated/rough effect on the other. Once used, the red fades a little and you are left with a brownish sugary square which melts away pretty quickly if left near the spray of the shower.
Obviously, the aesthetics should come second to what the product actually provides and it does – mine lasted a good amount of time as I remembered to put it away after each use, as opposed to leaving it out on the shower rack as I have done before (sorry, Sugar Scrub.) The Rough With Smooth is a really great scrub, I much prefer it to Sugar Scrub because it’s not too harsh but my skin feels buffed and soft – gentle enough for my whole body, but harsh enough for those tough spots.

After my bath which included all of the facets of Lord of Misrule which I currently own, I feel great – most importantly, I smell great. Lord of Misrule is one of those scents that lingers forever keeping you comforted and happy throughout your day. 

Lord of Misrule, as a scent, will always remind me of my first Christmas at Lush – making new friends, crazy days attempting to squeeze £15k+ worth of stock into a truly tiny stock room and laughing at the hysterics of serving, what felt like, fifteen customers at the same time, consistently, for eight hours a day. 

If you wanted to layer your scents even more, like I’ve mentioned, you could also introduce the perfume (solid or liquid) and the FUN bar. And why you wouldn’t want to, I just don’t know...

Rough With The Smooth Solid Body Scrub
Lush Oxford Street Exclusive – £4.95
“All of us have dead skin - some of just better at scrubbing it. If you like it rough take this sugar-packed scrub into the shower and scrub all over to reveal softer skin underneath, nourished with murumuru butter and castor oil.”

Rub Rub Rub Solid Body Scrub - Lush Oxford Street

One of my favourite products that Lush sells at the moment is Rub Rub Rub. It’s around £7 for a big black pot and it’s truly glorious. Which is why, when the time came for me to make my pilgrimage to Lush Mecca (aka, Lush Oxford Street) I, of course, picked up the new SOLID formulation of the Mimosa and Orange flower beauty .

Around the same size of current Lush product You Snap The Whip (which I happen to love), Ox St Rub Rub Rub is a pale blue colour and feels a little powdery to touch; each block has a delicate cherry blossom dried and pressed into the top which just makes the aesthetics of this product near enough perfect to me. 

The solid block is far easier handle than the original black pot version of Rub Rub Rub and there’s no chance of losing a blob of this to the sinkhole. With the same perfect scent as the black pot version, the new formulation remains true to its predecessor and comes up as a worthy opponent.

Some people like to use original Rub Rub Rub straight onto dry skin for a rougher scrub, and if you like it rough maybe the naked/solid version isn’t for you. Whilst the ingredients are mostly the same, the liquid content is obviously far less so to scrub yourself, dry, with the solid block would hurt. However, you could wet the block and then scrub onto dry skin if you are craving a harsher exfoliation. 

Whilst the product is aesthetically beautiful, it didn’t seem to be too popular when I visited Lush Oxford Street at the end of May, however I urge you all to go out and buy it. It may not be a brand spanking new product with all kind of newness to discover, but it’s a winner in my book. 

I had doubts that due to the solid nature of the reformulation that the super-silky feeling I have after using original Rub Rub Rub wouldn’t be the same with the block; I was wrong. That silky feeling is still there and the scent lingers just the right amount of time. 

Rub Rub Rub Solid Body Scrub.
Oxford Street Exclusive - £4.75
“A final cherry blossom flourish tops this sea salt scrub blended with Illipe and Cupuacu butters. Scrub your body in the shower or the bath to exfoliate dead skin leaving you smoothed and florally fragrant.”

Lush: Skincare Secrets

In the world of blogging and vlogging and hauling along with not only high street hauls but also high end hauls and drug store hauls it’s time to go back to basics. 

As wonderful as I’m sure Liz Earle and Sunday Riley are with their Micellar Water, Hot Cloth Cleansers and various Face Polishes (?) I prefer the basics; basic packaging, basic ingredients with the best results. 

It’s very easy to get lost in all the science talk of collagen this and plumping, rejuvenating, hydrating that but at the end of the day, I find that products that promise too much let me down a lot because they’re too focussed on trying to do everything, they can’t achieve the one thing they’re really meant to. 

In the morning and evening, I clean my face (the best way I know how) with Lush products.
First things first, the make-up comes off. 

Ultrabland Facial Cleanser:
Described as “beautifully simple and very effective” the cream to oil cleanser works wonders for me. This kind of formula is really popular at the moment but Lush sometimes gets overlooked for skincare because of all of the exciting bath products.
“Almond oil, rose water, beeswax and honey” make this product one of the simplest yet also the most highly effective on my skin. Sadly, the beeswax and honey mean it’s a no-go for you Vegans out there. Ultrabland removes dirt without “stripping away the skins natural defences” because almond oil is used as a ‘carrier’; it mimics the skins natural oil; sebum. This makes it easier for the skin to absorb the soothing rose water and moisturising honey.
Although I was initially wary of rubbing oils into my skin, I have never regretted using this cleanser. Because of the skin-clearing, moisture balancing effects of Ultrabland it feels like a high-end cleanser, without the high-end price tag. 

Eau Roma Toner Water:
After the cleansing comes the toning and I’ve chosen Lush’s light and floral toning water for the task. “Rose water to help soothe redness whilst lavender water will balance the skin” and it does exactly what it says on the recycled black plastic bottle. This toner hydrates the skin effectively, whilst soothing at the same time and clears the skin of any leftover traces of cleanser.
Because I have major frustration with any breakouts on my face, I struggle to find the right cleansing routine. Previously, I have over used products that have been too harsh, such as The Body Shop’s Tea Tree Toner because I thought my skin was bad enough to need it; the standard over emotional, over dramatic reaction. The Tea Tree toner from The Body Shop was too strong for me which meant my skin cleared initially and then proceeded to break out far worse than it had before – my mistake.
Eau Roma is gentle enough to look after my skin, whilst the ingredients are effective enough to get the job done. 

Grease Lightening:
After all my make-up has been removed, I like to apply a little Grease Lightening to any breakouts or problem areas. “Nip any breakouts in the bud without upsetting the skin around the area” which, again, is exactly what it does. One thing that I really love about Lush (among many) is that they don’t make any over compensating promises. Their ingredients do the work for them because they are effective; that’s all that matters. This spot treatment is antibacterial and antiseptic with ingredients like rosemary, thyme and tea tree as well as being rich in antioxidants from grape juice and witch hazel (which is also an anti-inflammatory and astringent).
It’s light enough to be applied in your morning cleansing routine, during the day if needed, and at night post-cleanse.
I don’t like products that claim to be the be-all and end-all when it comes to clearing breakouts but I’ve never felt better in my skin than now that I have a stable routine in place. 

Enzymion:
With one whole lemon in each pot (fact, not scientific jargon to confuse you) this facial cream smells lemony fresh without smelling like bleach which some beauty products somehow manage.  Fresh fruit contains enzymes and “alphahydroxy acids to remove dead skin cells” and brighten complexion which is definitely apparent when using Enzymion; one of my biggest moans about my skin, especially in winter, is that I feel like my skin is very dull and almost translucent. Enzymions zesty ingredients brighten my skin and make me feel happier to go about my day. It sinks in really, really well and doesn’t feel heavy on my skin. I tend to have quite an oily T-zone, but the mattifying properties in Enzymion work wonders and I feel just that much more confident. Usually winter calls for a more heavy duty moisturiser but my skin doesn’t call for it. I can imagine that most people would find Enzymion most useful during the summer months.
I don’t tend to heap the cream on, either, a little goes a long way with this cream which makes it even better value for money.
It comes in a standard Lush ‘black pot’ and counts for your ‘5 black pots’ free face mask which is always a winner!

(For those who don’t know – if you bring back 5 CLEAN black pots to your local Lush, you can choose a free fresh face mask to say thank you for recycling!)

It may sound materialistic and vain to go on and on about skincare and how it makes me feel, but for most people the first thing you see in the morning is yourself in the mirror. If you can’t find any good points in the reflection, then it doesn’t start the day as well as it could. It’s nicer to wake up to clearer skin. Clearer skin = happier days.

Overall, taking into consideration the balance of effectiveness with money spent the best product will usually always come out as a Lush product. You can find all the information about the products above by clicking on the links above, or on the Lush website. Also, anything in those sexy little italics, is direct from Lush. 

Here's an article from Lush that you might find interesting too, it's all about their definitive guide to cleansing! I can also give a thumbs up to products mentioned here, especially Mask of Mag, Oatifix and Angels on Bare Skin.

All of the Lush online channels are listed here;
Lush UK Online

Lush Kitchen Online
Lush UK Twitter
Lush UK (Southampton) Twitter
Instagram – LushLTD
Instagram – LushSouthampton

REVIEW: Lush Cosmetics - Celebrate Body Lotion & Golden Wonder Ballistic

Being a resident Lush fan and newly employed Christmas Temp has given me the opportunity to not only be able to afford new Lush products, but to also get to try them earlier – everyone’s a winner.

I’ve got my trusty pot of Karma Kream so I never looked into the other lotions but then I met Celebrate and it was a match made in heaven for days when Karma just isn’t quite what I want.
Of course, even though a limited edition Christmas product, the 225g cream comes in the standard Lush black and white pots. When I’m done with Celebrate, I’ll be adding it to the ever-growing pile of ‘clean-black-pots-to-take-back’ pile. If you’re unaware what I’m rambling about, where have you been?

One of Lush’s many recycling schemes involves customers bringing back five empty, clean black pots – we send them back to the factory for recycling and you, as the customer, get a free fresh face mask out of it. I’ll say it again, everyone’s a winner. 

“A sumptuous body lotion with oranges, almond oil and lime. As it’s Christmas we’ve also added a splash of cognac to put you in the festive mood.”
With generous helpings of the citrus ingredients, this slightly thicker lotion packs a whole zesty punch and is the perfect product for getting jazzed up before heading out to your office Christmas Party – leave the whole room wondering, what on earth is that amazing smell?

This lotion is so bright, it’s a refreshing break from all of the predictable ‘christmas’ scented products from companies across the board at this time of the year.  “Lime and Brazilian Orange bring cheer to the body and mind. Almond oil and cocoa butter will moisturise and soften the skin.” Celebrate is packed full of goodness, particularly in Almond Oil which is high in vitamin E which is so good for your skin, along with Fair Trade Organic Cocoa butter. A fully Vegan-friendly product, this just adds to the Vegan range that Lush has curated – working toward creating a better workplace, creating better products.

“This lotion shares its fragrance with Golden Wonder bath bomb making it a perfect way to layer the uplifting blend of essential oils whilst softening the skin. It’s also self-preserving, giving us true cause to celebrate.”

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Golden Wonder is probably one of, if not, my favourite Ballistic at Lush at the moment. It is a chunky square ballistic, covered in shimmery gold lustre with a cute bow design on top; looks like a little Christmas gift.
If you get the chance to see one in store, give it a shake – you can hear the little secret ballistics inside rattling around.  There are three little different coloured ballistic pebbles, surrounded in a blue ballistic casing, which is then completely covered again in the white and gold ballistic layer, so not only does it smell amazing – it’s awesome to watch, too!  If you’re giving a Golden Wonder as a gift – don’t tell them about all the layers, let it be a surprise! 

Because Golden Wonder is quite big, with such an array of colours and an awesome scent package to boot, this product is perfect for a gift for pretty much anyone - it just keeps on giving.

With the same fragrance as Celebrate body lotion, the uplifting Orange and Lime oils refresh you from spending your days trawling around town doing your Christmas shopping. Or, perhaps you work in retail too and need a break from the world when you get home – if so, this fella is your guy.

Although the original Golden Wonder, retailing at £3.75, does have a cheeky splash of cognac to keep you on your toes, there is an alcohol free version for those inclined. The original should be available in most stores across the UK for sure, and the alcohol-free one I know for sure is available on the Lush Website.

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