Actually, it's two trips to Lush that I will be talking about. A few weeks ago, I decided to try a more natural skincare routine and so I went to Ulta for the Juice Beauty Organics to Clearn Skin trial Kit and Lush. I usually try not to get too specific about my locations, but I really want to talk about the Newport Beach Fashion Island Lush Location. The person that helped me was either Sierra (or Cierra?). I asked for her name, but I wasn't quite sure about the spelling.
I came in telling her that I wanted to try a more natural skincare routine and was so helpful. She asked for my skin type and I told her that while I was back home, my skin was so dry but it's mostly normal to slightly oily on the t-zone in Southern California. I've been using a lot of Acne products lately and the majority of them are targeted towards oily skin and so they tend to dry me out. I also told her that when I break out, it's cystic acne that is red and sometimes hurts.
She told me that her skin also gets really dry and so she showed me some of her favorites and another sales associate came over to help that had more normal skin. If you haven't been to Lush before, they have warm water bowls out so that you can try out their products. Sierra tried out Let the Good Times Roll and Celestial on one arm and I believe Dark Angels on the other arm. She also used a different moisturizer, but I can't remember what it is right now. She recommended the spot treatment, Grease Lightning, for future breakouts too.
I was expecting her to push some products for me to buy, but I was so surprised that she didn't! After washing off the products and asking me which ones felt better, she packed up some samples for me and told me that I was pretty much done. She also included a sample of Ocean Salt for me (I have already tried a sample of this) since she said it was one of their best sellers. She said she couldn't give me a sample of Grease Lightning, but I ended up buying the full size anyway since I wanted to try out a new spot treatment.
For the second trip, I ended up buying the full size of both the cleanser and moisturizer AND a fresh face mask. I'm done with my story now, but I'll be describing the products and my experience with them next!
A quick "swatch" of the products.
Out of all the products, I'm most impressed with Let The Good Times Roll. I wouldn't really describe this as a cleanser though and instead a very moisturizing gentle scrub. If you can't read the picture above, you can click to enlarge it. The smell is so wonderful - it's sweet and kind of like cake. It's moist, but it's crumbly. The magic really begins when you mix water into it. You can mix a little or a lot depending on what kind of texture you want. The amazing thing about this is that my face feels so soft and moisturized after using it. I use this mostly in the mornings to scrub off any dry flakes that my face might have. It really helps my foundation go on better. At night, I sometimes use this after my oil cleanser because it doesn't work with removing waterproof makeup.
I bought the standard sized tub of Let The Good Times Roll and it's supposed to last for two months with regular use. I didn't realize when I bought it that there was also an expiration date on it. Mine was made on May 30th and is supposed to stay fresh until August 30th of this year.
The SA that talked to me in Lush also said that this could be used as a mask. She said to have a thicker amount and leave it on for 10-20 minutes. I haven't tried it yet, because I have other masks but it seems interesting to do when my skin is feeling more dry.
I was debating on mentioning it, but I'm going to include a small blurb about Ocean Salt. It's a scrub that includes coconut and lime that is supposed to scrub and soften the skin. I don't like how my skin feels after I use this. I guess the only way I can describe it is "Squeaky Clean." It's a good scrub, but not for me.
Celestial is a thin moisturizer that helps clam down the skin. It's also geared towards dry skin. I thought the texture would be too thin to moisturize my face, but it can be too moisturizing depending on your skin or climate. I have to use the tiniest amount (less than a pea size) and it can moisturize my whole face. It feels like half of it sinks in so well and then there's a layer that sticks around for a bit. I think this moisturizer will be better for me in winter, but I really do like it right now. I had some dry spots a couple of days ago and this helped so well with that. The vanilla scent is also strong and surprise surprise - it smells like cake.
There's also an expiration date for this product, but it's longer. It was made on May 12th of this year and will expire on July 12th of next year.
Like Let the Good Times Roll, it is in a tub. I was disappointed in that because the tester is in a bottle with a pump. Some of the moisturizer would get onto the opening and make it harder to open. It's also not that sanitary since you need to keep dipping your fingers in.
Cosmetic Warrior is the mask I got and it combines garlic and tea tree to keep the skin clear and bright. Fresh masks usually expire within two to three weeks. I bought mine on July 17th and it's going to expire on the 27th.
When I smelled this in stores, I thought the smell was okay. I mostly got it because of the tee tree oil since that ingredient helps with acne. I didn't realize how strong the garlic scent was until I actually tried it at home. I really hate garlic because of some bad food I ate when I was younger, but I'm not going to hate this product just because of that. In the picture above, I avoided my nose area so that the smell wouldn't be as bad. I also don't break out around my nose that often anymore and so I just applied it to the areas where I do break out.
I'm kind of on the fence for this product. I've used it twice and it did look nice afterwards, but not amazing. For me, this mask is not necessary. I have found other masks that work better and faster that last longer too. The fresh face masks don't last that long and I don't want to spend $7 every 20ish days for something that I don't love.
Grease Lightning is also a product that I don't love as much. It's gentler than the Clinique Acne Solutions Clinical Clearing Gel that I mentioned before, but it's too gentle. The amount on my hand can definitely cover my whole face and even my neck and so it's great for the price, but I want something stronger to help with my acne. I like to use this on my smaller non-cystic acne spots and it works okay enough for those areas. There's a very slight sticky residue after rubbing in the product, but it'll go away. The tea tree smell is there, but it also goes away quickly.
Final thoughts: Out of all the products I've mentioned, I really recommend the Let The Good Times Roll Cleanser/ Scrub. The moisturizer comes to a very close second if you have normal to dry skin. This combo has calmed down my acne, but it doesn't completely gotten rid of it and so I'm still on the hunt for some better masks and spot treatments.
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