Quickie Review: Lush Ultrabland

Oh, cleansers. So boring to write about, yet so essential! While I’m a diehard Bioderma fan, I wanted to try something that might help my poor dry skin out a little bit more during the really bitter late winter we’ve been having in the UK. Bioderma doesn’t dry me out at all, but it doesn’t have any hydrating properties and I was hoping as Ultrabland is essentially a bunch of oils, it might give my skin a little extra help.This little spiel on the Lush website sold it to me:

“Mo says that her skin is of such a dry and sensitive type, that when she wakes up in the morning it is so tight that she can’t even smile. She uses Ultrabland daily to put some elasticity back into her skin and protect it for the day.”

Well. Who can doubt Mo’s glowing testimony? The website also recommends that if you really have problem skin, using it alone will help “bring it back into balance.” I am always really sceptical of claims like this and see them as a marketing gimmick, but I thought I’d give it a go seeing as Lush seem to be overly enthusiastic about the product. Well, I gave it a couple of days, but I just couldn’t do it – I need the extra moisture! I could image if your skin is oily, or sensitive, that regime might work better for you.

The product is a thick, balmy, slightly yellow cream. I personally hate the smell – it smells of honey. Real honey, not fake, synthetic honey, and it’s not a scent I like at all! However, it’s not overwhelming and I’ve got over it. Looking at the ingredients list, it really does seem to have something for every skin problem – almond oil and beeswax to make a nice oily base to grab dirt and makeup, honey which is antiseptic, and rosewater to reduce redness, to name a few. So I  had high hopes!

Usage wise, it’s very easy. I massage it all over my face and use cotton wool pads damped in hot water to take it off. You only need a small amount to ‘dissolve’ all your makeup, and while I prefer to double cleanse with it, you don’t really need to with light makeup. I don’t take my eye makeup off with it though – it does work just fine but it’s a little more of a cumbersome procedure than using my Bioderma.  I don’t feel the need to wash my face with water afterwards and I don’t find – providing I don’t use too much which I did at first – that it After a week or so of using the product I had lots of breakouts on my forehead – just small little blackhead types. I can only attribute them to Ultrabland really, as I’d changed nothing else and when I normally break out, it is always, always on my chin. However, they went away within a few days and I’ve not seen them since.

My pot is pretty much finished now and it’s been a little over a month. I’ve not been using it every day, but at least three times a week, so it’s lasted a decent amount of time. I won’t say this is the wonder product that Lush say it is – at least for me – but I feel it’s contributed to softer skin and takes my makeup totally off without leaving my skin tight or dry and it actually feels like it’s hydrating it as well. I will be repurchasing it as it’s great for those days when you need to double cleanse and I like that it helps my moisturising routine along a bit!

Ultrabland costs £6.75 for 45g and is available from www.lush.co,uk

Have you got a favourite Lush skincare product?

Quickie Review: Lush Twilight

Yeah, yeah, we all know how bath bombs work and I think we've all reconciled ourselves to the fact that we get overexcited about fizzy beauty products. But I love the scent of this one so much, so I'm going to have a wee rave.

 

 

Despite fizzing away fairly quickly, the lovely lavender water gets choc-a-bloc with iridescent glitter... very beautiful for bath water (hyperbole? Moi?) and perfect for sparkle addicts like me! I also like the blue appearing as it dissolves - a fair few Lush bombs change colour as they melt away which I kind of enjoy.

My favourite thing has to be the scent though! Where once I'd wrinkle my nose at Grannyish lavender, when mixed in with the sweet, Horlicks-like malty smell I can't get enough of it. Perfect for sleepy time, it's a bit pricey for regular use at £3.20 a pop, but luckily for my newly lavender-loving schnozz, Lush have brought out a shower gel version for Christmas. Hurrah!

 

Lush Christmas Goodies!

I was lucky enough to have Lush White City host their Christmas launch at my work this evening and the kind ladies let me come along and play. I used to be a fairly sporadic Lush buyer, but since I’ve taken more of an interested in my skin I’ve been much more of a fan! This is the first time I’ve experienced the brand beyond shopping in stores, and the stories behind each product and their development and the enthusiasm of the staff really reminded me of the care and attention that lots of our favourite indie companies put into their products.

Here's what I came away with:

 

 

Three shower gels! I know, I know. But I really loved them all! Everyone knows about the lovely Snow Fairy – it returns every year at Christmas and has a super-sugary, candyfloss and pear drop scent. I find it very sweet in comparison to my usual choices for perfumes and bath stuff, but a little bottle for particularly girly days can’t do me any harm! Interesting to see it's been given it's own label this year - the only non-gift set item to have seperate packaging which I think is a testament to how big a cult fave this is! Twilight is a lavender-based scent, with a strong malty note running through it – like Malted Milk biscuits! I don’t do lavender on it’s own normally, but I really do like this combination – good for sleepy time! I've had the bath bomb before and loved the scent but the showergels are more pocket friendly in the long run, so I grabbed a bottle instead of another bomb.

My absolute favourite out of the whole Christmas range was Ponche, a new shower gel for this year and I cannot WAIT to get naked with it. The bottle says “with orange juice and a shot of tequila. Inspired by traditional Mexican punch, this shower gel is boozy, fruity and uplifting.” The boozy scent is very subtle, but it’s certainly there and give this a richness that makes it stand out from typical spiced orange Christmas scents. I think this would be a nice unisex scent and it’s a lovely warm, wintery smell without being overtly Christmassy (I know what I mean!)

 

I’m not going to list all the products (Check out Musings of a Muse for the full lowdown!) but there were a couple more products that really stood out:



The popcorn lip scrub was DIVINE. I literally stood there eating it. It tastes like salted caramel popcorn and it’s just scrumptious! I do think that sugar scrubs are always overpriced as you can whip them up with items from your kitchen whenever you like, but nonetheless it’s no more expensive that a posh lip balm, it’s effective and my god, it is yummy in my tummy.



Lush have a North Pole soap this year (it’s bloody massive – about as thick as my neck and it comes in a massive pole) which is basically like a big candy cane! The white portion is peppermint and it was so creamy and sweet alongside being very fresh and minty. Not bad at all, Lush! I'll be going back for this, I think my other half might like it.

 

 

Do you get excited for Christmas collections or do you wish companies kept the same things all year round? Does falling in love with a limited edition product make you a sad panda?