Review: LUSH Sultana of Soap

After trying a few LUSH soaps, I am on a road of no return, I simply love their soaps! I have tried Honey I Washed The Kids, Sexy Peel, Sea vegetable and Noubar, and now I am trying out Sultana of Soap.

Yes, you can expect raisins in your soap! This bar soap is creamy and sweet smelling with the raisins in it and it totally look like a gigantic nougat I love how the creamy texture of the soap makes it so easy to lather (unlike Sea vegetable) but you can also expect the soap to turn soft easily if it's always in contact with water. As such, always make sure that your soap dish is dry and away from the shower head.

Although Sultana of Soap is creamy, it does not leave my skin feeling moisturised like the Dove shower foam advertisement. However, I like it that my skin feels clean and fresh (especially in Singapore's humid weather) without the squeaky clean and drying feeling. Scent of the raisins also lingers on my skin as well as making my bathroom smelly nice. :)

This soap is a definite re-purchase for me, together with Honey I Washed the Kids and Sexy Peel. For you readers out there who are keen to give this soap a try, do check out LUSH store at Wisma Atria. :)

Review: LUSH I Love Juicy Shampoo

In the hot and humid Singapore, it is not surprise that many have hair woes. For me, I totally hate that I have greasy scalp and dry hair (yes, they call it combination hair!!!). It's always a challenging to get the right shampoo for me because I need something that can thoroughly cleanse my greasy scalp and yet not too harsh to my dry ends. And so far, from all the trial and errors, it's always expensive shampoo that works or cheap shampoo that doesn't. No surprise hur?

I saw a lot of good reviews abt LUSH Big shampoo that work wonders for greasy scalp but it seems the reviews also mentioned that it is extremely drying to dry ends. Seeing this, I know I cannot use this for me, my dry ends will be totally fried! As I was surfing LUSH UK site, I chanced upon I Love Juicy shampoo which could be the answer that I am looking for!

Picture source: LUSH UK

After purchasing the smallest bottle at 100g from Wisma outlet at $16.00 (not cheap, I know!) and trying it for 3 weeks, I have to say I love it! My scalp feels clean and fresh after using it and the citrusy smell of pineapple and mango lingers on my locks which smells great. It does not smell as citrusy as lemon sa it is coupled with a tinge of sweetness from pineapple and mango. Despite having a good cleanse of my scalp, my hair does not feel dry. However, I do realise I cannot use this shampoo consecutively for 3 days, by the 3rd day, my hair starts to feel dry and coarse. So what I am doing now is to alternate I Love Juicy with my normal shampoo (X brand): 2 days shampoo X and 1 day I Love Juicy. This combination works fine and also more pocket friendly. :)

One thing to note is you have to SHAKE I Love Juicy shampoo before use as it is made from fresh fruit and there will be residue in the shampoo that will sink to the bottom of the bottle. Just give it a simple shake, squeeze out a 20 cents coin size shampoo and lather into your hair.

For you out there who is having combination hair, I would strongly recommend this shampoo to you!

LUSH Fresh Farmacy Cleanser

In my recent LUSH haul, I also purchased Fresh Pharmacy cleanser to give it a try on my combination, sensitive skin with the monthly breakouts. Saw pretty good reviews about how some ladies got saved by this cleanser when nothing seems to help their skins with breakouts. Although as I aged, breakouts became more of a hormonal monthly affair, it still continues to bothers me as the whole popping to diminishing process can easily be 2 weeks, so I thought why not give this a try? Not too ex anyway.......

This cleanser comes in a bar form and honestly, I am not quite a fan of bar cleanser. Travelling with a bar cleanser can be a pain and the bar cleanser tend to turn mushy and disgusting looking after much use. So what I learnt from my experience with Ettusias bar cleanser was to cut up the soap in smaller pieces and use them bit by bit. This way, I can continue to keep the unused cleanser in my fridge and just use the small bit of the cut soap.

Fresh Farmacy contains calamine and camomile to sooth sensitive skin and coupled with rose water, tea tree and lavender oil, it helps to combat spots with their natural properties. Contrasting to Angel on Bare Skin cleanser, Fresh Farmcy lather up!!! I love FOAMS. The smell might not be enticing to some as there is a strong calamine scent but it is still acceptable to me. I also notice a slight minty cooling feel on my skin after wash, and this could be due to calamine as well.

I love how my skin feels after the wash; clean and not squeaky clean to cause tightness and discomfort. Makes me feel clean in the certain horrible hot and humid weather here. As it might be a bit stronger than Clarins Gentle Foaming cleanser, I am currently rotating these 2 cleansers: Clarins for day use (since my skin is not so oily and tired) and LUSH Fresh Farmacy for night use (after coming back home after a day of sweat and dirt) and so far it works pretty well. :)

Changed review of LUSH sea vegetable soap

If you guys remembered, I reviewed LUSH Sea vegetable soap sometime back and was ranting on how much I disliked it. But after using it for about 3 weeks, I want to change my comments about this soap.

1 of the peeves I had about this soap was that it does not lather well. Well, I noticed it does not lather well in the first few uses, but after that it does foams up pretty normally. So I guess patience is virtue. Lol.

Although the scent does not lingers long on my skin after shower, it has a 'freshen me' effect on me especially in the recent hot and humid weather. Not beats having a nice cool shower which makes you feel that you just had a swim. I am starting to appreciate this scent....

It is definitely a nice change from some sweet, strong smelling shower gel and soap and I am definitely buying this again.

LUSH Mint Julip Lip Scrub

I have always made it a point to exfoliate my face once a week to prevent breakouts but I have never scrub my lips before. Thus on and off, I do find lipsticks not able to rest well on my lips as there is a layer of dead skin on the surface. As such, when preparing my LUSH shopping list, I made it a point to include a lip scrub in it!

One thing I have to say, this scrub is YUMMY. Yes, you heard me, YUMMY................. After gently rubbing it on my lips, my lips felt minty and cooling and when my tongue touches bits of the scrub, it actually taste sweet and chocolatey.

After the scrubbing, now my lips are baby smooth again, yeah!!!! And all it takes is a small little pea size of scrub so this small little jar will go a long way. :)

My 1st LUSH Spree

Just last month, I organised my very 1st LUSH spree and with the support from my sister and some friends, we managed to order the stuffs that we wanted and split the shipping costs! Yippie!!!

Online shopping is just so convenient nowadays that it is almost impossible not to love shopping in the comfort of your home and just click click away on the mouse and making payment via your credit card. Processing and delivery is very prompt by LUSH UK and I received the parcel just under 2 weeks after my order was placed. On a separate note, I discovered my sister's order of Oatifix fresh face mask was not in the parcel and I tried my luck in contacting them to inform that this item is missing from my parcel. Honestly, I was prepared for the worst case scenario that nothing could be done about it but their customer service was excellent! Not only did they replied my email within 12 hours, the good news is they will send me a replacement mask!!! I am soooooo going to order from them again!

Now, back to my hauls....... This is my personal order:

Top row: Fresh Farmacy cleanser, Mint Julip lip scrub, Sexy Peel soap, Porridge soap, trial size Charity Pot
Bottom row: R & B hair treatment, Noubar soap, Honey I Washed the Kids soap

My sister's friend also got interested in LUSH products and ordered LUSH Lime Smoothie and Creamed Almond and Coconut Smoothie. I have personally not tried the smoothie before but I think they should be good!

V also gave LUSH a try by ordering Happy Hippy and Back For Breakfast shower gel. :)

I am so addicted to LUSH products now!!! I have already came up with my next shopping list for LUSH!

LUSH Dream Cream

I hope I am not boring all of you with another LUSH review. These are just limited products from LUSH that I have and is using and hope it is useful to you guys in considering to try out LUSH products.

This post is dedicated to LUSH Dream Cream, which is a body cream. The texture is light as a body lotion and very easily absorbed by the skin. My personal preference for a body lotion is very simple:-

1) Light texture that is easily absorbed which will not make me feel sticky and greasy
2) Nice fragrance!

Needless to say, LUSH Dream Cream has met these 2 criteria with flying colours! Yeah! Not only is it able to moisturise my dry skin (especially my arms and thighs), I also do not have the uncomfortable sticky greasy feeling (which can be very unbearable in Singapore's humid weather). With the fragrance of chamomile, lavender and rose water in the Dream Cream, it is no wonder that I fell in love with this cream.

The only complaint I have about this product is the packaging. It felt less hygienic to scoop out the cream from a tub as we will be passing germs into the tub as we are scooping. It would definitely be better to be in a bottle with a pump.

I keep LUSH Dream Cream in the fridge and when I use it on my body, it felt cool and comfortable. SHIOK!!!

LUSH Angels on Bare Skin cleanser

This is another review of a LUSH product, Angels on Bare Skin cleanser, which I received as a sample from the store selling LUSH products at Holland Village. After trying it out for a few days (completing the sample), here are my thoughts about it.

As you can see from above, this cleanser has entirely failed in terms of appearance, lol. As LUSH cleansers are mainly made from fresh ingredients, they do not really score in the area of appearance. Their selling point is their high quality ingredients. So anyway, Angel on Bare Skin is made of kaolin clay with ground almonds with rose and lavender added which  is especially suitable for combination skin.

My first thought about this cleanser is the packaging. It comes in a dough form (like pic above) and is packaged in a small tub. You will break a small piece of the dough for cleansing. Unlike any other cleanser that comes in a bottle or tube and you only pump or squeeze out what is required without any contact with the rest of the product (for hygience purpose), it doesn't really work in this case. Thus, hygience might be an issue. But I guess if you are the only one using and you only break off the piece of the dough with your clean, dry hands before cleansing, it should not be an issue.

The way to use this cleanser is after breaking a small piece (around 5 cent coin size) with your clean, dry hands, wet your face. Press and massage the cleanser in your palm and spread it to your face. IT DOES NOT LATHER UP AT ALL, which leaves me wondering if it is effective at all in removing the oil, dirt and stuffs from my face. However, what I like about this cleanser is that, due to the fresh ingredients used, while massaging onto my face, there is a slight 'grainy' texture which acts like a mild scrub. After a good 1 -2 mins massage and rinsing off, I do not get the squeaky clean feeling on my face, which leaves me wondering if my face is clean at all. This works in the same way as Niks Camphor Cleansing lotion which was prescribed to me by a skin doctor years ago, leaving a layer of something after wash even though it claimed to have thoroughly cleanse my face.

The verdict on whether my face is cleansed properly or not comes after applying my toner and moisturiser. My face does feel smoother and do not have the redness which I will have on and off after cleansing (could be due to harsh cleansing). And most importantly is after using it for about 3 - 4 days, I do not experience any breakouts which further prove the point that it does cleanse thoroughly and properly.

I have mixed feelings about whether I will get the full size of Angels on Bare Skin cleanser and the factors deterring me is the packaging (in a tub with the rest of the product exposed and in contact with our hands when we break a piece of it for cleansing) and that it does not foam up. But what I like about this cleanser is the mild scrubbing feel from the ingredients and the after effect my skin experience (smoothness and no redness and breakouts). I am seriously torn...... Perhaps someone who has used this cleanser before can give me an insight from your perspective......

LUSH Sea Vegetable soap

Just last week, I started trying out another soap from LUSH and it's the Sea Vegetable soap. I bought it sometime ago after reading from forums that there is a shop in Holland V that sells LUSH products (at much higher price, of course!!). I do not know what was the weight of this soap that I bought but it cost S$13.20 when UK site is selling 100g for GBP2.89. Wow!!!

It has a layer of sea salt on 1 side of the soap which double up as a body scrub while showering and it has a fresh sea fragrance. However, the intensity of the fragrance of this soap is very very subtle which do not leave any smell on my skin after shower.

Can you see the layer of sea salt?

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with this soap as the sea salt does not scrub very well. In addition, it does not seems to foam up too, and my personal preference is soap or shower gels that lathers well with lots of foam. The fresh fragrance of the soap is a nice change from the sweet fragrance of 'Honey I Washed The Kids' and reminds me of the pool but it would be a plus to have this fragrance lingers on my skin after leaving the shower and not just ending it there and then.

This is a soap that I will most likely not get again but some of the soaps that I would love to try soon are:-

1) Porridge soap (seen so much good reviews on the gentle exfoliation of this soap)

2) Noubar soap (similar to porridge soap but with walnuts, peanuts and almonds)

3) Bohemian (had a sniff of this soap at the shop at Holland V and love the smell of lemon)

Oh, the lady boss of this Holland V shop was trying to convince me to get LUSH skincare too which I stubbornly decline and she had no choice but to give me sample of Fresh Farmacy cleanser (looks sufficient for approximately 3 - 4 days washes). It is suitable for sensitive and troubled skin. I have yet to try this out and will post my reviews about this cleanser soon. Stay tuned! :)

LUSH Honey I Washed The Kids

Not sure how many of you still remember LUSH many years ago when it was available in Singapore, specifically on basement 1 of Isetan Wisma (where the current Agnes B is at now). That time, I really hate the smell of LUSH when I walk past, because it smells TOO SWEET for my liking which I think I was going to puke. However, last year when Tracy shared with me her love for LUSH and helping me get 'Honey I Washed The Kids' soap during one of her business trip overseas and I absolutely love it!! This soap is a hot seller and it smells heavenly with honey (needless to say) as one of the ingredients. It does smell sweet when you are smelling it directly from the bar, but during and after shower, the honey smell that lingers on the skin really is quite relaxing and soothing especially after a hard day at work or an intensive workout. It especially worked this afternoon in soothing and freshening me up after a session of housekeeping with the hot and humid weather here.

After shower, it not only leaves my skin soft and smelling great, I actually felt clean. Not squeaking clean like using a harsh bar soap but clean enough that I feel fresh! I absolutely love this soap. For newbies to LUSH, I would strongly encourage you to try this soap out! Oh, if you would like to stock up on LUSH products, it would be advisable to keep the LUSH products that you are stocking up in zip lock bag placed in the fridge. Given Singapore's hot weather, their products might not last very well.

Guess what, it's time to do some online shopping soon!

Hauls!!!

Met up with my ex colleagues yesterday night for the long awaited dinner and we had great fun at TGIF. It's just 4 ladies plain bitching and gossiping over buffalo wings and beers (they had beers and I had my hot tea since I am still coughing). Nothing beats spending time with a great bunch of people......

T, is a makeup junkie and trust me when i say she is a worse, worse junkie than me. She was the one who 'imparted' her makeup skills to me and rekindle the interest I had in makeup again (I used to love makeup and cosmetics but work got the better of me and I started becoming lazy). And lovely T is always helping me to get stuffs all the time and I really appreciate it. I know how irritating it is to help people buy stuffs at time so I also try to be more automatic and not ask unless she is getting as well / convenient for her.

So.... these are the hauls!!!

Top row: Ombres Perlees de Chanel, Lush Dream Cream, Lush Honey I Wash the Kids, Mario Badescu Almond and Honey Face Scrub

Lower row: Stila all over glow face colour & luminizer, NYX eyeshadow palette in Team Spirit, NYX eyeshadow palette in I Dream of Barbados ( all courtesy of T, freebies for me!!)

I can't describe how excited I am to receive the Chanel palette...... the colours is just lovely! Now I need to think how to use these colours.

The iPhone camera doesn't do this palette justice so you really have to see the real item for yourself and feel the creamy, powdery texture.

T also gave me this NYX palette which is gorgeous (she knew I like purple, hehe)

Love the combination of pink, purple and greys! Looking at these palettes, the colours look pretty similar, don't they?

Would certainly miss T once she is posted to Denmark in end Feb.... 1 lesser person to crap and talk makeup and skincare with.