Lush Brazened Honey Fresh Face Mask Review

Lush Haul 7/20

I've been dying to try this one! Brazened Honey is another one of Lush's amazing "fresh face masks", made from fresh perishable ingredients. This mask includes free-range eggs, lime oil, kaolin clay, honey (of course), and ground almonds for exfoliation. Theres also a handful of spices throw in to warm the skin- sage, juniper, rosemary, parsley, turmeric, and fennel. These ingredients make for an amazing combo, and not to be completely repetitive and annoying, but this ones my new favorite! (until I find another new favorite).

What It Does:

Brazened Honey has been the best mask for my skin thus far- mainly because of its oil pulling properties. This mask literally sucks the oil out of my skin. My problem area is my T-zone, and this mask has cleared up that area after three uses. The clay in this product plays a huge part in sucking up oil, but another huge factor the the success of clearing up skin is Brazened Honey's exfoliating properties. The exfoliation I receive while massaging this mask into my skin creates a deep cleanse, leaving my skin so smooth and oil-free.

How To Use It:

Scoop your needed amount out and massage into your skin-spreading out all over your face. The consistency of this mask is not as thick as Cupcake or Cosmetic Warrior, which makes it easier to spread out/ massage in. You can create a thick layer over your face, or a very thin one. To make the mask thinner wet your face first to make it easier to spread, or mix a scoop of Brazened Honey with water in your hands before applying. I don't add water before applying ( I like my masks thick) , but if I'm spreading it out and I feel its not spreading easily enough I just splash some water in the desired area of my face and smooth out the mask. Leave on for 5-10 minutes and rinse off.

Tips & Tricks:

Massage, massage, MASSAGE. Really rub this into your skin, it will feel great and give you a deeper cleanse. I love clay masks, which was one thing that drew me to this product, but if you normally have dry or sensitive skin the clay might be too harsh for you. Don't worry- you can still do this mask if you have skin thats more on the dry or sensitive side, but I recommend applying a moisturizer on your face, like Full Of Grace, before putting on Brazened Honey. You can use this technique for any mask if you feel your skin is too dry/sensitive to handle a mask on it's own. As with all fresh face masks- REFRIGERATE! *All Face Masks are $6.95 US*

All Pictures in this post are my personal photos from my Instagram account. Ig name: @_jessakay

Lush Aqua Marina Review

7/20 Lush Haul

I decided to step out of my regular cleanser (again), mainly because they were out of Let The Good Times Roll and Ultrabland the day I went to the store. Once again, I'm sooo glad I tried something new (thanks to the girls at Lush Walden Galleria!). I know I say this all the time, but I really think this is my new favorite cleanser! Aqua Marina has been working wonders for my skin, and it's only been three days! The calamine and kaolin in this product cleanse the skin, while aloe vera moisturizes. I also really love the seaweed (irish moss gel) mixed in, it's a really unique ingredient and its packed with vitamins and minerals. There's supposedly salt thrown in to exfoliate, but I didn't feel any exfoliation while using it. I didn't know about the salt when I purchased my jar of Aqua Marina so I wasn't even expecting exfoliation to begin with. One of the girls at Lush warned me that many people do NOT like the smell of this product when it's in the jar due to the seaweed. It really doesn't bother me at all, but I do think it smells different in the jar than it does on your face. The smell of baby powder is a good comparison to Aqua Marina, especially when scrubbing it on your skin. When in the jar you can still smell the baby powder, its just not as strong due to the seaweed.

What It Does:

Cleanses skin while hydrating and restoring skin cells.

How To Use It:

Pinch off a small amount of Aqua Marina and mix with water in your hand until you've reached desired consistency. Spread the mixture on your face and massage in. Rinse off with warm water or wipe off with a warm damp washcloth. This can also be used on your body if you wish to do so.

Tips & Tricks:

I've found that I prefer to only mix a little bit of water with the product in my hand- I keep it a little thick and then smudge some on my forehead, chin, and cheeks. From there I add water and spread it evenly over my face. I also like to refrigerate this product. You don't have to, I've stated many times that I refrigerate almost everything I buy at Lush simply because I like the way the products feel on my face/body when cold. DO NOT let the seaweed scare you away! This product really does smell great and seaweed  is so good for your skin, I highly recommend you at least get a sample and try it out.

All Pictures in this post are my personal photos from my Instagram account. Ig name: @_jessakay

Lush Strawberry Feels Forever Massage Bar

7/20 Lush Haul

Sorry Lushies, I've been on hiatus for awhile due to a demanding job/ lots of schoolwork! I just picked up a pretty decent haul & decided to review Strawberry Feels first because I adooore it. I've actually been buying this product for awhile, I just haven't had time to review it. I'm a huge fan of Lush's massage bars ( I couldn't get enough of them after trying out Each Peach), and Strawberry Feels has become a new staple product for me. I love the way this feels on my skin- it's ultra creamy and smells like a fruit sundae! The creaminess comes from virgin olive oil, along with organic fair trade shea and cocoa butter. The shea and cocoa also contribute to the amazing scent with some help from infused hibiscus flower and crushed strawberries. It smells even more amazing once you massage it into your skin!

What It Does:

Hydrates and heals dry skin while making you smell ahhhmayyyZING

How To Use It:

Simply take the entire bar and rub onto your skin. Once you feel you have enough from the bar, massage it out evenly over your body. You do not need to keep rubbing the bar continuously- Lush's massage bars melt when exposed to heat, if you continue to slather it all over yourself you will be an oily mess. Also, only rubbing a little on and spreading it out will increase the number of uses you'll get out of it.

Tips & Tricks:

As with most of my Lush products, I like to refrigerate my massage bars. I like the way the bar feels when its cold, and keeps the product for being too oily during the summer months. You don't HAVE to refrigerate it, but I actually recommend it- if nothing else it will give you less of a mess during uses!

All Pictures in this post are my personal photos from my Instagram account. Ig name: @_jessakay

LUSH Let The Good Times Roll Cleanser Review

This is the first Lush cleanser I've tried other than Ultrabland & I'm happy to say that it works just as well! Ultrabland and Let The Good Times Roll both worked great on my skin, but they're two very different cleansers. I will say that Ultrabland works a lot better in terms of taking makeup off, so if you're looking for something to get rid of running mascara this ones not for you. But as far as exfoliating and deep cleaning, I think Let The Good Times Roll works better! My face just feels softer and cleaner after using an exfoliant, so I'm partial to Let The Good Times Roll for that reason.

This cleanser is made from maize flour, corn meal, corn oil, cinnamon powder, and popcorn. Similar to a number of Lush products, it smells like you could eat it. The scent reminds me of a sugar cookie, although they report it as a "butter-caramel" scent. 

What It Does:

  Exfoliates, cleanses, moisutrizes, and maintains skins elasticity. LOVE IT!

How To Use It:

Scoop a small sized amount out of your container (about the size of a marble, you can go smaller or larger depending on your judgement), mix it with a little water until its easily spreadable. Massage it into your face, then rinse off with warm water.

Tips & Tricks:

I like to wet my face with a washcloth before I begin to spread this on my face, but don't use too much water on your face or in the cleanser/water mixture- it will end up runny!

LUSH Caca Brun Henna Hair Color Tutorial

So after my first Henna review I received a lot of questions about it, mostly asking for just a little bit more of an in-depth description than what I offered up the first time around. So, instead of just writing another review to compliment my last one I'm giving you a whole step-by-step on the henna process along with pictures so I don't have to try to describe what this stuff looks like throughout the dye job. I did my second Henna dye to my hair last night ( My first time doing it was in November), here's my method & how it turned out :

1. Choose Your Henna

Once again, This is CACA BRUN. Lush henna also comes in CACA NOIR (black) and CACA ROGUE (red) & CACA MARRON (chestnut). The brick actually comes with 6 squares, but as I said before this is my second time using the henna so I only have 4 squares left.

2. Open Henna Instructions

The wrapped pictured above opens up and all of your instructions along with needed materials are listed. There are a few things on the material list that I think are unnecessary, so I'm only going to list the things you ABSOLUTELY NEED:

*Rubber Gloves *Double Boiler  *Saucepan *Coloring Brush *Hair clip(s) * Towels 

It also lists newspapers to cover the floor.... I guess if you think this little project is going to turn into a total trainwreck you might want to cover your floor with something. I never needed anything, but I've always had somebody do this to my hair for me. I guess if you're brave enough to try this alone I'll suggest the newspapers.

3. Prepare Double Boiler and Saucepan

So the instructions on the henna wrapper say you only need a double boiler OR a small saucepan inside of a larger saucepan, but I think my way is easier. Here I have a double boiler, which is where I will put my two squares of henna. I also have a saucepan next to the boiler, which has extra water I will pour into the double boiler little by little until the henna is the consistency I want it. 

4. Place Henna Into the Double Boiler

Break Two squares off of your brick and put them into the double boiler. If you have really long, thick hair you might want to go with three. I have hair that goes down to the middle of my back, and two squares coat all of my hair.

Let the henna squares sit in the double boiler for a couple minutes just to soften, NOT to melt.

5. Add Boiling Water On Top Of Henna

Pour the boiling water from your saucepan into your double boiler (on the henna). Add it in a little at a time and mix as you add it. When the consistency of your henna is similar to that of brownie batter its ready to be applied to your hair.

6. Apply Henna Into Hair

This is when you'll realize why I'm really stressing the use of rubber gloves! This part can get pretty messy, especially if  you're doing it yourself (you're insane). You can apply this on just using your hands, or the coloring brush (I think a mix of both works best). Either way, you need to separate your hair into layers, start from the bottom & work your way up, clipping up the parts you haven't reached yet.

When finished, your hair should be completely covered. Immediately after you finish applying, clip it up to make it stay in place while you wait. If you want a red tone to your new color: tightly cover your hair with saran wrap or a plastic bag.

7. Leave On At Least 2 Hours

Yeah I know, Is a LONG time. But hello, its natural dye...it takes time! I'd sit 12 hours with this in my hair before I ever used chemical dye. The package actually says 1-2 hours, so you can get away with one but I always go for 2 hr minimum. After a little while your Henna will start to harden, and I can't speak for any of the other colors but the Caca Brun looks green when it's hardened... GREEEEN. But the brick looks green when you buy it so I guess Its not surprising. 

If you compare the above pictures to the ones in step 6 you can see how my hair in these shows the signs of the henna hardening. 

8. Rinse Out Dye

Sorry, No picture for this one :). When you get in the shower start rinsing out the henna with warm water ( I usually use hot but warm will work too). Tip your head back so you don't get it in your eyes. After you have rinsed some of it out grab some shampoo and wash your hair normally. This will help get the remaining parts of the dye out. You may have to wash & rinse twice. Once the dye is all out condition your hair as usual. 

I love my Results from using Caca Brun. I let my hair air dry naturally & brushed it before I took the after picture. i had done the same thing in my before picture, and as you can see my hair is A LOT less frizzy after Henna. Henna doubles as a moisturizing treatment, there is a very noticeable difference in the texture of your hair once it dries, its extremely hydrated and healthy looking.

Before

After

This picture makes my hair look a little more red than it actually is. It's a really nice chocolate brown, when the sun hits I get a hint of deep red.  I absolutely love the color I get, I get much better results from this than chemical dyes & my hair comes out healthier too.

All Pictures in this post are my personal photos from my Instagram account. Ig name: @_jessakay

LUSH Karma Solid Perfume Review

I won't be doing my usual review for this one because we obviously know how perfume works and what it does. So i'll just keep it simple with a quick description and a few tips I picked up from using it.

Karma is hands down one of my favorite scents from my perfume collection. However I think Karma is and acquired scent,  people love or absolutely hate it.  After I bought Karma Kream I was hooked on the smell so I jumped at the chance to get a perfume. If you've never tried any of the karma scented products, it's a blend of patchouli, lemongrass, and orange oils.  Sounds like a weird combo, but its actually nice and unique.

 The bottle is really small, about the height of a regular sized lipstick which makes it a perfect on-the-go product. The price ( around 20$) looks kind of high considering the small size, but this product is VERY concentrated. It's extremely potent so you do NOT need to use a lot of this or you'll literally leave a trail of patchouli lingering behind you wherever you go.

How To Use It:

The bottle is a push-up stick, and if you push too hard the whole thing will pop up and good luck getting that thing back down without getting orange gel everywhere. Push gently on the bottom, then apply a small amount on your skin. I usually just put some on my wrists then wipe from my wrists onto my neck. Once again, do not over do it, its very strong!

I like this product, but the push-up part is a big con. If it were a twist up stick I think I would like it a lot more. However the size is convenient and the perfume itself will last you a long time.  Overall I'll definitely be buying another Karma solid perfume once mine runs out, and I'll probably try a few more scents too. If only Lush would tweak the design of the tube a little bit....

All Pictures in this post are my personal photos from my Instagram account. Ig name: @_jessakay

LUSH Cupcake Fresh Face Mask Review

So I finally made my way back out to LUSH & picked up a few new things, one of which was the Cupcake fresh face mask. I had to review this first because this mask is AMAZING. I've gone through five pots of Cosmetic Warrior and was reluctant to break the cycle because it worked so well for me. But using the same things over and over doesn't really work well for the reviewing aspect so I took one of the Lush girl's advice and went for it. super glad I did, I'm really happy with this one!

Cupcake literally smells like brownie batter, its tempting to eat the stuff even though I'm sure it doesn't taste all that great.  It's a blend of cocoa, spearmint  for cooling, vanilla absolute to calm redness, and rhassoul mud to cleanse. 

What It Does:

Just like most of the fresh face masks, Cupcake soothes and cleans your skin. It pulls out any unwanted oil/ dirt and leaves your face feeling soo soft. Cupcake is for all skin types, but it's especially effective for oily and spotty skin.

How To Use It:

Just grab a clump of it and rub it all over your face. Like so :

Yes it looks totally weird. Keep it on for 5-10 minutes then rinse off with warm water.

Tips & Tricks:

One thing I noticed is that this mask is not as easy to spread as Cosmetic Warrior, so I either had to use a little more or a put a tiny bit of water on my face beforehand to moisten the mask and make it thinner. As usual keep it in the fridge.  I'm not even rating this one because I'm obviously giving it 5 stars and I think my 5-star rating for everything is getting a little redundant :) Anyway, I love it and i would actually recommend this over Cosmetic Warrior if you're sensitive to certain smells and you want something that smells good on your face as opposed to something that smells a little strange.

All Pictures in this post are my personal photos from my Instagram account. Ig name: @_jessakay