Lush Finds

I have seen Ocean Salt mentioned in blogosphere maaaaany times but the thought of salt and scrub together made me think twice about this scrub until a recent trip to Lush. I was actually searching for a cure for my out-of-control cuticles and after reading a bunch of rave reviews about Lush's Lemony Flutter cuticle cream on nail blogs I just had to give it a try! So off to Lush I went. I usually don't fall for the "let us give you a hand massage etc" line that sales associates try to pull on customers. This time I gave in and let them do their thing! One of the products they tried on my hand was Ocean Salt...

I was really surprised that though it has a salt content, it was not abrasive on my skin at all! Instead it left me feeling squeaky clean and really smooth. Even though this product has 50% sea salt, it has other ingredients such as avocado and coconut fats which I assume help make it non-abrasive. Unfortunately the scent is not coconut-y, but more citrus-y - I can definitely pick up lime.When I was told I could even use it on freshly shaven skin, I was sold! How many body scrubs are out there that can be used on freshly shaved skin? I am not the one who necessarily exfoliates after shaving but still, it's good to have a product that can be used on hand :D I had to have it! No really, I was actually on the market for a new body scrub because I just ran out and was in the mood for trying something new :)

I was given this wooden stick with my purchase to mix up the scrub. After mixing it, scrub is quite creamy but you can still feel the salt particles to some extent. Although Ocean Salt markets as part of Lush's Facial Care line, I personally haven't used this as part of my facial care regimen as my skin has been really sensitive as of late. Therefore I don't want to contribute to any potential breakouts because I will die! However, on other areas of my body, I have seen great results. I think Ocean Salt does an excellent job removing dead skin from drier areas such as elbows, knees and I have noticed less flakage on my upper leg area (once winter rolls by, I get super dry here! :/) Ocean Salt comes in two sizes; 4.2 oz (which is what I have here) for $19.95 and 8.8 oz for $34.95. Because I wasn't sure about how my skin will react to it, I decided to go with the smaller container.

Lemony Flutter quickly became one of my favorite everyday products. (I carry it in my purse just in case)This freezing Chicago weather took a huge toll on my cuticles; they are dried to point of no return. Not even Bio-Oil works at this point :/ Then Lemony Flutter came to my rescue! There is something in this product that smooths my cuticles and helps them stay that way for a good while. Perhaps the combination of beeswax and avocado oil? Obviously it's ridicilous for me to expect the moon and stars from any product, but with continuous use I can say that I have benefited from Lemony Flutter. What I have been doing since I started using it is that I apply product and then gently push cuticles back. It's definitely not sticky by any means but if you don't like the oily feeling then you may want to skip this. I am not too crazy about oily hands but oils seem to provide a prolonged moisture which is what I need. Lemon scent is always a plus :) Lemony Flutter retails for $14.95 for a 1.5 oz. container. It is not cheap but it's one of those products you would call "a little goes a long way" so I can't complain!

What are you favorite Lush skincare products?

L'oreal go 360 Clean Deep Exfoliating Scrub

Hey chicas!

I've run out of the amazing St. Ives Green Tea Scrub and was in the mood to try a new product. I was strolling through the beauty aisles of Target and this scrub caught my eye. Few people have suggested this after my post on St. Ives Green Tea Scrub so I thought now is the perfect time to give it a try!

This is my first time trying L'oreal skincare and I can't say that I'm impressed. I initially thought this was a good product actually. I liked the packaging. The 'scrublet' definitely catches attention. Even if you later decide not to buy the product, it is definitely a factor why many people pick this off the shelf to check it out. I was personally not that fond of it though. You have to put it between to fingers to use it and it was just hard to do so when your hands are wet, it is floppy. Of course I could have dried them first but to me that's just not convenient. I also prefer to use nothing but my fingers for facial product application because naturally I want this process to be as gentle as possible and the microbeads are harsh as it is. I also think using the scrublet, one may feel the need to literally scrub because you don't know if it's really working. On a better note, it has a really nice and summery apricot scent to it and I really enjoyed that. It left my skin feeling soft and moisturized (at first). It does give you a squeaky clean and refreshing feeling which I also liked.It currently retails for $5.99 at Target.

I had been using this scrub for over a week and have not experienced any flaking or additional dryness whatsoever. This was until two days ago. I think 7+ days are good enough to know whether a product works for you or not.I have kept all my other facial skin care products the same so I knew for a fact this scrub is what's causing this problem on my face. I have normal/combination skin so an oilier T-zone. Where do I get the flakes? On my T-zone! My forehead flaked the most, then my chin, my nose was the least flaked but it was still visible. Ugh where is my moisturizer?!

This is a bit cleaned up version, I didn't want to gross anybody out by showing the whole flakage! :)

It's nothing to freak out about as it will go away, I'm just kind of bummed because I wanted to like this product. I guess I'll just go back to St. Ives Green Tea or Burt's Bees Peach scrub, they are both very good!

What about you guys? Have you tried this scrub, what did you think of it?

St. Ives Naturally Clean Green Tea Scrub

Hey girls!!!

Okay so I just ran out of my Burt's Bees Peach and Willowbark scrub which I love dearly! Now it was time to get a new one BUT as I was wandering through the aisles of my local CVS looking for something else, this St. Ives scrub caught my eye and I picked it up and "studied" the back side of it. I was very surprised to find out that it's formulated without parabens and phthalates! I'm seriously very happy to see more drugstore brands making products without these.

 My first impression of the scent was, "wow smells just like DKNY Be Delicious, yummyyy" and I still think it smells something like it, obviously a more toned-down version of it. Another thing that caught my attention was that on it besides that it has green tea (loves it!)  it says "clears breakouts & reduces redness". Well this kind of ties into the reason why I didn't have any FOTDs lately because I actually used another face scrub (read my 'negative' review on it here) which totally made me breakout, me no likey! I've been using this scrub for several days now and I just love it. I love the texture of it, it has these micro beads that are so gentle on skin. As you work this scrub on your face, it sort of lathers up, nothing too foamy though. After rinsing, my face felt kind of cool, I'm sure it was because it opened my pores and my skin was able to breathe again. But the best feeling of all was post-drying, it makes your skin incredibly soft!! I have normal combination skin and have not experienced any dryness using this scrub however I feel like if you have dry skin this may not be suitable for you because it doesn't have that moisturizing element in it like my Burt's Bees Peach scrub does. So far I'm very happy with this scrub, it really exceeded my expectations. I can see some reduction of the breakout already! I purchased this for about $6, it comes in a 4.5oz container. There are also Green Tea and Olive cleansers in this collection if you're interested.