How to get the most out of your Lush Cleansing Bar

Hi Pretties

Last week I ran out of my favourite cleanser Lush Angels On Bare Skin and I was devastated.  I finally had to venture to my local Lush store on the weekend and even more devastating, they had run out of my precious Angels!


After a few tears and searching for something similar the lovely sales associate gave me a 50g sample of her favourite cleansing bar, Fresh Farmacy.  Coincidentally, I am loving this stuff.  When I got it home I scratched my head and racked my brain how I could use this in the shower without wasting it all.  After all, it is a soap like product and I didn't want to waste my precious Lush on suds.


I came up with the following idea to really get the most out of the cleansing bar.


If you are a Lush enthusiast, you know when you get a soap or cleansing bar it looks similar to this;

What I did is unwrap the cleansing bar and cut it into smaller pieces.  I then wrapped these in cling wrap to keep any moisture out and keep them as fresh as possible.

After this I took one of these smaller pieces and cut it into smaller pieces again.  About half a centimetre pieces.  I call these my 'day pieces' as you get one or two uses out of pieces this size.

I wasn't quite sure how I could store this in the shower nicely and I remembered I had the old pot from my Angels on Bare skin that I kept for the 'back to Lush' program and I popped these into that. 

A few extra tips!

* Take a piece out of the container before your shower and pop it on top of the lid so you don't put wet hands into the tub

* Store your Lush products out of the bathroom in a dry place to help them keep longer

* You don't need a Lush tub to store your products, a little Clip It or Tupperware container will do the trick.

Project X Pan - 9 & 10 down! But am I finished?

Hi Pretties

Well it has happened.  I've used up over 10 items for Project X Pan.  But they were not all on my list!  In the last couple of days I have finished off my 9th and 10th item.  I have finished off a couple more products lately but they are not really note worthy.  When I call it quits on PXP I'll give you a full list of the products I have finished up.

The first product I finished up was in fact on my list and it is the Palmers Cocoa Butter Line Smoothing Eye Cream.  I really do like this product and will definitely be repurchasing in the future after I finish up some sample eye creams I have laying around to use up.

I use this night and day all over my eye and surrounds and it absorbs nicely into the skin.  Eye cream for me at this stage is more of a preventative measure so I can't really tell if it is doing too much.  Ask me in 10 years!

The next item I finished I am not so excited about.  I finished off my Lush Angels on Bare Skin cleanser!  Oh no!  This has holy grail status for and I am desperate to buy another tub.  I simply can't wait until PXP is done as my skin is starting to get dry and flaky from using a cleanser I have laying around.  Problem is there is only one Lush stand in my town and it is in a shopping centre that is always super busy and hard to find a park at.  I may have to make the trip tomorrow though and fight the hoards of people to get my precious, precious cleanser.


So my list now looks as follows;

Skin items chosen

Nutrimetics Clear Deep Cleansing Exfoliant - 1/8 remaining

Palmers Line Smoothing Eye Cream - 1/8 remaining

Bioderma Make up remover - 7/8 remaining

Bellamer Eye Balm Sample - 1/2 remaining

Hair items chosen

Chi Silk Infusion - 1/4 remaining

Make up items chosen

Maybelline Mineral Powder Foundation - 1/4 remaining

Benefit Hello Flawless Foundation Sample - 7/8 remaining

Loreal Matte Morphose Foundation - Scrapings really

Perfume

Calvin Klein Sheer Beauty Sample - 1/2 remaining

DKNY Pure Sample - 1/8 remaining

Extras

Dove Visable Beauty Moisturizer

Savvy by DB Mechanical Eye Pencil

Priceline Makeup remover wipes

So as you may notice there is another item crossed off that I am no longer using as part of PXP.  I've decided that even though I don't want to waste it, the Benefit Hello Flawless Foundation is never, ever going to be a good shade for me.  Especially now it is winter.  Orange is not my shade.  So I'm binning this item and calling it quits.

That leaves me two products left to use up.  The Bellamer eye sample which has around 2 uses left and the Maybelline Mineral Powder Foundation that just wont quit!  I'm guessing I have 2 weeks left to use it up?  Very exciting as I'm getting the Illamasqua foundation to use after!

What have you used up?

My skin care routine

Hey hey pretties

Today's blog post is dedicated to my skin care routine.  Now I don't have perfect skin by any stretch of the imagination, but I have two rules when it comes to keeping my skin looking its best.

1. Always remove make up at the end of the day
2. Be consistent with your routine

Cleanser


Day and night I use my cleanser by Lush called Angels on Bare Skin.  I tried this on a whim after I was finding all regular commercial cleansers to be too harsh for me.  I was getting dry, peeling skin and was desperate to find something new.  I picked this up around Christmas last year and love it with a passion.  I think this is a brilliant product.  You take a pea sized amount, add some water and kind of mush it between your fingers and then apply to your face.  The consistency of this takes some getting used to as its quite different, but it leaves a nice feeling on your skin afterwards.  The one downside I have found to this product is that as it is a natural product, it does have 3 month expiry date.  I actually had to throw out the remainder of my first pot, but it only costs $15 which I still think is a bargain.

Morning Routine


After cleansing with my Lush Angels on Bare Skin I follow up with TN Dickson's Witch Hazel Toner.  My step mother got me on to this years ago, and I have not bought a different brand of toner since.  What I like about this toner as it does not sting like I find other brands to and is gentle enough to use over the eye area as well.

Following my toner I use Palmers Cocoa Butter Line Smoothing Eye Cream.  Now I'm 24, so eye creams are more of a preventative for me than actually trying to do anything yet, so I can't really tell if this is doing a good job or not.  It smells nice, but that's about all I can tell you.  This is the first eye cream I have tried and I'm pretty pleased with if for the $12 price tag.

My morning moisturiser is Nivea Aqua Sensation Day Cream.  To be honest I'm yet to find a Nivea product I have not liked.  I think their products are fantastic and I love the smell their blue products have.  Before trying this day cream, I was using the Nivea Young mattifying oil control moisturiser, but as I have gotten older I am no longer as oily as I was, and that moisturiser was no longer enough for my skin.  I'm very pleased with this product though.

Evening Routine


Of an evening I use a make up remover pad to remove my eye make up and then just cleanse with my Lush Angels on Bare Skin cleanser again.  While it is not designed to remove make up I still think it does a pretty good job.  It won't remove heavy mascara or anything, but it removes my foundation and other face make up in conjunction with my face washer.

After cleansing I tone again with the Witch Hazel.  This toner also removes any further traces of make up around my eyes.

Next step is my Bellamer eye balm I received as a sample in my March Bellabox (you can read about that here).  This is a balm you apply to the eye area for 15 minutes of an evening and then remove any excess.  I think this stuff is fantastic!  I can see the difference around my eye area after using.  My eyes look wider and brighter and I look more awake.  After I remove this after 15 minutes I apply my Palmers Cocoa Butter Line Smoothing Eye cream again.

The last step in my evening routine is to apply my moisturiser.  I'm currently using Palmers Cocoa Butter Night Renewal Cream.  Now I don't love this product and I don't hate it.  It does moisturising my skin nicely, but something about the smell of it bugs me.  It's a little 'nanna' smelling.  I also think it is a little too greasy on my skin.  I probably won't repurchase when I use up this tub.

Bi-Weekly products


Along with my daily skin care routine, bi-weekly I use a skin scrub and a detox mask.

The scrub I use is by Nutrimetics and it is the Deep Cleansing Exfoliant.  This product is ok, but probably a little too harsh for my skin.  I won't repurchase when this is finished.

I also use a mask twice a week.  I was using the Priceline mask (in the pink packaging) but I bought a couple of sample sachets in the Formula 10.06 Deep Down Detox Ultra-Cleansing Mud Mask and I really liked it so I picked up the full size tube today while it was 20% off at Priceline.  Hopefully I continue to enjoy this product.


How consistent are you with your skin care routine?