Magic Shower Jelly

Having recently used up my two old Magic Ballistics, I really couldn't understand the fuss surrounding this particular family of smells. Having found myself familiar with the most popular places for Lushies to congregate, I was surprised to find out that both regular fans and serious collectors, along with those in between, were all raving about the product that is Magic Jelly. This is something that intrigued me, and having searched the web for months on end, I finally managed to get hold of two pots of the stuff. 

Immediately upon opening the tub, I was hit with a wave of smell - this is not a product for those who dislike strong smelling cosmetics; this is as potent as you can get! Made from a combination of rose, marjoram, peppermint and basil, this is fresh, floral but equally minty offering unlike any other shower jelly I've had from Lush. 

To me, it's the mint that engulfs your senses first - a strong, uplifting peppermint fragrance that dominates most of the smell. However, don't assume that this is going to be like your generic, mint smelling cosmetic. Alongside this peppermint, you get bursts of rose, a fresh but equally poignant floral smell that gives this shower jelly some depth. When used, the heat from the shower helps to bring out the herbal side to this product, and I found that I was then able to pick up elements of the basil and marjoram in this way.  

There are several ways that you can use any of Lush's shower jellies, and I find that everyone has their own preference, which is completely understandable. Firstly, you can break a small piece of (or select a piece that's been segmented prior to your shower) and rub the block directly onto your skin. The amount of lather this creates differentiates vastly depending on the type of jelly, how old the product is and the size of the piece you're using. While some users find this way works for them, I find that this is fairly ineffective as it does not create much of a lather and the jelly becomes too wet, making it slippery and difficult to hold on to. 

Secondly, you can use a shower sponge, puff or exfoliating glove to create a lather before rubbing it all over your body. For me, I found this method far more successful as it helped to break down the jelly properly and create a nice foamy effect to wash your body with. Finally, you can break off slabs of the jelly and use them as you would a bubble bar, placing them underneath a running tap to stimulate bubbles. I tend to use mine for this reason, as I can get 4-5 baths out of one 100g tub, which I consider to be great value for money.

With Magic, I used my shower puff to lather myself up, and I found that this jelly was great at creating a soft, fragrant foam to wash myself with. The product left my skin really clean and it's fragrance permeated my skin more than any other shower product I have tried from Lush. I could smell this on myself the very next day, and the clothes I changed into after I'd had my shower, held onto the scent for a few days after initial use. To repeat what I said above; this is not a product for those who cannot stand strong smelling products - this is as potent as they come!

Overall, I really enjoyed Magic and hope that Lush bring it back at some point soon. To me, this jelly reminded of a more sophisticated Whoosh, with the bonus factor that it's vegan. It's a refreshing and highly invigorating shower product that will awaken your senses and leave your skin tingling slightly, due to the addition of peppermint oil. 

I thoroughly enjoyed using this, and would definitely like to see more products released with this fragrance. I would definitely buy this again if I could.

Quantitative Ingredients: Glycerine, Red rose petal and marjoram infusion, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Proplyene Gycol, Peppermint and Basil infusion, Perfume, Basil Oil, Peppermint Oil, Colour 42090, Colour 17200, Methylparaben, Propylparaden, Cinnalol, Eugenol, Benzyl Benzoate, Limonene, Linalool, Fresh Parsley.

Vegan?: Yes.

2016 Price: £8.25 for 250g.

2017 Price: £8.50 for 250g.

Scent Family:

Magic Ballistic
Magic Shower Jelly

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Handy Gurugu Hand Cream

As with most people's hands, these over-working parts of your body often take most of the brunt of your daily life. Mine have to sift through hours of marking every day, they're rubbed raw in the winter months and neglected in the summer. Recently, I began to notice that I was developing dry patches in-between my fingers, most likely due to a combination of extreme weather conditions and the number of baths they've been made to sit through recently. I realised that I needed to offer them something in return for their hard work, so I bought myself a tub of Lush's Handy Gurugu hand cream. 

Described as a 'powerful super-moisturiser for extra-dry hands', this hand cream sounded like it would do the trick. Packed full of multiple butters, this product is a powerhouse for skin that needs a serious overhaul of moisture. Containing shea butter, peanut butter, cashew butter, pumpkinseed butter and almond butter, Handy Gurugu sounds almost good enough to eat. These butters are amazing at creating a naturally creamy emollient base which helps to moisturise, heal and protect the skin. Furthermore, they're highly nourishing and work well together to help the skin to retain it's moisture, supporting the natural rhythm of your body.

This hand cream also contains almond oil and primrose oil, both of which help to strengthen and nourish the skin. Furthermore, you'll find a combination of rose oil and lemon juice, both of which tone the skin, brightens it and leaves it looking and feeling revitalised.

I found that during the day, my skin became very dry and taut, very similar to how it feels when you're using a particularly drying soap. As I didn't have anything to counteract this, my skin began to get irritated and very quickly I noticed that, aside from the dry patches, I would often find red lumps and bumps in and around the crevices of my fingers.  

Having used Handy Gurugu for only a couple days, I began to notice that the skin on my hands had vastly improved. By the second day, my dried skin patches had all but disappeared and the sore areas had been reduced considerably. You'll need to be careful that you don't apply too much at once; firstly, as it's a very rich moisturiser, a tiny amount will work wonders for skin, so applying too much is simply wasteful. Secondly, because it's such a thick lotion, it takes a while for the skin to absorb it, so if too much is applied, you end up with greasy hands, which doesn't help to serve anyone. 

Handy Gurugu possesses a rather strong scent. Aside from the different butters, the main ingredients here are rose and vanilla, so I was expecting a fragrance that echoes these scents. However, this is not the case at all. To me, it had a very strong herby, floral scent - a little like fresh lavender intertwined with the powdery smell of dried rose petals. It's definitely not an unpleasant smell, but neither is it a scent I fell in love with. To echo the sentiments of other Lush fans, it's a pleasant smell but not one I would want to smear all over my body.

Overall, for those with dry or damaged hands, Handy Gurugu has all the ingredients needed to reverse this. It does moisturise well and leave your hands feeling very soft. However, it is a very greasy hand cream, and one that takes a few minutes to absorb into the skin, even if you heed my advice and use the most minuscule of amounts. Unfortunately, for someone who uses my hands a lot at work, I cannot afford to sit around for five minutes before I can use my hands again after applying this.

Ultimately, this is a good hand cream which leaves the skin feeling really soft and hydrated. The consistency and ingredients list show it to be a rich, highly indulgent cream, and one that effectively relieves feelings of tightness and dryness in weathered hands. Although the smell is not one of my favourites by far, it can be overlooked for the good that it does. My only issue is that it's a little too heavy for my skin which is why I wouldn't buy it again. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Rose Water, Shea Butter, Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Organic Almond Oil, Triethanolamine, Fresh Organic Lemon Juice, Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute, Rose Absolute, Chamomile Blue Oil, Organic Evening Primrose Oil, Organic Peanut Butter, Organic Pumpkinseed Butter, Organic Cashew Butter, Organic Almond Butter, Tincture of Benzoin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Methyl Ionone, Benzyl Salicylate, Coumarin, Geraniol, Benzyl Benzoate, Farnesol, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume, Chlorophyllin, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Skin Drink Facial Moisturiser

On paper, this facial moisturiser sounds like pure indulgence for the face; a rich creamy lotion made with avocados and sesame oil that leaves a light matte protective layer for those with a slightly drier complexion. However, in reality, it is not nearly as exciting or indulgent.

Skin Drink is one of the cheaper facial moisturisers available from Lush, although in perspective, I wouldn't say that many of Lush's products were all that cheap for those on a limited budget. With sesame, almond and evening primrose oils to moisturise, this product features key ingredients that have been carefully chosen to make this as moisturising as possible. It also contains Rose Oil and Aloe Vera, both of which dominate it's overall scent and give it light rose and orange fragrance. 

The first problem I found was the scent; Lush describe the moisturiser as having hydrating and soothing almond oil, Fair Trade organic sesame oil,  evening primrose oil and cocoa butter, which is boosted by fresh organic avocado and cooling aloe vera. It also contains sesame oil - 'a lovely nourishing oil that has quite a nutty scent, so we've added an infusion of fresh rose petals, rose absolute, and neroli essential oils.'

Despite loving all of those ingredients individually, this combination reminded me of rotten flowers; it really smells like a mixture of the sickly hum of fresh rose with the dry fragrant scent of mould. Then there's the underlying smell of sesame seeds, which taste amazing but remind me of the gloopy, pungent scent of tahini - something I cannot stand to eat by itself. I'm guessing I'm one of few people to have picked up this particular thread of scent as it's still a big seller amongst fans, and I've read so many positive reviews online.

Secondly, it's consistency is very thick and creamy, which would normally excite me as my dry skin is always keen to try out new ways to moisten and hydrate itself. However, Skin Drink is far too cloying; it's felt extremely heavy on my face and left it looking and feeling greasy. 

It's definitely a heavy duty moisturiser, and must be suited for people with extremely dry complexions, as it was far too rich for my skin and left me with blemishes and oily areas. This is definitely not a product I would buy again.

Quantitative Ingredients: Water, Fair Trade Organic Sesame Oil, Fresh Rose Petal Infusion, Fresh Avocado, Almond Oil, Propylene Glycol, Cocoa Butter, Stearic Acid, Cetearyl Alcohol, Aloe Vera Extract, Fair Trade Organic Aloe Vera Gel, Organic Evening Primrose Oil, Neroli Oil, Rose Absolute, Triethanolamine, *Geraniol, *Farnesol, *Limonene, *Linalool, *Citronellol, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes

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Enzymion Facial Moisturiser

When did I get to the stage when I need a facial moisturiser in my life? Geez! I remember it wasn't too long ago that I didn't use make-up, let alone products specially designed to rejuvenate facial pores. Still, now that I've introduced them into my life, I'd find it very difficult to do without my morning routine; shower, cleanser, moisturiser, make-up. 

As usual, I was skeptical at first about Enzymion, simply because it claims to be a moisturiser for those with oiler skin, which is something I've never suffered from. In fact, as I've mentioned in previous reviews, I actually have very dry skin, so my initial thought was that this moisturiser would actually make my skin even drier. However, as with every Lush product, I refused to make a judgement until I had tried it for myself. 

On opening the tub, I was immediately overwhelmed with how beautiful it smells; Enzymion contains papaya juice, lemon juice, aloe, and lime and grapefruit essential oils which give it a wonderful tropic fragrance unlike anything else in the Lush range. 

Aside from it's beautiful scent, the fresh ingredients have also been chosen to help make this a multi-purpose moisturiser; the papaya and lemon are packed full of acids and enzymes which help to reduce oiliness and brighten the skin; the multiple oils and cocoa butter have been included to help tone and moisturise the face whilst taking away the 'shine' that oily skin can sometimes present. 

As I mentioned at the beginning of my review, I don't have oily skin, so I was worried this product would be too greasy and heavy for me. On the contrary, I was amazed at how light and refreshing my skin felt, even after the initial use, and how my skin continued to glow throughout the entire three months that it took for me to finish the whole tub. 

Often products for oily skin focus on cleaning and stripping away oil, whereas Lush have created a product that helps to treat the skin with gentle care and work to find the skin’s own natural balance. I think this latter point is why the lotion worked so well for my skin even though I didn't fit the profile for the product; it's versatile and works with the skin rather than trying to eradicate your body's natural workings.  

This beautiful product, inspired by Keats' poem, Endymion, is perhaps the perfect facial moisturiser I have ever used. It tones, hydrates and rejuvenates tired, dry and oily skin whilst leaving an uplifting fruity scent. This will be a product I return to again and again, and one that will become a staple in my house. 

If you're planning on trying out one of Lush's moisturisers, make it this one; you won't be disappointed. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Fresh Organic Lemon Infusion, Fair Trade Organic Aloe Vera Gel, Cocoa Butter, Stearic Acid, Freshly Juiced Papaya, Avocado Oil, Glycerine, Triethanolamine, Freshly Juiced Organic Lemon, Organic Cold Pressed Evening Primrose Oil, Organic Cold Pressed Wheatgerm Oil, Tangerine Oil, Lime Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Lilial, *Limonene, Perfume, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes

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