LUSH, The Body Shop, and More: Skincare & Gift Haul

I am sick.

Uuuuugghhhhhhh.....

It's really not more than a sore throat, and I'm keeping it warm enough in my room so I don't have the chills, but I need to do everything I can to prevent it from turning into the flu or something else before the tournament on Sunday. With enough painkillers, I can swallow water without feeling like I'm trying to eat razors, but still, being sick is generally not fun. I have so many things to do, like speech and debate, FAFSA, and regular homework, but instead all I've really been able to do is watch Fresh Off the Boat (surprisingly okay) and blog.

I want to work on a new header image, but that takes way too much thought, so instead, I'm just going to do a simple LUSH review type thing because I bought a bunch of LUSH stuff for teacher gifts and and some tea tree oil products from The Body Shop for myself. I was actually supposed to be prom dress shopping with Wei-Wei, but everywhere we looked, the dresses were so expensive, and I only had a $60 budget to work with. I might just end up borrowing a dress, but in the meantime, I decided to focus on skincare. I learned the hard way that skin is no simple matter, and that you have to have a different regimen for each season. I'm annoyed that it's so complicated, but good skin is worth the time and effort or else I feel self conscious about my bad skin. The store employees were all very helpful, and I've tried some of the products already and I like the way they've turned out, so here goes.

First up, LUSH. Apparently, they're right in the middle of a redesign effort, so I couldn't get any of their little black bags for each product, but the cashier was quite nice and offered to wrap up each product individually, and went the extra mile when I told her they were gifts and included a "how to use" sticker on each of them. Unfortunately, that means I can't show pictures of each product, but they have them on the website anyway, so there's not much point. I did want to photograph them, however, because it's hard to get a sense of how large each one is without actually physically seeing them. Here I have:

»Peace Massage Bar »Soft Coeur Massage Bar
»Floating Island Bath Melt
»Pop In The Bath Bubble Bar »The Comforter Bubble Bar

I also got two samples of the face masks, Catastrophe Cosmetic (which I'm wearing right now as I type) and Mask of Magnaminty (which is actually listed on their website under "Cleanser"). I've never tried an actual face mask before, so going in I didn't really know what to expect. The mask felt a lot drier than I had imagined (I had expected something more like a thick lotion) and it was pretty flaky once I put it on my face. It also left some residue after I rinsed it off, but that's not too big of an issue, I'll just have to rinse it off more next time. I like that it helped even out my skin tone and my face feels a lot softer now. I wish I had had it earlier when I had really bad acne, but now the CeraVe face wash seems to be working well, so my skin is a lot clearer. I still have enough left over in the sample to try it a second time. I might add some more water to it to thin it out a bit, because I'm guessing that it dried out on the trip home from the mall. Catastrophe Cosmetic is a fresh face mask, so it needs to be kept refrigerated and used within a few weeks otherwise it will expire, but Mask of Magnaminty is self-preserving, which means that it's perfectly fine to keep it out. By the way, the samples are free, so if you've always wanted to try a face mask but didn't want to invest in something that you're unsure about, try asking for a sample first.

The Body Shop also gives samples (I didn't know until the cashier gave me a free tea tree oil sample without me even asking) so here I have a 1mL sample of tea tree oil, which is supposedly good for fighting acne. It smells a bit like a cross between peppermint and heavily watered down bleach. I also bought the Skin Clearing Lotion. The employee said that everything in that line is "mattefying" which is good for acne prone skin, so I'm eager to see how this one works out.

Last but not least, I bought the Smile – pink lemonade punch candle from Bath & Body Works. I usually don't buy candles from B&BW because they're so expensive, but they were on sale for $12 and came with a nice box. The only review it has on the website gives it a 1 star because it's not heavily scented, but I think that's good for a gift, as I don't know what scents the principal, who wrote my counselor letter of rec, likes. I do know however, that both of her daughters really like the color pink, so I hope they enjoy it.

And that's it for now. I wish I had all the money in the world for more skincare and scented products because they're so nice, but I don't, so this'll have to do. Eventually when I get a job I'll be able to do more of these, but as a broke high school student, I'll enjoy what I can. ◊