LUSH Haul!

Back in the spring, I was at Lydia’s making her dinner after she had surgery, and when I used her bathroom, I noticed a dude in the shower.

Sort of.

It was the illustrated face of a dude, smiling. A sticker on a shower gel container. I came out of the bathroom and asked Lydia why there was a dude on her shower gel staring at me while I peed. And she told me about LUSH.

Indianapolis doesn’t have a LUSH store (well as of now one is being built, but not at all while I was living there.) I hadn’t even heard of it before. I checked out the website and when I was flying from Orlando to Indy for training in June I stopped at their airport store. Orlando has a LUSH store in a mall and one in the airport- we’re just lucky like that.

LUSH is all about handmade, earth-friendly, animal-friendly bath and body products. Their mission statement from facebook:

We Believe…
In making effective products from fresh organic* fruits and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics.

We believe in buying ingredients only from companies that do not commission tests on animals and testing our products on humans.

We invent our own products and fragrances, we make them fresh by hand using little or no preservatives or packing, using only vegetarian ingredients and tell you when they were made.

We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud.

We believe in long candlelit baths, sharing showers, massage, filling the world with perfume and in the right to make mistakes, lose everything and start again.

We believe our products are good value, that we should make a profit and that the customer is always right.

*We also believe words like “fresh” and “organic” have an honest meaning beyond marketing.

I’m not a total “green” person – I don’t buy organic foods on purpose, and I am only about 92% vegetarian – but when it comes to my body, I could do without all the chemicals and animal testing. Why not? And their products also do not disappoint.

Here’s what B and I came home with after two trips with Lydia and Aaron (who are TOTAL Lushies, FYI!)

1. Squeaky Green Solid Shampoo – love it. I’m always going to have a solid shampoo around. Great lather, and so easy to travel with.
2. Jumping Juniper Solid Shampoo – I think I love this one more than the Squeaky Green. Plus it’s $1 cheaper.
3. NEW! Shampoo Bar – the description is all “cinnamon and cloves” so I don’t know why the sub-description on the site says it’s minty. This one is B’s and he loves it.
4. Tea Tree Water – I give it a spritz twice a day or so, I’ll report back on whether it’s worth it.
5. Sexy Peel Soap – B bought a little sliver of this (you can have them fresh cut their solid soaps for you) and it. smells. so. good. I can’t even tell you. I’m not a huge solid soap person- I wish they had this as a liquid hand soap or a body wash!
6. Vanishing Cream Facial Moisturizer – this is pricey, and I’m already on my second one. It’s amazing. It’s the only moisturizer that works for my oily skin without turning it into an instant oil slick.
7. Each Peach Massage Bar – massage bars are basically solid lotion. It’ll be great for when it cools down a tad (ha) and I need some long-lasting leg moisturizing. Lydia and Aaron bought this one for us to thank us for having them as our guest for a few days – thanks guys! It has the best light citrus scent too.
8. I Love Juicy Shampoo – this was one of the many samples we got for free (they do that!!!) and when I run out of solid shampoo, I am getting this. AMAZING. Best liquid shampoo I’ve ever used and it smells phenomenal.
9. Grass Shower Gel – B picked this out and bought the smallest size, but we’re not thrilled. It’s a good shower gel (I don’t care for the scent though) but we are fine with our drugstore brand shower gel for much cheaper.
10. 9 to 5 Cleanser – this was a sample too, and while there wasn’t anything wrong with it, I don’t think I’ll purchase. It’s great for people on the go who want to cleanse their skin without water, but since I wash my face at night I don’t need it.
11. Dirty Shaving Cream – B got shaving cream samples and loved this one. He absolutely has to be well-shaved for work so he plans to purchase this one soon.
12. The Comforter Bubble Bar – Since we have a huge bathtub that we haven’t used yet, B got this one. It’s one of Aaron’s faves and smells amazing- kind of like Swedish Fish.
13. Herbalism Cleanser – I’m loving this so far! I had used Dark Angels before and was only “eh” about it, so this was take two and it’s already better. It smells great and makes my skin feel wonderful – it’s not too harsh like Dark Angels felt.
14. Prince Triple Orange Blossom Shaving Cream – another sample B got, he really liked it but preferred the Dirty shaving cream.

Everything from LUSH smells so good and I love taking a break from just coating my face with chemicals. Proactiv nearly destroyed my skin – benzoyl peroxide does clear my acne somewhat, but ruins my skin in other ways as collateral damage. I know my acne is 90% hormonal so I’m not expecting a miracle, but my other skin issues (oiliness!) have improved. My hair was the biggest surprise though. After buying that new “Clear” shampoo (with whatsherface model in the commercials) and having it do completely do the opposite of what it claimed, I had almost given up. LUSH shampoos make me trust again. And my hair is amazing. I didn’t shower on Saturday and my hair didn’t feel greasy and disgusting- I actually FORGOT I hadn’t showered until Sunday morning when I realized my hair was greasy. Usually it’s a greasy mess the very next day, not two days later. Winning!

So, check out LUSH if you haven’t. And tell me what your favorite items are! I can’t wait to try the face masks and grease lightning!