Not a FIGment of my imagination (Lush Figs and Leaves Soap)

Name: Sarccyslayer

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Product:	Lush Figs and Leaves Soap
Date:	02/01/08 (187 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It did what I wanted it to do, smells lovely, easy to find and purchase

Disadvantages: For me there wasnt any.

They say the way to a mans heart is through his stomach; well the way to mine is with a Lush package. So before the festive season had begin I went to select some gifts for some friends of mine in the hope of persuading that Lush is simply fantastic and whilst doing my seasonal shop I was delighted with numerous samples that I had been given.

The first product I was eager to try was the Figs and Leaves exfoliating soap which I was hoping would be a miracle cure for my tired looking hands which had become dry and slightly flaky on the palms. My body exfoliator didn't seem to be working in anyway so I needed something else to bring my hands back to their former self. The things with hands is that like your face they are the one thing people notice, whether you are shaking someone's hand, using them to type, write, eat or through expression when talking it doesn't look at all attractive if you have bits of skin hanging off everywhere, so something needed to be done and it needed to be quite drastic yet effective.

The soap is certainly not the most attractive looking or brightly coloured of the soap collection at Lush. Looking simply at it this soap is a light beige colour whilst on top there is a selection of dark brown leaves and then nestled within the soap itself are dark brown fig seeds, which makes the soap look rather spotty.

One of the reasons I purchase products from Lush is not just for their bright colours and different shapes but for the smell which they give off, each one being individual to one particular product making them unique. Figs and leaves is no exception, it sounds quite dull as far as Lush soaps go when sat along side other products within this range which have names such as 'ooh la la' and 'sexy peel' but what it lacks in name it certainly makes up for in smell and as always with Lush there is an array of ingredients to make it smell amazing.

The soap contains firstly Aloe Vera Extract which acts as an antiseptic and antibiotic to keep your hands in top condition and ward off any germs which might be lurking about. Closely folling is Orange Blossom Absolute which with its floral undertones becomes one of the main smells this soap produces whilst using it. Ylang Ylang oil is a versatile oil which again has an antiseptic property to protect the hands but at the same time it promotes a soothing effect on the skin balance out over-dry and overly-oily skin through moisturising. Then finally we have the fig seeds which are contained in the soap bar are they act as a gentle exfoliator to smooth and soften the skin.

As well as wanting something that I could use daily on my hands to exfoliate them the soap can be used on the body as an exfoliator but before I was ready to do that I firstly wanted to try it on my hands. So removing it from the Lush packaging and ensuring there was some warm water in the sink bowl I placed my bar of soap into the water whilst I bathed my hands. Then grabbing the soap the first thing I noticed is that it didn't slide all over the place as I tried to grasp onto it. Then as I gently rubbed it between my hands the lather took a while to produce but it didn't eventually come about and once I was happy with the lather on my hands I rubbed my hands together as I would do when using any other bar of soap but because this is an exfoliator soap, I made sure that I paid particular notice to the areas upon my hands which was drier in part than others. The exfoliating seeds themselves are very small but you can actually feel them moving about on your skin as you use the soap and the harder you rub your skin whilst using it the more you can feel them and if you do rub too hard you will notice that your skin will become red in places which means you have been too hard on your skin.

The one thing I love about this soap is the smell, a few other people have noted how there was a slight smell of urine when using it, well I've certainly not noticed that smell but what I did notice is the orange blossom which becomes evident as soon as you rub the soap between your hands and the smell remains quite strong for a few hours afterwards assuming you don't wash your hands with something else or start cleaning the house, by then the smell will have disappeared.

After using the soap for the first time the one thing I wanted out of this product is to have soft, smooth hands and whilst there was clearly some way to go and having only used the soap once at this point I was slightly impressed to notice that a lot of the dry skin on my hands had gone, the only downside was that they didn't feel as soft as I had hoped. So I continued to use the soap on a daily basis in an evening after finishing my daily routine knowing that once I was in bed I wasn't suddenly going to begin cleaning again or doing anything with my hands. So now after using this soap for just over 5 weeks how does it fare? My hands are feeling 100% better than they did just a few weeks ago, there is very little sign of them feeling dry and chapped and having not used any hand cream for the entire 5 weeks of using this soap it is the only reason I have to believe they are feeling so good. My hands are soft and smooth and lovely touch.

Are there any downsides to this soap? Well the fig leaf on the top can be quite irritating when you are trying to rub the soap between your hands, so I removed it and kept it in my box of lush products out of the way. Secondly the seeds, whilst they don't all come away at once when using the soap they do tend to cling to the sink bowl, so after using this soap remember to wash the sink bowl or the seeds will remain there.

I have only used this soaps on my hands which was my initial reason for wanting to try it and because I use other products on my body parts I don't intend to try it just it other than on my hands. To buy this soap from Lush it currently retails are £2.35 for 100g which is the average price for a Lush soap and it does last a long time, my bar of soap still looks wholesome after using it daily for just over 5 weeks and I would think I have still got another few months of usage from it yet.

So, if you are looking for an exfoliating soap then look no further than this soap because it did exactly what I wanted it to do.

If you are not too sure then you can always visit the Lush website at www.Lush.co.uk is set out very clearly with headings to make your navigation throughout the site really easy. If you have never used Lush products before then I would suggest you click on the 'Find out more' for more information about who Lush are, what they do, how they do it, their policies on animal testing, information for pregnant women and much more. On this website you are able to click on each product to see what ingredients they contain, how much they are and what sizes they are sold in.

Summary: An exfoliating soap from Lush