A Very Pretty, Little Baby Face (Lush Baby Face)

Member Name: Rose Pink

Product:	Lush Baby Face
Date:	01/03/08 (554 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Soothes and nourishes dry skin, cheap, fun, ethical, environmental

Disadvantages: Unsuitable for those without dry skin, time consuming to use

First-Impressions and Purchase

Having already been impressed by Lush's 'Angels On Bare Skin' cleanser I was keen to widen my Lush horizons and find a night time cleanser. Angel's exfoliation was brilliant in the mornings but twice daily application is too abrasive on the skin and in my opinion its best to give your skin a little TLC at night to encourage it to beautify itself at night. I have dry and quite sensitive skin on my face and therefore I wanted a rich and nourishing cleanser, to combine with moisturiser, to thoroughly penetrate and soothe the skin. Before Baby Face I had been giving in to my lazy side and was simply using cleansing wipes but I was well aware of the fact they were doing very little for my skin and I was keen for a chance from the monotony of it all.

Monotony is one thing that Lush cleansers o not provide. They claim to be unlike all the other 'boring white gloop of conventional cleansers,' available on the market and on approaching the cleanser section this is immediately apparent. Out of their ten cleansers only three of them are liquid and they are certainly not white but instead bright jewel colours and are housed in quaint pots. All of the other cleansers are solid and proud of this fact, claiming to be preservative free as a result. At first I disregarded Baby Face on account of its similarity in appearance to a soap which is completely taboo in skin care due to he way regular soaps strip skin of its oils and painfully dry it out. However a helpful Sales Assistant recommended it when I mentioned my dry skin and helped me overcome my scepticism by getting me to feel the tester on display. The presence of these testers is really useful as Baby Face felt highly different to how it looked. The bar was quick to melt into my hands to produce incredibly moisturising oils which were quickly absorbed and I know that the skin on my face would be just as grateful as the skin of my hands.

The solid cleansers sit on the shelves unpackaged and simply stacked on top of each other. You then pick one up and take It to the counter where they wrap it is a small sheet of plastic covered paper, planet friendly but still practical. They then place it in a paper carrier bag for easy transportation. Lush's green credentials are further emphasised by their bags usually having an incentive for its reuse that gives you a free gift after a certain number of uses. On the topic of Lush's ethics no products are tested on animals and all are vegetarian so Baby Face earns even more gold stars.

The cleanser can be bought from all Lush stores (your closest store can be found at www.lush.co.uk), through the Lush Times (their catalogue in a quirky and eco newspaper format) and the online at www.Lush.com. However with all Lush products I recommend first time buyers to purchase Baby Face from stores as rather like marmite, Lush products can simply be too non-conformist and inspire feelings of hate (in my opinion stemming from fear of the unknown in 'Lushphobics) and it is better to be safe than sorry.

Appearance

As afore mentioned Baby Face is a solid cleanser that resembles a small round soap. However instead of having a matte surface like a soap it is fairly shiny and this is an indication of its high oil content. The pale yellow surface of the solid has been etched to look like a baby face (hence the name) and is frankly adorable and the idea of using the product is somewhat heart breaking.

Scent

As per usual a Lush product does not skimp on scenting their products. Some people may shun Lush face care products on this ground as many companies out thee insist that the sensitive facial skin is far too =delicate for fragrance and instead give peculiarly land scented products. However Lush maintains that natural fragrances do not harm your skin, on the contrary they enhance it. Each Baby face bar contains cocoa butter, shea butter and coconut oil in the largest quantity, which gives a very rich and luxurious base scent. Blended with this is tangerine oil, narcissus absolute and everlasting flower absolute to give a hint of floral and citrus notes to give a fresher element to the cleanser. Smothering this on your face is absolutely heavenly as the scent intensifies as the bar warms and melts on the skin, lingering for several hours afterwards. The only slight flaw is that the bar also contains artificial perfume which can seem to undo a lot of Lush's positive work. However, the perfume is the smallest component of the bar and it is therefore unlikely to have any adverse effect.

Application

The first few times I used Baby face were quite complicated. After years of using liquid cleansers designed largely for convenience, this was a fairly foreign experience. Firstly hair that falls onto the face must be pushed back using an Alice band to prevent it getting coated with oil and looking lank and disgusting. The bar then needs to be rubbed gently over the face. I recommend warming the bar in your hands first to begin the melting process and lubricate the bar to prevent it pulling the skin. Once the face is coated I like to leave the oil sitting there as I brush my teeth to let the oils penetrate the skin more deeply. For times of intensive pampering it can be used as a mask for about 1 minutes to give optimum results. After this you need to dampen a piece of cotton wool ball with warm water, squeeze out the excess water and use it to carefully wipe the excess oil off the skin. This is where problems can be encountered if you have been wearing mascara or eyeliner. Although the cleanser removes other make-up quickly and easily eye make-up is incredibly hard to remove and ends up smeared down your face or rather painfully in your eyes. Therefore I would recommend using half a cleansing wipe to remove eye make-up prior to using Baby-face. At first this whole process can seem quite time consuming and futile. For those with little tolerance for beauty routines I would suggest this is not the cleanser for you as you my not think the befits are worth the fuss.

Results

Baby face shows positive results immediately. After my first use my skin felt supple and moisturised and was positively glowing and with continued use the results intensified. However it did look slightly greasy so I would recommend using the cleanser at night and then using a different one in the morning. For anyone prone to blemishes or with greasy skin I would recommend avoiding this product as its richness can block pores. Also in the summer months when skin is naturally greasier, many people who loved baby face in the winter may find it stops working so well for them. However for people with dry, dull skin this product is a complete miracle and I thoroughly recommend it.

Summary: Best cleanser for dry skin