How Cool am I?....Very Cool! (Lush Coolie-O Face Mask)

Member Name: sweetpea01

Product:	Lush Coolie-O Face Mask
Date:	07/06/09 (69 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Refreshes and tones your skin

Disadvantages: No longer available

I have been using Lush's facial products for years now purely because they just give great results time after time. Despite the rather large price tag per pot they have never failed me unlike the supermarket facial packs you get which are always hard to get out of the little sachets and never actually do anything for your skin so it seems. When you break down the cost of a Lush facial scrub, bio product etc you will find Lush only charge slightly more. Say on average a supermarket sachet costs £1.10 and you pay £6.31 (Lush's going rate) and you manage to get at least five applications you are paying £1.26 per go, thats only 16p more than a supermarket one! So when you break it down like this it doesn't actually look that bad!

About 8 years ago I spent two months in the States with family members basically to see them and to have a great summer away! I have relatives in Tennessee so spending a summer down there was going to be fantastic. Fortunately my cousin is a huge Lushette and cannot get enough of their products, just like me! The nearest store is in Memphis which fortunately is about a forty minute drive which isn't that bad especially as Memphis is also great for shopping aswell! I hadn't gone into the store for any particular item, I just wanted to have a look around. My cousin was the one who recommended Coolie-O to me as she had sworn by it for a number of years. So I could hardly say no!

I was told by the shop assistant that Coolie-O fresh face mask was doscontinued way back in 2001 but was still sold as a potted bio fresh product until 2004 (I was using it in 2002 until it was retired). Coolie-O Ultra Fresh Face Mask was adorably (and cleverly) packaged inside a scooped-out cucumber shell, sealed at both ends with cucumber slices to not only ensure freshness (and prevent leakage), but to also be used on your eyes (the USA always have to do things better than the UK! In the UK you got just a clear pot!) Unlike Coolie-O Bio Fresh pots, which contain four treatments to be used within three weeks, Coolie-O Ultra Fresh had be used within 48 hours of purchase, strictly due to the "ultra" freshness of this environmentally friendly, biodegradable fresh vegetable multi-purpose packaging which yes thats great if you were wanting to use it that day but not so good if you wanted to wait a few days! Coolie-O ranged in colour and also whether you had used a fresh product or bio pot, shades ranged from a khaki green colour to army beige but regardless of colour the fragrance, consistency rarely changed.

Coolie-O is essentially Mask Of Magnaminty's unpreserved, younger, less charismatic sister. While there are certainly many differences between the two recipes, there are also a few similarities which result in equally similar effects, though Mask Of Magnaminty consistently leads by a length in every possible way. Coolie-O's fragrance of peppermint and spearmint is more vegetal, as occasionally, fresh cucumber ever-so-slightly distracts from the overall minty deliciousness in ways big sister Mask Of Magnaminty's sweeter, vanilla infused fragrance does not.

Coolie-O's fresh cucumber adds a more vegetal top note, whereas Mask Of Magnaminty's mint fragrance is rounded out by vanilla, giving it more of a candied air. Yet though both cool the skin with refreshing, rejuvenating mint, I am sad to say that Coolie-O doesn't quite offer the eye-opening, eye-watering chill that her sister provides. Meanwhile, both products also use aduki beans to exfoliate the skin, though Coolie-O does so in lesser quantities for a milder scrub within a thinner, less substantial base, so if you do have sensitive skin Coolie-O may fare better. Yet while both masks are excellent deep cleansing, exfoliating, softening, pick-me-up masks that work wonders for almost any skin type, with fragrances that are equally appealing to both genders, well... If Mask Of Magnaminty was never invented by Lush, Coolie-O might have walked away from this review with 5 stars.

Yet no matter how you compare them and how they weigh up against one another, both remain excellent deep cleansing, exfoliating, softening, pick-me-up masks that work wonders for almost any skin type, complete with scents that are equally appealing to both genders. Coolie-O's kaolin
and fuller's earth draws oil and dirt from deep within pores, honey detoxifies, lavender rebalances oil production, and then cucumber and fresh grapes tone and rejuvenate while glycerine softens, working in tandem with a few of the aforementioned ingredients to replace essential moisture (as if they didn't already have enough work to do).

A Coolie-O facial is no doubt a wonderful experience, and if you have to compare Coolie-O to any other face mask on the non-Lush market, Coolie-O would win hands down. If, however, you choose to compare it to it's Lush sister product Mask Of Magnaminty, I'd have to be honest and say that the sole advantage of Coolie-O Ultra Fresh will be felt by those who never manage to get through an entire pot of Mask Of Magnaminty before its short life of three months has already been lived to the full. But considering both products existed simultaneously, I can't help but see Coolie-O's comparative weaknesses, leaving me to believe that one's money would be far better spent on the more effective, substantial and longer lasting 5 star Mask Of Magnaminty.

As with all facial masks a little goes a long way so you didn't want to over apply Coolie-O as the refreshing and toning effects will have no effect on your skin, instead your pores will clogg rather than unclogg! Coolie-O stays cool on your skin and doesn't dry. It only needs 10 minutes on the skin and is easily washed off. Ideally you'd want to use warm water and pat the skin dry with a towel. Just make sure you wash your sink out and you wash your flannel or sponge properly as you will be finding little bits everywhere for quite a while!! If this product ever comes available I recommend to all to try it at least once!!

Summary: Its a shame it's been discontinued