Chocolate Skin (Lush Cupcake)

Member Name: yummy87

Product:	Lush Cupcake
Date:	10/09/04 (1525 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Smells great, Does wonders for the skin

Disadvantages: A bit messy

During my teens and twenties my beauty regime was always a bit hit and miss. Very rarely did I remove make up at the end of a night out and cleansing, toning and all the other important things took place if and when I could be bothered. As I?ve got older I?ve changed although it?s always been difficult for me to find products that don?t irritate my sensitive skin or bring me out in huge red blotches or spots and I have consequently spent hundreds of pounds on finding the perfect range to suit me.

A couple of years ago I discovered Lush products and have never looked back although I have only recently begun using their skincare range. Lush produce an ever-increasing range of lotions and potions for the skin, and recently they have introduced a range of face masks. In the past I have always used their Mask of Magnaminty once a week, normally at the weekend as this is the time I put aside an hour or so to spend with my daughter where we pamper ourselves with our latest goodies. It is no doubt due to the fact that Lush only use natural ingredients and no artificial colours or preservatives in their products that I can use them without fear of an outbreak of rashes or spots and I?m always prepared to pay a little more to keep my skin looking fresh and smooth as well a young!

It was during a recent trip to Lush that my beady little eye caught sight of some new items in the Fresh range. Lush lay this range out on a bed of ice in their shops and all of the products are made freshly that day. Most smell gorgeous although there are a few dud ones, but some look good enough to eat and The Cupcake I was drawn to looked chocolatey ? always a good start in my book. There is of course a downside to the Fresh range and this is that they do have a limited shelf life so there is no point buying these unless you are going to use them within
the specified time which varies from product to product but is normally around the two week mark. Cupcakes are available to buy in 100g pots which retail at £4.50 and Lush claim there are approximately four uses per pot. So, at just over a pound a time for something that is only going to last a couple of weeks is quite expensive but for a chocolate fix I?m not complaining. When you bring your Cupcake home, don?t forge to pop it into the fridge otherwise it will go off before the specified use by date.

So what is a Cupcake? Apart from having a scrummy name, the Cupcake is a face mask designed to remove excess oils from the face and also to prevent breakouts of spots. Lush are very minimalist with the packaging of items in the Fresh range and the Cupcake comes in a very bland plastic pot with a flimsy white lid. You would be forgiven for thinking the pot contains a thick chocolate sauce as the contents appear to be dark chocolate brown and look quite gloopy through the container.

Cupcake is similar in appearance to chocolate cake mixture before it goes into the oven and not only that, it smells pretty damn good too. A mixture of chocolate and mint wafts from the container and a quick check of the ingredients reveals that both spearmint and peppermint are used in its manufacture which explains the mint explosion after the container is opened. You?ll find there is sometimes a thin layer of liquid on the surface of the Cupcake but this is nothing to worry about, it?s simply where the product has settled in transit. Cupcake needs to be smoothed gently over the face avoiding the eye area and left to ?set? for about ten minutes. The mixture is quite thick and has small grains of sand like particles within, although there is nothing on the ingredient listing to explain these at all. Cupcake is cold when it comes into contact with the skin due to it being kept in the fridge b
ut I feel that the coldness is part of the masks appeal as the skin feels invigorated even before I?ve finished smoothing the Cupcake over my face, although this could be due to the exfoliating particles having removed all of my dead skin cells as the mask is being spread over my face. Lush state that Rhassoul mud is used in the production of the Cupcake and the mask does feel very similar to other mud based masks that I have used in the past, apart from the obvious minty chocolate aroma. It?s quite a strange sensation ? sitting on the chair waiting for the mask to work its magic and all the time your nose being accosted with the smells of mint and chocolate so it?s probably not a good idea to use this if you?re on a diet otherwise you could fall off the wagon pretty soon.

After about two minutes the mask starts to tighten but as I have always used it sparingly I have never experienced the dry cracking feeling that is so apparent with other masks that I?ve tried. The mask dries quite solidly though and after the allotted ten minutes despite putting only a thin layer on my face, I do need to rub the lingering dry bits to remove them with some warm water. The big test is the feeling upon my skin after using the Cupcake. Normally when I apply a face mask I have to moisturise thoroughly because masks such as the Avon Naturals range, despite claiming to be gentle, make my skin very dry. Not so with the Cupcake. My face looks really fresh and the skin has a glow as well as the skin feeling soft to the touch and also moisturised so that I have no need to apply big globules of moisturising cream after use. I would hazard a guess that the moisturising properties come from the cocoa butter that is present in the mask as I have moisturising creams that contain cocoa butter and they have a magnificent effect on my skin.

I?m on my second pit of Cu
pcake now, and I have managed to get between fix and six uses out of each pot. Even though I?ve been quite frugal with the mask Cupcake has fortunately not returned the favour and instead has only been beneficial to my skin. My face looks more alive now and the skin has a cleansed softness to it that I?ve never experienced after using any type of facial mask in the past. As if all that wasn?t enough I?ve not had one spot since I?ve been using it proving to me that chocolate is good for the skin! Cupcake certainly has earned a place in our staples for pampering and we will be buying it for as long as Lush decide to keep making it. If you have a young daughter who is lazy or indifferent about following a good skin care routine, I would thoroughly recommend Cupcake as a first face mask. My daughter is only too happy to use this on a weekly basis because of its moreish aroma more than anything else. Cupcake is brilliant for a treat and the fact that it?s chocolate flavoured has had nothing to do with the fact that I love it so much.

Capital letters courtesy of: http://www.chuckleweb.co.uk/fixit.php

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