Miracle cream in a little black tub (Lush Dream Cream)

Member Name: sandemp

Product:	Lush Dream Cream
Date:	28/01/06 (2163 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very gentle, moisturising and soothing | Not a girly smell | Lasts a long time

Disadvantages: Can only buy from Lush, which means a train journey for me

Although I do have psoriasis I’ve never really had sensitive skin, so I’ve always tended to but the cheapest moisturiser going. As long as it makes my legs feel smooth after a shave then it’s alright by me. Well that was my philosophy on moisturisers until last month, when I applied my latest bargain basement lotion to my legs and ended up with chemical burns. I kid you not, I had a pair of bright red legs that looked as if I’d stayed out in the sun for too long. Once the burning feeling had finally gone, I was left with red patches of very dry skin, that was uncomfortable and itchy. Having a child with eczema I did have some aqueous cream in the house, but that didn’t work and I seemed doomed to having horribly dry legs for eternity. That was until I spent an unbelievable amount of money in Lush and received a pot of this Dream Cream free, within two days my legs looked like new and I was discovering new uses for the cream…

---Dream Cream---

Dream cream is made exclusively for and by Lush, so the only places you will find it are either in their shops or their on-line store (www.lush.co.uk). Housed in a very non-descript black tub, the 240g of cream is brimming with various oils, cocoa butter and other goodies that are both safe and kind to animals. Just in case you didn’t realise, Lush has a policy of not testing on animals and using as many natural ingredients as possible, all of their products are suitable for vegetarians and a few (including this one) suitable for vegans. There are too many ingredients for me to list here but it’s interesting to note that Dream Cream contains chamomile, which sooths the skin and tea tree which sooths with the added benefit of antiseptic properties. Due to the natural ingredients Dream Cream does have a limited shelf life, and therefore a use-by date, but never fear this is fourteen months from the date of manufacture, so you should easily be able to use it within that timeframe.

My pot of Dream cream is ideally named, for it is a cream and not a lotion, being around the same consistency as aqueous cream. Of course as it is hand-made using natural ingredients different batches may have different consistency. My cream has an off-white colour and although it contains rosewater does not smell at all floral. If I had to describe the smell I would say it’s slightly herbal, with the chamomile and tea tree being the most dominant scents (perhaps because they‘re the only ones whose scent I‘m familiar with). Once applied, the scent quickly dissipates, and within five minutes I can hardly smell it at all.

Actual application is as easy as any lotion, and certainly easier than aqueous cream. Less is definitely more and by just lightly dipping my finger tips into the surface of the cream I find I have enough for one lower leg, and results are almost instantaneous. The cream is gentle enough for even sensitive skin, and I even find I can use it almost immediately after shaving. Although the tub it comes in looks very small, it does last for ages, I’ve been using mine daily for a month now, and still have more than ¾ of a tub left.

---Other Uses---

As well as a bog standard moisturiser I’ve used Dream Cream in various other situations, which I’ll cover now…

Well firstly, I obviously used it on the very dry patches on my legs that other creams couldn’t touch, it did a wonderful job at that. Then as it contains tea tree oil I decided to use it on the psoriasis on my elbows, within a week the scaly patches looked a lot less red, and although if you looked really hard you would probably still see them, they are almost gone and the best they’ve been in a long time. (Tea tree oil is something I had been using to control the psoriasis).

After the success on my own skin, my husband decided to try it on some patches of eczema, that while a little irritating did not really require steroid creams. Again the results were almost instantaneous, and within a couple of days the patches had gone. After these successes I decided to use it on my son’s far more severe eczema, now I did only use it on areas with unbroken skin, but again he told me that it relieved the itching far more effectively than the aqueous cream, and his skin does look less red and irritated. He loved the effects of the cream and the fact it isn’t a girly smell, in fact he loved it so much that I had to buy him his own tub.

I also use it as a hand cream, although it does feel ever so slightly greasy for a few minutes, if I apply a good dollop before going to bed, I wake up the next morning with wonderfully soft hands. I’m not sure I would use it during the day for this purpose, but it does make a really nice intensive conditioner for the hands (and feet), especially when teamed up with a pair of cotton gloves (or socks for the feet).

---Warnings---

As Dream Cream contains essential oils, if you are pregnant or epileptic (some epileptics are affected by essential oils) you should note the ingredients (full list on the Lush website) and check with your doctor that you will be ok using it. Also as with anything there is a possibility that you may be allergic to any of the ingredients, so again it’s worth checking the list on the site and if you know you react to any of the ingredients then give it a miss. If you do suffer a reaction after using it (at any time) then discontinue use immediately.

---Final words---

This cream has proved to be worth it’s weight in gold, although the original pot was free, I had no hesitation in buying another at £7.95 for 240g. I know this sounds very expensive but I actually do believe it offers great value for money. Not only does it work better than cheap lotions (it didn’t burn me for a start), but a very little goes a very long way. I can see this tub lasting me at least four months (or even longer), and as bonus it’s multi-purpose and far more effective than aqueous cream at soothing my son’s eczema and my own psoriasis. So yes this is a miracle in a tub that I am recommending to anyone with sensitive or damaged skin, and those with eczema (or similar), although I cannot guarantee you will get the same results we have.

Summary: The cream that succeeded when all others had failed