Pink Cheese, Anyone? (Lush Fresh Farmacy Cleansing Bar)

Member Name: karenuk

Product:	Lush Fresh Farmacy Cleansing Bar
Date:	10/09/02 (556 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cleans well, pretty pink colour, good for problem skin

Disadvantages: can get soggy, can irritate eyes, not the nicest of smells

While I was in the shower today, I decided it was about time to subject you all to another Lush opinion! This time a product that isn’t a favourite, but it is one I use almost every day and with good results. It’s not as wonderfully smelling as I Should Coco and it’s not as luxurious as the bubble bars, but it is a product I would recommend.

I have had problems washing my face for years. My cheeks are very dry and can become itchy and flaky, as well as red and blotchy. My nose and forehead can be greasy and if I get spots and blackheads, that’s where they’ll pop up. (Oh I’m sooooo sexy!!) I also have sensitive skin and my eyes are prone to run at pretty much anything that goes near them. So it has been a trial and error thing over the years and I have never really found a product that works on my face – until now.

Lush Fresh Farmacy is a specially formulated soap to clean your face with. It’s advertised in the Lush Times as being a ‘cleansing bar for troublesome skin’ and that’s just what it is. It does do exactly what it says on the little sticky label.

It’s a funny looking thing. It’s a pink block with yellow flowery bits on top. (Apparently they are bits of elderflower, but what would I know?) It’s quite a pretty pink really, a dusky pink, maybe a salmon pink (but not that awful orangey-pink of the new Dooyoo!). It isn’t as hard as most Lush soaps but has a unique rubbery or springy feel to it.

The smell is hard to describe. It’s slightly medicinal, but as this contains calamine powder, I think this could be the reason why. Other ingredients I recognise include chamomile, lavender oil and tea tree oil – all of which I know are soothing, relaxing, calming – but I wouldn’t say you can smell any of these particularly.

I wash my face either in the shower or just at the sink. I wet my face first then either rub
the Fresh Farmacy bar directly onto my face and lather or I lather it in my hands, then apply it using my fingertips. Either way seems just as effective.

It feels cooling on the skin and doesn’t take long to clean your face. I rinse it off, then usually apply a moisturising lotion such as Nivea Soft Intensive Moisturising Crème or Avon Hydro-firming Day Cream. My face does go slightly pink around the cheeks, but not for long and the results are worth it – clean skin, without blotches, flaking or spots.

However, occasionally it has made my eyes sting and water. I am pretty sure it hasn’t gone in my eyes directly (I’m careful like that!) so I would assume it was close enough to irritate. So for this reason – and the fact that it could smell nicer – it isn’t a perfect product, but it’s the best I’ve tried.

My middle daughter is prone to getting insect bites, which was just how I was at her age. I don’t know where she gets them from, as no one else suffers, but she does. She had some tonight that were bothering her. She had been scratching them and they were red and sore. So I wiped some of the Fresh Farmacy directly on them, as I know it contains calamine powder and can well remember my Mum putting calamine lotion on me. Well, it did the trick! The redness reduced almost immediately, hr skin cooled, the itching stopped and she went back to bed. Result!

I bought this bar of Fresh Farmacy back on August 2nd and it cost me £3.64. You can order it online in 100g chunks for £2.80 a go or the assistants will cut you off a block to the size you want (as much as possible) in the shop. This block is now about 1.5” square, but has lasted incredibly well, considering I cut a chunk off it to give to Allie a while ago and have been using my bit on an almost daily basis.

I keep my Fresh Farmacy on top of the shower unit along with my other shower essentials (Trichomania
solid shampoo and my Buffy) and whichever shower gel I’m using goes on the hook. His has never been a problem before, but for some reason, my Fresh Farmacy got a bit soggy today and slightly mushy at one end. I changed he cling film around it though and it has dried out nicely, without any wastage.

So overall, I definitely recommend this – especially if you have sensitive skin that finds most products irritating. It looks quite pretty in my opinion and is easy to use with very good results. The only disadvantages are minor ones – I’m not too fond of the smell (but it’s bearable), it has occasionally made my eyes water and it became soggy today. But otherwise, it’s pretty damn good. Well, it *is* Lush – what do you expect? ;-)

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