Going green (for Halloween!) (Lush Herbalism)

Member Name: calypte

Product:	Lush Herbalism
Date:	17/10/07 (333 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: my skin's in the best condition it's been in since pre-teenagedom

Disadvantages: a little tricky to store, and then remembering to use it

Have you ever stopped to think how many chemicals you expose your skin to on a daily basis - and just in the name of keeping clean? It's quite terrifying (and not in a fun Halloween-scary way)! Some are unavoidable (I'm told chemical-free shampoos are pretty useless, even versions from my precious Lush), but after a spot (!) of inspiration a few months back I decided to see if/where it was practical to use more natural alternatives. I confess - I've managed all of one success: Lush's facial cleanser, Herbalism. But what a success! :)

Appropriately for a natural product, Herbalism is green. Green greenness! Open your usual Lush low-packaging plastic pot and you'll find a blob of sludgy green (but without the odd reddish bits in the picture above), very grainy, clay-like material. It's pretty crumbly, so beware of getting green crumbs everywhere (they do look a little like very anciently mouldy breadcrumbs...!).

A quick sniff is quite baffling. I was convinced I was smelling lavender until I read the ingredients! A friend said she was getting a whiff of salt and vinegar crisps, which had me baffled until - again reading the ingredients - I discovered Herbalism has rice vinegar extracts, and yes now you mention it there is a sharpness in there. I think there's a mix of floral (rose) and herby (rosemary and sage) scents, quite fresh and with that 'bite'.


Using Herbalism is pretty easy: break off a 'penny sized' chunk, place in the palm of your hand, and add the smallest amount of water before rubbing it into a paste. You can always add more water if it remains more crumbs than paste, but if you add too much you're going to lose the grainy exfoliation. Then simply rub into your skin - in the spirit of the season, preferably pausing to jump out and give someone a fright with your bright green face! - being careful not to get it into your eyes.

THE TERROR! THE SCREAMING!!
Urm, yeah. I am *very* good at getting this stuff in my eyes, for some reason, and while I absolutely recommend avoiding it if you can, it's not *the* most painful thing in the world. Says she who's desensitised her eyeballs totally with 13+ years of contact lens wear, but still: the exfoliating 'bits' are rice bran, and so not very sharp to hurt as much as it could. Still avoid it. And possibly wait until after a full rinsing to put contact lenses in, too.


Back to the main feature...

Once I've finished rinsing the Herbalism off - and blinked all the bits out of my eyes - I find my skin has a very slight coating, most likely from the essential oils. I'm used to this feeling from Lush face masks, but this is a lot more subtle: I have no problem putting moisturiser and make up on after using the face wash.

I have normal/combination skill, and I am prone to both oiliness and flakiness on my t-zone, especially the middle of my forehead. It took a while, but after a couple of weeks sticking with the Herbalism, I'm very happy that both these things have calmed down - although it took a while for me to realise, as it does sneak up slowly. However, while the gentle (I have a stonking cold right now, but don't mind using this on my sore nose) daily exfoliation really suits me (regular/smooth face wash, I get flaky; but something like J&J's 'Clean and Clear' was just far too rough and left me red and flaky!) I do still need a once/twice a week 'proper' exfoliation - which is great, 'cos it means I don't have to give up my favourite Lush Ocean Salt! :)


That's the good bit, but there are a few warnings:

Before buying a tub, I had read warnings that Herbalism will go mouldy ("It's green, how would you tell?" - apparently we're talking icky white fuzzy mould) if left wet in the pot. Now, my bathroom is steam central, and I totally don't trust myself not to drip water into the tub - so I keep it in the fridge. It's not recommended anywhere, but it hasn't done any harm, and it's where I'm used to keeping Lush face masks anyway. However, this leads to my biggest problem with using the face wash: I keep forgetting to take some in to the shower with me!

THE HORROR, THE HORROR!! MORE SCREAMING!
Urm, yeah again. Fortunately I live alone, otherwise there might indeed be screaming as I wander naked between shower and kitchen to retrieve a piece of green clay. Sigh. Advice: be more organised!

Even with forgetting fairly regularly, I've still had a great use out of my pot in the past three months and still have, I'd guesstimate, a good month's worth left in crumb form at the bottom. When you first buy the product, you have a solid(-ish) block of green gunk, but it is very crumbly and I think you're going to end up using more than half from 'crumbs'. Which is okay, just possibly a bit messy if you're not careful. And of course, if you are at the crumby stage (so to speak!) you're going to have to be doubly careful about damp fingers.


Three months on, and I'm more happy with this than ever. I'm getting into the habit of collecting some Herbalism before my shower (if it's a lump, I leave it on top of the shampoo; otherwise you have to carefully hold some in your hand as you get into the shower) and more importantly - I'm very happy with the results to my skin. I've reached a point in life of accepting I'll never have perfect skin, and my progress using the Herbalism was quite slow and subtle, so it took a while to really realise how much good it was doing: I still have rather too-visible pores on my nose, but I'm *much* less prone to random spots or whiteheads, as the greasiness is really being curtailed. My skin is definitely smoother, too - honestly, the best condition it's been in for as long as I can remember! :)

If that's not a good enough recommendation, try asking in a Lush store for a small sample - the staff are usually very nice about things like that. If you can't get to a store, www.Lush.co.uk will charge you a not-so-tiny fee for the privilege of having some Herbalism delivered to your door :)



Boring bits (from the Lush website):

Price: £4.50 for 100g - not bad value for something that (a) lasts for ever, and (b) works! :)

Ingredients: Ground Almonds (Prunus dulcis) , Kaolin , Glycerine , Chlorophyllin Water (Aqua) , Nettle , Rosemary , Rice Vinegar Extract , (Urtica dioica, Rosmarinus officinalis) , Rice Bran (Oryza sativa) , Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides) , Rose Absolute (Rosa centifolia) , Chamomile Oil (Anthemis nobilis) , Sage Oil (Salvia sclarea) , Perfume

Lush's description: Detoxifying, purifying and exfoliating herbal cleansing roll wash for oilier and problem skin. Herbalism is a sludgy green, squidgy, putty-like paste made from powdered herbs which are wonderful for the skin. Use it daily and your skin will improve. Herbalism deep cleanses with China clay, exfoliates with ground almonds, revives the skin with rosemary, uses nettle powder to detoxify and chamomile to soothe the surface. Please also drink two litres of water a day, go for a three mile walk, don`t smoke and eat your five helpings of fruit to keep your skin looking fantastic. Herbalism can do magic but it can`t work miracles.

Summary: Best cleanser I've ever found for my combination skin