Going green! (Lush Mask of Magnaminty)

Member Name: wildrose9104

Product:	Lush Mask of Magnaminty
Date:	27/07/07 (371 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great value for money, lasts a long time, lovely green colour, minty and fresh.

Disadvantages: Minty sensation might be too strong for people with sensitive skin.

Face masks are sometimes a bit of a luxury - they're not always cheap to buy and if you use them liberally, they don't last that long either.
When I look for a mask I look for quality, value for money, quantity and shelf life. I've used many masks in the past and have only found a couple of really good ones, but even those I felt were not giving me value for money. You know the type, the sachets for £1.99, or the small tubs for around £6. I was looking for something that was simple. Natural and simple.

After having tried a mask from Lush before I have since vowed not to part with that much money again. However, they do have one face mask which is not as expensive, does not have a shelf life of just 3 weeks and in my opinion is pretty good value for money! May I introduce Mask of Magnaminty! A bit of a mouthful to say, but is exactly what it says!

For those of you who are not familiar with the Lush company, they are a bath and body cosmetics shop that specialise in making cosmetics from as many natural ingredients as possible. This includes essential oils, butters, plant extracts and fruits and vegetables! Amongst their range of products (none of which are tested on animals) are, to name but a few: shampoos, conditioners, body butters, shower smoothies, shower gels, bubble bars, moisturisers and facial care products. They thrive on providing excellent quality and interesting and unusual ways to present their products and by using minimal packaging.

Mask of Magnaminty comes in 2 sizes, 125g for £2.95 and 325g for £5.75. It comes in a black screw top container with a large round sticker on the lid stating the product name and Lush logo and on the front of the tub, another sticker with an ingredients list and who made your tub of mask, along with when it was made and when to use by. The shelf life is about 4 months, which is pretty good considering it is made from mostly natural ingredients.

So in Mask of Magnaminty, the ingredients:
Bentonite Gel, Kaolin, Honey, Talc, Ground Aduki Beans (Phaseolus), Glycerine, Evening Primrose Seeds (Oenothera biennis), Peppermint Oil (Mentha piperita), African Marigold Oil (Tagetes erecta), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Perfume, Chlorophyll, Methylparaben.

Lush says that this mask is 'deeply cleansing, toning, exfoliating mask to be used over the face, neck and back.' Even better that it can be used elsewhere!

Upon opening the 125g container, what instantly hit me was the minty fresh smell, almost like toothpaste actually! And what looks like bright green mint choc chip ice-cream peeks up at me from the tub. This almost looks good enough to eat, but obviously I'm not going to try!

Applying this is fairly straightforward. Just take a bit on your fingers and apply onto your face - making sure you avoid the eye area because I can only imagine it will sting pretty badly if you get some in your eye! It's a very thick paste and very textured, as you have the aduki beans in there for exfoliation.

Lush recommend to leave it on for 15-20 minutes until it dries so I would recommend that you don't need to apply this thickly. A thin layer is most definitely enough, and as soon as I applied it, I could feel the cooling sensation of the peppermint oil and of course the ground aduki beans. Now, personally I did find the cooling sensation a little overpowering, however after about 10 minutes when this starts to dry it does wear off a little and the mask will turn to a darker green.

After 20 minutes it's time to wash off gently with warm water. Whilst I washed this off I massaged gently to get the most out of the exfoliating properties and it's quite pleasant! It cleans away the dirt and dead skin cells that lurk and after washing off and patting dry my face felt nice and cool and fresh.

The best part about this mask was that I only needed a small amount of the face mask and there is still loads left in the tub! I would say for the 125g tub you will easily get at least 15 masks out of it. It spreads very well even though it is thick, so you don't need to use much.

I would recommend this for anybody really who is looking for good value for money for a good quality product. However, because this is very minty once applied, if you have sensitive skin I would be cautious, as I have found that it can feeling almost feel like a burning sensation it's that minty! But I have since found out, if you use less, the sensation will be less also.

You can buy Mask of Magnaminty from any Lush shop, or you buy it online from the Lush website www.lush.co.uk.

Summary: Lovely minty mask that won't cost you the earth