Sandstone the soap, not the rock (Lush Sandstone)

Member Name: abercrombie92

Product:	Lush Sandstone
Date:	16/08/09 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: see review

Disadvantages: see review

Recently, I've been performing in Little Shop of Horrors (we just finished last night, sadly) and instead of getting the usual 'Break A Leg' message with a large bouquet of flowers, my parents sent me some flowers and a Lush gift box. They know me well...
In the gift box there were a few products I'd never tried, two that I already loved and one that I couldn't stand - thankfully my mum took that one from me. One of the ones I'd never tried before was Sandstone Soap...

Lush say, "The exfoliating citrussy sand one.
On the glorious beaches of Rio de Janeiro, stunning Brazilian babes (and their mothers) mix up sun tan oil with the fine sand and scrub their backsides until they are as smooth as spun silk. Here's our version. Sandstone soap has a layer of sand and the detoxifying, citrus scent of a caipirinha cocktail. Be like a Brazilian; put on a small frock and go dancing."

To me, this smells like pure lemon. It's a very clean, refreshing scent and if you smell it for long enough then you can smell a really beachy smell in it. I'm not sure if you like the smell of the beach, but I love it. Sadly, it doesn't really smell like I hoped it would from it's description, I know it says it's citrusy with sand in it, but I did hope it would smell more like the beach than it does.

To look at, it's not the nicest looking piece of soap there is. In the picture above, it's shown as a brown soap with pale splodges in it. My chunk is a deep yellow colour with a few pale yellow splodges and some specks of sand, but this is because of where my chunk of soap was cut from, not because of a difference in formula. Also, you can tell that this is a glycerin formula just by looking at it. For those who aren't sure, glycerin formulas look more transparent and cream formulas look creamy.

I first used this soap as a hand soap just to test it out, but then realized that it would be better as a body soap due to the exfoliating sand aspects. Boy was I right. After the first use, my skin felt twice as smooth and squeaky clean. The sand in the soap wasn't harsh at all, but was great for exfoliating and the lemon was great for fighting oils and any spots you may have on your body. The lather that comes off of this soap is wonderful, I've found that it gives the most lather out of any of the soaps I've tried from Lush before.

As for the scent, it fills whichever room you use it in with a lovely lemon scent, sadly it doesn't really do the same for your skin. It leaves a slight lemon scent, but it's mostly just a faint soap smell. This isn't unpleasant, but it's not the best when you plan on smelling like lemons for the next few hours.

You can buy Sandstone at any Lush store or online for £2.66 for 100g.

Advantages
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- lovely lemon scent
- cheap
- great exfoliator
- fabulous lather
- readily available

Disadvantages
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- scent doesn't last long on the skin
- a bit of an eyesore

Overall, I've found this is a great soap for cleansing and exfoliating, but I can't count on it for leaving my skin smelling lovely, so I'll leave that to my body lotion.

Quick tip - if your chunk of soap is fresh, let it cure for a week or two. This means leave it out on a window ledge or something with no coverings. This will make the soap harder which will make it last longer. You can also store your soap in the fridge, this will do the same thing.

Summary: see review