Beauty Loot: Lush Favorites + Holiday Releases

I said in my Stuff I've Been Using post that I was saving my recent Lush loot for another day. Well today is that day!

My love for Lush goes back to the early 2000s, which is a long time to like something. However, I never found out about Lush sales until Nikki of Forgivain told me about them. It seems that they almost always have something at 50% off. Now I'm on the lookout when I go to a Lush store. Here's my recent loot:

 Sorry I took this pic with my phone. I was too lazy to pull out my camera.

Beauty Loot: New Things + An Update

Hello! I'm back! I know, it's been a while. I really missed blogging -- and reading other blogs for that matter. The Blue Purse is always on my mind, but life has been ridiculously busy lately. Life happened as usual, and it's the same old story, but this time I have a really good excuse.

Mostly, I've been busy with work. The past month was crazy hectic, and then when things finally slowed down, I had to catch up with family and friends whom I've neglected. Seriously, I don't have the time to sleep these days, much less surf and read and cook and watch TV and focus on any hobbies. I'm going to get a handle on life at some point, and I hope that's soon, but for now, I'm trying, so please bear with me.

Let's start with a fun topic -- beauty! Since I haven't been blogging, products have piled up on me. This is a collective haul of sorts, because I'm excited to share all my new things. Read on.

Beauty Barrage: Up Close - Lush Exfoliators Part 2: Ocean Salt

We've come to Part 2 of the Lush Exfoliators series. [Check out Part 1: Dark Angels.]

Using exfoliators has become a part of my skincare routine. Like I said before, I don't have my full skincare routine down pat yet, but I now have a handle on my facial scrubs. I try to remember to exfoliate once a week, twice at the most when I have a skin emergency like a zit or something, because I have combination, mostly dry skin. If I exfoliate more than that, my skin gets very dry and goes on complete survival mode, which makes it secrete more oil than usual, and that's not good. Those with oily skin though can exfoliate two to three times a week. I use Dark Angels only when my skin feels unusually oily or rough, or if I'm breaking out. My regular scrub is Ocean Salt.

Lush Exfoliator Number 2: Ocean Salt Face and Body Scrub

Beauty Barrage: Up Close - Lush Exfoliators Part 1: Dark Angels

It's no secret that I love Lush. I love what the brand stands for, I love the smell of their stores, and I love most of their products. Our bathroom is full of Lush -- even the husband uses their Dirty line, but that's another story. I already posted about the Lush Happy Hippy Shower Gel and Lush Grease Lightning Tea Tree Cleanser before, but I figured I should talk about my favorite Lush skincare products first before moving on to other things.

Let's talk exfoliation, shall we? I don't have the best skin. It's rough, dry, and aside from the occasional breakout, I have to deal with acne scars and hyperpigmentation. I'm still trying to find the best skincare regimen for me, but I'm glad that I have at least found exfoliators that work. I'll be doing a two-part series for this because I use two kinds of exfoliating scrubs, and they're both from Lush.

Lush Exfoliator Number 1: Dark Angels Facial Cleanser 

It's amazing! I've been using it for years now and this was actually my first picture of it back in 2011. It actually doesn't look like much. In fact, it looks freaky, since it looks like a black mud cake in the container and it smells pretty sulfuric. It's a facial scrub made of charcoal, black sugar, and actual Rhassoul mud that is ideal for oily complexions because it absorbs the oil in your skin and brightens your complexion right up. You take a teensy pinch of it (you can see that when I took this pic I had already taken a couple of pinches off of it), mix it with a bit of water on your palm so it turns into a thin paste, and then you rub it all over your face. Be gentle -- it can feel pretty rough. Make sure you rinse it off really well too, since this stuff has a tendency to stay on your face. I once got out of the shower with a couple of faint black smudges on my cheeks!

I don't have oily skin -- I have combination, which means parts of it are regular oily and parts of it are dry, but I still tried this and it is awesome. When I first used it, I was breaking out on my forehead and had a zit on the nose coming on, so I used it for one whole weekend (just a couple of days) and it dried everything up! It stopped the pimple right on its tracks and the little bumps are pretty much gone. The zit went away just like that!

I wouldn't recommend this as a daily scrub though because it's so strong it can dry your skin up. I only use it when my face is feeling extra oily or when I'm getting a hint of a zit. My husband, who has very oily skin, loves it too. We treat it like a magic scrub and only break it out when we have a skin emergency.

I've been raving about this for so long in my social networks, but I had to post about this here for inclusion in my beauty product archives. It's incredible.

Beauty Barrage: Lush Happy Hippy Shower Gel

Last week, I tweeted about discontinued products I was missing for Throwback Thursday. I mentioned the Lush Tramp and Back for Breakfast shower gels because I loved them and thought I would be using them for years but now they're only available online.

Then Lush posted a tweet asking followers to tweet the discontinued products they miss, inspired by The Blue Purse. [Thanks for the shoutout Lush!] 

That got me thinking about my favorite Lush shower gel of the moment -- the one that hasn't been discontinued, is still in stores, and I still get to use a lot. No question -- it's Happy Hippy. Here's a review.

I've been using Happy Hippy for a long time now, and thankfully, it hasn't been discontinued! It's a grapefruit shower gel that has such a fantastically bright fragrance. It works for both hair and body as well, that's why I use it mainly for trips, the gym, overnight things and such. I usually get the small bottle to keep it handy, and I like that it's so convenient, I don't have to tote around separate shampoo and shower gels. It's a staple in my gym and overnight bags, but I also use it at home on mornings when I need a dose of sunshine. I really like citrus smells in the morning. They leave me energized and raring to get my day started. 

This particular shower gel also feels great. It's light and not sticky, rinses off easily, and just erupts in a burst of fresh grapefruit goodness in the shower. It leaves my hair and skin soft and shiny.   

I love it because it is pretty close to my retro product favorite, Back for Breakfast, with its sunshine-y, citrus-y smell. It actually sort of hails from way back at Lush's first company, Cosmetics to Go. It's such a customer favorite, they started making it again. I hope they won't ever discontinue this one! p.s. I love the usage instructions!