Our Top Picks from Lush for a *Radiant* 2018
Six months ago we hadn't even used a single Lush product. Actually, six months ago our *beauty arsenal* only consisted of just a bar of soap and some grocery store shampoo.
I know, I know ... we are sorry.
But something clicked one day and we walked into the cute little Lush in the French Quarter and literally were completely overwhelmed with scents / joy / bliss. We're pretty extreme when it comes to life changes, so in just the one visit we went from zero to a hundred and now we have all the soapy bathroom things. In case you are also new to this world, Lush is an eco-friendly and cruelty free cosmetics, bath, and grooming company with hundreds of products that all serve to make you smell, feel, look, taste (?) BETTER. Also all of the employees are sweet adorable angels (looking at YOU, Gabriel).
Anyway, gentle reader, you're beautiful the way you are - yes you are - but sometimes it just feels so damn good to slip into the shower, lather some creams or scrubs all over your body and just zen the hell out. It's 2018 and you've made it this far and YOU DESERVE IT.
Aside from being nice to animals and having ingredients we can stand by, the products are also *relatively* affordable as far as skin care / bath products go. Look, we spend money on clothes and coffee and wine, but when it comes to skin care we can get kind of stingy. That's why our top picks come out to about $100 total but will last you for about 3 months. So, that's like $33 a month for a bunch of things that'll make you feel good physically and mentally - not bad if ya ask us!
*death drops into a pile of bath bombs*
Just kidding, we're not really the bath bomb type. Anyway let's start!
SERVING FACE
Cup O' Coffee || face mask || $22.95 @ 11.4 oz
Y'all. It feels wrong to have a favorite Lush baby because you should love all of your children equally but honestly sometimes you just love one kid the most and that's OK! We're both of our moms' favorites and our siblings don't seem to mind. Anyway, Cup O' Coffee face and body mask is our current favorite.
We love this product so much because while you're using it you're overwhelmed with this like incredibly rich coffee and cocoa smell that is just fan-freaking-tastic, but then once you're done and rinse off you're left with clean and tight skin that is *glowing*. It has little ground up coffee beans which act as a great exfoliant, so we'll massage it in for about a minute before letting it set. We use it on our face and shoulders, leaving on for the recommended 15 minutes before rinsing.
Kalamazoo || beard and facial wash || $11.95 @ 3.5 oz
Kalamazoo is pretty much the opposite of Cup O' Coffee in terms of skin feel and aroma. It's bright and tropical, with the consistency of ... well ... soft butter tbh. All you need is a small amount right on the tip of your finger to massage in to your face at the end of your shower and it leaves you with skin that feel literally a baby's butt. And that's pretty much the goal, right?
It's technically also meant to soften facial hair, but if you don't have facial hair it'll still give you that silky baby butt soft skin.
Breath of Fresh Air || facial toner spray || $10.95 for 3.3 oz
Have you ever lived in what is supposed to be a swamp but is now just a city on top of a swamp? It's called New Orleans and it's the place we call home. Most of the year we love it, but in the dead of summer it feels like you're living in a ring of fire and stale beer and alligator sausage and it's horrible. It's so hot, so humid, and just downright disgusting. So basically by 1 p.m. every day, the whole city stops and has a collective sigh, a sip of iced coffee, and if they're committed to feeling fresh - a shower or change of shirt.
That's why we're pumped for this upcoming summer to be armed with this product. This breath of fresh air spray is basically the most refreshing thing you can spray in your face aside from a fire hose, and will leave you smelling like sea salt and roses. We don't struggle with much facial redness, but the bottle says the aloe and rose in this spray can help tone down redness if that's a problem for you! It's incredible. Just use it throughout the day whenever you need a pick me up!
Enchanted Eye Cream || moisturizer || $27.95 for 1.5 oz
Don't let the price freak you out, this size will probably last you for up to six months as you really just need a teeny tiny amount. As gays who spend a lot of time taking photos of ... ourselves ... it's kinda disheartening when you look at a photo and you're like "wow I look hungover / sick / dead wtf" - and a lot of that has to do with the state of your eyes!
This eye cream tightens and refreshes the skin around the eyes, and we use it at the end of a shower or face washing sesh to just perk us up a bit. Full disclosure, a couple of folks we talked to about this product said they hadn't noticed it makes much of a difference, but we got the sample size just to try it and have 100% seen major improvements in how fresh our eyes feel and look. If you've got a Lush near you, try out a free sample first and see how it works for you!
SERVING BODY
Dark Angels || body scrub || $14.95 @ 3.5 oz
Charcoal is all the craze right now in the beauty industry, and while it would be quick to write off as just a fad, we've really enjoyed our charcoal toothpaste and occasional face masks so so much. This product is a face and body cleanser, and we use it in the shower after soaping up and rinsing off. It leaves your skin feeling v smooth and clean, as well as adding a bit to that full-body glow that we're always after. It's also got some salt crystals in it for a bit of rough-but-necessary exfoliating that helps to achieve that clean af effect afterwards.
The one annoying thing about this product is that it's black as shit and will create a mess in the shower if you're not careful. Like, black water flying everywhere kind of mess. So, we recommend just watching your movements while you've got it on, and then giving the good shower a whole rinse down right after using to make sure nothing gets stained.
It's Raining Men || shower gel || $9.95 @ 3.3 oz
This is a new one for us and came as a gift from Beau's mom for Christmas. Unlike Dirty Springwash, this gel is all about chilling out and winding down. It's got intense notes of honey and toffee and is basically the best thing ever for a bath or warm shower before bed. It leaves you with that sweet, soft, warm feeling that is just freaking fabulous.
Dirty Springwash || shower gel || $9.95 @ 3.3 oz
For morning showers before getting down to do work, or for showers right after the gym, we really love something bright and refreshing that'll wake us up and get us ready for the day. This shower gel is basically like a minty tingly bomb of "wake the eff up" and really does the trick to get us going. If you're a fan of tea tree products, give this one a go as it has a similar tingly effect but also has notes of sweet mint that are legit kinda intoxicating.
Herbalism || face and body cleanser || $16.95 @ 3.5 oz
This does pretty much the same thing as Dark Angels but with a focus on cleansing oily skin. It's also not completely black and won't destroy your shower nor does it have the salt crystals, if you care about that stuff. This one is full of herbs and does smell kind of grassy, but it's perfect for any problem areas on your body that might be prone to break outs. We use it in the shower on our backs and chest - just a quick scrub and rinse!
And that's what we've got for now! Let us know what your favorite grooming / bath products are in the comments below or through Instagram direct message!
-xoxo Matt & Beau