To Lush or not to Lush


To Lush or not to Lush
Lush has been a hot topic around here since the preservative ‘debate’ which aired a few weeks back. The post I wrote has been very popular and greatly received so I’d like to thank everyone who took time to comment.

My Lush journey was short and sweet. When my attention was first drawn to natural skincare Lush did spring to my mind based on what friends had told me about products. In my teens I was a devoted Body Shop customer. Anyone remember the Banana Conditioner? I thought it was fabulous. In my mind, Lush had the potential to fill a gap in my heart after The Body Shop sold out to L'Oreal. That fondness for earthy and authentic ingredients is what led me over the Lush threshold and I was enticed by Dream Cream. I had seen many reviews which practically declared it as the “cure” for eczema. For me, sadly the dream was short lived because my eczema hated this product. In hindsight, the ingredients in Dream Cream make sense as oats, rose, cocoa butter, olive oil, chamomile and lavender are ideal for sensitive skin. However, with further research I began to understand that tea tree, triethanolamine, perfume and parabens were potiential irritants. It was a lesson learned and in a small way was a bit of a life saver because I was a step closer to understanding my skin.

I am writing this post in collaboration with Amber and Tamara. The idea is we each will show readers that cleaner ingredient dupes for Lush products are available. I have chosen three products from the Lush website and I will give you alternatives which in my opinion have better ingredients.

Lush Butterball Bath Bomb - Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Coca Butter, Synthetic Musk, Ylang Ylang & perfume

You could replace with -

Natural Bubbles Bath Creamers - Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Zea Mays Starch, Butyrospermum Parkii (shea butter), Theobroma Cacao (cocoa butter), Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender), Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool

Strong scents of bubblegum and candy are delightful but they will be artificial. This has the potential to cause problems for your skin, so whilst natural alternatives may not have the same allure with sugary scents at least you shouldn't get an itchy lady garden after bathing. Alternatively, I would also recommend Quintessentially English. They produce lovely bath bombs with flower petals if you want a bit of something extra in the tub.

Lush Fairtrade Foot Lotion - Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Arnica Infusion, Fairtrade Almond Oil, Fairtrade organic cocoa butter, Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Spearmint Oil, Peppermint Oil, Tagetes Oil, Lanolin, Cetearyl Alcohol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume, Colour 17200, Methylparaben Propylparaben 

You could replace with -

Chilly B Restoring Foot Butter - Ingredients: Shea Butter (Butyrospermum parkii), Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Sweet Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), Vitamin E (Tocopherol) Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulas).

I have been testing out Chilly B and think it works very well on my dry feet. It is super easy to find a foot cream without lanolin, perfume, parabens and colours. Most natural and organic brands have one in their range.

Lush Dream Steam - Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Perfume, Lavender Oil, Rose Absolute, Chamomile Blue Oil, Tea Tree Oil *Citronellol *Geraniol *Limonene *Linalool, Rose Petals 

You could replace with - 

Bathing Beauty Face Tea for Shy Skin - Ingredients: Dried Calendula Officinalis, (calendula), Anthemis Nobilis (chamomile), Chickweed 

In regards to Lush Dream Steam, aside from entertainment value (the tablet will fizz), the sodium bicarbonate in Dream Steam doesn't offer any benefits to the skin. Bathing Beauty products come without the fizz but also avoid the dreaded PERFUME! 

If you have a favourite Lush product and you would like a ditch it for better ingredients, get in touch with me (or Amber and Tamara) and I am sure we can find you an alternative.

Sarah x

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