Everything about this product makes it "holy grail" for me. The scent, the fact that it's natural, the way it performs on my skin...I've converted so many people to using this product, and they've all come back telling me how they can't live without it. That's the kind of effect it has.
I have combination skin (which is a bloody pain in the butt if you ask me) as I have a semi-oily t-zone and dry patches around my cheeks, sides of my forehead and around my nose. This makes for a pretty tricky skincare regime as I was never really sure what to go for, until I spoke to a lovely lady at LUSH (they're always lovely in there, aren't they?) about two Christmasses ago. She recommended me the new cleanser, LUSH Let The Good Times Roll, which is packed full of skin-loving goodies to refresh, cleanse and moisturise your skin. I'm started to get ahead of myself here, throwing out a few spoilers...so let's move onto the review.
Packaging
Recyclable, re-usable, classic black and part of the LUSH deal where you can take 5 of these babies back and receive a free Fresh Face Mask. The only downfall about this packaging is that I'm not sure I like the idea of dipping my fingers into the pot to get the product out, simply for hygiene reasons. I do wash my hands with anti-bacterial soap before I do this, though, so it's not too bad.
Texture
The texture is grainy as it contains maize flour. It feels slightly exfoliating on the skin which is lovely as I really like a light exfoliation when cleansing. When mixed with water, the cleanser turns into a paste, so you can make it as water-y or as rough as you like - you just cater it to your skin's needs.
How to use
I wet my face so it's slightly damp and I take just over a pea-sized amount of the cleanser out of the pot. I then mix it with a little water in the palm of my hand so it turns into a light paste, depending on how much exfoliation I need. I then rub it in circular motions all over my face and down my neck, making sure I use much of the product on my chin, nose and jawline. I then like to take a little more of the paste and work it into my cheeks as I have acne scarring in that area and like to ensure that I'm lightly scrubbing away the dead skin cells to encourage the renewal and turnover of new skin cells. When sufficiently cleansed, I wash away the cleanser using either just my hands with cold water or with a damp flannel.
Ingredients
Maize flour, glycerine, talc, water, corn oil, polenta, cinnamon powder, perfume, gardenia extract and popcorn. Yep, popcorn. This is a little gimmick which I personally love, as the product is inspired by Hollywood Box Office hits (grab your popcorn and watch the film...yeah, it took me a while, too). You'll notice that all of the ingredients bar one (perfume) are natural, and even the perfume occurs naturally in essential oils. LUSH are known for their natural ingredients which makes it all the more enjoyable to put on my face!
Effectiveness
This amazing stuff moisturises my dry bits but mattifies my oily bits. I seriously don't know how it does it, but it just does. My skin feels so soft after use and putting make up on after is an absolute dream. When applying my toner afterwards, the cotton pad is completely clear as this cleanser seems to remove the left-over traces of make up that my make up remover may have missed. I also notice that I've had minimal breakouts since I've been using this which is a massive treat as I'm prone to breakouts around my chin and jaw area. My redness has calmed down and my pores seem smaller - what more could you want, seriously. I'd say it's absolutely 100% effective in what it claims to do, which is why I'll repurchase it again and again and again and again and again and again.
Opinion
Never in my life will I replace this cleanser (unless LUSH decide to discontinue it, in which case I'll just stock up on about 1000 pots and freeze them all). It's everything you want in a cleanser and smells amazing - have I not mentioned that yet? It smells like caramel toffee popcorn and the smell lingers lightly on your face for a while after you've washed it off. To me, this is a bonus as I'm a sucker for sweet smells.
A product that controls my oils, whilst moisturising my skin and decreasing pore size, whilst calming my redness and minimizing the amount of breakouts I get is a real winner. I can't believe the stroke of luck I had that day that I first purchased this from LUSH - I was set on repurchasing the LUSH Angels on Bare Skin (another lovely cleanser) but the sales assistant steered me in the direction of this pot of perfection. And rightly so, because I've steered many friends and family members to the doors of LUSH with this product on their shopping list.
Anyway, I think I've raved about this enough now. I just really recommend this product (if you haven't guessed!) and for £6.35/100g or £15.87/250g you should definitely give it a go. I would spend so much more on this product as it has worked absolute wonders on my skin, and I will never stop using this in my skincare routine.
The cleanser is currently £6.35/100g from LUSH, click here to be directed to the site.
Have you tried this cleanser? Which skincare product can you not live without?
PS. Don't forget to enter my MAC Giveaway!
Daniela