CherryHaul: Lush...from the UK!

I went to London and Paris towards the end of March/beginning of April to see my brother and spend some quality time with my parents (I hadn't seen my dad for over a year already, and my mom it had been already quite a few months).  I bought a lot of stuff...part of it which is shown below:

Some Lush products I will be talking about, Salted caramel in a pot, mini Paddington Bear, Foucher chocolates, Roger & Gallet perfume (Fleur de Figuier, the newest fragrance) and Nina L'Eau

In London, I decided to purchase a few Lush items which I have already tried (the Aqua Mirabilis I hadn't, but I had tried the Buffy body butter in the past) and liked.  North American prices are ridiculously priced for Lush...everything is at least $5-10 cheaper in the UK, and at the very least you will save on taxes even with the exchange rate!

Aqua Mirabilis

It's that time of year - sandal season and bare legs.  I have a loofah but considering I haven't thrown it in the wash yet (ew - should do that to get rid of germs), I decided to get a body butter.  Plus I've been wanting to try this one for a while.  I used Buffy in the past when my skin was super dry in the winter, and it was great because it sloughed off all the dry skin and helped to lock the moisture in the new skin layer.  Compared to Buffy, Aqua is a lot rougher (both use ground almonds but Buffy is ground down to be much finer).  I like the smell of Aqua Mirabilis a bit better (like the salesgirl said, it smells more like cookies hehe) but I feel as though Buffy does a better job at keeping the moisture in (it gives a little greasy layer).

Nonetheless, I think Aqua is okay for now because it's not super dry out anymore.  The scrubbier aspect is also good because damn, my legs are pretty dry for some reason.  I also like it when it's scrubbier because I feel like it helps with blood circulation - I always apply in the shower (after I rinsed off my soap) in circular motions, and rinse off with cool/lukewarm water.

My rating: 4/5, love the concept, it's convenient although the tin itself you have to buy separately (I just used whatever box I had at home).  It's good for the lazy days when I don't want to go through the body cream application step.

Flying Fox Shower gel

I usually buy this in the tiniest bottle, but my mom convinced me that since it is zounds cheaper in the UK, to get the slightly larger bottle (I did not go for the most massive one).  I love Flying Fox because it smells of jasmine, and it reminds me of the little jasmine flowers I used to buy in HK from the old man standing with his box full of jasmine blooms (my dad started it - he used to buy them and then as I grew up whenever I saw the old man I would buy it because they smelled good).

Anyways, Lush's shower gels smell so good that you never want to mask the smell with cream, so it's a good thing they aren't drying.  On top of that, the smell lasts a long time and the shower gel can be used for your hair, so I sometimes wash my hair with a bit after conditioner to make it smell good.  Technically if I wanted to make my hair smell just like Flying Fox, I could use the Godiva shampoo puck from Lush...but I have so much shampoo from the drugstore at home stocked up that it's kind of stupid in my opinion to buy.  But then again people might think I'm stupid for buying such an expensive shower gel when I have from the drugstore at home too!  

If you don't like the strong smell of Jasmine, this is definitely not for you.  My second favourite shower gel from Lush is "It's Raining Men".  I love sweet scents that are not overly potent (which is why I hate the perfume "Sugar").  

My rating: 4.5/5, love the smell, love the fact that I don't feel like I need to moisturize after it but man, can the price be any steeper?  I know it's cheaper in the UK but it's definitely a splurge to buy Lush products!

H'Suan Wen Hua

The first time I used this hair mask was 2 years ago I think.  My hair was so dry from the harsh winter and though there were no split ends, damn it was like straw and my hair is never that dry!  It was pretty damningly expensive in the Canadian store but I coughed out the money and it certainly did work really well. The smell is definitely not one that everyone will like - the first tub I had, it smelled really...oof, hard to describe.  Some people say it smells like salad dressing, but in my opinion it just smells super spicy, and I am NOT a fan of that smell.  The first tub I had bought I almost hated the smell but it definitely works - it makes your hair softer and shinier, and in a few applications my hair had started to look normal again.

In the UK I decided to buy a tub because it was just that much cheaper and I wanted to get my hair in tip-top shape.  I had a billion split ends (stress, weather...poor diet possibly too and lack of sleep) and so I chopped off around over 6 inches of hair (and my hair still managed to reach/pass my shoulders a bit).  But my hair was still so-so, so I decided to get it (hey, it was cheap too, didn't I say that?) to try and help my hair out.  I had already used a coconut oil and honey mask a few weeks ago (boy was that messy) so my hair was still okay.  After the first time I applied this to my hair (in a while), my hair was much smoother and shinier.  I think it's mainly attributed to the eggs in the mask, since that is known to help improve your hair.

My rating: with the UK price point, this mask is worth every penny so 5/5.  At the NA price point, ugh...3/5 just because the price is ridiculous (UK is around $18, not even.  At the store downtown I had to pay $24 + tax).

I've purchased other products from Lush in the past (Ro's Argan, Charity Pot, face masks, Lemony Flutter, various bar soaps) - I will see if I will do review about them later.  I might talk about Ro's Argan in another post!

Readers: do you purchase Lush products?  Which ones are your favourites?