Lush 9 To 5 Cleanser

Lush 9 To 5 can be found amongst the cleansers within your local Lush store. I love the cleansers from Lush and have probably tried most of the items on sale. This product is sold in a black bottle and comes in two different sizes, you can either opt for a 95g bottle which will set you back £4.75 or you can buy the bigger bottle which costs £9.25 for 240g and naturally I opted for the bigger bottle and duly took my goods home. The bottle itself for interest is pure black plastic and has a black flip top lid which is easy to open and close and around its middle is a label which details the name and size of the product and obviously the Lush logo. It is quite blandly presented but it's what's inside that counts! 

When it comes to cleansers there is a reason that I particularly like to use them. So why cleanse? Well living in London it's a polluter haven, lots of cars, buses, trains and tubes all equalling lots of pollution which in turn leads to dirt and grime on the skin. Since living in London, having moved down Sarf from oop North, I have noticed a change in my skin, it is now much dryer and oily in parts, so this has lead to my using more products to try and combat all of this. So Cleansing the skin, which should be part of everyone's daily routine, is done to remove sweat, air pollution, excess oil, grime, cosmetics and bacteria, all of which lead to skin problems and sometimes infection. Cleansing your skin isn't an arduous task, infact it takes me less than an extra five minutes a day to complete this routine, which isn't a lot really. 

Lush 9to5 is marketed as being a 'liquid cleanser' and usually with a cleanser it would involve using it in a similar way you use soap and that is by wetting your face and then lathering the cleanser in the palms of your hand and then massaging over your face for a few minutes before rinsing it off and this is certainly what I had been doing with the Wash Away Clinique Cleanser.

However, with 9to5 you don't need to do any of that, after washing and drying your face as you would normally do in a morning and an evening, all you will then need is a cotton wool pad or ball (I use a pad because the balls make me feel queasy when touching them, even now I've gone cold all over thinking about them) and you simply squeeze a small walnut sized blob onto the cotton wool pad and you simply wipe it over your face, paying attention to your problem areas, which in my case is my cheeks and t-zone where I have dry and oily skin and once you have completed this task, look at the cotton wool pad and despite washing your face thoroughly you will probably notice that this lotion has managed to remove even further excess dirt, grime, oil, make-up etc... without fail every time I use this cleanser on my face after washing, it will remove excess dirt and grime - Yuck! After using it on your face it doesn't leave behind any greasiness or slimy feel on the skin, just soft smooth and moisturised feeling skin. There is also a lovely fragrance of honeysuckle and ylang-ylang left on your skin.

The cream itself is really smooth to the touch, as soon as it touches your skin you can feel its smoothness and it is such a gentle cream which sinks into your skin without a problem. For anyone who hasn't tried it, I would suggest going into a Lush store and asking them if you can try it, they will use the back of your hand as a tester area. So after it is applied to your skin, using the cotton wool pad your skin should feel silky soft and smooth to the touch, which mine always does without fail and your skin should no longer feel dry instead completely moisturised and this is down to the ingredients. 

As ever with Lush you can expect to see a long list of ingredients which the shop assistant went through with me at the time of testing this product. Starting with:

• Almond oil which you can smell slightly when using, it is easily absorbed into the skin to help with moisturising and is suitable for use on all skin types, especially for someone like me with sensitive skin, it causes no irritations. 
• Ylang Ylang oil and this helps to balance the sebum in your skin which can create that over oily look especially around your T-zone (nose, chine and forehead) and in controlling and balances the sebum it also helps deal with overly dry and oily skin. Ylang Ylang also helps soften and smooth the skin. Next is the main ingredient and the one which gives the most noticeable aroma and that is 
• Fresh Dove Orchid Extract which are used to calm and soothe irritated skin and by irritated skin they mean dry problematic skin which is need of a little extra TLC and moisturising. For me, the Dove Orchid Extract is the most noticeable fragrance because it reminds me of the Orchid that I was given for my birthday last year and the aroma is just really lovely.  
• Everlasting Flower Absolute, again not something I have come across before and I was told that it acts as an antiseptic on the skin to ward off infection whilst at the same time it helps to rehydrate the skin. 

And it is suitable for Vegans!

So with all of that knowledge and those ingredients it isn't hard to see why this cleanser comes highly recommended not only from Lush but from me. Having used it since the beginning of November, every day in a morning and in an evening before going to bed I am still amazed at how soft my skin feels after using this cleanser and still shocked that it manages to find dirt and grime on a daily basis, even after I have washed my face. 

At the minute I alternate between using this and another Lush product and having purchased this one just over 2 and a half months I am surprised to say that I have got just over half the bottle left to use and that is with using it on a daily basis and the reason for this is that you don't need to use that much at any time yet it is simple, easy and effective and it ranks highly up on my list of my favourite Lush products and it is something that I am going to continue to use long after it has run out.

Lush Soak and Float Shampoo Bar

My current Lush shampoo bar goes by the name of Soak and Float and the first thing you notice about this shampoo bar is that it isn't the prettiest thing on the shelf, infact to look at (see below), it reminded me of one of those Coir discs that I use to plant seeds in my propagator and it has stringy bits coming off it at all angles, it's a brown colour with bits in it and its of a circle shape.

So why did I buy it? Well it is on the shelf next to all the other products Lush have in this range and I spotted it because it was the only one which wasn't a bright pretty colour not only that but there was a small blackboard which said "Don't struggle with Itchy and Scratchy" and it promised to 'bring calm to my scalp' whilst being designed especially for sore, itchy scalps and dandruff. It retails at £5.25 for a 55g bar.

As I said, this shampoo bar isn't pretty to look at, but it is full of fantastic ingredients to tackle those scalp problems. Starting with:

• Rose Petals which are said to soften the scalp and help calm a sore scalp. 
• Marigold Petals come next and they help calm redness, for anyone who suffers from an itchy scalp, the urge to itch can be quite strong and whilst it is easy to say resist the urge at all costs, sometimes you just cannot and this is why you end up with a sore scalp. For me the problem arises if I do use high street shampoos, anything like Pantene or Dove leave me simply in agony, so to know that Marigold Petals will soothe my scalp is a godsend. 
• Lavender Oil comes next and I was pleased to see this as an ingredient because I love Lavender, though it isn't the dominant smell. Lavender Oil does aid sleep and relax me but for the hair it is used for its soothing and cleansing properties. 
• The main ingredient is Cade Oil, not something I have come across before but it is interesting. Cade Oil which is also known as Juniper Tar (thanks Google) is used primarily as an antiseptic and in a product such as this it is said to have the ability to help alleviate the symptoms associated with itchy scalp conditions and dandruff. Well that is exactly what I am looking for, something to stop my scalp itching, something soothing and something that isn't going to make the problem worse. Cade oil is described as follows "The cade oil in here may smell of creosote, but that is because it has natural constituents of creosol, guaiacol, cadinene and terpenes. All of which might sound a bit scary, but in fact it makes this a natural antiseptic and antimicrobial, perfect for treating many skin complaints" and it wasn't until I read this bit on the Lush website after using the shampoo bar that I figured what the aroma was, it is a cross between creosote, which I love, and T-Gel, which I sometimes use when I am getting a bit desperate as a quick fix. Cade Oil is also said to soothe other skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. 

My problem came about because I had run out of my usual shampoo and life at work was pretty manic, so in a morning I grabbed the nearest shampoo I could to wash my hair and the effects of doing so left me wit a dry, itchy scalp. One day I will learn my lesson, but for now, I had to fix the problem.

If you have never used a shampoo bar before, I promise you they are fascinating and easy to use. All you do is make sure your hands are wet, whether you are in the bath or the shower and then simply mimic the actions of using a bar of soap by rubbing the shampoo bar between your hands to form a lather and then as you would with your shampoo put it in your hair and gently rub and massage your scalp ensuring the lather covers every inch of your hair. Once you have covered your hair with the lather the smell is now very obvious and I think it will be an aroma that is one of personal choice, you will either love it or hate it and I am in the love it camp. Anyway, once you have massaged your scalp for a few minutes, you need to use warm water to wash it out and make sure that you removed all traces of this stuff from your hair and scalp, so the water runs clear essentially and then towel dry your hair as you would normally do. 

After using, the fragrance does remain on your hair for a day or so, if you like the smell that won't matter, if you don't then you will mind. Basically this is one product I would recommend you smell before buying in Lush. For me it was and is fantastic, I loved it. I could feel an immediate difference in that my scalp was no longer sore, I was immediately itching and my hair felt soft and smooth to the touch. Once completely dry my hair did have a shine to it, not so much that it looked greasy, but it was more of a natural shine.

I have now been using this shampoo bar twice a week and my problem is now remedied I am happy to say, it really has been a lifesaver. Because I don't use it everyday, the one thing I did invest in was a shampoo tin from Lush a few years ago and I paid around £4 for it. it's a metal tin with a tight closing lid and whenever you are not using your shampoo bar, I would suggest keeping it in this tin because not only does it keep it cool, it keeps the fragrance really fresh and after all the one thing Lush are known for are their smelly bits! I would estimate the life expectancy of this shampoo bar a being between three and four months at least, obviously if it was used more frequently this would be less, for me it is my miracle cure.

100 Follower Giveaway!!!!

I am so chuffed that I have reached 100 followers.  Not something I ever thought I would reach or bother too much about.  But when you write blog posts and people begin to read them, it starts to mean a lot more to you.

I initially did it because I enjoy using products and writing about them, have done for years and now blogging about them has given me another platform of being able to do that.  So thank you to those of you who are following me.

I have also met a lot of lovely people here in the bloggersphere...so to the giveaway:

Shown above are 10 different prizes (some of the colours might change) which will go to ONE winner. I have tried to choose items that I think reflect my blog and those blogs I read.

All you have to do is fill out the form below.....