With the cold spell every year comes…for me at any rate…dry lips. This year has been particularly unforgiving and so I have really tried my best to stick to my resolution of regularly applying lip balms to alleviate the problem, rather than my usual trick of aggravating the problem by biting my lips.
When I heard through the grapevine about Bubblegum Lip Scrub from one of my favourite places ever – Lush – I decided to treat myself. And I have recently done just that.
A Brief History of Lush
I jest, of course. The most important things you need to know about Lush is that it’s a company which makes hand-made cosmetic products which contain, where possible, natural, ethical ingredients.
All of their products are suitable for vegetarians, and the vast majority are suitable for vegans too. This is all helpfully indicated on their packaging, which is, as it happens, rather environmentally friendly as packaging goes. They encourage recycling of their packaging, using incentives such as a free face mask for every 5 black pots you return to the store.
The products are responsibly labelled so that you can exactly what goes into the product, when it was made (and who by) and it has a best before date on it.
Bubblegum Lip Scrub
The lip scrub comes in a small glass pot containing 25g. Being glass, you can see the product, the bright pink was certainly enough to catch my eye. The lid is a screw-on lid which will stay firmly in place if you screw it on tightly. However, you need not fear, the sugar is so well compacted that even when I held the jar upside down without the lid, not a single grain fell out.
As packaging goes it’s fairly sturdy – I don’t relish the prospect of finding this smashed in my bag, but it feels fairly secure and I’m not too worried about it breaking. You can appreciate that I won’t be dropping this off the roof of my house or chucking it under a bus to test its durability, but I think it’ll take the odd bump or knocking in your handbag.
I find Lush products normally appeal to most of the five senses, so a sensory test is definitely in order. I’ll maybe leave out auditory senses in this instance…
**SIGHT**
The product itself looks, to all intents and purposes, like sugar with bright pink food dye in it. And a quick look at the ingredients reveals that that pretty much is what we’re talking about. It’s castor sugar, to be precise, which contains flavouring and colours, as well as organic jojoba oil. Jojoba oil is known to be an excellent moisturiser and is used in many lip balms for this reason. It’s also soothing and will help relieve dry lips.
**SMELL**
As the name suggests, you would expect this lip scrub to smell of bubblegum. You wouldn’t be disappointed. It may even remind you of another Lush product…it is infact the scent of Snow Fairy – the Christmas edition shower gel that proved so popular that the scent was introduced, first into the Soap Fairy Godmother, and then into other products, including Bubblegum Lip Scrub.
If you like the scent and you liked Snow Fairy (as I did) then you won’t be disappointed by Bubblegum, although the smell may prove too sweet and perhaps even too artificial for some.
**TOUCH**
The lip scrub is applied using your fingers. Just simply get some of the scrub on your fingers – and only the smallest amount is required (remember, you can always go back for more) – and then rub it into your lips. The sensation is not a harsh one, sugar is a natural exfoliant but it’s not too harsh and is particularly suited for lips, where the skin is different to the rest of your face.
It rubs in very easily and the sugar is dissolved, because it’s such a small amount. It does remind me slightly of that feeling when you have eaten a doughnut, and it’s incredibly hard to fight the urge to just lick it all off. If you apply too much it can leave the corner of your mouth feeling like you’ve just eaten something sugary and messy, so be sure to rub it in effectively.
My finger never feels too sticky after application, no more so than when using other lip products.
**TASTE**
Yes, inevitably with most lip products, you’re going to end up having some idea of what it tastes like. Since this is mostly just sugar, it’s certainly not dangerous to eat. However, I don’t suggest running for a spoon just yet, as jojoba oil is not the best thing to be wolfing down in huge quantities. You won’t actually digest it at all, it’ll pass through your entire digestive system without a problem, although in larger quantities it will potentially cause you problems…further down the line, shall we say? Ingested in large amounts it can cause steatorrhea. If you wish to know what that is, I’ll let you research that yourself, needless to say that nothing good ever ended in –rrhea.
No need to panic though, licking your lips with this on it (providing you don’t apply it every five minutes) shouldn’t cause you any issue and it’s certainly not an unpleasant taste, which might just give you a hankering for some Hubba Bubba.
RESULTS
I find the results of this lip scrub to be average. It hasn’t changed my life, I still suffer from dry lips. I certainly didn’t expect a miracle cure, so I’m by no means disappointed. I try to apply the scrub at least twice a day – when I get up and when I go to bed, and then as and when throughout the day. I think it’s fair to say that I have seen some improvement in my lips, although it’s also served to make me more aware of any dry skin on lips. I don’t like to apply lip balms and salves to my lips too frequently, as I believe that this in turn dries my lips out further, so it’s not necessarily a good thing that it makes me more aware of my dry lips, but I do feel like the results are worth it.
Although it’s fairly expensive considering it is mostly just sugar, I know it’s not something I would go to the trouble of making and storing myself, and even if I did, I wouldn’t get this particular scent. For the amount of time the pot will last me, and I forsee it lasting me a very long time, I think it was a sound investment.
The best before date on the packing is February 2012, and I normally find these dates to be a good indication of not only how long the product will last before it is past its best, but also how long one can reasonably use the product for.
Therefore, I fully expect that this pot could last me 12 months.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
The pot cost me £4.50 from my local Lush store. Being a Lush product, it’s only available in Lush stores or from the Lush website. You could of course by it through a private seller, on sites like eBay, although prices will of course vary.
The lip scrubs are now available in different scents/flavours:
Sweet Lips Lip Scrub – a chocolate and vanilla combination and
Mint Julips Lip Scrub – a minty chocolate treat
Both cost £4.50 for 25g and both are suitable for vegans.
WOULD I RECOMMEND?
Yes, I would. Providing the smell is up your street, I think it is an effective product, albeit slightly expensive when you think that it is just a pot of sugar with some food dye and some flavouring in it. However, I know in myself that it’s not something I think I could come close to making myself with this particular flavour so I’m happy to have paid for it. I will keep the pot if and when I manage to empty it (I’ve not even made a dent in it yet and I’ve had it for several weeks) and maybe have a go at making my own, but I don’t expect the results to be as good as the Lush one.As for the age old consumer test – would I buy it again? Well, I don’t need to be worrying about that for the best part of a year, so that one is difficult to answer. I certainly don’t regret buying it, and see myself using it for some time to come.
3 stars.
Bubblegum Lip Scrub - Scrubs Up Well! 
