Lush Love Lettuce

Love Lettuce Face Mask – Lush

On one of my many visits to my favourite Lush store in the Westfield Centre in Derby I took back five of their black plastic pots cleaned and washed out and ready for recycling. As my reward I could choose one of their delicious looking, almost edible fresh face packs. I always have such trouble choosing which one as they are all so great but this time I chose ‘Love Lettuce’ as I wanted one with a slight exfoliating quality as well as other benefits.

THE FACE PACKS GENERALLY
In the shop the various facemasks are in big stainless steel bowls on ice and presented with fresh items that are in the actual facemask as garnish; So this one had a cut lemon, a sprig of rosemary and a piece of ginger root as garnish. The face packs are made fresh in the Derby shop for their use only. Other products are made down in the factory in Dorset and brought in to the shop.
As these are made with fresh ingredients they have a limited life and must be stored in the fridge. I have once had two face packs as I was given one in the shop and because we were just about to go on holiday I stuck it in the freezer. We were away about four weeks and when I returned I retrieved my facepack and it was absolutely fine, it lasted another six weeks in the fridge and smelled great and I used it once a week for the six weeks. So don’t worry too much about the keeping aspect as they do last a fair time if kept in the fridge and used with clean fingers or a spoon to get the stuff out.

WHAT IS THIS LOVE LETTUCE ONE LIKE?
It comes in a small back recyclable pot and you get 75g in the pot. The cost if you buy it is £5.75 which is quite expensive but I don’t think I have bought one for quite a while as I have had free ones through bringing back my black pots.
This facepack is a sludgey green colour about the same colour as mud with a touch of green paint in it might be. It is a very similar colour to many face packs that have fullers earth as a main ingredient.

It is very thick rather like a paste, thick mud texture and not at all runny. In fact I find it rather too thick so as I am spreading it on my face I add a bit of water to smooth it on more easily.

What does it smell like? Well it hasn’t really got much of a smell, slightly muddy with a hint of fresh sweetness which is probably the lavender. It does smell quite fresh despite the mud element. Strangely despite the fact it is called ‘Love Lettuce’ there is NO lettuce at all in this so it is just the green colour that gives it the name I suppose. The smell is really hard to describe ,it isn’t very strong at all but is not unpleasant either and I seem to be making a very poor attempt.

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH IT?
Well when I use my facemask I always start with clean skin and so I use a cleanser to wipe away any grime of the day. And in my case it has to be a Lush cleanser called 9 to 5 as I really like this one and find it quite gentle.
Next stage is one I was advised to add by the girl in the Lush shop one day and that is to give my face a feed with a serum and the one I use is a great little bar of serum called ‘Full of Grace’. This ensures that your face doesn’t get too dried out and feeds it while you are having the facemask. If I don’t have any of this as it is very expensive I do just put the mask on after cleansing.

Then open the pot of facemask and spread it all over your face except around the eyes. As I said I find the ‘Love lettuce’ one quite thick so I help it by wetting my hands to smooth it on.

According to Lush you shouldn’t let it go completely dry and crusty before washing it off but I leave mine until dry as I usually get in the bath and lie there. If it does get dry then it doesn’t matter as I can use lots of water to gently wash it off.
Prior to washing this one off though I make use of the lovely ground almonds in the facepack and give my face a bit of an exfoliation as I take the mask off.
I then get out of the bath and dry myself patting my face dry before I reach for the toner to close those pores and then of course moisturise as for night or day depending on when you use it.

WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE?
As I lie in the bath I can feel the coolness of the mask, remember it comes straight from the fridge, and it feels quite pleasant, not at all tight even as it dries a little. I find if I am in the bath the steam helps the mask work and stops it drying out so quickly. I really relax and lie back and sniff. I love the gentle exfoliation and afterwards I find my skin feels very soft and looks awake. The fine lines and wrinkles are still there but my face just looks fresher and I feel like I have had a deep clean too. I am past the age when I suffer from spots but I do think that the Kaolin and fullers earth help to really give my face a deep clean, absorbing any grease and removing any dead skin and yucky debris as well as helping to tighten my skin This all makes my pores look less big and open.

I have read on the Lush website that some people find this too harsh for their skin and that it has brought them out with a red face. I have quite a sensitive skin and am allergic to many cosmetic chemicals but this has not given me any problems and I have used three pots over the last two years. I do like a change so don’t always get the same one.

The ingredients in this are supposed to “clear away dead skin and brighten the face, whilst also gently treating it to softening ingredients.” The seaweed gel combined with honey and almond oil are all there to soften and moisturise the skin. The kaolin and fullers earth are the ingredients that deep clean the pores while the ground almonds are the scrubby bits that exfoliate gently and get rid of dead skin and brighten your complexion. Finally the lovely lavender essential oil helps to balance the skin’s sebum producyion and of course smells nice too.

The ground almond shells are a good natural exfoliant but you can decide yourself how scrubby you want to make the scrub. You can be as rough or gentle as you like. I do use this on my elbows sometimes and i give them a good rub whereas on my face I am quite a lot more gentle..

I usually give myself this treat each week on a Monday morning as my husband goes off to play golf early in the morning so I have time to myself to pamper in the bathroom. It is good to have time to rinse out the bath too after using this as of course there are gritty bits left.

I do find that my face feels not only really clean and fresh but also the oils and honey really do add moisture to my face. It feels soft and healthy and after a quick spritz of a toner I only need a light moisturiser to finish.

WOULD I RECOMMEND?
Yes I love this one as it is a face mask and exfoliates in one and although it doesn’t smell that strong it certainly isn’t unpleasant. It does make my skin feel awake and alive and fresh so I am happy. I am especially happy as it was free although it does cost £5.75 if you don’t have five pots to hand back. This is still quite good value as easily get six uses from this little pot as you don’t need to cake it on thickly and if you use my trick of wet hands it goes on really smoothly.

Thanks for reading. This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name.
©Catsholiday