Lush Oatifix Fresh Face Mask > Reviews (11)

What Is Oatifix?

Oatifix is a Fresh Facemask which is hand made by Lush. It is additive free and contains completely natural, vegan friendly and cruelty free ingredients, some of which are oatmeal (porridge oats!), organic bananas and ground almonds. This particular mask is best suited to people with dry and/or sensetive skin. Because of the bananas that the face mask contains, it is a very nourisihing face mask and is perfect for getting goodness into dry skin, as bananas are a very rich and oily fruit which are full of antioxidants. The mixture also contains illipe butter, which aids in moisturizing the skin, leaving it nice and soft. The ground almonds and oatmeal act as an exfoliator and so act as a very gentle facial scrub to lift any dead skin from the face, leaving the skin feeling refreshed and looking healthy and brighter. As this is a fresh face mask, the use by date isn't very long, and mine is 20 days from the date it is made. It is also necessary to chill this product to avoid it going off, as like I said before it is completely free of any additives - including preservatives, and if left at room temperature it will not last for as long. I do think that it's a shame that the masks don't last for a little longer, and it is something to bare in mind when purchasing this - will you use it all up before the use by date? If not, then I wouldn't waste your money, as it isn't exactly cheap.

Price, Value For Money and Availability

This fresh face mask isn't the cheapest, and at £5.50 for a small 75 gram pot it is not a product that I buy alot of and I usually try to only buy this face mask as a little treat or pick-me-up, as this face mask definetly is a personal weakness of mine - I love it and I can't help but nip down to Lush pick a tub of it up when i've got a bit of spare cash. £5.50 is alot of money for a small amount of mushed up bananas and oatmeal in my opinion and I have tried mimicing the recipe but I can't get it right! Despite the price though, I do feel it is decent value - I usually get around 4-5 uses out of each 75 gram tub as long as I am very careful with how much I apply each time. I always make sure I use it within around 2 and a half weeks to avoid risking it going off as I don't want to waste a single drop of the mixture as it is so expensive! The face mask can be bought online or in most Lush stores. I buy mine in my local Lush as I like to get it as fresh as possible and have never purchased this via the website to avoid any cock-ups (getting lost in the post and going off or something similar!) however according to one of my friends, all of the Lush fresh face masks she has bought were delivered within 2 days which I think is reasonable. For anyone reading this review who lives outside of the UK, the Oatifix face mask is also available on the .com Lush website.

Packaging

This face mask comes in a little black plastic Lush pot, which is quite well known and it is instantly recogniseable as a Lush face mask pot. The pot is quite sturdy and I love keeping the pots from my face masks when i've used them to store stuff in, but the pot is also recycable if you don't want to keep it.

The pot is circular and holds 75 grams of product so it is pretty small. The pot has a screw-on lid which has the Lush logo, a brief product description and a brief rundown of the main ingredients, explaining what each does. It also has brief instructions on how to use the mask. On the pot itself it has the product name and on the bottom of the pot it has a list of ingredients which is suprisingly not as lengthy as the ingredient lists on my other Lush face mask pots. It also has a yellow sticker on the bottom which has the name of the person who it was made by (the name of the person varies on each tub, mine was made by Adam) and a picture of them which from a distance looks like a photograph but it's actually pixelated to look like a cartoon. I think it's a very cute addition to the product and reminds us that Lush products are all made by hand to an extent. Overall, the packaging is simple and unisex. The lid is simple, quick and easy to get off and it also goes back on nicely, keeping it sealed shut tightly. This may seem an odd thing to mention but with fresh face masks it is highly important to keep them as fresh as possible for as long as possible so putting the lid on tightly and properly is a must.

Physical Appearence, Texture and Smell

This face mask looks so bizzare, it's almost like a pot of porridge - it's a light yellow/beigey colour and is really lumpy and you can see the oats very clearly. The consitency of the face mask is very thick and has quite a gloopy feel to it, although not to the point of feeling like a gooey, sticky mess. I think the thickness is actually a plus side as it seems to keep all of the oats merged into the mixture together - if it was slightly more wattery/thinner in texture then I think applying this would be much more messier than it actually is. The texture of the thick mixture is quite gritty, but doesn't feel harsh or anywhere near as gritty as an exfoliator, and because the gritty bits are only ground almonds and porridge oats, they definetly are not too rough and they act as a good exfoliator. Smell wise, this smells beautiful! I was quite shocked at first at how sweet it smells - I was expecting it to just smell purely of porridge. The dominating smell is by no doubt the porrdigey oatey smell (a suprisingly pleasant smell!), however it also smells just like banana with undertones of vanilla. It smells so feminine and fruity - almost good enough to eat, however the sweetness is not to the point where it's unpleasently sweet or overpowering. It smells completely natural, it doesn't have that horrible chemical undertone to it like alot of face masks do and it is such an unusual and pleasant smell which lingers on my skin for around an hour after using the mask.

How To Use and My Experience

Using this is simple. I personally apply mine onto bare skin after cleaning and toning and I make sure there is no makeup at all on my face. I then tie my hair up to ensure that none of the product gets into my hair. I would definetly reccomend tying your hair back even if your hair isn't too long, as because of the lumpy texture, it is not a pleasant thing to get in your hair, trust me - I had to have a bath the one time I did get in my hair as it left my hair feeling gritty and sticky.

I then simply scoop a generous but not too generous amount of the mixture on to my fingers and apply it evenly onto my face, carefully avoiding my eyes. As the product comes in a tub, there is not the option of using a pump mechanism for minimal mess, but if you don't want to use your fingers then I would reccomend using a loofah, exfoliating gloves or a spatula. I have applied this with exfoliating gloves but to be honest because of the amount of time it took to get the gloves clean again it is easier to just use my fingers. Application isn't as easy as it would be with a smooth textured face mask, and because of the texture of this it does lump up quite easily so it's important to smooth it down evenly and properly to avoid bits of the oatmeal falling off when it's dried. As I mentioned before, it is important to keep this in the fridge, which means when I apply it, it's really cold and refreshing so really wakes me up and refreshes me. Lush reccomend keeping this face mask on for around 10-15 minutes, but because I love the smell I sometimes leave it on for upto half an hour depending on how busy I am. Once applied it feels extremely moisturizing and it has a suprisingly gentle and lightweight feel to it until it starts drying. Once it is dry it does noticeably feel heavy and tight, but it is not uncomfortable. It is quite a discreet face mask due to the light yellow colour and the oats are not really that noticeable, but it isn't discreet enough for me to wear it in front of my boyfriend, friends or family as because of the oats it makes me look like my skins all flaky lol. It does go pretty solid but I like personally like this feeling as it makes me feel like it's actually working. I love laying in the bath with this face mask on and just laying there, smelling the scent from the mask and relaxing. The face mask exfoliates gently but thoroughly. When it comes to rinsing it off, it's not too difficult. I used a damp flannel to remove mine. It was quite easy to get off initially but the last few bits of it were quite stubborn so I resorted to using my exfoliating gloves to get the last few bits off and I then washed my face to ensure no residue was left.

The Results

My face felt so soft afterwards and looked softer too. I was expecting it to feel quite dried out because of the oats, but it was completely the opposite - it felt so smooth, fresh, and clean and I also think it made my skintone look more even as it got rid of the redness around a spot I had at the time of using the mask. It made my skin look much more healthier - almost glowing. I've got sensetive skin and it doesn't irriate me at all nor make me break out, and it doesn't make my face feel like it's burning up like some face masks can. It did make my face look slightly 'pinker' than normal but this only lasted for a few minutes. My skin did tingle a bit for around 20 minutes after the face mask was removed which wasn't unpleasent but I would of preffered it not to of done and for it to of stopped tingling once the face mask had been removed, however after using this mask a few times, I am starting to get used to it and I am actually beginning to like it.

It didn't make my skin itch at all and the smell lingered on my skin for around an hour after I removed it. Luckily I love the smell, but if you don't like the smell i'd be wary that it does linger.

Overall

Although I do really like this, it is definetly not my favourite face mask in the Lush range. It is not very moisturizing however it exfoliates well, smells gorgeous and made my skin so soft and smooth. After using this face mask I always feel ten times better about myself and it is a nice pick-me-up type of product.