40 Days and 40 Nights of Beauty Brand Reviews

Day 24, Lush

Koneko: Lush... how I love this brand! When I first started using Lush items, I had to beg my cousin in Toronto to pick up my favorite items whenever she came down to visit me. Then the boutiques finally came to Chicago, and my craving for Lush was satiated... until I moved. But we're getting a boutique here in Beachwood... and life in Bathland is joyful again!

I have two items that I adore from Lush... Silky Underwear Dusting Powder and the Butterball bathbomb. Both smell so beautifully delectable, I feel I could eat them up! However, I guess Silky Underwear would have to win my "favorite" vote, b/c I use it daily. I cannot be without it. Silky Underwear is a lovely talc-free powder which is cornstarch based. It also has kaolin to help w/ oil absorption and yummy-smelling teeny-tiny pieces of cocoa butter to keep skin moisturized. The cocoa butter chunks are very small, so it's not like I see them and have to rub it in. (BTW, I always found that funny, putting in clay to absorb oil and then cocoa butter which melts into an oil to moisturize... but anyhow!) The smell is beautiful... a sort of sweet, floral scent... it's supposed to be jasmine, gardenia, and vanilla w/ that hint of warm cocoa butter goodness. The result is slightly sensual: sweet, warm fragrant skin which is smooth, not overly powdery, and (of course) silky soft. I once read that you can sprinkle this into your sheets at night, and I've done that tons of times w/ good results and have created quite a delicious sleeping environment.

I don't get to take baths very often, but when I do... I reach for a bathbomb. I love those chalky balls of fizziness, chock full of florals, aromatic oils, and other surprises! As much as I love the luxuriousness of a dazzling array of flower petals floating in a tub w/ the aroma of fragrant oils relaxing my spirits (I admit that sometimes I think... oooh... did Cleopatra have baths like this?!) it's hard to believe that my favorite of the bunch is the rather plain Jane of the bunch, the Butterball. However, don't underestimate this baby! It's superloaded w/ cocoa butter, leaves your skin feeling wonderfully soft and moisturized AND smells fantastic. It's the ultimate It's-cold-outside-and-I-hate-winter-skin-and-need-a-relaxing-bath item! The fragrance is nuanced w/ just the right amount of vanilla and ylang-ylang. It smells pretty and sort of romantic and leaves me feeling happy and relaxed. When I use this item, I stay in the tub until I'm practically freezing! Just be sure to keep your hair up when lying in the tub, or it'll be be coated w/ cocoa butter! The only downside is needing to clean all that lovely moisturizing butterball-ness out of the tub afterwards... oh well!

Alesha: My favorite thing to do in the world is to read. My other favorite thing is to read while I am taking a bath. Growing up it was my way to get away from the world and have the privacy that I needed in a house with 3 sisters. I had to share a room but luckily we had two bathrooms. This is how I began my affair with bath products. A friend of mine who knows about my love of bath and body products gave me some LUSH a couple years ago. I have been obsessed ever since. I planned my vacation last year to Toronto because it had a LUSH store, and going there was the first thing I did when arriving!!

LUSH is a privately owned company who uses all natural ingredients and has expiration dates on all their products. The quality is superb to anything you can find in a Bath and Body Works or Victoria's Secret. I love almost everything I have from them and I have tried about 90% of everything they make.

I really am obsessed with Ocean Salt. It is a face and body exfoliator with Ocean Salt, vodka, and lime juice. My skin looks radiant when I use it and I have turned on other friends to this!

Since I am partial to bubbles in my bath, I have tried all the bubble bars. They are a cake of solid bubble bath. Throw in a couple crumbles and you will have bubbles up to your face. The scents are all amazing but my favorites are Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds which is a patchouli scent and Sunnyside which is a citrus with gold sparkles.

I have about 9 shampoos in my shower now but I always reach for I Love Juicy. It is a kiwi, pineapple, papaya and mango infused shampoo from heaven. It really cleans my oily hair without stripping it!

Last but not least is Honey I Washed the Kids soap. This is the best smelling soap on the entire planet. End of story. People will stop you on the street and ask you what that smell is. It is caramel heaven of honey, orange and bergamot. I have given this to people as gifts and they always ask for more.

I could go on talking about LUSH for the next week, but you will have to go buy some for yourself. You will see why I take baths with 40 dollars worth of product!

What are your favorite Lush products? Post your answers in the comments.

Photo: Lush and Kate Moss(Fashionspot.com)

Disclosure: The products were purchased by the reviewers.