Tinted Love

A review of five tinted lip balms
By Jessica M

There’s a new generation of tinted lip balms showing up in stores these days, and they have wearable colors, soothing moisture, and more natural ingredients than we’ve seen before. To mention just a few: Korres and Burt’s Bees have added new products to their already-adored lip offerings, Tarte has introduced new shades and improved its packaging, LUSH is just getting started with color cosmetics, and Clark’s Botanicals maintains its status as a beauty editors’ favorite.

Here’s how these lip tints stacked up in my own late-winter testing. (I tried to choose colors that work with my own fair, cool/neutral skintone.)

Korres Lip Butter Glaze
Shade: Raspberry
Pigmentation: medium
Texture: smooth and glossy
Flavor: berry-vanilla
Packaging: tube with slant-tip
Price: $14 at Korres.com and Sephora.com
Verdict: feels lush and almost curative on lips, delivers good color pay-off in a health-conscious formulation

Burt’s Bees Tinted Lip Balm
Shade: Pink Blossom
Pigmentation: sheer
Texture: very emollient
Flavor: fruit gum
Packaging: swivel-up stick in cardboard case
Price: $7 at drugstores and Burtsbees.com
Verdict: the most traditionally balm-like of the group, gives a dewy look with fresh, subtle color

Tarte Cosmetics 24.7 Natural Lip Sheer SPF 15
Shade: Tea Time
Pigmentation: semi-opaque
Texture: almost matte
Flavor: light mint
Packaging: swivel-up stick (with metal tube)
Price: $16 at Tartecosmetics.com and Sephora.com
Verdict: a pretty, polished effect, like a lightweight lipstick with the added benefits of moisture and sunscreen

Clarks’ Botanicals Ultra Rich Lip TintShade: Rachel Red
Pigmentation: medium
Texture: shiny
Flavor: vanilla ice cream
Packaging: tube with slant-tip
Price: $19 at Clarksbotanicals.com
Verdict: a bit streaky in its application, looks like a vibrant gloss but fades and slips away quickly; works best as a top coat over lipstick

LUSH It Started with a Kiss
Shade: one color available
Pigmentation: medium and buildable
Texture: semi-stain
Flavor: apple spice cake with buttercream frosting
Packaging: pot with screw-top lid
Price: $6.95 at Lush.com
Verdict: looks scarily bright in the pot, but applies as a flattering (and on-trend) coral-red... and lasts through a coffee break or an actual kiss!


Review by Jessica M
Disclaimer: The Tarte, Korres, and Clark’s balms were purchased by the author. The Burt’s Bees and Lush products were provided as press samples.
Review title is a homage to Soft Cell.
Images: Jessica M for Blogdorf Goodman

At The End oF The Ocean

Day 19: Lush Ocean Salt Scrub
By MUA's Cavewoman

With sunny days lately in Ohio and the hope of Spring arriving soon, I'm trying to de-Winterize my parched skin and get ready for pretty dresses and bare legs. My poor legs haven't seen the light of day in many months. As I was digging around in my stash of skincare and body care items, looking for my Origins True Grit Fruit Slough, but I must have used it all up. But I found my LUSH Ocean Salt Face And Body Scrub and headed to the shower to polish up the legs. I needed some serious scrubbing. The usual shower gel and nylon scrubby puff just were not going to be enough.Ocean Salt is a gritty, serious tub of skin smoothing fabulousness. The scent is invigorating and fresh, minty and limey and coconutty all at the same time. Winter doldrums and dull skin are in for a big purge.

One little pinch of this scrub is enough for each leg and knee. Elbows and arms too! This scrub works wonders on problems big and small, washes away easily, leaving the skin feeling renewed and clean. It's a spa treatment right there in your own shower! I love the pretty blue-green color. This tub weighs 8.8oz and retails for $33.95. Before you say "ouch!" on that price, LUSH products are definitely pricey, but they deliver what they promise, they're highly concentrated, and last a very long time. I can't say that my legs are daylight-ready just yet, but we're getting there, one scrub at a time.

I have a lush for life....

Day 14: LUSH Smitten Hand Cream Review
By MUA's Cavewoman

If I keep mentioning this horrible, cold, super-snowy Ohio Winter in my reviews, please forgive me. And take pity on those of us who have had to deal with foot upon foot of snow, sagging gutters filled with heavy ice, and bitter wind as we shoveled our way out. It's taking its toll on not just the face, but on arms, legs and especially hands. My hands are sore and raw, dry and flaky, and nothing seemed to quench them except for this wonderful tub of emollient hand cream from LUSH, called Smitten. What a cute name! And I am, Smitten that is!

Just a dab or two of Smitten is all I need to soothe my dry flaky hands and comfort the soreness after a morning of shoveling the driveway or a day of working around the house, hands in dishwater or cleaning products. It has the most delightful almondy scent, too. With lots of oils and extracts listed in the ingredients, I would consider it more of a treatment product than a regular hand cream product. It does not disappear into the skin readily. It hangs on for a while, so you can continue to smooth it in and re-work the cream into dry patches. I especially like to slather it on right before bedtime. If there's any extra on my hands, it goes right on the elbows and knees. My hands feel refreshed come morning, ready to take on another day of whatever comes my way. This little tub has saved my hands this Winter. When Spring arrives, if it ever does, I will probably stash this tub and go on to something lighter, but for now, it's the go-to jar I can't do without.

I purchased this jar of Smitten on the recommendation of Ceil, who knows all things LUSH. She never steers me wrong. The little black 3.5oz jar is $17.95 at the LUSH store, and if you can get out of there with just one item, I salute you.

Disclosure: This product was purchased by the reviewer
Photo Credit: Cavewoman for Blogdorf Goodman
Graphic Credit: Melanie Parker/Veronica Lake in I Married A Witch

Heavenly Creatures

Day 12: LUSH
Angels on Bare Skin and Dark Angels
Review by Jessica M

Years ago, I was a fanatical LUSH consumer; most of the products I
used on my face, hair, and body came from LUSH, even though I had to
order them from Canada and Australia at that time. I’ve drifted away
from LUSH in recent years, as they’ve discontinued most of my favorite
items and added too many candy-sweet new products, but there are still
a few things that keep me going back to their stores and their
website.

One of those LUSH “classics” is Angels on Bare Skin. It’s listed as a
facial cleanser, but it’s really a gentle facial scrub that’s best
used before cleansing. Angels on Bare Skin was inspired by a medieval
recipe for a facial treatment, and it has a short-and-sweet
ingredients list that includes ground almonds, glycerin, kaolin,
lavender flowers, and rose absolute. It looks like some rolled-up
oatmeal flecked with lavender buds, but it smells lovely and it leaves
skin feeling naturally soft and smooth. How do you use it? With dry
hands, break off just a little chickpea-sized piece of the product,
and press it into damp skin with your fingertips, working your way
around your face and then back again, for a full minute. Rinse it
off, and then follow it with your usual cleanser. I like Angels on
Bare Skin even more Dr. Hauschka Cleansing Cream, and it’s much more
affordable ($9.95 online for 3.5 oz.).

Dark Angels is a younger, goth-tomboy sister to Angels on Bare Skin.
Instead of finely ground almonds, its exfoliating ingredients are black sugar and powdered charcoal, with a dose of rhassoul mud for deep cleaning. It has a subtle sandalwood-and-rosewood scent, from natural oils. Dark Angels a bit too strong for me to use by itself in the winter, so I mix just a tiny bit of it with Angels on Bare Skin
when my face needs a little extra stimulation. In the summer, though, it works perfectly to make my face clearer. Treat this intense little
product with respect: try patting it onto the face, instead of rubbing, and then swirl it off lightly with warm water. ($10.95 online for 3.5 oz.)

LUSH has made some strange business decisions over the past few years,
but I can only hope (and pray?) that these Angels will stay in
production.

Disclaimer: Both products were purchased by the reviewer
Credit: Images from the LUSH website.
Graphic Credit: Melanie Parker/Veronica Lake in I Married A Witch

40 Days and 40 Nights of Beauty Cult Classics
Day 37, Lush's Silky Underwear Dusting Powder

This is the only body powder I use.
It is exceptional due to the quality of the powder and scent. The texture is velvet-like with a heavenly scent of jasmine and vetivert oil.
This is the most moisturizing powder I have ever tried. The chunks of cocoa butter add even more depth to the talc-free formula. It manages to blend into the skin quickly with no streaks. The only complaint I have is that the container has large holes so the chances of an accident is quite high. Applying with a powder puff is the best way.

What makes this product a cult classic?

Back in the day Lush stores were hard to find. In fact if you read on MUA that someone was going to Canada you were instantly paging them for a custom purchase. Today life is better with Lush stores popping up in malls all over the US.

Sily Underwear is a mixture of high quality and affordability. It retails for $11.25 and is available at Lush.com

Tell me what you think of Silky Underwear in the comments.

Credit: Amazon

Disclosure: I purchased this at the Lush store in NYC.

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.