Zoe's Musings

I've never bought any lush products before this. Yep, I know. A blogger who's never tried anything from Lush.

I find Lush very overwhelming whenever I go in. All of the colours and smells are very overstimulating and I find myself walking away with nothing whenever I go in there because I don't know where to start. I love watching Lush hauls, but there are so many products I've found it hard to get into Lush as a brand. Until now.

I've been needing a new face mask for the longest time, as I suffer from pretty rubbish skin and spots and I find the only things that really help are good face masks. As I'm a poor uni student I don't have the money to buy something high end, and I find that it's difficult to find high quality masks that work on the high street.

I did my research on Lush face masks and decided that the Mask of Magnaminty was a good place to start, as it's got many ingredients that calm and exfoliate the skin. You can read the full description on the Lush site here.


The way I use the mask is I cleanse my face first, and dry it, and then put a decent layer of the mask on, and leave it for about 20 minutes, or until it becomes stiff. Then I wet my hands slightly and scrub the face mask to make the most of the exfoliating properties, and wipe the rest off with a clean washcloth. I then tone and moisturise my face as normal. It leaves my skin feeling soft and smooth, and very clean but without feeling scrubbed raw.

I find it also works very well as a targeted spot treatment, as I put it on specific areas of my face where I can feel a spot coming, leave it for a bit and then scrub it off and my skin feels much less inflamed and looks calmer, without feeling at all tight or dry. The only thing that puts me off a bit is the smell, it's pretty strong, and also it can be quite hard to get off!

I would definitely recommend this face mask, as even though I bought the smaller size pot it's lasted me for quite a while, and it's relatively inexpensive too. So a big thumbs up from me, and I can't wait to try more Lush products!

Hey everyone! This post is inspired by Vivianna Does Makeup's youtube video. I thought I'd follow her lead and do a morning & evening skincare routine post for you all. I tend not to use a ton of products on my face as I try to keep it as minimal as possible to try and prevent breakouts (I have sensitive and very acne prone skin).

So here are the *few* products that have made it into my regular routine. Obviously I'm always switching up my products, but these are the ones that have enabled me to mostly clear up my skin.

MORNING

In the morning I'll use the Boots Tea Tree & Witch Hazel Charcoal Facial Wash, which has loads of ingredients that are great for acne prone skin. I really like it, and think it's definitely helped to clear up my skin. I've used many other products from their range, including their daily moisturiser, night treatment gel, and peel off mask.

I have recently incorporated a toner into my skincare routine, as I read up on the skin benefits and figured it was something I needed to start using! As well as prepping the face for makeup, it helps to refresh my face after I sleep, and it cleanses dead skin and shrinks my pores. I got a mini set, so I'm  using the Simple Kind to Skin Soothing Facial Toner . It's a really handy little travel size too!

I then use my moisturiser, which is the Nivea Oil Free Moisturising Day Cream for oily & combination skin.  I really like this moisturiser, it's not greasy, sinks in well and makes my skin feel so fresh.

If I'm wearing makeup that day, then I'll go in with my Bourjois Happy Light Matte Serum primer *not pictured*, which I adore. It's really smoothing, you don't need a lot, and it acts as a perfect base for your makeup. I've used up about half of it and will definitely be repurchasing, it's the best mattifying primer I've ever used.

EVENING

If I've worn makeup that day, I'll take it off with the Garnier Micellar Cleansing Water and a cotton pad. It's pretty good at taking the majority of my makeup off, although it does sometimes leave some behind, but I sort that out with either another cotton pad or by washing my face. I use the same face wash as I use in the morning. I don't always wash my face in the evening if I feel that my makeup remover and poree cleansing pads have done the trick.

I then use the Superdrug Deep Action Pore Cleansing Pads. They're really good at making my skin feel extra clean, they don't dry my skin out, and it really makes me feel ready for bed.

I'll then moisturise my face using the Simple Kind to Skin Vital Vitamin Night Cream. I'm not sure how much I like this as I've just started using it, but my first impressions are that it has an odd smell, kind of like play-doh. The texture is also odd, as it's really bouncy and light. It makes my face feel really moisturised, but almost to the point that it feels greasy. I'm not too sure about it, but I'm going to stick with it for a bit longer before I review it properly.

EXTRAS

If I'm in the shower I like to use a manual exfoliating cleanser just to properly clear away the dead skin and gunk. I use the St Ives Naturally Clear Blemish Fighting Apricot Scrub, which I really like & which smells really good. It's great as it's not too harsh but is really good at exfoliating and making my skin feel really clean and soft.

Occasionally I use a peel off mask, this one is from Boots Tea Tree and Witch Hazel collection. It's not great, but does a decent job of taking off the dead skin & dirt.

That's it from me for today, hope you like this post. Also, I'm looking for a good drugstore eye cream, do you have any suggestions?

Thanks for reading, happy Valentines day, and I'll see you on Tuesday!
Zoe xxx