Lush R&B Hair Moisturiser and Blousey Shampoo reviews

So, these products were in the sale in our store and I decided I should perhaps buy them and try them.  Some of the other girls had told me that they liked Blousey and I also know that it won an award in the Irish Tatler in 2013 Beauty Awards so I figured “why not”.  R&B they were a little more dubious with and one even said she thought it would make my hair greasy.

Some of you may remember that I have been trying to be kinder to my hair to get it into better condition.  I have switched to henna to colour my hair and I do think that made a difference but I wanted to try something new and so these were it.

Now call me silly, I work for Lush so I should have realised, but I didn’t… when I started to wash my hair with Blousey it didn’t lather, so I took a bit more and still no later.  At that point while still in the shower with the shampoo in my hair I started to read the ingredients and spotted there is no SLS in this product (or preservatives for those you of who find that important) and so it was never going to lather! (sodium lauryl sulfate is a regular ingredient to cause lather in soaps and shampoos).  I have no idea how I missed this fact or why nobody told me but there you have it.

It has an unusual smell and the texture was a bit “bitty” due to all the bananas in this product. I put it in my hair and as I said, no lather so I was worried I might not be washing all of my hair as how do you know?  I conditioned, rinsed and thankfully my hair was lovely, soft and clean when I got out of the shower so I needn’t have worried.

After I had brushed my hair and was ready to dry it I grabbed the R&B and took honestly less than a pea size amount which i rubbed between my fingers and sparingly combed through my hair.  I had in the back of my head I didn’t want to put too much in as it might leave me greasy.  I know it was originally made for afro hair types and so is a little richer than most of the other treatments.  After drying my hair I can honestly say it felt much softer than it had been!  The next day the team felt my hair and agreed it did look and feel softer and “less horse hair like” as I would put it. 

I have now become comfortable with “upping the dose” of R&B to a full pea size amount and just making sure I am evenly combing it through all of my hair to prevent any areas getting oily and it seems to be working a treat.

So would I buy these products again? 

Well with the R&B, for sure I would but I imagine my pot is going to last me months upon months so it really is good value for money even at full price!  R&B is £11.95 for 100g or £19.95 for 225g.

Blousey is a lot less cost effective than other shampoos, it is £18 for a 240g pot and I do feel like I may use more of it to compensate for the lack of lather so I am not sure if it would be a great buy for me at full price.  I would however say if you are looking an SLS and preservative free shampoo that this should be a must for you as it does do an excellent job!

Buy it or don’t buy it, either way my hair is feeling lovely at the moment and that is making me happy 🙂

 

ELF cosmetics

So my box from ELF that I won on December 1st is still yet to arrive.  They are looking into what has happened it though so hopefully soon I can review those products

In the mean time I decided to order a few bits from their website to try out.  First on my hit list was their HD Mattifying Cream Foundation in Porcelain.  The packaging is nice and it comes with its own sponge applicator.  The colour is also a pretty amazing match for my skin tone.  It does exactly what you hope, it keeps the skin looking lovely and matt and provides a good even coverage.  I would say coverage is medium to high as it does a great job covering any blemishes without concealer.  It also seems to make my pores less noticeable.  The only downside is that the foundation will really hilight any dryness on the skin.  For that reason I would advise this foundation only to those of us with oily or normal skin.  Even at that, I imagine we will still need to ensure we keep up regular exfoliation.

That said, for £7 the foundation is amazing value for money and i can see myself buying it again.

Next I purchased 2 blushers as I couldn’t decide which one would be best.

First was the HD blush in Superstar.  It cost £3.75 for a 10ml pump.  Again the quality of this product was amazing.  The colour is highly pigmented so a very small amount goes a long way and blends easily onto the skin.  I would advise the first time you try it, don’t even bother putting a full pump on your fingers to use as you will need less than half of that unless you want to look like you have slightly overdone the blush.

Superstar is 2nd from the left.

The last item was the most bargainous of the bunch at £1.50 which was their All Over Colour Stick in Lilac Petal.  The colour is a lovely light pinky shade and again it blends easily on the skin.  I would say this one would be easier to use if you are a little wary of using too much colour with the HD blusher.  I liked this one so much I may get it in Spotlight as well to use as a highlighter.

I found it hard to find any flaws with these products that would prevent me from buying again or advising others to get.  If you need some new supplies and are running low on funds then this is a perfect budget friendly brand to try and yipee to them being cruelty free too 🙂

2013 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 20,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 7 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.