Lush Cupcake ***

I adore LUSH products. It was a delightful treat to recently receive a gift certificate to LUSH from one of my good friends who is, subsequently, another big fan. If you aren't familiar with what I'm talking about, then here's a brief tutorial.

LUSH has actually been around for quite some time. They are an all-natural, hand-made bath and body shoppe from Ye Olde England. They sold their first product to Bodyworks in 1978 and with a few bumps along the way, they are still here kickin' it, and thank goodness. They are cruelty free, and many of the products are made from certified organic ingredients. They are earth-friendly. They make everything - from products to labels - themselves. They are way groovy.

As far as my LUSH adventures, I'm a big fan of the Bath Bomb, the Bubble Bars (lots of bang for your buck there), and the Luxury Bath Melts. And while I am an adventurous person, when I find things that I really love, I have a hard time straying from them. It feels like cheating.

On my latest expedition to LUSH, with gift certificate in hand, I vowed to try something different. And not just a different scent (or as I call it, "flavor"). As I meandered about the store, my feet stopped in front of a display case that closely resembled a salad bar. It was all ice with medium-sized metal bowls containing concoctions that looked (and smelled) like they were toppings at a fancy falaffel shop. The perky sales-girl approached and asked if I'd ever tried any of their face masks. "Is that what this is!?" I exclaimed. I told her about my issues with my tricky combination skin and blackheads on the nose. She went through the "menu" and made her recommendations and offered me a free sample of something that was deliciously titled "cupcake". How could a girl resist?

Cupcake the face product smells like cupcake the eating product. Deliciously chocolate and tempting. It has the consistency of thick frosting. It's hard to resist the taste test, but I did. I reminded myself that a principal ingredient in cupcake is mud. I got over my mud eating phase a long time ago. When applied, cupcake is really thick and sort of difficult to work with. I ran my fingers under the running tap for a little moisture, and that seemed to help in the application of the product. Once it was on, it felt great. No stinging like a lot of products. Cupcake is meant to absorb the oils in the skin and help with those pesky blackheads, but my sensitive skin often finds products dealt the same task as cupcake to be irritating to my skin. This was a nice change. After 10 minutes, it was time to wash the mud off the face. And indeed, it looked disgusting (but still smelled fabulous). It was a bit tricky getting the product off, it was a bit chunky in consistency once it dried out, but with the aid of a washcloth I persevered. And my skin looked great. Definitely some blackheads were defeated in battle. My skin felt smooth and soft and the product didn't dry it out. Good stuff.

So, with that, I give cupcake, from LUSH three out of four stars. The downside here is that the facial masks have a limited life - only about three weeks from when the product was made. It must also be refrigerated. And it's a bit on the expensive side (around $12 for a wee container). All of this combined with the limited availability, since the facial masks can only be purchased in-store, makes the product a bit tricky to attain for the girl-on-the-go. BUT - it's totally worth the trek if you can make it.