Grease Lightning Spot Treatment

When you're a teenager, you envisage a time in the future when you'll be spot free and sporting a clear complexion. No one ever tells you that when you grow up, there's not a miracle cure that'll just stop you from breaking out when you eat too much sugar, or when the weather changes etc... Some people are blessed with an inability to get spots; for the rest of us, there's always Grease Lightning.

Grease Lightning is a gentle but powerful spot treatment gel designed to target and eradicate pesky spots, without drying out or effecting your skin in any other way. I remember when I first began 'going through the changes', I relied heavily on various spot treatments to help clear my skin up. However, what I found was that most of these commercial brands completely dried my complexion out, which then caused me to get flaky, easily-irritated patches on my chin and nose.  

Lush's answer to this was to create a gel from carrageenan seaweed, aloe vera and sea water; three ingredients that help to cleanse and moisturise the skin without stripping the skin of it's natural oils. Furthermore, Grease Lightning contains an infusion of rosemary, thyme and tea tree oil to give the gel antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that help to eradicate pesky spots and stop them from re-appearing. This face gel is tea tree scented but it's quite a light fragrance.

To use, you simply have to squeeze a small amount onto the tip of your finger and apply it to the area you want to target. The clear gel will dry and set on your skin and get to work immediately. What I love about this product, is that it's less wasteful than your average spot treatment. Rather than smearing half a bottle over your entire face, just to target an annoying cluster of spots on your nose, Grease Lightning is only used on the specific areas where it's needed. This means that for £5.95, it's great value for money as it'll last a lot longer than a £6 bottle of *insert generic product name here*.

In addition, this bottle is small and compact enough to fit perfectly in your bag, and can be used without  any cotton wool or a mirror, so can be applied throughout the day, with ease. I tend to apply this in the evenings and before I go to bed, and in the morning, my spots are always less inflamed and smaller. Within a couple of days, the offending spots have all but disappeared. 

I don't tend to use this often, as I'm lucky enough not to break out more than a couple of times a year, but I like to keep a bottle handy as it also works to quicken the healing process on cuts/inflamed areas.

Quantitative Ingredients: Thyme, Rosemary and Tea Tree Infusion, Water, Fair Trade Organic Aloe Vera Gel, Sea Water, Grape Juice, Carrageenan Extract, Lavender Oil, Witch Hazel Extract, *Limonene, Perfume, Methylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Aromaco Solid Deodorant

In an ideal would, I would be able to rely on Lush for my every cosmetic need; from my face and body to my haircare. That way I could guarantee that, firstly, every product in my collection was 100% vegan and 100% cruelty free. Secondly, I would know that I was supporting a company that are doing at least something to help the reduction of waste and the sustainability of the environment. Finally,  I would be proud that I was supporting a company who advocate and promote important welfare messages to an audience that may not otherwise have access to such information.

It is a shame then that there are still aspects of my toiletry and cosmetics collection, that I am unable to revert. One such product is the 'deodorant'. Annoyingly, 'deodorant' is amongst one of the few words in the English language that I always misspell, making it a rather unpopular word to begin with. It doesn't help that my little experience with Lush deodorants so far, have been somewhat negative, so when I began using Aromaco, I was already very skeptical.

Aromaco comes in small cream-coloured blocks and is priced at £4.70 for a 100g slice. This is obviously a lot more expensive than a usual bottle of anti-perspirant. However, if it works in a similar manner to Lush's solid shampoos, a block could last upwards of 6+ months, making it incredible value for money.  

The deodorant contains witch hazel and chamomile vinegar to help tighten pores rather than block them, which is supposed to help you to keep cool and fresh. Lush have also included bicarbonate of soda to absorb odour and cooling patchouli oil to give your armpits a lasting earthy fragrance. Aromaco claims to absorb body odour and leave you smelling as fresh as a daisy. So does it work?

Firstly, I found it was rather difficult to use. You're supposed to rub the block under your armpits, following a shower to keep you feeling fresh and dry throughout the day. However, I found that whether I used it on dry or slightly damp skin, very little smell or product rubbed off onto my armpits. This meant that I felt very naked throughout the day, something that I'm very conscious about at work; nobody wants a smelly co-worker!

It's not as fiddly and messy as T'eo, but it's certainly more hassle than using a normal roll-on deodorant.   

Secondly, the scent it gives off is a little less than desirable. I recognise that witch hazel and patchouli have been used specially to target bad odours and smother them, and I can't deny that it doesn't do this to some extent. However, the smell is very poignant and not something I want to be using regularly.  

Finally, the deodorant did absolutely nothing to help keep me dry or prevent as much sweating occurring as normal. In fact, I found that the deodorant made things worse. Whereas before I was sweating fairly odourlessly, I now had to contend with a mixture of sweat and patchouli - something I wasn't very happy with at all.

To conclude: I recognise that Lush are trying to come up with new concepts and products to help reduce their carbon footprint, use fresher and sustainable natural ingredients as well as cater for a large range of consumers. However, this is one product that seems to have very little use at all. 

I recognise that there are others out there who seem to really appreciate Aromaco, and have perhaps started using it regularly with pleasing results. However, I suspect that a large percentage of these people seldomly sweat, which is why they've yet to see it's flaws. For someone like myself, who works out 6 days a week and has a full time job which involves moving around a lot, I don't think this deodorant is conducive at all.

Quantitative Ingredients: Witch Hazel Infusion, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Stearate, Chamomile Vinegar, Sodium Bicarbonate, Patchouli Oil, Citral, *Limonene, Perfume.

Vegan?: Yes

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