Get Angelic Skin with Lush's Angels on Bare Skin Cleanser

Lush has long tried to call itself a natural brand, while I mostly disagree, I can't argue that their clay cleansers are absolutely fantastic. Over the Christmas holiday, I was lucky enough to work at a Lush store and experience the energetic atmosphere and hype over the brand. While Lush basically sells itself, I had to try as many products as possible in order to demo and sell them myself. Several of their products contain sodium lauryl sulfate which was pretty disappointing, being "natural" and all, but I was able to find a couple of products with fairly clean ingredients. One of which is the Angels on Bare Skin facial cleanser.

Description: For heavenly soft and balanced skin, take a smidgen of Angels on Bare Skin, mix with a little water and massage in. The kaolin clay base deep cleanses while ground almonds gently exfoliate the dead skin away. Rose and lavender are added to soothe and help balance out combination skin. It's our best selling preservative-free and packaging-free daily cleanser for all skin types, so if you don't know which cleanser to choose and it's heavenly skin you're after, start with Angels.

The Good:

• smells great
• gently exfoliates
• leaves skin soft and hydrated
• tiny bit goes a long way
• gets rid of acne
• can be used on body
• sold by weight

The Bad:

• can be messy
• must keep container free of any water
• only fresh for 3 months
• doesn't remove makeup

Verdict: I LOVE this cleanser. I tried a few samples of it before actually investing in it. Once I finished up my samples, and wasn't using it for a couple of weeks, I noticed what a difference using it daily really made. This cleanser helps keep my acne at bay, brighten my complexion, soften my skin and reduce dry patches. For starters, it has ground almonds which gently exfoliates the skin and eliminates dry patches like no other. It also containers kaolin clay, which I love because it's ideal for sensitive skin and draws out impurities. It smells like calming lavender, but is never overwhelming. I use it in the morning and even use it on my chest, shoulders and back to help reduce acne and smooth out my skin. It doesn't remove makeup and I wouldn't recommend using it around your eyes. You probably could, but I don't like the idea of ground almonds getting into my eyes! Ouch! It can be a little messy and it took me a few washes to figure out how to best apply and use it. At first, I was using way too much and getting it all over my bathroom counter. You only need a tiny amount (see below) and water and you're good to go. It's great that it's sold by weight because you can get as little or as much as you'd like. While they;'ll likely try to sell you a large quantity at once, it does expire within 3 months and given that you don't need much for each wash, you should just buy enough to last you 2 to 3 months. Being clay based, you need to make sure that water doesn't get into the container or it will make it slimy. For those of you like me, who wet their face first, keeping water out will be tricky. This cleanser can be pricey, but remember that a little is all you need. It is a new staple in my skin care routine and I will repurchase!

Retails for $13.95 CAN per 100g. Can only be purchased at Lush stores or online.

I used a thin layer of this product, prior to taking photos. This chunk is about $20 CAN

Ingredients: Ground Almonds (Prunus dulcis) , Glycerine , Kaolin , Water (Aqua) , Lavender Oil (Lavandula hybrida) , Rose Absolute (Rosa centifolia) , Chamomile Blue Oil (Matricaria Chamomilla) , Tagetes Oil (Tagetes minuta) , Benzoin Resinoid (Styrax tonkinensis pierre) , Lavender Flowers (Lavendula hybrida) , *Limonene , *Linalool