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Lush Is Getting Emotional About Makeup With Their New Emotional Brilliance Makeup Collection

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lush emotional brilliance
Wearing Lush Emotional Brilliance Liquid Eye Liner in Motivation and Cream Eyeshadow in Happiness on my eyes, and Liquid Lip Color in Power on my cheeks

I’m feeling emotional today…but for once it’s not because Tabs is ignoring me or because I’m PMS-ing.

Shocking, I know! 🙂

It’s because of Lush and their new Emotional Brilliance Collection, the brand’s first-ever line of color cosmetics. It launches tomorrow worldwide at Lush stores and online at lushusa.com, featuring 13 Liquid Lip Colors, 11 Liquid Eyeliners and 6 Cream Eyeshadows, each priced at $22.95.

lush emotional brilliance product shot
From the left: Liquid Lip Color in Power, Liquid Lip Color in Vibrance, Cream Eyeshadow in Happiness, Cream Eyeshadow in Wise, Liquid Eye Liner in Motivation and Liquid Eye Liner in Feeling Secure

Instead of basing the colors on trendy seasonal shades, Lush tried to tap into their emotional side, choosing a pigmented palette and giving the pieces names like Happiness and Motivation.

According to Lush, each of the product names/shades can help you draw on the power of suggestion. Say, “happiness, happiness, happiness,” visualize yourself feeling better, and apply golden coral Cream Eyeshadow in Happiness on your lids, with the idea being that the happy color and name could lead to a positive change in behavior.

Sounds worth a try. I could always use a little extra happiness.

Or maybe you’d prefer one of the Lip Colors, like shimmery red Power, to help you through that big meeting at work.

Even the little jars look therapeutic with their dropper caps, like vintage medicine bottles.

“Apply two of these, Karen, and call me in the morning.”

Yes, Dr. Tabs. 🙂

Kinda touchy-feely, but Lush is crunchy granola like that (as am I sometimes).

Some first impressions on six of the 30 new pieces…

The Liquid Lip Colors

First I powered up with Power, a shimmery reddish orange that glides across my lips like a drag queen down a runway. With the doe-foot applicator (the dropper handle is just for show), it applies smoothly, like whipped butter, and feels lovely, but it also got my hopes up dangerously high…

When I tried shimmery golden Vibrance, I was surprised by its almost chunky consistency — not at all like Power. I had to pat it down to get the color to spread across my lips.

Hmm… Seems like these lippies vary widely, although both of them are unscented, unflavored and feel as light as feathers. MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B

The Liquid Eyeliners

At least for me and my small hands, the quaint dropper handle makes the liner brush a little tricky to control, so I skip it and use my trusty Sonia Kashuk Bent Brush instead.

Both bright, shimmery teal Motivation and matte purple Feeling Secure dry in less than a minute, so they’re probably better suited for sharp liner looks than smudged ones (Note: not recommended for water lines; I tried ’em, and my eyes started tearing up).

Of these two, I definitely prefer shimmery Motivation. Compared to it, Feeling Secure looks dull and lifeless. MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B

The Cream Eyeshadows

Shimmery golden coral Happiness and matte khaki Wise latch on to my lids like eagle talons!

Like the liners, both of them dry very quickly, completely setting in less than a minute, and on the one hand, I appreciate being able to just swipe and go, but on the other, I miss not being able to blend out the edges.

As for layering, neither one likes it, and both begin to look uneven and patchy when I apply too much. MAKEUP AND BEAUTY BLOG RATING: B-

lush emotional brilliance swatches
Swatches from the left: Liquid Eye Liner in Motivation, Liquid Eye Liner in Feeling Secure, Cream Eyeshadow in Happiness, Cream Eyeshadow in Wise, Liquid Lip Color in Power and Liquid Lip Color in Vibrance
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Leave the Business of Slaying Scaly Skin to Lush’s Buffy Body Butter Bar

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lush buffy body butter

If you’re looking for a solid exfoliating body bar that’s all about puppies, rainbows and heart-shaped bubbles coming out of a pink unicorn’s butt, you won’t find it in Lush’s Buffy Body Butter ($11.95).

Buffy will not listen to you talk about your feelings as you braid each other’s hair.

Nor will she quietly discuss the merits of gentle exfoliation with you over chamomile tea in a room filled with oversized pillows and dream catchers.

No.

Lush refers to this Buffy as “the original slayer” and says it’s “tough on rough bottoms” because it wants to kick metaphorical butt.

Your skin’s butt.

Dead skin cells? Destroys ’em. The solid 3.3-ounce Buffy Body Butter bar (what a tongue-twister!) vanquishes scaly skin with a semi-coarse concoction of ground rice, almonds and beans (?). And if 3.3 ounces doesn’t seem big enough, it also comes in a larger 7-ounce bar for $22.95.

Scaly shins? Toast. Lumps, bumps and scaly patches on pretty much any part of your bod — shins, thighs, elbows, heels, arms — succumb to Buffy’s skin-sloughing powers and the moisturizing might of cocoa and shea butters.

That other Buffy in the vampire-slaying business has to struggle to keep humanity safe from blood-suckers, but for the Buffy Body Butter bar, keeping skin exfoliated and moisturized is a piece of cake.

Just massage it over wet skin, and squeal with delight! — or mild discomfort, but more on that in a minute. It’s kinda like a rich, super scrubby soap.

Then, after rinsing, pat dry. No need for lotion or cream afterward, since Buffy leaves behind a thick layer of moisturizing butters and oils.
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Question: When Is a Liquid Also a Solid? Answer: When It’s the LUSH Godiva Shampoo Bar

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lush godiva shampoo bar

For me, in the realm of suspicious things, a solid shampoo ranked right up there with men who wear thumb rings, and gray-hued, overcooked veggies (have you ever seen grey broccoli?).

So yeah…I eyed Lush’s Godiva Shampoo Bar ($10.95) with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Designed to clean and condition dry, processed hair, it suds up into a lather like a regular soap bar but also contains a whole slew of moisturizing oils, as well as shea butter and other botanicals like hibiscus, jasmine and gardenia.

As you can probably imagine, the directions make it sound pretty easy to use. Just wet your mane, run the bar across it a few times to get a good lather going, shampoo as usual, and rinse.

Sounds easy enough, right? But so do many 2-in-1 shampoo/conditioner products, even the ones that leave my already dry, wavy, highlighted hair a tangled mess of crispy fried noodles…

That’s where the testing comes in. 🙂

lush godiva shampoo bar

The first time I brought the bar into the shower with me I said, “WOW!” Talk about serious bubbles. And the scent? Trademark Lush. A big, bold tour de force of jasmine flowers, one of my favorite floral scents.

It might be too heady for super sensitive noses, but even my picky schnoz thinks it’s tops.

Ingredients

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Cetearyl Alcohol and Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Glycerl Stearate; Peg – 100 Stearate, Propylene Glycol, Perfume, Hibiscus Extract (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), Stearic Acid, Shea Butter (Butyrospermum parkii), Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetrimide, Camella Oil (Camella japonita), Organic Cold Pressed Jojoba Oil (Simmondsia chinensis), Organic Macadamia Nut Oil (Macadamia ternifolia), Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (Cocos nucifera), Jasmine Absolute (Jasminum officinale), Ylang Ylang Oil (Cananga odorata), Cypress Oil (Cupressus sempervirens), Palmarossa Oil (Cymbopogan martini), Jasmine Flowers (Jasminum officinale), Cupuacu Butter (Theobroma Grandiflorum), Cocamide DEA, Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), Benzyl Alcohol, Geraniol, Limonene , Linalool

I dunno why, but I was really surprised that a solid shampoo would whip into such a frothy foam. Looking at this one, I just get a different vibe from it, almost like a loofah or a bath salt.

Then I checked the ingredient list, and wouldn’t ya know it? Right there at the top of the list, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (or SLS).

A few interesting (at least to me) things about SLS, should you ever find yourself on Final Jeopardy! First, what is it?

Good question. 🙂 SLS is an FDA-approved ingredient commonly found in personal care products like shampoos and even toothpaste.

It’s usually used as a surfactant — in a nutshell, it loosens bonds.

If you’ve ever used a bath/shower product that builds up into a sudsy lather, there’s a good chance it contained SLS.

Added to shampoo, SLS makes hair easier to clean by loosening the bonds that hold dirt and oil to your hair.

The ingredient came under some scrutiny in the late ’90s when an anonymous email circulated online claimed a link between a related compound, SLES, and cancer. SLES, or Sodium Laureth Sulfate, is like SLS’s more expensive, slightly unscrupulous cousin. Both compounds essentially do the same thing, but SLES is now much less commonly used (source: SNOPES).

Shortly after the email incident, several hair brands started rolling out SLS-free products, leading some to suggest that the whole thing was a marketing ploy designed to sell more shampoo (source: LEDA).

I guess the most important question is, “Should you avoid hair products containing SLS?” Well, that depends on whom you believe. Over the years, several reputable sources (including the American Cancer Society and the International Agency for Research on Cancer) have said that SLS is noncarcinogenic, meaning that it doesn’t cause cancer. At most, they say, it could cause some skin irritation, but only under certain circumstances for a small number of users (source: How Stuff Works).

As a product junkie, I like to try a little bit of everything, which in this case includes the LUSH Godiva Shampoo Bar.
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Lemony Lush No Drought Dry Shampoo Is No Desert Rose, But It Should Buy Your Hair Some Time Between Washes

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Lush No Drought Dry Shampoo (4)

When I caught my first whiff of Lush’s citrusy new No Drought Dry Shampoo ($12.95), I wondered if it could handle the scent of eau de greasy roots — that scent somewhere between musk and the fragrant toe funk that manifests after one too many days without shampoo.

To erase my doubts about No Drought, I went four days sans shampoo, at the end of which my mop had reached greasy critical mass, complete with limp roots, a gummy scalp and a scent akin to El Hub’s sock drawer. With my hair at new heights of jankiness, I reached for Lush No Drought Dry Shampoo.

I followed the directions on the bottle, or tried to at least, but the bottle doesn’t make this loose powder easy to dispense.

Correction — it makes it too easy. The cap has a regular lotion topper that dumps out a ton of product when it’s tipped, and I wound up with more powder on the sink and bathroom floor than I successfully got in my hair.

Lush No Drought Dry Shampoo (1)

Lush No Drought Dry Shampoo (2)
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Lush’s New Ro’s Argan Conditioner Works Like a Hair Conditioner for Your Bod

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lush ro's argan body conditioner (3)

I’ve been applying body lotion since the tender age of 12. Day in, day out, just me, my perpetually parched skin and a tube of moisturizer going to work on each other like it’s a job, yo, like cubicle BFFs 4-ever.

And after all of those hundreds of tubes and jars, I think I even figured something out. For the most part, with a few exceptions, lotion is pretty much lotion, and it’s rare when a brand actually shakes things up.

That, fellow beauty lurver, is why I’m smitten with Lush’s new Ro’s Argan Conditioner ($29.95). It actually makes moisturizing easier than usual, faster than normal, and dare I say it? — kinda fun.

Lush calls it a “body conditioner,” but no, it doesn’t come with a Jillian Michaels DVD (I wish!). 🙂 What it does come with are moisturizing ingredients like cocoa butter and argan oil.

It’s a rich lotion designed to be used in the shower on wet skin. After washing and rinsing, I apply it from the neck down, where it leaves a thick, but not sticky, hydrating film.

SIDE NOTE: Now I know what a pan feels like when it gets greased up with butter! But(ter) seriously, Ro’s Argan Conditioner is a little greasy…but not annoyingly so. For the record, though, it does leave behind a moisturizing layer/film that remains after rinsing and towel drying.

Because my skin is so dry that it makes the Atacama Desert look like Waialeale on Kauai, I went into this pretty skeptical. I really didn’t think Ro’s would do much for me at all, and I didn’t think the results would justify the price.

But hold up! — wait a minute. Ro’s turns out to work quite well. It hydrates most of my trouble spots, and that includes my dry @ss shins. I still feel like I could use a little more help on my chapped elbows and feet…but there I can’t say I’m surprised, because those are my most troubled spots.

lush ro's argan body conditioner (2)

lush ro's argan body conditioner (1)
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Barista Beauty by Lush with New Lush Latte Lip Tint

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lush latte lip tint (4)

When I heard about Lush’s new Latte Lip Tint ($6.95), the first thing I did was lick my lips and moan, “Mmm…” Then, I imagined what it might look like and pictured a muddy, flat brown.

Wait — that doesn’t sound appealing, does it?

Ah, but then I tried it on. 🙂

Lush may not have done their latest lippie justice by referring to the color as coffee. It’s a thin, smooth, non-sticky tint that goes on looking like a pigmented, frosty golden bronze, and I think it’s outright lovely on the lips.

More often than not, Lush’s flavors and scents aren’t exactly subtle, and Latte Lip Tint also packs quite a wallop. I like the scent, which reminds me of coffee and cocoa butter, but the flavor? Let me put it this way: Starbucks, it ain’t (unless Starbucks sells a vanilla latte made with a shot of wax).

lush latte lip tint (1)
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