I won something?! LUSH Celestial Facial Moisturizer from Gummy Vision

January 3, 2014 by pearlessence 20 Comments

I am not a person who can rely on luck. Don’t get me wrong, I am lucky to be surrounded by a wonderful family and people I love. But I am never lucky when it comes to games of chance. I don’t win contests, draws, or lotteries – it’s almost as if the odds are always tipped against me, no matter how you calculate the actual probability.

Imagine my surprise when I got a message from Gummy Vision that I had won something from her 2013 Holiday Giveaway!

I was stoked and super excited about having won something! I finally had a chance to pick up my parcel, which was nicely wrapped with wrapping paper, much to my surprise. A lovely Christmas card was enclosed from Gummy Vision. I slid the ribbon off the package and let Miko have it – she promptly carried it off to play with next to her scratching post.

I opened the wrapping to reveal a LUSH Celestial Facial Moisturizer, described on the website as a gentle almond cream for dry or sensitive faces. The 45 g tub (1.5 oz) retails for $24.95 CAD.

For those of you who don’t know, LUSH is a brand with the tagline “fresh handmade cosmetics”. Each LUSH product is handmade from fresh and organic ingredients where possible. The company is against animal testing and minimizes impact on the environment by foregoing packaging as much as they can. The black tubs they use for most of their non-solid products can be re-used or you can return 5 of them to the store in exchange for a free fresh face mask.

I did note that LUSH does not claim to be paraben-free from the ingredient list of Celestial. Although I do like that there are relatively few ingredients in total.

While I admire LUSH’s philosophy, I have to say that I haven’t found a LUSH product that has absolutely wowed me. Some of their products work as they’re supposed to (soap cleans, duh), but I have tried a variety of their products and haven’t come across anything that performed exceptionally well on me. I enjoyed one of their shampoo bars but didn’t notice any results from their fresh face masks. I will never again buy the one-time-use bath products – I just think that it’s a lot of money (too much money) to spend on one bath.

I also like that LUSH uses fresh ingredients but the lack of preservatives also means that the products have a very short shelf life. I found that I could never finish the fresh face masks before they expired – they only last for about a week or two, and I only use masks once a week at most (if at all). As expected, Celestial has a set expiration date as well. This could be problematic because I have a tendency to forget about products I own and dig it up a while later.

However, I am looking forward to giving Celestial a try because it is a favourite of Gummy Vision’s. Coincidentally, she shares my lack of enthusiasm for the strongly scented LUSH stores as a whole, but she has found Celestial to be a wonderful moisturizer for her skin. My skin is pretty sensitive and it gets dry and flaky during the winter, so I am glad that I won this from her giveaway.

Gummy Vision finds Celestial to smell deliciously of fresh milk and almonds with a faint scent of vanilla. To me, Celestial smells like the bottle of vanilla extract I keep in my baking cupboard – not particularly appetizing (because who eats vanilla extract on its own?), but not off-putting, either. I could probably get used to the scent fairly quickly (after all, I’ve gotten used to ones that are much worse), but I don’t expect the scent to linger after application anyway. Of course, scent is a very personal preference.

I have quite a few products I’m trying out right now in my nighttime routine, so I’ll probably try to incorporate Celestial as a morning moisturizer, given that I don’t have a morning skincare routine at all. The label says that Celestial works well for morning use and under makeup, so I’m looking forward to trying it out. Heck, I might even throw it into my bag so I can moisturize in the morning on the bus!

Thanks again Gummy Vision for the awesome giveaway! I am so happy that I received the Celestial facial moisturizer (my sister can confirm this – I was dancing in her room when I found out) and can’t wait to find out how it works for me.

Have you used any LUSH skincare products? How did you like them? Share your thoughts, I might find something new to try!