Me and My... Dark Angels Cleanser (Lush Cosmetics)
Last Tuesday when I visited my local Lush store, I took a chance and purchased a Dark Angels cleanser for young & oily skin. I say I took a chance, because I have heard mixed reviews about this specific cleanser, and also because the last time I tried a Lush product which contained the words "young skin" in the description, it didn't help my skin at all. Anyway, as I say, I took a chance, and purchased a pot.
LUSH SAYS:
Deep dark cleansing facial scrub for young, dark and oily skin. A lovely, black, squidgy scrub made with charcoal to absorb oils and exfoliate your skin. Nutritious avocado oil softens your skin, glycerine keeps the moisture in and black sugar softly scrubs; rhassoul mud is anti-microbial and cleanses deeply, while sandalwood and rosewood essential oils are soothing, giving you a feeling of smooth, clean freshness that is difficult to beat. It's our new favourite, even if we aren't very young. Just be a bit careful that you wash it off properly and clean the wash basin after you.
I SAY:
The first thing that struck me about this cleanser was the texture. Like Herbalism and all of Lush's other cleansers, one takes a little bit of the product into one's hand, mixes it with water in order to obtain a paste, and then gently rubs into one's skin. I found I needed more water with this one than with Herbalism, as it is thicker. If it is too thick on the face, it is not easy to massage into the skin, and the texture is quite disgusting. However, get the mixture right, and it is actually a nice scrub. It contains black sugar, and so one does actually get a scrub. Therefore it is not a good idea to rub to hard, otherwise it would be abrasive to the skin and make the problem worse. It contains more cleanser than most of the other pots, because it is a different texture.
The smell? Well, it is very similar to the Coalface cleansing bar. It smells a little earthy, I think. It's a smell one has to get used to, but it is not awful!
When I first used this product on Wednesday, I was a little disappointed afterwards, because my skin appeared to go oily again. But, afterwards, after my skin had settled down to this new product, it was absolutely fine, and I was litteraly excess oil free for 4 days. It was wonderful!! I've just used my cleanser for the second time, and I am even more impressed this time. I left it on my skin for a couple of minutes before rinsing, in order to try it as a mask. It seems to have worked quite well.
The only "downside" I could possibly think of right now is that one needs to apply quite a lot of toner to remove the excess. But if one is using the correct toner for one's skin, it actually helps to cleanse in itself, so it isn't that much of a problem!!
Sometimes with my skin, new products are OK at first, and then when my skin gets used to it, it is as before. So we shall see what happens. I hope that it won't be the case with this one, because I think I actually quite like it!! In France, "Dark Angels Cleanser" is called "Black Gold" ("L'or noir")... that might not be far wrong!!
Picture: "Dark Angels Cleanser" by Lush Cosmetics, from http://beautycouch.blogspot.com
LUSH SAYS:
Deep dark cleansing facial scrub for young, dark and oily skin. A lovely, black, squidgy scrub made with charcoal to absorb oils and exfoliate your skin. Nutritious avocado oil softens your skin, glycerine keeps the moisture in and black sugar softly scrubs; rhassoul mud is anti-microbial and cleanses deeply, while sandalwood and rosewood essential oils are soothing, giving you a feeling of smooth, clean freshness that is difficult to beat. It's our new favourite, even if we aren't very young. Just be a bit careful that you wash it off properly and clean the wash basin after you.
I SAY:
The first thing that struck me about this cleanser was the texture. Like Herbalism and all of Lush's other cleansers, one takes a little bit of the product into one's hand, mixes it with water in order to obtain a paste, and then gently rubs into one's skin. I found I needed more water with this one than with Herbalism, as it is thicker. If it is too thick on the face, it is not easy to massage into the skin, and the texture is quite disgusting. However, get the mixture right, and it is actually a nice scrub. It contains black sugar, and so one does actually get a scrub. Therefore it is not a good idea to rub to hard, otherwise it would be abrasive to the skin and make the problem worse. It contains more cleanser than most of the other pots, because it is a different texture.
The smell? Well, it is very similar to the Coalface cleansing bar. It smells a little earthy, I think. It's a smell one has to get used to, but it is not awful!
When I first used this product on Wednesday, I was a little disappointed afterwards, because my skin appeared to go oily again. But, afterwards, after my skin had settled down to this new product, it was absolutely fine, and I was litteraly excess oil free for 4 days. It was wonderful!! I've just used my cleanser for the second time, and I am even more impressed this time. I left it on my skin for a couple of minutes before rinsing, in order to try it as a mask. It seems to have worked quite well.
The only "downside" I could possibly think of right now is that one needs to apply quite a lot of toner to remove the excess. But if one is using the correct toner for one's skin, it actually helps to cleanse in itself, so it isn't that much of a problem!!
Sometimes with my skin, new products are OK at first, and then when my skin gets used to it, it is as before. So we shall see what happens. I hope that it won't be the case with this one, because I think I actually quite like it!! In France, "Dark Angels Cleanser" is called "Black Gold" ("L'or noir")... that might not be far wrong!!
Picture: "Dark Angels Cleanser" by Lush Cosmetics, from http://beautycouch.blogspot.com