REVIEW: LUSH Oatifix Fresh Face Mask

I haven't done too many reviews and I haven't seen many online about LUSH Cosmetics fresh face masks. The largest reason why I think that is and this goes based on the LushUSA.com site, their head quarters is in Canada.  USA, Canada... it should just be LushaNorthAmerica.com so we could have one big Continental party, but whatever. So for US customers with the possibility of lengthy shipping due to possible customs hold ups and blah blah blah the LushUSA.com site doesn't offer fresh face masks.

Because when LUSH says fresh, LUSH means fresh. These masks only have a shelf life of about 2 to 3 weeks depending on how soon you get them after they've been produced and on top of that they do have to be refrigerated. And now I know someones going to email me asking well how do you get this then? You can very much so buy the masks in LUSH stores. But LUSH stores are semi-sparse, I recently had a friend who had to go on a trip which was 5 hours away from his home and discovered that his nearest LUSH was in the same area. So if you are located near a LUSH store or two like I am, BE THANKFUL.

 

So here I am to break down the ugliness of LUSH face masks, you'll see what I mean by ugliness shortly. But thankfully Lush.co.uk serves to such a small area that they are able sell the masks on their website. More importantly them being on the Lush.co.uk means I have things to reference from/copy&paste.

LUSH says: "Use Oatifix to clean and soften dry and sensitive skin. You will be delighted to hear that Oatifix smells as tempting as a very posh breakfast. Oats are calming, ground almonds give you an exfoliating scrub, bananas are softening and illipe butter reduces redness. Get the Oatifix you need. Keep chilled."

INGREDIENTS: Glycerine, Fine Oatmeal (Avena sativa), Fresh Organic Bananas (Musa paradisiaca), Water (Aqua), Ground Almonds (Prunus dulcis), Illipe Butter (Shorea stenoptera), Kaolin, Talc, Vanilla Pod (Vanilla planifolia), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Sandalwood Oil (Santalum austro-caledonicum vieill), Benzoin Resinoid (Styrax tonkinensis pierre), *Coumarin, *Benzyl Cinnamate, *Linalool, Perfume, Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides)

Thanks to Lou for causing me to have a nice moisturized face.  Employee of the month in my book.
PLEASE NOTE: This was used and photographed May 10 so ignore the expiration date. 

 

So as you can see from the ingredients list, this stuff is seriously fresh. Which can be a good thing. Suggestion: Steam your face with one of LUSHs toner tabs to open up your pores and help sweat out sum of the gunk. Then put on a fresh face mask straight from the fridge so it's cold and it will help detoxify your skin, but also the coldness seals your pores to help keep anymore gunk from getting in. It can be a bit annoying having to keep your skincare products in your fridge, at least for me it is. Because if I don't see it out on the counter in my bathroom or on my vanity table I tend to forget about it. So if you do forget it's chillin' out (PUN INTENDED) and surpasses the expiration date on any of these masks it's not a life or death situation, you can still use them. I would only suggest using them up to 3-4 days from the expired date or else then it could get a little too funky. I choose to keep mine in the cold cuts/cheese drawer of my fridge. All the way in the back corner so no one gets tempted to do something stupid and use my face mask as a dip.

container BEFORE using the product

Put the face mask on all over your face, neck and chest if you want. Be sure to avoid your eyes. It's advised to use this for only 5-10 minutes. I used it for 15, because Oatifix is aimed toward sensitive skin and is moisturizing which helps me when my face is having eczema itch fits. Now prepare yourself for pure, raw, unfilled in brows sexiness (aka the ugliness I mentioned above)

 container AFTER using the product

So you see there's not much used for one mask. I got about 4 uses out of this tub of Oatifix. 3 of the times I also did my neck and 1 time my chest as well. So it goes quite the distance.

GRADE: B+

I give Oatifix a B+ mainly because it doesn't do anything for treating my personal skin problems or adding anything special to my skin. Now while I did get this product to help put some moisture into my skin and help treat a lapse in my eczema and because oats are calming to sensitive skin, it did do  what I was looking for it to. I would probably repurchase this again exclusively for if I had another dermatitis issue on my face. I wouldn't use it for regular usage as a treatment. I do have oily skin and I know this is target toward dryer skin types. I would have assumed though this would have at least left my skin feeling softer, which it didn't do. Just left it a lot more moisturized. Which in this given situation is exactly what I wanted. So if I felt like I got some sort of benefit from this product beyond just helping calming my skin I would have easily given it an A, because as I have yet to mention oh my word it smells AMAZING. It's hard to not want to lick your face with this banana oat yummness smeard all over your face.