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We reviewed the new Lush make-up range, and it’s completely naked

It looks like nothing we’ve seen before

Lauren Cunningham
Thursday 25 August 2022 08:29 BST
We gave the plastic-free beauty buys a try
We gave the plastic-free beauty buys a try (iStock/The Independent)

Many of us already know Lush – its stores have graced our high streets for years, filling them with the scent of bath bombs and soaps, meaning you often smell one of the brand’s stores before you see it.

Handmade face masks, soap bars and bath bombs pile high on the shelves, turning a regular-looking store into an Aladdin’s cave of brightly coloured spheres. But, no matter if you haven’t ventured inside for a good number of years, or are quite the regular, this make-up collection may surprise you.

A huge number of us are looking to make more sustainable choices in our everyday lives, whether using re-fillable bottles rather than single-use plastic ones, shopping from B Corp brands or making small swaps in our beauty routines – and Lush is certainly helping with the latter.

But, it’s not quite a straightforward swap when it comes to most products, as instead of beautiful bottles and pumps, the collection looks more like a kid’s crayon set at first glance, ditching the plastic packaging in favour of solid bars, wax seals and cardboard boxes.

Does it work? Absolutely – but it takes a bit of getting used to, as our tester discovered.

How we tested

Swapping out our usual foundation, concealer, mascara, blush and lipstick in favour of the Lush set, our tester made the full switch, trying everything at once for a full face of make-up (as pictured).

Ease of applying, formula and final look and feel were all on the checklist to review, and while most products say they can be applied with your hands, we opted for a brush, for ease. After using this routine for a couple of days, we are ready to share our findings.

Orca naked mascara

Lush orca naked mascara
  • Number of shades: 4
  • Vegan: Yes
  • Plastic-free: No

This was the product that perplexed us the most, as it looks almost nothing like a regular mascara. Coming in a solid cylinder with a clever hole in the middle, it takes a little while to get used to but, once you crack it, it’s quite impressive. With ingredients such as candelilla wax, cocoa butter, castor oil and acacia gum working to nourish lashes and help retain moisture, it also does some good from the inside too.

Three wands are included with the bar – depending on how full you want your lashes to look – made from non-toxic polypropylene stems and non-plastic, bio-based eco-flex heads, there’s a lot of science behind the making of this product. Not entirely plastic-free, they do need to be recycled, which can be done at home or you can take them to your local Lush store.

It is fairly straightforward to use – simply wet the brush, pop it into the hole in the centre of the bar to load it up with product, and sweep it over lashes, as you would any regular mascara. The key is it has to be wet, or you’ll just be tugging dry flakes through your lashes.

The result was darker, longer and more fanned-out lashes, but in quite a subtle way – nothing like the false-lash effect of the Too Faced better than sex mascara (£25, Cultbeauty.com), for example. And the cardboard box turns into a handy display tool too, with holes to hold one wand and the bar, which also aids application.

  1.  £10 from Lush.com
Prices may vary
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Slapstick foundation

lush slapstick foundation
  • Number of shades: 40
  • Vegan: Yes
  • Plastic-free: Yes

Looking like an egg, this foundation is another product that left us scratching our heads as to just how exactly it would work, but it’s actually incredibly simple (and comes in an impressive 40 shades). With coconut oil, candelilla wax, sunflower oil and a whole host of other skin-nourishing ingredients, it melts on contact, leaving a sheer layer of coverage ready to be buffed in.

Using a brush, we found it easily covered the face, but in an incredibly sheer formula that won’t quite cover dark spots, blemishes or under-eye bags, so you may want to opt for the concealer to tackle these. A clever wax seal at the bottom works as a holder, so you don’t get your fingers messy when holding it.

Once on, it was immediately hydrating, with a slight sheen that left us with a healthy glow. But, being so soft, if you do drop it or leave it out in the heat, you’ll certainly know about it, as ours already has a good dent in the side as pictured from a collision with the couch. We’ll be storing it in its cardboard box, to avoid it messing up our bathroom cabinets and make-up bags too.

  1.  £17 from Lush.com
Prices may vary
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Trix stick concealer

Lush trix stick concealer
  • Number of shades: 40
  • Vegan: Yes
  • Plastic-free: Yes

Similar to the foundation but in a smaller, somewhat easier-to-handle size, this concealer lightens, brightens and slightly masks dark patches and blemishes. Again, not the most full coverage, it leaves a light and natural finish that can be built upon to get the level you’re after.

In a wax-based formula, it effortlessly glides onto the skin, although we would advise setting it with powder to reduce it settling in wrinkles and fine lines. Jojoba oil, shea butter and orange-peel wax are just a small handful of ingredients that work to nourish the skin, and the wax seal at the bottom made it incredibly easy to use.

The only real issue comes with storing it – if you’re happy to keep it in the cardboard box, that’s fine, but this can get a bit bulky when adding multiple boxes to your make-up bag.

  1.  £12 from Lush.com
Prices may vary
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Pipit glow stick

Lush Pipit glow stick
  • Number of shades: 5
  • Vegan: Yes
  • Plastic-free: Yes

Much more shimmery than it appears in this picture, the pipit glow stick is a great alternative to a regular highlighter. A little goes a long way, instantly adding a glow to any area it is swiped over.

In a chunky crayon design, this was one of the easiest products to use, purely because it only needs to be added to small areas of the face, rather than completely covering the whole face. It seemed to be a bit firmer too, meaning less transfer with any other objects it came into contact with.

Coconut oil and argan oil work as the key ingredients helping to nourish the skin, and 10 per cent of the coconut oil supplier’s profits go towards funding amenities on the island of Nias in Indonesia, where the supplier is based.

  1.  £12 from Lush.com
Prices may vary
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Robin glow stick

Lush Robin glow stick
  • Number of shades: 5
  • Vegan: Yes
  • Plastic-free: Yes

Technically another glow stick but in a much pinkier hue, we used this product as we would a blush, giving our cheeks a rosy hue that looked lightly flushed. While blush sticks are nothing new, this one followed a similar format to the other products in the range – it’s in a bar-like crayon design with the wax seal at the base.

With the same ingredients as the pipit glow stick, it boasts the same skin-healing ingredients as the rest of the range too.

  1.  £12 from Lush.com
Prices may vary
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Liverpool lipstick refill

Lush Liverpool lipstick refill
  • Number of shades: 21
  • Vegan: Yes
  • Plastic-free: Yes

Now, this one had us feeling a little bit silly, because only after multiple uses of us wondering why the pigment was so weak did we realise the whole lipstick comes in a wax seal. But, in our defence, it is the same colour as the lipstick itself – so an easy mistake to make!

Once we peeled away the outer wax, we were left with a much smaller, much more pigmented stick that easily slotted into the refillable lipstick case (£8, Lush.com). But, although it’s built on a refillable concept, you probably wouldn’t want to be chopping and changing the lipstick shades in this one case too often, as it’s a little bit messy and not the easiest to take out whole. So keep to refilling it once your favourite is worn down.

Castor oil, jojoba oil and meadowfoam oil are core ingredients, intensely nourishing and hydrating the lips, giving the product more of a lip-balm feel. But, this does make it incredibly soft, so keep out of warm temperatures and don’t press too hard when applying it to your mouth, or you’ll risk squashing it.

  1.  £10 from Lush.com
Prices may vary
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The verdict: Lush make-up

Lush dubs this range “the future of beauty”, and we certainly agree. Although it is a big change from our beloved jars and pots, it definitely has made us think more about the waste our beauty products are creating when it comes to packaging. But we would say it takes some dedication to the eco-conscious living mindest to easily make the swap, and the products aren’t the easiest to store, unless you’re happy with collecting the cardboard boxes.

Comparing it to our regular products – which perhaps seems unfair – it doesn’t quite give the same result and, as much as we hate to admit it, we won’t be making the swap just yet. But, maybe that says more about us and our vanity than it does these products, as it would certainly be a step in the right direction from a sustainability standpoint.

The products we would take through into our regular routines are the mascara and glow sticks – perhaps the easiest to use and store. But, overall, it’s an amazing step for the beauty industry, and we hope to see many other brands following suit.

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