I had big hopes that perhaps some type of foundation would be offered by Lush after Be Never closed. This would mean that once my Body Shop make up finally gets used up I can turn to one where the profits go to an ethical company.
Enter Lush’s latest offering: Colour Supplements: a vegan multi-purpose base colour.
The timing couldn’t be better as the release coincided with my pampering party at Lush- where six of my friends and I got the chance to have facials and a Lush make up expert do our faces using the colour supplements. It was wonderful having someone find the perfect colour for us. So not only did I see first hand how good the different colours looked on six of my friends; I also got to see how to achieve the best results.
The Supplement
Lush Colour Supplements are the first make up item that Lush have released, and it is encouraging after Be Never closing to see that not only is there an opportunity for products to migrate but also for new ones to be created under the Lush umbrella.
The supplements come in four shades which can be mixed together to create the right tone for your skin. All the shades contain the same base of soya and rice brain oils to care for all skin types.
Lush Colour Supplements come in a glass jar (great to store tiny things like beads once empty) and can be blended with moisturiser for a natural tint or used on its own as foundation. Cynics will argue that this can be done with other foundations too. It comes in four different shades:
- Light Pink
- Dark Pink
- Light Yellow
- Dark Yellow
The palest of the four supplements is the Light Pink which is ideal for those with pink based pale skin tones. The Dark Pink supplement made my slightly darker Indian friends look naturally glowing and gave coverage when needed. The Light Yellow supplement looks suitable for ivory skin tones, and the Dark Yellow is perfect for darker olive skin tones.
How to Use
The best way to get the correct skin colour is to go to your nearest Lush shop and ask a sales assistant to help you find a good match. I was lucky to have someone trained in makeup to do this for me. I was even luckier that Dark Yellow was a perfect match so I only needed to buy one supplement.
The creative Jules at Leicester’s Lush showed me that less than half a pea sized of moisturiser with around the same amount of supplement was more than enough for my face. She used a wooden drink stirrer (like the Starbucks ones) to mix them together on the back of her hand before applying to my face. Once mixed the make up should be applied evenly with fingers on the face, and the supplement can be used directly from the pot for areas that need more coverage such as under the eyes. I could detect no scent when I wear this product despite the fresh rose petal infusion being most foremost on the list of ingredients.
The Results
The supplements are so light and natural that it is easy to forget that you’re wearing make up. Close inspection of the skin shows more even looking skin without it looking like makeup. It’s not something that will cover bad scars or marks as I could make out my chicken pox scars but that’s not what this product is about.
Every time someone appeared after the makeover their skin looked better than before. Almost all of my friends purchased the supplements after seeing how it looks – even the not so lucky ones who required a mixture of two shades.
It was pouring with rain after the party and despite having an umbrella I did get a little wet. I noticed a bit of a smear around the corners of my eye which wasn’t too attractive. However this is just due to the oils in the supplement which stops it from easily washing off. As someone who has always used an oil-free foundation I found this surprising.
Value
A 20g jar of Colour Supplements costs £7.50. This seems reasonable but the shelf life is yet to be discovered with it being a new product. If it lasts until the 12th April 2011 as the label states (which I sincerely hope it does) then that is a pretty good value especially if you plan to use it mixed with a moisturiser rather than on its own. From my experience of the product so far I would most definitely recommend it.
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