I was lucky enough to attend an exclusive LUSH press day this week, regarding their upcoming make-up launch on the 21st of July. You may be thinking, HOLD ON. Lush. Make Up? But, yes you did hear me correctly as Lush have recently announced that their innovative new colourful make-up line will be able to be purchased from Lush stores worldwide from July 21st.
I have been to quite a few press days since starting my blog, but was blown away by Lush’s. I was treated to a one on one meeting with the lovely Lush ladies, who talked me through the new make-up line and spectacularly (yes, really!) showed off how the new range works.
In a nutshell, the new make-up line by Lush is called Emotional Brilliance. It consists of lip colours, eyeliners and eye shadows, but unlike other make-up brands which tend to cater for certain trends (or rather, someone else’s vision of what’s on trend) this line is about wearing make-up which says something about YOU. It’s about expressing yourself using colour and wearing a product that matches how you are feeling. Now, you may be thinking – hold on, how to I know what colours to wear with regards to how I’m feeling. Well, Lush has come up with the perfect solution. In all Lush stores, there will be an Emotional Brilliance colour wheel, which has all thirty products featured on it in the form of their colour. To discover your mood, you simply close your eyes for ten seconds to clear your mind, whilst spinning the wheel. Once you re-open your eyes, you should pick three colours that you are immediately drawn to. These three colours translate on how you are feeling at that precise moment and also match up to a corresponding word.
On the Lush press day, the colours I was immediately drawn to were a mixture of pinks and reds. Although initially it might appear that I had simply picked my favourite colours (well, yes pink is my favourite colour) surprisingly when the corresponding words were matched up to the colours, they were extremely relevant to my mood at the time. My words (or colours) were ‘Ambition’, ‘Believe’ and ‘Strong’, which although could translate quite openly – they definitely were words I could relate to (especially at the moment). As I have just finished my exams, I am believing in my ambition a lot more and thinking lots about the future. I am taking a gap year from September, so I’m having to think more about what my ambition means to me and how I have faith in myself that I can go about achieving it. Similarly, ‘strong’ enhances how my belief in my ambition has never faded despite jumping over several hurdles. So, the colours I picked out on the emotional brilliance wheel were definitely colours I could relate to and feel something for.
The range therefore, allows you to ‘wear what you are feeling’ in the form of colour and personally, I love this idea! Whilst I am a sheep usually when it comes to trends, I often find that the colours magazines suggests I should wear just look awful on me and I struggle to find colours that I really want to wear. The colour wheel allows you to experiment with colour and try new shades that you’ve never really come across before!
The idea behind the new range came from Strategic Behavioural Therapist Lady Kennedy, who has worked alongside Lush for a number of years. She specialises in changing people’s behaviour and attitude using words and she takes you from one place in your mind, to another using the power of words alone. Words are often underestimated in the way they can make someone feel, however Lush has picked up upon the power of single words alone and translated them into wearable products through combining them with colour.
I was lucky enough to be given the three products I’d chosen from the colour wheel to take home and try out, which was lovely – as I really felt drawn to the colours and although the pink-ier one was something I probably wouldn’t try in a lip colour, I was quite excited to give it a go. In fact, when I did try it out – it was probably my favourite, so I’m glad the wheel inspired me to try something new! Each of the lipsticks (and eyeliners and eye shadows) which feature in the colour wheel are £14.50 which I feel is really affordable considering the amount of product you actually receive in the pot. The liquid lipsticks can be used as a lipstick (obviously) or as a cheek tint, as they are incredibly soft and very pigmented, so a little dot will go a long way. What I love about the lipstick being in its liquid form is that it is so much more hydrating for the lips and unlike your average lipstick, the colour doesn’t collect at the lip line after an hour’s wear.
Although my waffling might take a while to get your head around, I really feel the new range is going to take the make-up world by storm as it is such a unique concept that can be worn by anyone. The products in the range are all vegan and can be mixed and matched to create a look that expresses what you are feeling.
As well as the vibrant colour products, the range also has a number of supplementary products to complete the ‘make-up’ side of the range. These products consist of mascara, translucent face powder and two skin tints, which are each priced at £12. The mascara is probably my favourite product, as it caters for even the most sensitive of eyes and with only one preservative ingredient (most mascaras contain about six!), it won’t irritate eyes or make them water. The wheatgrass ingredient conditions the lashes whilst you are wearing the mascara, so it actually works as a make-up product and a conditioning treatment (which normally, you’d have to buy two products for). By conditioning your lashes and keeping them healthy, this in turn stimulates growth – so if you don’t want to invest in a chemical ridden, irritating eye lash treatment to make your lashes longer, this is the ideal solution for you!
The translucent face powder is also a fantastic product, as it suits all skin colours and helps to matte your skin to prevent shine and set the make-up in place, ready to start the day. I suffer a lot from shine, but tend to steer clear of powders as they can quite often clog up your pores and create spots. This powder is so light, you don’t even know it’s there and rather than providing colour (which many powder products do) and looking rather orange, this simply smoothes and softens skin and leaves you with a shine-free finish!
The two final products in the supplementary range are the Feeling Younger and Charisma skin tints, which I was equally excited to try out. The Feeling Younger skin tint is the lighter, brighter tint of the two and works as a reflector on the skin, making you look bright and youthful. You can use it as a highlighter on your cheekbones, on the brow bone to give you a more polished finish or under the eyes to minimise the appearance of unflattering dark circles. It really is a versatile product that applies onto the skin beautifully and doesn’t create an unnatural finish, but more so compliments your natural beauty and defines your favourite features. The Charisma skin tint is a more warm, golden tint that can be used as a bronzer on pale or tanned skin!
Overall, I’m very excited about the new range. I think it is innovative, creative and fun – whilst also bringing a brand new viewpoint upon the make-up world. Whilst many ranges are all about following trends, very rarely are they about expressing yourself through colour and catering for the individual’s mood and needs. Thank you ever so much to Sarahjane and Stephanie, the lovely lush ladies who invited me to the exclusive launch and looked after me whilst I was there. I had a fabulous time viewing the new products and I can’t wait for July 21st when the rest of the world will be able to try them out too!