Review: Lush Ocean Salt

Not too long ago I asked on twitter for someone to recommend a new facial exfoliater for me to try. One of my long-standing blog readers, a wonderful girl named Gemma (link to her blog here), who I've met a couple of times before in London recommended Lush's Ocean Salt to me. We have a similar skin type and I trust her opinion so before long I popped out to Lush and picked up a pot to try out for myself.

First off, just in case you don't know I have combination skin (oily t-zone and dry cheeks) and my skin is sensitive and prone to redness - especially my cheeks. Lush's Ocean Salt is both suitable and unsuitable for my skin-type and I've been using it for about two months now and I've had mixed levels of success with it.

Ocean Salt is essentially a pot of sea salt with the added benefits of grapefruit (to brighten skin), lime extracted in vodka (to tighten skin and reduce the size of pores) and avocado butter, coconut oil, lime oil and seaweed absolute (to soften and nourish the skin). Compared to some of the other exfoliating products I've reviewed in the past this is quite a harsh product. The exfoliating particles are large and tough and if you have very sensitive skin I wouldn't recommend it. Even on my skin (which isn't super sensitive) I do think that this can be a bit harsh. However, if you use a very small amount at a time and you limit how often you use it (I use it once to twice a week) then I still feel able to use it on my t-zone, but don't like using this on my cheeks. They're very prone to redness from manual exfoliaters and this scrub is definitely too harsh for them. Whereas, on my t-zone, which is where my blackheads and congestion occurs, I've found this scrub to work fantastically. I really do think it is great at decongesting (my under the skin bumps have seriously reduced in size and number) and I also think that Ocean Salt works wonders at shrinking open pores and getting rid of blackheads.

 It isn't a 'miracle' product but I think it words very well and would be especially good for oily/combination skin that is a bit less sensitive than mine. I'd recommend it to people with those skin types especially if you also suffer from skin congestion or open pores. For £7.25 I do think it is worth a try, however, it isn't something I would necessarily repurchase straight away.

Other facial exfoliaters I've reviewed:

The Body Shop Aloe Gentle Exfoliater (link to review here)

Eve St. Agnes Refining Bamboo Exfoliating Polish* (link to review here)

The Body Shop Tea Tree Blackhead Exfoliating Wash (link to review here)

Collected post on 'higher end' exfoliating skincare products (link to review here)

Biotherm Skin Exfoliating Purifying Toner and Targeted Solution (link to review here)

Have you tried Ocean Salt? Do you have any skincare recommendations for me?