LUSH 5 Pot Program – Free Fresh Face Mask

~ stashy

The subtitle to this post is “What I thought on stuff I bought: LUSH edition”, since I’ll be showing you the empties that I’ll be bringing back to LUSH with quickie reviews on them. And then I need your help in choosing what mask to redeem for!

I actually have 6 empty pots and I’m not 100% sure if those clear pots qualify since on LUSH’s site it states: “Bring back 5 empty, clean black LUSH pots…” 😳

If you’re not aware, LUSH offers a trade-in program:

The black pots we use are made with 100% post-consumer recycled plastic.
Bring back 5 empty, clean black LUSH pots to your local shop for recycling and we’ll give you a Fresh Face Mask, FREE!


I’m taking a chance by bringing in those 2 clear pots but they do state on the lids to bring them in for the trade-in program:

In fact, now that I examine the lids more carefully, the only one that doesn’t state the free mask offer is the Dream Cream even though it’s the same packaging as the Turkish Delight Shower Smoothie. Hrm, this is all very confusing. I’ll let you know how I fare.

As you may recall, I was a bit of a LUSH newbie when I hauled all these items (haul post here). And now that I’ve tried a wider range of their products, I will say this: LUSH is very hit and miss for me. Here are quick notes and ratings about each item that I’m trading in (all photos taken before they were used up 😉 ):

Refresher Shower Jelly – loved this! A fun item that actually delivers on its function of cleaning and it also lathers up well. 9/10 [shown here]

Dream Cream – smelled nice but never fully dries down and left my skin sticky. 6/10 [shown here]

Turlish Delight Shower Smoothie – a huge letdown. Smells bad and a useless product. 2/10 [review here]

Bouncy Bunny Shower Jelly – limited edition from last Easter; I was bummed that they did not re-release it this year. Smelled like orange Creamsicle! 9/10 [shown here]

The Sacred Truth Fresh Face Mask – enjoyed this very much and am actually considering trading in these pots to get this mask again. 8/10 [review here]

Lemony Flutter – a good cuticle butter with a nice lemon scent but way too much product in this pot. I couldn’t possibly use up 45g of cuticle butter before it went bad. It’s also quite greasy and messy to use. 6/10

Based on these six items, the average score comes to 6.67 which isn’t stellar – that’s like a C+ grade at school. 🙄 Not shown here, and not included in the calculation is the LUSH Cream Eyeshadow in Sophisticated that had terrible staying power (reviewed here), which I would score only 3/10… have I somehow managed to buy mostly bad LUSH products, or what?


So, I’m going to trade these empties in and I’d like your input! If you’re familiar with LUSH Fresh Face Masks, what would be your recommendations? I am sensitive to mint oils and citrus ingredients (both of which LUSH seems to love including in their masks!) so I’d rather stay away from masks containing those. I’ve scanned through the ingredients on most of their masks and have narrowed down to theses as possibilities:

Catastrophe Cosmetic

As recommended by Danniijane of A Beautiful Thing blog! 😀

“Blueberry-packed balancer: Prevent disasters by taking regular care of your skin with our calming, nutrient-rich mask.”

BB Seaweed

“Soothing, smoothing seaweed mask: Created especially to care for sensitive skin, this gently scrubby mask is super calming.”

Cup O’ Coffee

“Wakes up tired complexions: If you’re a sucker for the strong, scrubby, stimulating type, this coffee-filled mask is just the thing to kick-start your day.”

Ooor, just get the The Sacred Truth again?

“Divine intervention for dry or mature skin: The truth is that fresh ingredients are best for making dry or dull skin look bright and vibrant, so this mask is full of enzymatic papaya to eliminate dryness and antioxidant-rich wheatgrass to give skin a nutritious boost.”

Let me know what your LUSH Fresh Face Mask recommendations are (even if not listed above). Also, what LUSH products should I try next that would knock my socks off? (Sorry, I don’t take baths so no bath bombs for me) What’s your favourite LUSH product?

86 thoughts on “LUSH 5 Pot Program – Free Fresh Face Mask”

  1. Maybe it’s just me, but I despise the smell of most of their fresh face masks! The only one I vaguely like is the Rosy Cheeks one? I’m not a big lush fan but i’m going to my first blogger event by them next month so i’m wondering if I can actually find something I like! xxx

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    2. I can understand why you don’t like the smell – they’re all quite STRONG. I’ll have to check out the Rosy Cheeks one. I did see it on their site and saw that it’s supposed to calm red skin – might be worth a look!
      Oooh maybe the LUSH event will make you a convert? I did receive a couple bars of LUSH soaps at Christmas which smelled lovely – maybe that’s something you can look into.

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  3. I love your Lish collection!! My dream is to have a sunken tub so I can live in a Lush Bath Bomb. Lol
    Cosmetic Wareior is by far my favorite Lush face mask. I wrote a review on it. The downside is they won’t deliver because it stays refrigerated. This is the only mask that visibly calms my irritated skin and spit treats blemishes like no other.

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    1. I wish I had a massive bathroom / tub…. ours is your standard shower / tub – nothing zen / spa-like about it. 😛
      Yes, I noticed that all of those Fresh Face Masks are only available in store because they have to be refrigerated – lucky for me, there’s a LUSH store not far from me. ok, I’ll check out Cosmetic Warrior… I read the reviews and people were complaining about the garlic smell? 😮

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      1. You are lucky!
        Honestly the garlic wasn’t overpowering for me, it’s the tea tree oil that gets me. It’s not a pleasant smelling mask in general but it does work.
        Unless you really hate garlic or have an aversion to it, I would avoid it.
        Have a great day!!

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        1. No, I don’t have an aversion to garlic. I’m not a fan of tea tree either but I’m using a shampoo with tea tree and it does really work… I guess it’s like medicine… 🙄
          Have a great day too!

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  4. I love LUSH!! But I’m definitely more of a fan of their bath products rather than the face masks/shower jellies. If I’m honest I’m not keen on the shower jellies at all I find them so hard to use lol. It’s such a shame you were disappointed with so many of the products you tried… but hey at least you liked some of them. I like the sound of the Catastrophic Cosmetic face mask, it sounds like it would smell delicious and be really good for the skin. Or like you said, get the Sacred Truth again, that sounds good and one I might have to try since you gave it such a high rating! xx

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    1. The shower jellies are a challenge to use. What I do is break apart little bits (about the size of a grape) and use a foaming net like this one from MUJI which contains the jelly from falling down, and it helps to lather it up! 😛
      Thanks for your recommendations – it’s a toss up between Catastrophic Cosmetic and Sacred Truth right now! 😀

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  5. Looking forward to seeing what you choose! Of all the ones above I think I’ve tried the BB Seaweed which I thought was meh, I think I had to keep it in my fridge which made it really cold each time I used it and I don’t remember being wowed by the product and I hating cleaning after all the seaweed bits…so I’d probably never get it again.

    I usually just get bath bombs at Lush – but I really want to try the shower jelly.

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    1. Yes, all of the Fresh Face Masks have to be refrigerated – I don’t mind the cooling sensation. It’s probably nicer in the warmer months than in winter! 😉
      The shower jelly is fun! One thing I’d recommend is to break off bits and use a foaming net with it so it doesn’t fall down in the shower. 🙂

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  6. I think I’m a bit like you, anything I have tried from Lush has been very hit or miss for me. I don’t find them that cheap, and I generally dislike the packaging which puts me off the gamble of trying things. I find most things about Lush a bit overwhelming – the scent when you walk in the store is like a smack in the face and I don’t like it, when Molly and I were shopping we had to wait by the door for everyone else we felt like we were passing out from the fumes.
    I had been tempted by the face masks but after playing with a few of them in store I wasn’t tempted by any of them! I think the Cosmetic Catastrophe sounds the most interesting out of the bunch to me!
    http://helplesswhilstdrying.com

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    1. No, I don’t find them cheap either. So I do expect exceptional results from them. A lot of their items are more geared toward gifting so I see their appeal.
      It’s true, the store smell is so overwhelming. I can only be in there for short amount of time. I’ve been known to go in, smell some stuff, walk out, shop elsewhere to take a break, and then return to smell more things. 😛
      I’m leaning toward Cosmetic Catastrophe too.

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  7. I have nothing to add in terms of suggestions since I haven’t been very interested in purchasing many Lush products so far, but I just wanted to say that I’m fascinated by the Bouncy Bunny shower jelly…it LOOKS like a Creamsicle! I want to eat it…so sad they didn’t re-release it this year!
    The Catastrophe Cosmetic and BB Seaweed masks sound pretty interesting!

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    1. I was sad I didn’t see the Bouncy Bunny shower jelly again this Easter. This year they released a bunny FACE jelly which is a face wash jelly. I was tempted but I wasn’t sure if my face would tolerate it:

      I think I’m leaning more toward Catastrophe Cosmetic – thanks for the vote!

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  8. I used to love lush but a lot of their products have gone downhill in quality and way uphill in price the past five years so I’ve not bought anywhere near what I used to from there, I hibn shower jellies are the only thing I can pretty much rely on having decent scent and it not fading at all. All clear and black pots should be fine for returning ☺. I’m not a huge fan of the self preserving dream cream either, the original is so much better for me. Apparently cup o’ coffee isn’t in the free face mask thing, at least that’s what we were told, and it is VERY scrubby, I haven’t dared risk it on my face after trying it on my arms but it is a nice body scrub. I think I’ve tried almost all the face masks, a lot depends on skin type, like the Rosy Cheeks makes my skin slightly greasy feeling and it’s normally dry/very dry. I just used a catastrophe cosmetic yesterday as my skin has been a bit red recently and it has helped a lot. BB Seaweed is just a nice calming one, though the scent is a bit hit and miss with all that seaweed in it! All my experience is with the UK ones though, I know in the past some things did vary a bit to the North American ones because of specific ingredients being local.

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    1. I didn’t know if there was a difference between the self-preserving version of the Dream Cream vs the regular. Good to know that there is. I remember so many people recommending the Dream Cream to me and I was a bit let down.
      Thank you so much for your input as I know you’ve used all of their masks! Catastrophe Cosmetic is probably my pick this time around.
      I hadn’t thought about the variance between ingredients depending on where we live – that’s a good point!

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      1. I’m not really sure how much difference there is between the normal and self preserving but I bought a pot of that last year to compare, I’m still giving it time to see if it actually does self preserve and last as long as Dream Creams normally do. I have to say I’m going back to the standard when the pot’s done though. I don’t know how much variation there is now but at times some products in Lush had different scents in NA to the UK which always seemed odd to me. Some products seem to vary a lot batch to batch even, but I think catastrophe cosmetic is pretty standard, though I did end up adding water to this one as it was so thick it went on too thick and didn’t dry. Hope you like it or whatever mask you try ☺

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    1. Ooh I didn’t see it listed when I looked on the Canadian LUSH site. Only that face jelly one.
      Good to know both black and clear ones are ok to trade in! I was worried / confused there…

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  11. I haven’t used any of their masks, so can’t recommend a mask. I have used and liked their “Let the good times roll” cleanser.
    Oh no I have received Lemon flutter as a gift, mine has prob gone off if not close to expiry 🙈🙈

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    1. I just looked up “Let the Good Times Roll” cleanser – what an interesting concept! I’ll have to smell it, at the very least.
      I think the Lemon Flutter had the longest shelf life of all of the LUSH products I’ve owned and the only reason why I finally tossed it was that it hardened in the pot. The smell hadn’t gone off though.

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    1. Looks like Catastrophe Cosmetic is winning out. I looked at the Cupcake mask (because hello, chocolate!) but it contains mint ingredients which irritates my face, unfortunately!

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  14. Catastrophe Cosmetic is a good one. I have tried Rosy Cheeks (but it wasn’t a favourite) and Love Lettuce – which I did really enjoy. I love Lush more for their bath bombs and skin care creams – but recently tried their No Drought Dry Shampoo and I would give it an A+ if anyone is looking for one! Happy Monday!

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    1. I’ve heard good things about the No Drought Dry Shampoo – I might try it just to see what all the hype is about! I did look at the Love Lettuce mask as an option but the inclusion of ground almond shells gave me pause – that seems too rough for the face.

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    1. I received a couple of LUSH soaps for Christmas but haven’t used them yet – for now they’re making my sock and underwear drawers smell REALLY nice! 🙂

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  16. Lush definitely is a hit or miss for me as well, especially when it comes to ordering stuff online! Nothing worse than ordering something only to hate the smell. I just finished the Cup O’Coffee face mask. It smelled good but it was really too messy; the coffee grounds got all over my washcloths, the sink, basically everywhere! I’d go with a different one…

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    1. Good to know about the Cup O’Coffee mask – I think anything containing coffee grounds is messy since the grounds don’t dissolve so they just get embedded everywhere! I know coffee scrubs were so popular last year but I just can’t imagine myself using them!

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  19. Ive been to Lush several times and never purchased anything except the Popcorn lip scrub.. They all looked tempting but sucks not all of them are great.

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  21. Good (?) to know I’m not the only one who finds Lush terrifically hit or miss. Actually, it’s mostly misses for me; I’ve just never particularly cared for their scents. I’d go for the blueberry mask (Catastrophe?) – good luck trading in your goodies.

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    1. Thanks! I am determined to find some gems there. I guess I’m missing a large chunk of their product line since I don’t do bath bombs… I guess those are their claim to fame.

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      1. Eh, I’ve yet to find anything I can’t live without, although I really like those multi-coloured Lush Pud bath bombs they release around the holidays. And that’s about it? Well, good luck with your search for the perfect Lush product!

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    1. Good to know you also feel the same! That’s why I like getting recommendations from fellow bloggers – it’s hard to navigate through the stores sometimes.

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  23. I’ve only tried the Sacred Truth mask but I really liked it. I loved the fresh masks that i picked up there. I bought too many and wound up not using them all so next time, I will just get one or two but there was a blueberry one… OMG… it was so soothing and nice!

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    1. The blueberry one is the one I’m planning to get – it sounds amazing! And yes, it’s so tempting to grab a bunch but they have such a short shelf life even with the refrigeration!

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      1. You will enjoy it! I found it to be very soothing to the skin! I learned the lesson the hard way that shelf life is brief. So, next time just one for me so I can enjoy the whole thing. Let me know when you try the blueberry. That one I really loved…

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  24. I think you should try one of the new face masks. That way if you’re not the biggest fan it hasn’t cost you anything! Save buying The Sacred Truth for a pot towards your next freebie 🙂

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  25. I’m yet to try any fresh face masks from Lush. What I have tried is the Angels on Bare Skin cleanser…except I liked it better as a mask. I just mixed it with a few drops of water and left it on for about 10mins. Really liked the fresh face feel. Have you tried it?
    Hope you have been well 🙂

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    1. I’ve not tried the Angels on Bare Skin cleanser! That sounds wonderful – I will have to check it out in store. Online it says it contains lavender, rose and chamomile – that combination sounds wonderful!
      I’ve been well – I hope you’re doing well too! How did your long weekend go? 🙂

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  27. I don’t know hey. I like preservatives and lush doesn’t provide much of that in their mask *LOL* So far, I only enjoyed their ultra blast tooth powder, parsley porridge soap and godiva shampoo bar. These are the only items that I’ve repurchased. All the others were novelty more than anything?

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    1. Yeah the masks aren’t even sold online because of the fresh ingredients and refrigeration requirement.
      TOOTH powder? Ew no. I have tried the Godiva shampoo bar as well and it was nice but a bit messy.
      I hear you – LUSH can be quite a novelty shop. More for gifts than anything else, really.

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  29. I miss using their fresh face masks. Why don’t I go re-purchase you say? Half the time, I don’t finish the product before the expiration date!

    They recently upgraded my local LUSH store, and moved from a humble, small unit to a much, much larger unit, including a spa! I still need to go visit.

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    1. Once I went to the store to buy a Fresh mask and they were all sold out! I didn’t think that could happen… but I guess the supply is limited since they’re made fresh!
      Wow, I had no idea LUSH offered spa services – interesting!

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  31. Pingback: Quickie LUSH Haul (& Mother’s Day Set) | stash matters
  32. Pingback: LUSH Catastrophe Cosmetic Fresh Face Mask | stash matters

  33. Hi! I have a question about exchanging the 5 pots for a fresh face mask; do they scan each pot or do they just take them empty and give you a face mask?

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    1. Hi Shirley! No, they don’t scan the pots – they just inspect them to make sure they’re LUSH products and that they qualify. I went up to one of the sales associates and told her I had the pots to exchange and she helped me with a face mask so I had it in my hands when I went to check out. 🙂

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    1. It is overwhelming in the LUSH stores. I try to plan out what I might be interested in buying beforehand so I visit their online store or read reviews. I’m going to try more masks from them!

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