Lush Sea Vegetable and Ice Blue soaps
Left to right: Lush Sea Vegetable and Ice Blue soaps
Each Lush soap is cut into blocks and wrapped in plastic and paper; it’s pretty low-maintenance packaging that still lets you smell the fragrance. Both soaps are 3.5 oz., which is a cube about two-thirds the size of your palm. The soaps vary in color: the Sea Vegetable soap is green, teal, and black, with a smattering of coarse sea salt on top, whereas Ice Blue soap is a practically neon blue, like the color of anti-freeze, with bubbles throughout and sea salt on top. Aesthetically, I love these! The colors are so saturated and bright, and I just think they are so pretty.
Sea Vegetable soap is made with seaweed, lime, and sea salt, and is supposed to “give your body a good scrub down.” It is supposed to cleanse; the seaweed and salt are supposed to soften and hydrate; and citrus and lavender are supposed to soothe. Ice Blue soap is defined by Lush as “intense and extra stimulating” because of its intense levels of peppermint, and is also supposedly packed with “refreshing citrus oils.” In contrast to Sea Vegetable, which Lush claims can soften and hydrate, Ice Blue is described only as cleansing, not moisturizing.
Well, the reality is that neither of these soaps hydrates or moisturizes very well, actually. In my use, they both lather up and clean very well, rinsing without residue, but my skin feels somewhat squeaky afterward. It doesn’t feel stripped, necessarily, but neither of the soaps is particularly creamy to begin with, and I didn’t feel any extra creaminess on my skin, either. In fact, the dry patches I am beginning to develop as the weather gets colder—on my elbows, knees, and calves—remained pretty dry. No extra help from Lush there.
I do think each product is appealing in its own way, though. I really like the layer of seaweed and salt on the top of Sea Vegetable, and I like that the soap can exfoliate because of that. It would be nice if the cube were cut in such a way, though, so that the exfoliating ingredients ran along an entire side length-wise. Once I get past that top layer of seaweed and salt, the exfoliating qualities of the soap will be gone, which is unfortunate; also a downside is that the seaweed flecks off while you shower, so if you find that disintegration of product off-putting, this won’t be for you.
You won’t experience that flaking with Ice Blue because it’s a solid soap, but I think it may be even more aggressively fragranced than Sea Vegetable. It is incredibly, overwhelmingly fragrant, and if you’re only ho-hum on peppermint, you will not be into this. Even though neither of the soaps’ fragrances stick around for long after you shower, it envelops you as you’re bathing, so it can be too much. But oh man, is it invigorating! I really like the mint and citrus together, and the soap has a nice glide to it. Much like Sea Vegetable, though, once the salt is gone, the exfoliating is gone, too.
Ultimately, both of these soaps feel kind of hit-or-miss. Both fragrances are good, the soaps cleanse well, and the exfoliating properties of each are nice. But neither product is moisturizing, the exfoliating salt will disappear quickly, and that nice fragrance doesn’t last very long. The upside, I think, is that these soaps are on the lower end of Lush’s price range, so you won’t be wasting too much money by trying either one. There is certainly room for improvement, though.
VERDICT: B for both Sea Vegetable and Ice Blue soaps.
AVAILABILITY: Both are available on LushUSA.com: $7.95 for 3.5 oz. of Sea Vegetable soap; $6.40 for 3.5 oz. of Ice Blue soap.
EDITORIAL NOTE: The products featured in this post were provided to Chesapeake Family’s About Face blog by the manufacturer or their public relations company for review. Chesapeake Family’s About Face blog posts are inspired by personal experience and opinion, and are not paid for or influenced by the manufacturer, PR company, or any other organization unless mentioned.
Photos by Roxana Hadadi.
In middle school, Roxana Hadadi was a cosmetics-scorning tomboy; in high school, a glitter eye shadow- and black nail polish-loving trend kid; in college, obsessively committed to dying her hair unruly colors that upset her mom. Now a bit older and a bit more mature, she’s trying to figure out what hair, body and cosmetics products will work for her, you and your family in About Face, Chesapeake Family’s new beauty blog — and she’ll leave the sparkle makeup and neon highlights in the past. Roxana also writes movie reviews for Chesapeake Family’s Popcorn Parents blog.
