A Lush fresh face mask. Something I had yet to try. When I found out that you could get one for free when you return empty Lush packaging times 5, I decided to do just that. My choice was easily made. Out of all that was on offer, Oatfix, immediately caught my eye. Said to be formulated for dry and sensitive skin, I thought this could give my skin that bit extra that it sometimes yearns for.

Lush Oatfix Face Mask

Lush face masks had been on my to try list for two reasons: one, they are fresh (duh) and two, I had heard many rave reviews about them. So I saved up my old packaging and got a €11.65 mask for free. Not a bad deal and a great way to try something new. I had never purchased a fresh mask before because you can only keep them for a limited period of time before they go bad. And I don’t use face masks that often and thus I couldn’t justify spending over 10 euros for a facemask that I knew I would only get to use once. But my curiousity was piqued and so I took home this yummy looking mask.

Here’s what Lush says about Oatfix:

This gentle, nourishing mask is made with fresh bananas and illipe butter to moisturise dry skin. Oatmeal, ground almonds and kaolin work together in a mildly exfoliating base to eradicate dead skin, leaving you soft, supple and moisturised. Smooth a generous layer of this mask onto your face and leave for 10 to 15 minutes and let the ingredients get to work before washing off gently with warm water.

Fresh bananas? Yum! Oatmeal? Yum! Almonds? Yum! This sounds like breakfast for your face. And it certainly looks like it as well. The ingredient list looks promising and it works pretty much like any other face mask: just whack it on, let it sit and rinse off.

The advice to keep this product in the fridge is a good one. Once you’ve had it in there for a little while, it cools and thus has an added chilling effect when you first apply it. Application is a bit tricky. The texture is chunky and rather thick. I had problems getting this to stick to my skin and more fell off than stayed on my skin. Needless to say, it was messy to work with and you needed a fair amount to create the thick layer advised on the packaging.

The fact that you keep this in the fridge is also a downside. Because I can’t keep it with my other beauty products it can lay easily forgotten and since you need to use it up quickly that is not a good idea. Perhaps this mask would be a great girls’ night item, but for just one person they amount is a bit much. Lastly there’s the smell. I read that this is supposed to smell heavenly. Indeed, much like morning porridge, at first that is. Alas, the vanilla is too overpowering and mine made me feel sick after a few minutes. And you’re supposed to leave this on for 10 – 15 minutes!

In other words, application and the feel and smell of the product weren’t a success. But did it work? Did it leave my skin feel soft, supple and moisturized? Again, also on this front this product greatly disappointed me. For a product formulated for sensitive skin, it still left my skin very red after I rinsed it off. And I didn’t notice much difference in a before and after using this product. There certainly wasn’t a difference visible to the naked eye, let alone a camera, and so there are no before and after pictures.

The conclusion: this mask did not work for me. If you’re less sensitive to smells and your skin is not as prone to redness then this may still work for you. I just know that this was a one time experience only. It’s too much of a hassle to work with and it doesn’t really do much for my skin at all.

Can you recommend me a different Lush face mask?