Lush Lust: Dark Angels

I’m not the biggest fan of the Lush cleansing rolls in general, but I’m completely obsessed with Dark Angels.

Dark Angels is made with oily-skinned girls like me in mind. It’s charcoal based to absorb oil and draw impurities out of the skin (it does!), but has avocado oil to moisturize.

It’s fairly straightforward to use, I think. For all Lush cleansing rolls, you just take a little pinch of the product, and put it into the palm of your hand (which you should make a little “cup” out of), then put in a few drops of water using your other hand (like the tiniest bit - don’t over do it with the water), and rub it in to make a paste. Then smear all over your face and get to work.

There are some pros and cons with this product as there are with every product. But firstly, I must warn you: this is only for those who like it rough. The charcoal is very abrasive, and it has black sugar grains in it as well for extra exfoliation. This isn’t your daily gentle scrub, but a once or twice a week exfoliating treatment. I really don’t think Lush should market it as a cleanser, but as a scrub. That said, it leaves your skin SO soft. The softest. Just don’t overdo it. If you would like your face to be touched with an angel’s wing, remember this is a DARK angel and is not for you.

The above didn’t really sound like a pro... haha but it was. Here’s another one: this product has the most amazing way of getting blackheads to surface on your skin. What I mean by that, is that it gets those deep blackheads, even those pesky ones that never seem to budge from your nose, to come up so you can yank them out with pore strips. What I do is use this in the shower to give myself a good scrub, with all the steam opening my pores and such, leave it sitting on my face for the rest of my shower, use my Clarisonic and my beloved CVS feminine wash to cleanse my skin at the end, hop out of the shower, slap on a Bioré pore strip while my pores are nice and open, and rip out all my blackheads fifteen minutes later. I never get as many blackheads out as when I use Dark Angels. It’s fantastic.

Another pro for me is the smell. It’s gorgeous and licorice-y. ‘Nuff said. It also lasts ages. A little goes a nice and long way.

Now for the cons (which I think the pros outweigh by far).

Like I said earlier, it is rough. I had to kind of get used to it as first, and I learned to use a very light scrubbing hand. 

As with all the Lush roll cleansers it is very messy. But since it’s black, it’s even more visible on a white porcelain sink (which could make the cleanup process easier because you can see where you’re cleaning... hmm). The way I combat this is that I use it in the shower. It then washes down the drain nice and neatly. I find it’s more effective there anyway.

Another con is that it leaves a residue on your face if you only use it and no other cleanser to wash it off. I tried to use it just as a cleanser, and it took me three cotton pads soaked with toner to get the excess charcoal and oil residue off. This is why I only use this as a scrub and then wash my face later with my Clarisonic and cleanser. Cleanser gets all the residue off. So this is a combatible con.

As with all Lush products, another con is the price. This is $11.95 for 3.5 ounces, whereas most scrubs (St. Ives for example) run about $3-7 for 4.5 ounces or more. However, as I said earlier, a little goes a very long way, and since it’s such a powerful exfoliant, you don’t use it as often as you would with a scrub like St. Ives Green Tea Scrub. I had a little Lush sample jar full of Dark Angels, and it lasted me FOREVER. I would get a sample before buying this, not only to see if you like it, but because it’ll last you a long time before you have to suck it up and buy it for real :P. Since you pay by weight at the Lush store anyway, you can get a smaller amount for a cheaper price for you, and it’ll still last a long time. Plus, you don’t want to get a ton anyway and have it expire and have to toss it and waste it.

Last thing I really like about this cleanser compared to other Lush ones, is that it’s the only one I can justify spending money on. I’ve tried almost all of the Lush cleansers, and I’ve found they’ve all left such a bad residue behind that I’ve needed to wash my face with something else, which defeats the purpose, doesn’t it? Since this one is a good exfoliant (the others really aren’t aside from Ocean Salt), I can use it in place of my scrub and not have a horrible cleanser that makes my face more dirty than when I started.

Overall, great cleanser for acne-prone skin. Highly recommend. Get a sample!

Have you tried this? Thoughts?