Lush Elbow Grease Moisturising Bar Review 💦 Before/Afters

So it's now September. Can you believe it?! What the ACTUAL HELL. Yesterday it was June and I was camping in Scotland, right?

Despite nights drawing in, the damage from summer sun is long lasting- well into the cold winter nights I've been longing for. Our sun is renowned for blessing us with that glowing, healthy looking tan (or in my case, the only way I'll tan is if all of my freckles join together), but damages your skin in the process.

Sorry all sunbed-aholics, poolside loungers and easy burners but it's true and you know it! Yes, even if it's cloudy, your skin can be damaged by the sun. You'd think we'd have evolved a little better, but nahhhh.

Having tattoos is also difficult in summer as they fade if you don't cover them up or slather them in sun cream. This is just due to the ingredients that make up the pigment in tattoo inks. Over time they can fade naturally, like anything drawn or painted, UV Rays being one big ass culprit of wear.

This is where Lush's Elbow Grease Bar comes in. My tattoo artist recommended this to me while I was last being tattooed, but don't worry if you're not inked as this works perfectly for bare skin too! As I mentioned in my Janjira post, it's cleared up the eczema on my eyes- I even tried hydrocortisone cream, prescribed for the condition but that didn't work!

Elbow Grease is a perfect, creamy stick of cupuacu and murumuru butters for instant and long lasting moisturised skin, neroli, ylang ylang and orange blossom oils for an extra mood boost. Think of it as a ray of sunshine for your skin.

The lovely girl at the counter of Lush Preston warned me that in heat, this little moisturising bar can cause a hell of a melty mess (which while taking these pictures in direct sunlight, nearly happened to me) so I like to keep mine in the fridge even though it's self-preserving.

You only need a little bit applied directly from the bar to be silky soft. Texture-wise, it's like soft soap to the touch. The Red Hot Chili Peppers tattoo is my boyfriend's and for the purpose of a before/after if only smudged the stick on half of the symbol. You can really tell which side of the tattoo has been moisturised!

See my top arm tattoo compared to the bottom one. Guess which one has Elbow Grease on it?

I'm also loving Lush's stance on packaging, explained in this freebie booklet (which I'll be writing about soon!), their naked range and the way they talk about reducing waste through using less packaging in the booklet is inspiring. It also gives me an excuse to drink everything out of a mason jar! Have I gone full hippie yet?

Overall the formula for this moisturising bar is a little greasy but there's no nasty chemicals at all in it and once on your skin it absorbs quickly. This little bar has worked miracles for my tattoo brightness and it's unbelievable that this combined with Janjira got rid of my eczema. Super happy that I finally managed to get my now ylang ylang smelling paws on it.

As always, this Lush product is cruelty free. We LOVE you Lush.