Review: LUSH The Great Barrier

Hello Princesses!

Today I'm going to be talking about LUSH's The Great Barrier! I saw that this product was being released for the summer in New Zealand and was immediately so intrigued by it since it's an in shower sunscreen! Whaaat? Read on to find out how it works!

"The forecast says sunny, so there's no time to waste! Dash to the shower and glide this nourishing solid blend of organic sesame oil and cocoa butter over the skin. Each third of the block offers enough sun protection to cover the whole body, so you can quickly and easily protect skin on the go. Keep it close at hand to share the lingering floral scents of rose absolute, chamomile blue and eucalyptus blue oils whenever you reapply.

Melt warning: this product is made with ingredients that allow it to soften around body temperature. During hot spells, it may melt.

Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Calamine Powder (Calamine Powder), Octocrylene (Octocrylene), Octomethoxycinnamate, Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane (Butyl Methoxydibenzoylmethane), Organic Sesame Oil, Magnesium Carbonate (Magnesium Carbonate), Chamomile Blue Oil (Matricaria chamomilla), Rose Absolute (Rosa damascena), Perfume (Perfume)"(1)

This solid block is super soft in the summer heat, but hardens overnight or when stored in a dark area. I left mine on my desk in indirect sunlight during day and this is what happened to it! Surprisingly, it doesn't melt while in the shower if it's stored in something like an airtight container.

Let's talk quickly about the sun protection offered by this product! I am no skin scientist, but I do have a basic knowledge of sunscreens. This product has an SPF rating of 15 which means it will take your skin 15 times longer to burn in the sun, making this around 5 hours worth of sun protection. However, most sunscreens need to be reapplied every 2 hours to be effective, so if you are choosing this as your primary source of sun protection, this would be incredibly expensive since one third of the bar offers 2 hours sun protection. This sunscreen contains Octocrylene which is the active ingredient in a chemical sunscreen. This means that this sunscreen absorbs the suns rays rather than reflecting them like a physical sunscreen, and you won't have a white cast left on the skin while using this as a sunscreen.

This solid hydrating wash(?) is super easy to apply in the shower, though you do want to avoid running the shower water directly over the bar since this will melt it very quickly. It's easy to glide across the skin, much like LUSH's King of Skin and made my skin feel super soft and slightly waxy. The water beads up on my skin after application due to the cocoa butter and I need to pat my skin dry very carefully after I get out of the shower so I don't rub off the actual sunscreen. I think this is one of the biggest flaws, since I can't say for sure that I'm rubbing the sunscreen off while towel drying myself, but I can't say for sure that I'm not either!

A big negative for me is that I am a night time showerer and this is an in shower product. There is no point applying it at night, and it's a little wasteful for me to shower twice a day (in my option). It's also very moisturising for my skin which actually isn't the nicest for summer because it does make my legs feel like they're sticking together which is kind of gross. This moisture level would be great in the winter for me, but I don't usually need as much sun protection for my limbs in the winter because I'm usually fully covered since it's cold. I also don't use this on my face because the finish is so greasy until it absorbs in, I wouldn't be able to do my skincare routine for about 30min to and hour after using it which would also be pointless since I would probably rub it off with my toner.

This being said, I do love using this in shower sunscreen specifically for my arms. Why my arms? My hands and arms are probably exposed to the most sun (aside from my face that already has it's own hoard of expensive sunscreens) and I generally tend to forget about protecting my arms from the sun until I'm in the car and can feel them burning which sucks.

What I Love

- Inexpensive at $19.90
- Super easy to apply
- Very moisturising
- Great for sun protection on my arms

What I Don't Love

- Only 3-10 applications ($2-3 per application)
- Makes skin a little too moisturised for summer
- Not as useful for me since I'm a night showerer

Final Thoughts

This could be an amazing purchase for someone who is quite lazy with thier suncare and showers in the morning, but for someone like me who is very vigilant with facial suncare and showers in the evening, it's honestly not that useful. I think it's a really intriguing product, it's certainly the first time I've ever even seen an in shower sunscreen, but at the same time I'm no skin scientist, so I'm not sure if I'm actually towel drying OFF the sunscreen or rinsing it too much so I'm a little confused by life. I haven't burnt my skin while using this sunscreen, but I also haven't exposed myself to copious amounts of sun either because that's just not my lifestyle.

I would recommend this sunscreen to any Princesses that shower in the morning and want a quick, convenient way to apply their body sunscreen for about 2 hours of sun protection!