Sara Happ V Lush-the Lip Scrub

It's winter-season of dry flaky skin, central heating and extreme temperatures.  Or if you live in Dubai like I do its still winter but slightly warmer at 27 degrees but the effects of air conditioning can be super drying on the skin.

One area that I always find suffers is my lips and I find myself religiously applying lip balm to keep my lips soft and smooth.

But sometimes, balm is not enough and we need to do some serious TLC work to keep lips in tip top condition and this is where a lip scrub can come in handy.

Here I put two the test 2-a luxury brand and a high street brand-Sara Happ versus Lush.

Sara Happ sounds like my kind of girl.  Obsessed with beauty products and everything to do with lips since she was a Girl Scout, The Lip Scrub was invented by Sara in her own kitchen after googling lip scrub and getting no results.  Sara aims to make products she herself can't live without.  The Lip Scrub currently comes in 7 different varieties-Peppermint, Vanilla Bean, Brown Sugar, Creme Brulee, Green Apple, Red Velvet and Blood Orange.  How utterly delicious!  I first saw this brand on the Selfridges website and lusted after the Red Velvet (as I LOVE the cupcakes!) but it was out of stock so I got the Green Apple.  I love the packaging-it comes in a glossy green cardboard box with a white ribbon tied round it.  Contains sugar, petrolatum, grape seed and jojoba oils.  1oz costs £20 and you can purchase Sara Happ from Beauty Bay (where I found my red velvet one) and Selfridges.

Lush invented their lip scrubs to ensure lips were well primed before lipstick and left lips super smooth and moisturised.  Currently in 2 flavours, bubblegum and mint julips but I have heard a rumour that this Popcorn Christmas 2012 special edition will become part of the permanent line.  A more simple formula for this scrub-caster sugar and jojoba oil.  1oz costs £5.25.

Sara Happ The Lip Scrub texture

Lush Lip Scrub texture

The Lush scrub was the first scrub I tried and the smell is divine.  It's very sweet and caramel-y.  The texture is very very fine and doesn't bind together well-in fact I actually found it difficult to scoop out of the glass jar as the formula is so dry like sugar.  And because of that I almost felt like I was rubbing a sugar doughnut over my lips.  It's completely safe to eat this formula and in fact Lush say you should rub this products gently into your lips and lick the excess off.  Personally I couldn't bear to do that and I just wiped it off with a damp flannel.  This scrub is very grainy and abrasive and removes all dead skin cells quickly but afterwards my lips felt tight and parched and in desperate need of lip balm.  But they did feel smooth and well exfoliated.

The Sara Happ scrub smells less sweet and the apple version smells crisp and sharp and fresh.  Sara Happ recommend that you apply a generous amount to your lips, rub and then remove with a tissue.  The texture is much nicer-the grains are set in a gel (probably the petroleum) and so its much easier to scoop out of the tub and to apply and feels somehow less 'messy'.  Again, this feels abrasive on the lips and removes dead skin and afterwards my lips felt less tight than when I used the Lush one and not so parched.

The Winner??

I love the Sara Happ-I love the smell and the consistency and I feel it's gentler on the lips than the Lush formula.

Both scrubs do the job undoubtedly and Lush is much cheaper than Sara Happ but I honestly think the Sara Happ is worth every penny for a luxury treat.