photo via That's Shanghai website

My favorite expat magazine, That’s Shanghai, has a section on DIY treatments this month. I was flipping through the pages and it got me hooked. I’m a huge fan of LUSH and natural treatments so I thought I’d share what the magazine’s recipes! 

I have extremely dry skin and they have a little concoction for it. “Mix half of a mashed avocado with 1/4 cup honey, leave on for 10 minutes and rinse”. I have been told that avocado does wonders for your skin both on  your skin and eaten. I’ll use half the avocado for this and the other half for some homemade guacamole. I’ve heard honey is amazing for you skin and I often make a mask of honey, fine sugar and olive oil as a scrub. Sometimes… I accidentally eat it. YUM. 

I use the sugar, honey, olive oil scrub as a lip exfoliant as well. Sometimes when I put on lipstick (especially red lipstick) I use it to soften my lips and get rid of my dry chapped areas. I add a dash of ground cinnamon if I want to plump up my lips a bit. I don’t know exactly why that works for me but I tried it as an experiment and it got my thin lips to plump a bit. Plus.. It’s delicious. (I’m sensing a theme here!)

The Strawberry foot scrub sounds heavenly. I always have strawberries in the fridge, olive oil and brown sugar in the pantry so this should be easy to whip up. Puree strawberries and olive oil then add brown sugar and massage into feet. I might also add some honey to that since I love honey on my skin. I think soaking your feet in a tub of hot water (as hot as you can stand) for at least 15 minutes, then using this scrub would be most effective.

I sometimes make bath soaks that feel amazing and is SO EASY. I take organic powdered milk, oatmeal (not the quick cooking kind), dried lavender, dried rose petals or buds, dried chamomile or chrysanthemum flowers, epsom salt and whatever dried flowers or herbs you like. Rosemary is also wonderful. I put it all into a large jar with a secure lid and use about half a cup at a time. Draw a warm bath and use a cheesecloth or cut panty hose to keep everything inside so it won’t clog your toilet. It feels and smells amazing. If I’m not in the mood for a bath, I use the cheesecloth in the shower to rub over my body and I almost get the same effect. I love how my skin feels afterwards.

What are some of your homemade remedies? I seriously use that sugar, honey, olive oil scrub all the time. (Especially on the lips) I sometimes make the scrub and bath soak as gifts. I find pretty jars, ribbons and make a homemade tag with instructions and ingredients. If I can find a small wooden spoon, I attach it to the jar and it is such a hit amongst my friends.

I’m really excited about the food scrub! I may have to try it out tonight. 

I absolutely love LUSH, my BFF HJ introduced me to the wonderful soap company when she got me a huge package of their most wonderful bath bombs, soaps and body butters for my bridal shower. I assumed that they would have one here since they have one in Hong Kong. But sadly they don’t. So I’ve been asking around and nobody could point me in the direction of a similar store.

I decided to just try searching for one on foot since I couldn’t find a LUSH alternative. One day, the hubs and I decided to go to a couple of malls in Shanghai. Infinity Mall and Time Square. 

A true LUSH alternative is a store called V.Rose. They have bath bombs, luxury hand-made soaps and the stores are much smaller than LUSH but definitely has a lot of similar products. I ended up buying their oatmeal, lavender soap and it’s so rich, buttery and has a gorgeous smell. The reason I was looking for a nice soap company was mainly because my skin has become a mess since moving to Shanghai. It’s so dry, cracked and my skin wouldn’t absorb anything I had at home. I thought I would try out their soaps and guess what? The soap is so moisturizing, my skin had a “AHHHhhhhhhhhhHHHHHhhhHH” feeling. 

Before we found V.Rose we found a shop in Time Square called Forest Cabin. I can’t seem to find a website for them but I did find something online describing the company. I sampled one of their “Almond Leg and Foot Care Cream” and my skin instantly gobbled it up. It was the consistency of thick, whipped butter. I’ve been using it after my showers and my skin is completely back to normal now! Hurray!

So if you’re looking for a LUSH type alternative, give these places a try!

V.Rose
Various locations including: Infinity Mall (138 Huaihai Zhong Lu), Henderson Metropolitan Mall (Nanjing East Road, Line 2)

Forest Cabin
Only one location I know of at Time Square Mall (93 HuaiHai Zhong Lu)