Review: Ro's Argan & African Paradise Body Conditioners by Lush

REPURCHASE?

Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner 250 ml, PhP 1250 (listed it the US website at USD32.95). Made in Japan. YES!!!!! And I have been and will most definitely continue repurchasing. This is a Holy Grail product for me.

African Paradise 250 ml, PhP1595 (Listed in the US website at USD39.95). Made in England. Yes, for moments when Ro’s Argan is unavailable or when I outgrow the scent of Ro’s Argan.

EASE OF USE:

After soaping, scrubbing and rinsing, I follow up with this. I don’t use this on days when moisturizing exfoliators are used (Burt’s Bees Sugar Scrub or The Body Shop’s Shea Body Scrub). It seems such a waste to moisturize on top of moisturized skin---and besides, in this case, the scents in the exfoliating scrub and the body conditioner usually just cancel out each other.

I scoop about half a tablespoon for each of my legs, a tbsp  (and a half at times) for my upper torso and a scoop for my entire backside. I love spreading this stuff from my neck down to my tippy toes! Then I rinse off—just like you would after soaping. This leaves your body feeling greasy…hyper-moisturized and looking slick—even after toweling off. I call this the “greasy phase.” But this feeling does not last long. Give it time to be sopped off by your skin. This usually happens, at least for me, at about the 20 to 30 minute mark. An additional step I find myself doing before stepping out of the shower is soaping my hands to get the thick greasy feeling off of it. I feel that the oils would interfere with makeup application.

SIMILARITIES:

Both Ro’s Argan and African Paradise are beigy-cream colored body moisturizers with the texture of yogurt. Spreads like yogurt on your skin, too. They are both easily spreadable on your wet skin. African Paradise, however, I find a teeny bit thicker in feel.

Top: African Paradise, Bottom: Ro's Argan

Both leave my skin moisturized and perfumed. I feel like a grease-ball after rinsing and even after toweling off BUT after about 20 to 30 minutes, the “grease” gets absorbed leaving smooooooth, lightly perfumed skin until day’s end with Ro’s Argan and about 2 hours for African Paradise. No need to re-apply lotion mid-day. Both make my skin glisten with a healthy sheen right after but the glow leaves after the oils get absorbed.

Both Ro’s Argan and African Paradise I feel are full of intense moisturizing oils that penetrate my extremely dry skin leaving it conditioned and hydrated for an extended period of time. I used Ro’s Argan for an 18 hour flight to a much, much, co-co-colder country and guess what, skin was still great. Tried scratching my name on my shin and it didn’t show through. (It was at this point that Ro’s reached HG status for me). My arid skin, the driest patches found on my knees, elbows and shin where they tend to be flaky and looking chalky, are dealt with effortlessly by Ro’s Argan and African Paradise.  Looove how this delivers effortlessly unlike lotions or oils which almost always require multiple re-application throughout the day.

These Lush pots do not perform in the same manner as Body Butters (of The Body Shop), too. The difference being my skin retains that slick feel and sheen that the butters give. I personally prefer the feel that Ro’s Argan and African Paradise give me. They moisturize deeply and yet it feels so light on the skin (my skin can breathe) that after the initial hour, save for the lingering scent, you forget that you’re deeply and richly moisturized.

DIFFERENCES between RO’S ARGAN & AFRICAN PARADISE:

Obvious differences: price, listed ingredients (see pictures below) and the scent.

Formulation and Feel

Aside from the obvious, there is a very subtle difference between the two formulations. Ro’s Argan spreads out thinly. And like a said earlier, African Paradise has a thicker feel to it. Once rinsed off, both leave your skin feeling the same way.

Longevity of Scent

African Paradise does not last beyond 2 hours for me whereas Ro’s stays with me a loooong time. The scent of Ro’s Argan stays on my skin until the tenth hour even when it has not been layered with Rose Jam.

HOW I USE[D] THEM:

Caveat before anything (this is where the lawyer side of me rears its ugly head): I may have used this for hair as well but Lush only suggests using this as a rinse off body conditioner or body melt.

In-shower Body Conditioner

Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner and African Paradise Body Conditioner are body moisturizers that you use while you are in the shower. It’s like hair conditioner but for the body so it needs rinsing off pretty much they way we do with hair. I always do this when it is cold so I do not have to suffer through more cold drying myself off and putting on moisturizer.

Bath Melt

Lush says it can be used as a bath melt, too. Did this once only and will not use it in this manner again. It is such a waste! I had to use soo much of the product into the bath water that I shuddered every time I got a scoop! Depending on how much you add, it does turn the bathwater milky—ish. I felt bad when I drained the bathwater. It did soften my skin and ever so slightly perfumed my skin. The “greasy phase”, which I talk more of above, gets skipped. However, it did not stave off dry skin until the end of day.

Body Lotion

I use both African Paradise and Ro’s Argan as normal lotion. This happens when I forget to take it off the bathroom shelf to bring it in the shower with me. I even use less of the product when I use it this way. I enjoy re-applying Ro’s Argan this way because the fragrance is just sooooo lovely and I want to add to the strength of it. “More is not enough” comes to mind.

  

Hair Perfume/Smoother

I love using it as a defrizzer at times. It locks baby hair in place. I smooth it on my ends and my hair doesn’t look like it has anything to complain about. My full head of hair is sooo perfumed. Haahaha. I try not to use it too much though—just on those days when I want to smell especially rosy! 

Hair Conditioner

Twice when I picked Rose Jam (also by Lush: a gel for body and hair that uses the same scent as Ro’s Argan) as my shampoo, I followed it up with Ro’s Argan as conditioner! It wasn’t difficult to apply. It almost gave me the same slickness I get when using ordinary hair conditioner. It wasn’t difficult to comb through my wet hair. However, my hair dried down straight to End-Of-Day-2 Hair. It wasn’t greasy or anything but precisely that: as if it had been 2 days since the last shampoo. The second time, I used less but it didn’t perform any better. Oddly enough, my hair did not smell perfumed at all. No scent throw. It even masked the scent that Rose Jam initially imparted.

INGREDIENTS:

African Paradise's List of Ingredients

Ingredients List of Ro's Argan

VERDICT:

As long as Ro’s Argan is available on the Lush shelves, I am not purchasing African Paradise again. Its much more expensive, for one.  Almost 300 pesos more (roughly $4.5) and it does not do anything extra. Two, I just simply loooove the scent of Ro’s Argan.

CAUTION:  this can leave the bathroom floor or your tub slippery. Because of this, I do not allow my children (10, 8 and 5) to use this without supervision.

TRIVIA:

The Lush stores I visited in Singapore (save for facial cleansers and masks which are made in Singapore), Macau and Hong Kong get all stocked with Lush products made in England. Here in Manila, we get ours from Japan.