 |
Lush Creamy Candy Bath bubble Bar
by spiritwood
This strange looking pink thing was lurking in the gift box that my daughter received recently and actually the scent of this overcame just about all of the other Lush products in there. There are tons of reviews on here in regards to Lush and for that I do apologise, but I am rather late in the day to this company because I have always ... avoided them due to their chemical use and playing the "we are natural" card. I have found some Lush stuff that has natural ingredients and very few additives but a lot of their products are full of chemicals. This is one of them but there is something about this pink lump that makes me like it.
This is one of Lush's cheaper products, priced at just £2.50 for a decent sized bar that can be split into several pieces to make it go a long way. The scent is so strong you could chip a bit off and stick it in a drawer to keep clothes fresh.
BUBBLES! IN A BAR??
Lush have cornered the market on the invention of the unusual bubble bar, a solid bath product which gives the results of a liquid bath foam. These are designed to be run under the tap as you crumble them and as a result you get lots of bubbles. An easy and effective way of maximising bubbles from a small piece of a bubble bar is to stick it in a stocking or muslin and tie it around the tap so that the bar falls just where the water hits. The hot tap is best as it will dissolve far better and leave less residue. I have not tried that many Lush products so am not sure if they all share these characteristics but certainly the scent that you pick up when you sniff it is the scent that you will experience in the water. There is no fizzing, popping, leaving "dragon scales" or anything dramatic about this, it is what it is.
THE PINK THING:
This is a pepto pink bar which looks like a good fudge in texture initially, easily crumbled but not so soft that it falls to bits. It is easy to break pieces off of the main bar to lengthen product life. The pink colour is a bit nauseating but the scent is out of this world. If you do not like sweet and sugary scents then this one is not for you in any way shape or form. It is very very sweet.
The scent reminds me of childhood and memories, I think the connection there is probably the parma violets and sherbert sweets that we used to get hold of as kids for pennies. There is a vanilla quality which can be expected as the bar contains Tonka beans, and the smell is just moreish. I could not stop sniffing the damn thing and even now when I am in the bathroom I have to give it a good sniff. This is the crack cocaine of bath products, you have been warned. The scent then is a very addictive aroma if you like that sort of thing. It is creamy, vanilla and like an old fashioned sweetshop all in one. To a degree it is very "girlie" and is marketed as such by Lush who state:
"A sweet creamy candy-floss pink bath that's like a hug in a soft fluffy towel. This one is a girly night in. Makes you want to put on your cutest jammies, bounce on the bed and have a pillow fight."
How revolting! Pillow fights? Jammies? I am not 12.... I am a New Rock boot wearing Goddess with pink hair and a face full of metal. I don't wear "jammies". Ugh. Either way, ridiculous marketing statements aside, this is very lovely.
USING IT:
Another one where I bathed with my daughter (never a relaxing experience but always amusing), who was enthralled by both the scent and the fact that she could eat the flower on top. "Let me wash the soap stuff off first" said I.... too late, it was gone. The sugar flower and soapy deposit in her mouth as fast as an iguana catching a fly. Oh well. She suffered no ill effects by the way...
We crumbled approx a quarter of this into our bath and it was more than enough to give the water a light pink hue and for the scent to fill the whole bathroom. I just crumbled this under the tap and my daughter picked out any bits that had not fully dissolved and squished them. By using a crumbling action under the tap we managed to get a good bath full of bubbles from just a little piece which was equally impressive and disturbing all at the same time. Impressive because it obviously makes a luxury product last longer and disturbing because it is obviously the additives and foaming agents doing this.
The bar crumbled pretty easily and after a swish of the water we were both in and enjoying the gorgeous scent. It is very hard to accurately describe a scent in words, or I find it so, but if you can imagine the slight burnt sugar scent of candyfloss, traditional sweet shops with big jars full of sugary loveliness and creamy vanilla from the pod then you will get a rough idea of the properties of this bubble bar. Very sweet and very delicious.
The bubbles were soft and did not sting our eyes, we fully tested this out by "dressing up" in the bubbles and whilst I sported a funky bubble mohawk my daughter had a really impressive beard.
Unlike some Lush products that turn what was once your bath into a glittery mess with strange coloured tide marks, this one leaves no real residue to speak of. The colour is so pale in the water and there is no glitter to contend with thank goodness....
AFTERWARDS:
We stayed in the bath a long time and when we eventually emerged we smelled of this bar for a fair few hours. Our skin felt very soft and the water was not greasy so there was no film on your skin like the body butter bars. Cleaning the bath was not too difficult, just a swish with hot water. My bathroom smelled delicious for hours though and I decided to keep the opened bar in there on a shelf as the smell was so good. Neither of us experienced any bad reaction from using this bar. We still have 3/4 left and will look forward to using it again.
INGREDIENTS:
The bubble bar has a decent amount of "good stuff" which sits uncomfortably along side the "bad".
There is cocoa butter which you can feel in the water when you sit in it but not so much that it gets oily. This probably also enhances the vanilla scent because raw cocoa butter smells intoxicating. It also contains almond oil which is a great moisturiser and has been used on the skin for eons due to its excellent therapeutic properties. Lush call the cocoa butter and almond oil their "bath oil mix" and the effects are tangible when you get out.
Apparently Rock star soap smells similar to this. This bar is Vegan (even the edible flower) and not tested on animals. Each "candy" bubble bar is hand made so you will not get a mass produced item and flower colours will vary. Although not remotely "natural" this thing is fun and smells divine.
Quantitative Ingredients
Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cocoa Butter, Lauryl Betaine, Laureth 4, Perfume, Almond Oil, Cocamide DEA, Vanilla Absolute, Colour 14700, Colour 45410, Colour 17200, Candy Flowers
*occurs naturally in essential oils
CONCLUSION:
This pink thing is good fun, leaves your skin soft and smells amazing. However it is full of junk so you may want to consider that before you use it. I am fussy about using chemicals so this is an occasional product for me, however we both enjoyed the experience and the rest of the bar is scenting my bathroom as we speak....
The price is decent compared to other Lush products and it can be split to make several baths, which of course will extend its life.
£2.50 each for 100g.
Available from www.lush.co.uk or at your local Lush store.
Read the complete review |
 |
Body Shop Passionfruit Shower Gel
by Holland1
I bought this shower gel in the Body Shop's January online sale, where I managed to pick it up for a bargain at £1.25, using a combination of voucher codes I found online. At full price it costs £4, which is quite expensive for a shower gel and beyond my budget at the moment. That said, it is a large bottle and does last a ... while.
The colour of this shower gel is a very vibrant purple, and the bottle is completely transparent so it certainly brightens up our bathroom. It has a flip top lid, although I can't comment on how secure this is because I've never taken it anywhere and I just tend to leave the lid open in my shower. The shower gel is really thick, and I think this is why it lasts such a long time, as a little goes a long way. It lathers brilliantly, and creates a lovely cascade of bubbles with very little effort.
My skin feels really pleasant after using this shower gel, it does seem to add moisture to my skin, which is surprising for a gel as opposed to a cream. The only downside for me, however, is the smell. I bought it online so obviously hadn't smelt it first, and when I first sniffed the bottle it smelt lovely and fruity and I couldn't wait to start using it. Since using it, however, I find it fills the entire bathroom with a really sweet artificial smell. It does smell vaguely of passionfruit, but not so much that you'd walk in and recognise it. I always associate The Body Shop with being quite natural, but this is so false smelling it really puts me off using it, and I hate the way it lingers in the bathroom so it permanently smells of it.
There are aspects of this shower gel that I like, but unfortunately the overpowering artificial smell means I won't be buying it again. It would be well suited to someone with a less sensitive nose though, especially if you can pick it up on offer.
(Review also appears on Ciao under the username Gingerkitty)
Read the complete review |
