Lush Gingerbread house


What They Say: "Christmas is a confectioner's dream, especially with our Gingerbread House Bubble Bar. It is sweetly spiced like fresh gingerbread and there's no wicked witch in sight, nor any sign of Hansel or Gretel eating her out of house and home."

I bought this cute little Lush bubble bar just before Christmas as it just looked so different. It smelled very sweet and slightly like a ginger nut biscuit. It was about £2.35 and it weighed about 100grams so not too pricey compared with some stuff they have. I do enjoy trying their new stuff and usually love their bubble bars so I popped it into one of their little yellow bags and went to the till to apy.

The ingredients in this bubble bar are:
Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar (Tartaric Acid), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Cocamide DEA, Perfume, Ginger Oil (Zingiber officinale), Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum), Buchu Oil (Barosma betulina), Ginger Powder (Zingiber officinale), Titanium Dioxide, *Cinnamal, *Limonene, Colour 15510, Sugar Sprinkles, Cinnamon Stick (Cinnamomum cassia) * Occurs naturally in essential oils

Apart from being such a cutey with its orange brown base and 'snow' covered roof that looks just like gingerbread with a thick layer of icing for the roof, the smell also appealed to me in the shop.
The smell was sweet; the gingerbread out of the oven sweet with a hint of lemon The blackcurrant was not obvious to me at all pre to using in the bath.

It was in my jumper drawer for a few weeks to share it scent in there and lat night I decided I'd give it a try. The cinnamon stick chimney had fallen off but otherwise it was as I bought it. I never use a whole bar in one bath as I feel £2.35 for one bath is just too much luxury and anyway I usually get sufficient smell and bubbles for using only a third of the bar.

I deliberately broke a bit of the roof off first and crumbled that in the bath first and then smelled it wet on my fingers. It was just so creamy and vanillary sweet like the icing you get on cinnamon buns in The States. I then broke off some of the house itself and repeated this process. The smell was stronger and did have a real gingerbread smell, not just ginger but the smell of gingerbread itself, sweet and a hint of cinnamon too. I'm still not really sure about any blackcurrant smell but maybe that is my nose.

I used about a third and the smell did fill the bathroom with a lovely sweet warming smell and my bath turned a light gingery colour under the layer of creamy bubbles. I always crumble my bars into the water as it is running into the bath as that helps create the bubbles. If you fill the bath first then crumble the bar in the effect is not nearly as bubbly.

Now I enjoyed my bubbly bath and love Lush stuff. I like their eco philosophy and use of essential oils for scent and health benefits but they do unfortunately use the surfactants Sodium Laureth Sulfate and Lauryl Betaine and these are quite controversial in that they have been found to have carcinogenic elements and i really wish Lush would look into finding a more eco and health friendly alternative to these for making their products bubbly. It is just something to be aware of if you have skin problems. My step daughter comes out in a bright red rash if she uses their products.


Having said this I did like my bath and loved the smell which lasted nicely on my skin after I dried myself off after my bath. The bathroom and our adjoining bedroom also smelled very nice too. The smell is sweet but not overly cloying, not too fruity as the ginger, cinnamon blend balances that well.

My skin felt lovely and soft too after I got out and dried myself off. The gingery smell works well in a hot winter bath and I think this is definitely a good one for the Christmas season with its cold outside weather.

So all in all I like this bar and would say yes Lush that one is a goodie for next year but please will you look into some other less unpleasant surfactants so that those with sensitive skin can enjoy the products too.

There are some natural surfactants as all saponins are surfactants. These are naturally soapy substances found in some plants and they often have the added benefits of being anti-fungal and anti-bacterial as well.
Tomatoes contain saponins as do both the seeds and leaves of chickpeas , soybeans and common beans as well as Yucca Extract, Soapwort, Soap nut seed, Sarsaparilla , Christmas Rose, Horse Chestnut trees, Asparagus fern, daisies and finally Quillaja Bark Extract.

Now I am sure I could contribute enough daisies from my lawn to help out as well as from the huge Horse chestnut trees around here. I am convinced that they could look into this further and at least move towards having some of their products using natural surfactants.

Anyway make your own mind up but at least you should be aware when making you choice. Thanks for reading. This review may be posted on other sites under my same user name.

©Catsholiday