I am a huge fan of Lush products but I can't afford to shop their regularly. However, my extremely kind mum recently went out and bought me one of these Lush Honey Bee bath Bomb ballistics to try. I was very keen to try the product as it smelled richly of honey and I love this aroma.

Bath Ballistics (they seem to have recently rebranded them as 'bombs') at Lush tend to be big hard balls of compressed powdery substances which contain things like essential oils and moisturising products. Each ballistic is unique and handmade and contains ingredients which give each ballistic in the range an individual personality. The Honey Bee is a tough dry ball which is about the size of a cricket ball and which has a squashed central ring which makes it look like it's modelled on the planet of Jupiter. The ball is a blend of two colours - a pale springtime yellow and a sandy brown which has flecks of mahogony brown and ochre in it.

To use the product you simply add it to your water at bathtime. I always have an issue with ballistics in that they are quite expensive and difficult to break into pieces to use over several baths. Although Lush would probably like you to use it all at once (and return to buy another one) I find that a half or even a third of the ballistic is more than enough to get the most out of the product in your bath. I tend to just hold the ballistic under the tap and let a required amount fizz away into the running water. This does mean that you don't get the enjoyment of having the ballistic fizz around in your water but you can do this with the last piece left at least. If you do what I do with the ballistic you must leave it to dry between baths. It doesn't fizz all away if you get a little bit of it wet so don't worry!

This ballistic turns the water a urine yellow colour. Sorry to liken the colour to something so unpleasant but that's kind of what it reminds me of. It's also gives that unreal Lucozade kind of glow to the water. It's a strange bright shade but I don't find the colour to be uplifting or reminiscent of summer or anything pleasant like that - it's just an unusual space-hopper kind of colour.

If you go to the Lush website you can find out what special ingredients are in your Lush product. This ballistic is actually comprised of something called Rhassoul Mud as well as containg honey, bergamot oil, sweet wild orange oil and aloe. The ballistic is aimed at people who would like to soothe their skins. The Rhassoul Mud is contianed in the sandy coloured swirl in the ball. The mud dissolves (bar a few tiny gritty pieces) and becomes a soft pulp that virtually vanishes in the water. The mud is supposed to be softening to skin and I can tell that my skin feels marginally softer or at least smoother when I get out of the bath.

The fragrance of the Honey Bee ballistic is very nice. It's like a blend of honey and caramel with a slightly more sophisiticated burned wood undertone. The scent reminds me a lot of the Lush soap 'Honey I Washed the Kids'. I have a bar of this at the moment and it compliments the ballistic very well. It's an intoxicating and beautiful scent that I enjoy smelling when I'm in the bath. I like that the water smells of it and the steam too. It also transfers onto my skin and is left their after I dry myself.

This ballistic does not create bathtime bubbles - you would need a Lush Bubble bar for that. It has a very strong smell though and changes the texture and fragrance of the water. When you wash yourself the water feels more silky and gentle. You can smell the honey-toffee mix with every splash.

Like I said I do like to try and get a few baths out of each ballistic. Even with a deep bath the colour, skin softening qaulities and water colour are dramatic when using just a third of the ballistic. I would definitely recommend using the ballistic like I do rather than use it all at once (it's so expensive!). I have used this a couple of times up to now and have enjoyed each bathtime. I really like that I can come out of a bath smelling so wonderful with so little effort. I also like that it can helpskin feel slightly more soothed and soft although I have to emphasise this softening is not to a great degree. One of the things I'm really not keen on with this ballistic is the colour it turns the water. I've also been more blown away by other ballistics by Lush so if you are a first time Lush customer perhaps you might be dissapointed by this one as it doesn't really do anything spectacular (unless you count turning the water a toxic yellow colour special!). It's also very expensive so whilst I would buy this again I don't think it'd be a regular purchase.

You can buy this in high street stores or online and it costs £3.10 for a 200g ballistic. I haven't shopped in store for a while and now Lush seem to have changed their packaging. They used to provide bright yellow bags but now they are red and white and are printed with the Lush ethos which is worth a read. The paper bag can be recycled after use.

Lush use vegetarian ingredients and each product is handmade and fresh.

www.lush.co.uk