I am not a huge fan of lush, when I walk past the shop I just smell a very overpowering mix of fragrances which basically puts me off venturing into the store. My friends however do not share this view so I have on occasion been dragged into lush with them, and when I did I spotted a variety of exciting looking wobbly jellies just asking to be investigated! I'm going to be honest, when I saw the jellies I just wanted to poke them to see how much they would wobble. I think they're a very novel idea and if I'm entirely honest I'm just a bit of a child and the jelly looked like it would almost be like a fun toy for the bath. I mentioned it to my boyfriend and that I particularly liked the 'sweetie pie' version and got some for my birthday.


===Packaging ===

This shower jelly comes packaged in a plastic tub which is available in 2 sizes - 100g priced at £2.95 or a larger 240g priced at £5.95. I personally have the 100g. The packaging is fairly simple but covered in writing. There is the usual lush logo, the weight of the product and some blurb about this being fruitier than dale winton! There is also instructions for use, an ingredients list and a little sticker telling you who has made the jelly and when you should use it by. This seems to have a huge shelf life if my sticker is correct - made on 23/11/10 and should be used by 23/01/12. Must be some interesting ingredients in this little purple jelly to make it last for that long! There is also a little sticker to say that this product is suitable for vegans and that the tub has been entirely recycled. Another thing to mention is that if you take back 5 clean lush pots then you can get a fresh face mask for free. The lid is screw on/screw off which I like as I feel the jelly is somehow a bit more secure in its pot because of this.


===the jelly===

This is incredibly wobbly as you would expect. It feels like a jelly that you would eat only perhaps a little more firm. It is purple in appearance with lots of little bits of glitter in. the main thing I like about this product is the smell - it smells absolutely amazing. It smells very fruity and very powerful but in a very satisfying kind of way. When I got this I could not wait to use it!! Having looked at instructions for use I learned this is not just a jelly to be used in the shower, it can also be used in the bath or even on your hair. It can also be chilled or frozen if desired, although this idea never appealed to me so I can't comment on its use in those states.


===jelly in the shower===

I opened the jar and tried to avoid getting any water in there as I tried to tear off a bit of the jelly. It was quite tricky to get a relatively small amount out - I didn't see the point in wasting lots. I tried to just rub the jelly onto my skin but this really had no effect, was very slippery and then went down the plug. Little bit disappointing. I tore off some more and this time put some onto a bath puff and lathered it up a bit. This seemed more effective because I could then lather it up even more on my skin. I found the smell was not as powerful once it had been lathered up a bit. I felt my skin was slightly moisturised afterwards but I was annoyed at how much of the jelly I had lost because it is so slippery!


===jelly in the bath===

I ripped off a larger chunk to put in the bath and filled it right up. At first the jelly made some bubbles, not the usual foamy bubble bath kind of bubbles but bubbles all the same. My bath smelt amazing. The jelly didn't entirely dissolve in the bath, in fact it barely dissolved at all and I was left with a partiall bubble bath with fairly big chunks of jelly in. Again as with the shower I did feel my skin had been somewhat moisturised but I was very disappointed to notice that the bubbles barely lasted for 10 minutes. I know that this product is primarily for use in the shower but I tend to find that shower products work just as well in the bath.


===jelly as shampoo===

This was fairly interesting and I almost felt that I was doing something wrong by putting something that reminded me of soap onto my hair. I have to say that it lathered up pretty well and smelt amazing but I don't think it did anything for my hair. If anything I felt it tangled my hair a bit and I felt the need to completely shampoo and condition my hair all over again using more normal products.


===What's in the jelly?===

The main fragrance of this jelly is cherry, coconut and cassis which give it that lovely fruity smell. I was always under the impression that lush used lots of natural ingredients but when I consolidated the lush website I was surprised to see how many artificial ingredients are used in this jelly. There are some lovely looking natural ingredients like glycerine which is well known for being very moisturising, along with some other ingredients that seem to be related to the fragrance. In the unnatural ingredients are artificial colours and parabens which according to articles found through Google seem to have become linked with some health problems although I am clearly no doctor and can't really comment on this. Personally these artificial ingredients don't bother me as many non artificial products I have used just don't perform as well as the others.


===overall impression of the jelly===

I think I was slightly disappointed with this jelly. It is a very novel product and not one that I use on a day to day basis. The smell disappears disappointingly quickly and in the bath the lack of bubbles and how quickly they disappear did not live up to my expectations. The jelly felt horrible on my hair and I wouldn't recommend using it this way to anyone. I was also really annoyed at how easily the jelly slips out of your hand and down the plughole! Overall I would say that this jelly is merely an average product and I'm not entirely sure I would purchase again as I just think that there are far better products out there.