Firstly a little note : My review includes references to other Lush products. Even if you are unfamiliar with Lush, they are easily identified as, being a name, they are (hopefully) typed gramatically correct with a capital letter.


Everyone knows, or has heard, the name Lush unless you've been living in the dark ages so I'm not going to give you a lengthy explanation on the Company. Needless to say that since the business started out 1995 has gone from strength to strength.

We all know that us Lush addicts can spend hours deciding whether, for one evening, we want to be a Marshmallow, a Rockstar or even a Sex Bomb. Whilst there is a huge array of products mainly aimed at us girlies, the teenage son in this house will quite happily use the soaps, shampoos etc but when it comes to shower/bath products he draws the line at smelling like a Two Timing Tart and being a Softy!!

On my last visit to Lush and with this in mind, I bypassed being a Honeybee, stopped dreaming of French Kisses (sigh) and headed for the unisex products, specifically looking for a shower gel/body wash that had a more masculine smell.

After a whiff of a Happy Hippy (no, he didn't complain!) and finding the Chocolate Orange rather sweet and sickly (I did SMELL it and not eat it) I found a TRAMP!

After a quick whiff of this one, in the basket it went!

So…..

As with all Lush bottles, this Tramp Shower Gel comes in 100g, 250g and 500g sizes, prices of £2.95, £5.95 and £9.25 respectively. It has the standard 'packed by' sticker on it and our 100g should be used by March 07. Having bought ours April 06 it will certainly be used by then so no wastage is foreseen.

This shower gel states " Intensely soothing melissa and patchouli gel for your body and scalp. Don't forget to wash behind your ears!"

Before any of you start getting excited…NO, there is not a girl called Melissa that comes with this gel no matter how intensely soothing she may or may not be!

Lush state that they use as many natural ingredients as possible. I shall not state all of them but outline the 4 main ingredients -

Patchouli oil - known for its cell rejuvenation properties it is also an aphrodisiac. Most people will recognise that deeply musky smell that is patchouli.

White Horehound - also known as the archangel herb which sounds nicer! This apparently makes your hair shine and your skin soft.

Melissa officinalis - sometimes given the name lemon balm (though not strictly a pure lemony smell) as its a light fragrance which has calming properties.

Oakmoss Absolute - a rich, woody, mossy base note.


Even though this was bought for my son, The Blonde in me says its my duty to test it out to be able to give you my opinion (that's what I told him anyway!) So , being unable to wait any longer, I strip off and, In The Nude, under the hot water I go!

Flipping the lid and squeezing out a 5p size blob the first thing that struck me was the colour. It really is a intense deep, dark forest green. Almost a night nurse sort of green but deeper! Its consistency is quite runny so try not to tip your hand otherwise it will run off. I found the lid easy to flip, as I can hold the bottle in one hand and flip the lid open with my thumbnail. For my son however, not having any nails, he needs to use both hands. Providing you have a ledge to place the bottle on its fine, but bear in mind this comes with no hook.


It lathers fairly well just by rubbing your hands together and if you use a shower mitt you'll get more lather and probably more coverage for that 5p blob. I always think that shower gels never quite lather as much as body washes/soaps for some reason. Maybe its just me! As the bottle stated this can be used to wash your hair as well though I did not do this. From using the gel on my body, using it on my hair would be no different especially as it rinses off well, leaving no oily residue. So, giving Buffy the Backside Slayer and the Rockstar the night off, I continued to be A Little Monkey and massaged this lather all over my body….Ooh la la!!


Afterwards, I felt uplifted, refreshed and very, very clean. It was soothing at the time though I wouldn't use the word 'intensely'. The calming properties of the melissa certainly seemed to do their job. The aroma lingered on my skin for a few hours afterwards but you would have to be really close to someone before they noticed. This is ideal as many men wear aftershaves/body sprays and the smell of this gel would not overpower any other you may use.

Yes, I hear you cry but what does it smell like?

The smell of this is absolutely gorgeous, The musky patchouli aroma is deep but underlying, the melissa lifts it and gives it a pine/cedar smell and combined with the earthy, mossy fragrance of the Oakmoss, you can really imagine walking through a forest after its rained when you get the deep musky woody smells made lighter by the fresh aroma of the pines from the trees.

Despite patchouli being 'heavy' the overall smell of this is so refreshing, clean and uplifting. Its also very subtle which surprised me as Lush tends to fill the whole house and everyone knows exactly what it was you used! This is so light and delicate that it makes you breathe deeper to continue to get a passing whiff of it.

I feel that I made the right choice in buying this as it the most masculine of the choice I had. My son has used this several times now and loves it and I received Big Hugs for my purchase. He can use a body spray afterwards without the shower gel fragrance getting in the way. It doesn't claim to moisturise the skin but by the same token it doesn't seem to dry it out either. He does not use a moisturiser at all and I've not noticed any difference in the condition of his skin.

He has also used it to wash his hair though he is not keen on this. He has quite a dry scalp and whilst this doesn't irritate it at all, he prefers to use a 'proper' shampoo.

It doesn't state that this gel is specifically designed for sensitive skin, though with it being quite light, I would imagine it would be. Obviously if you know you have a particular allergy then please read the full list of ingredients on the bottle.

As with all Lush products - Do not drink and if you get this accidentally in your eyes then rinse immediately.

Lush state :

"We believe in making effective products out of fresh fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics, without animal ingredients, and in writing the quantitative ingredient list on the outside.
We also believe in buying only from companies that test for safety without the involvement of animals and in testing our products on humans"

The above statement is certainly true. The Against Animal Testing that Lush have is one that many should follow. However, I do have one gripe with Lush and that's is that they do not have a recycling scheme for their empty bottles. Having spoken to a very nice Lush employee she tells me that they would like to offer the service and are currently looking into it. Lets hope its available soon.

Overall, this is a good shower gel. Lush state that its a unisex one though, in my opinion, its definitely more of a manly fragrance. Moreso than the others in the unisex range. A lot depends on the individual tastes of a person but you can't go wrong with this one, even if its bought as a 'little extra' for a birthday gift.

It gets 4/5 stars from me. One lost as we cannot (yet) recycle the bottle.

So ladies, next time you spend your fellas money and he Snaps the Whip and gives you that Hard look, smile at him nicely with that Baby Face and offer him his very own Tramp. If he's lucky he might get some Helping Hands as well!

As for me…will I stay a Tramp? …I Should CoCo..I'm a Two Timing Tart!!

As always, many thanks for reading. x x

© HotBabes 2006