Lush is a company who offer fresh, handmade beauty goodies. Their extensive range of products includes various scented shower jellies, body creams, bath bombs and perfumes just to name a few. Lush are against animal testing and try to do their bit for the environment by reducing packaging to a minimum and offering incentives for recycling certain packaging with them.

*~*Vanilla Fountain*~*

First let me briefly explain what a bath ballistic is. In reality it is a bath bomb with the ballistic addition being exclusive to Lush. There are currently over 30 ballistics available in various scents. Each bath ballistic is made up of sodium bicarbonate and citric acid alongside natural scents and oils. The ballistic should be dropped into hot water and should fizz away turning the water coloured and scented. it will not provide bubbles (use a bubble bar for this purpose).

Vanilla Fountain is one of the smaller ballistics weighing in at 110g. The scent of Vanilla Fountain is said to be inspired by desserts at Heston Blumental's restaurant and was created by Simon Constantine. The scent can also be found in variations within other Lush products such as Vanilla in the Mist soap and Heavanilli massage bar. Vanilla Fountain ultimately holds a strong vanilla scent and is laced with sandalwood and a touch of burnt caramel for good measure.

Vanilla Fountain can be recognised instore thanks to its creamy yellow colour. The ballistic is plainly shaped a little like a magicians hat and has a brown stick poking out the top. It is worth noting this ballistic is vegan friendly. You could get more than one use from this specific ballistic though it may get a little messy!

*~*Ingredients*~*

Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Perfume, Sandalwood Oil (Fusanus spicatus), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Jasmine Absolute (Jasminum grandiflorum), Tonka Absolute (Dipteryx odorata), Hydroxycitronellal, *Coumarin, Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), Colour 45350, Vanilla Pod (Vanilla planifolia)

*~*Price*~*

This 110g ballistic is available in Lush stores or online through www.lush.co.uk. It is priced at £3.05 making it one of the most expensive ballistics.

*~*My Opinion*~*

I am quite fond of Lush products and despite the expensive nature of them, consider them to be of a high quality and ideal as a treat. I usually opt for a bubble bar for the bath (if buying myself) though on a recent trip to Lush, my sister treated me to this Vanilla Fountain bath ballistic which came simply wrapped in a yellow paper bag. My sister is well aware of my love for anything vanilla scented and she was convinced I would enjoying bathing in this.

I was surprised at how large this ballistic was. It wasn't overly heavy but was bulky. It looked lovely and of course had a powdery texture due to the fizzing ingredients. This ballistic graced my wardrobe with its presence for a few days and smelled absolutely amazing. I was desperate to try it out despite not being overly impressed with previous ballistics. The most impressive aspect of this ballistic was the scent. Vanilla Fountain offers an almost identical scent to that of Vanillary perfume. I own the solid perfume in this scent so was enticed by the subtler scent from Vanilla Fountain. The vanilla scent was so rich, creamy and the undertone of burnt caramel was mouthwatering and added depth to the scent.

*~*Bathing In Heaven? Errr No..*~*

I used this yesterday afternoon whilst my son was at nursery. To be honest, I haven't been very well this week and whilst I normally prefer a shower, I decided a relaxing bath was called for. Out came the ballistic and the taps were turned on. I could have split the ballistic but decided I wanted to have the ultimate vanilla experience. Once my bath was half full, I dropped it in. Some ballistics shoot around the bath leaving colourful trails. Vanilla Fountain doesn't move much and prefers to sit in one place fizzing away. As the ballistic fizzed, it began to colour my water with a vibrant yellow which once the bath was full, changed to a light, subtle shade of yellow. My bath looked very summery and relaxing.

The ballistic took around a minute to full dissolve and didn't need any help from my hand. Of course there were no bubbles present which does limit the relaxing aspect of my bath a little but I can handle it! As the ballistic fizzed in the water, I was sure I could detect a citrus, fresh scent to it but as I stepped in to the water, it disappeared. The scent of vanilla wasn't as strong as I could have hoped. Considering I had used a full ballistic, I would have expected a room hopping scent.

I lit one of my Yankee Candles with vanilla in it to add to the mood a little and stepped in to my hot bath with a magazine. The water felt ok. It wasn't as soft as I like but I suppose with there being no shea butter or cocoa butter in the ingredients, this was to be expected. The only relaxing aspect of the bath was the heat from the water. Having lay there for 15mins, the water started to feel weird and the yellow colour had changed to a lime tinge which looked weird. To be honest, I would have got the same results from filling my bath with hot water and adding some food colouring.

The gorgeous vanilla scent didn't linger and was only slightly detectable in the water. I got a bit fed up and couldn't relax. I started to resemble a prune so washed the relevant bits and pieces and stepped out. As soon as my skin was dry, it felt uncomfortably and the ballistic had dried it out. The scent hadn't transferred to my skin either and I had to slap on some body butter to get rid of the dry texture and soften my skin.

Once I had ran the water away, there was a lot of powdery residue around my bath and at the bottom. Having to scrub my bath shortly after bathing isn't my idea of a relaxing experience so I wasn't best pleased.

*~*Conclusion*~*

Over £3 for 15mins in a boring bath was a total waste of money. Like many of the ballistics the scent in powder form is high appealing and tempting though as soon as the ballistic fizzes into the hot water, everything is lost. If this had been my first Lush product, I would have been put off buying anything as it simply isn't worth it. I don't feel there is any point in the ballistics as they don't soften the water, you don't get bubbles and from my experience, the scent doesn't last either.

I was really upset the scent of Vanilla Fountain didn't last as it is one stunning scent when solid. I won't buy a ballistic in the future. I feel the other Vanilla scented products would be more appealing but the ballistic is rather pointless and therefore I cannot recommend it.

Thanks for reading :) x