Top of the class? C-minus! (Lush A Gold Star Bubble Bar)

Member Name: calypte

Product:	Lush A Gold Star Bubble Bar
Date:	14/12/08 (178 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: smells nice, bubbles

Disadvantages: added danger element from pointy plastic stars!

This year I managed, for the first time, to pretty much sample ALL of the Lush xmas range - whoo! I realise some of you are far from impressed by that feat, but for me it means trying to get through several reviews before the arrival of the day itself makes it a bit pointless. Sorry ;)

Bubble bars are my favourite of Lush's products, made for luxurious baths with mounds of bubbles, wonderful scents - and slightly less likely to contain annoying bits. Alas, Lush have really ramped up the bits-quotient this year, and if you haven't guessed by now I Am Not Amused.

Back to the beginning, and A Gold Star was one of the more tempting xmas offerings. Despite everything, I actually prefer the plainer-looking products - I'm after scent and luxury, after all, and the various decorations seem either pointless or sometimes a bit scary! As you can see from the picture, this looked pretty plain - well, I can cope with a bit of glitter!

On top of the glitter, this - appropriately, with the name! - contains little gold stars. Plastic ones, about 5mm across. This is nothing new for Lush, and indeed I've experienced similar of late, with little red stars in the Stardust ballistic. They were no bother at all, apart from sticking to the bath - I can cope! However, this is the first time I've experienced little bits of plastic in a bubble bar. Sharp, pointy plastic. Now, the first thing you do with a bubble bar is *crumble it* under the running tap. Often this is an easy exercise in squidging a soft block up a bit, but for whatever reason my Gold Star was pretty solid. It required quite the effort to crumble it up - quite a bit of pressure... straight into those pointy star-ends. Ouch!

In the bath, those stars were very appealing to look at, I'll grant you - they all sank, forming a constellation on the bottom of my tub, with the small amount of glitter also contained in the bar swirling about the water to add to the galaxy effect. Pretty :) But my goodness are they uncomfy to sit on! And I did. And there's one jagging into my leg. And just ow!! There's a vague outside chance I might buy one of these again, but only if I strain it first!

Wait - I might buy it again?! Well, probably not (there are so many other products, after all!), but I wouldn't turn one away either. Stars aside, it was a perfectly pleasant bath, with soft-feeling (but not overtly moisturising) water, plenty of bubbles, and a really lovely smell.

Now, I've been dire this year with reading ingredients before using the products - perhaps I really did overdo it on the buying everything front, and have overwhelmed myself! On using this, my impression was that it smelled exactly the same as the Sunnyside bubble bar - warm citrusy scents. Which was great, as - almost exactly this time last year! - I said it would be good if they brought out the Sunnyside scent in a non-glittery, and therefore cheaper bar. Well, the Gold Star is 50p cheaper indeed, but I'd rather pay the extra it turns out!

Anyway, despite my impressions, I was totally off on the ingredients! Actually, I'm convinced the ingredients list on the Lush website (see below) is a mistake, for the wrong product, as the listed vanilla, clary sage and lavender are nothing like the citrusy scent I thought I was smelling - I'm not the only one, judging by the comments on the site! However, the main description talks about sandalwood, frankincense and benzoin, which is more like it! I use frankincense in my oil burner, often with orange oil, so I do associate it with citrus scents. It's a slightly spicy scent, with obvious Christmas connections, and in aromatherapy is said to have emotionally 'centring' effects.

Sandalwood is to me the aftershave scent! It's woody and slightly sweet, and always reminds me of my dad's aftershave when I was younger (and my sock drawer, now!) - I do like it! It's not obvious in the bath, but its properties include anti-inflammatory effects, good for stress and anxiety, and also for fatigue.

Benzoin is a strange one - it sounds like a chemical, rather than an essential oil, I always think. I couldn't tell you what it smells like on its own, although a quick google tells me it's "sweet, warm and vanilla-like". Hmm on that last one - sweet and warm, yes, but no vanilla to my nose in the Gold Star! That said, benzoin is apparently synonymous with incense, and is good for respiratory problems.

I've little to report on the after-bath: my skin felt normal afterwards, neither needing nor already being moisturised. The smell didn't really linger, on me or in the bathroom. There was minimal 'damage' to the tub, apart from the base remaining littered with gold stars and a little glitter - all of which rinsed away easily enough. The tidemark was thankfully minimal, considering the water had been so brightly yellow!

Overall, this was a perfectly pleasant, both warming and refreshing citrus-y bath - with just a bit too much added danger from the gold stars! I did enjoy it, minor injuries aside (!), but it felt a bit like a sub-standard Sunnyside. Splash out the extra 50p, and get that instead!



~Boring bits~

Price: £2.69

Availability: this is part of the Christmas range, so will be disappearing soon. Pfft, says I. Try your local Lush store, if you have one, or www.lush.co.uk if you don't - there are lots of online-only retro Christmas products to try now, too, if you want to get value for that postage charge ;)

Ingredients:
Who knows?! The ones listed on the website are obviously wrong (vanilla, lavender, red glitter - urm, no!), but this does contain sandalwood, frankincense and benzoin essential oils.

Lush say:
"Give yourself a pat on the back with a golden bath that smells of frankincense. If you've been good all year round you can award yourself a few of these. Give a couple to everyone you know who deserves a reward for getting through 2008 [and I add: WARN THEM about the stars!!]. A thousand years ago, Yuletide was a time when we lit lamps and candles to keep away the spirits of the dark. That's why we still have fairy lights on the Christmas tree. A Gold Star is full of solar essential oils - sandalwood, frankincense and benzoin - which release as you bathe and fill you full of sweetness and light. Everyone deserves a bit of that. A Gold Star will revive your spirits as the nights get longer. (Each one contains a micro-galaxy of little gold stars too.)"

I say:
Meh. It's okay, but Lush can - and has - done better. And do mind your fingers on those star points when you're crumbling it!

Summary: Buy the Sunnyside instead - smells almost the same, less dangerous!