Blossom? Rotten blossom more like! (Lush Blossom)

Member Name: sweetpea01

Product:	Lush Blossom
Date:	08/07/09 (18 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Two lovely items

Disadvantages: Too expensive for what it is

Lush do a great range of gifts, ranging in prices which really suits everybodies budget. But Lush have a tendency to put items together just for the hell of it and create gifts which are really of no benefit to anyone! Blossom is just one gift which is actually more expensive to buy as a gift, whereas you can buy both of the items for less money! Maybe Lush should cotton onto this and change how they do their gifts!

Blossom to be fair to it looks like such a pretty, girly gift. Wrapped in beautiful blue, white and pink 'blossom' patterned gift wrap, all tied together with pink bow and finished with a tag which lists its contents. As usual Blossom is stuffed full of popcorn, which I think is what costs the money!

Blossom contains:- 17 Cherry Tree Lane Soap and Sakura Bath Ballistic

17 Cherry Treet Lane:-

This ultra-smooth soap with a silken lather has a rather complex scent that first greets you with the brightness of fresh lemon and reviving orange blossom. But a moment before you label this soap a citrus, you are approached by woodsy, sweet mimosa and the even sweeter, ultra feminine jasmine. This combination of fruits and fountain-of-youth floras in itself oft reminds you of fragrant, mid- May afternoons spent sitting under cherry blossom trees in a quietly secluded, wooded park.

However, on top of this aromatic imagery, I find there's an additional powdery, slightly sickly sweetness that doesn't quite seem to fit into this painted picture. In the shower, I've never been able to quite put my finger on it. Three bars later, my nose gave up on solving the riddle, finally checking out the ingredients to see what it could find.

As expected, I found the unexpected: brown sugar and cocoa powder, the former quite likely being the primary supplier of that strange top note. And while I'm quite certain there are those who adore every aspect of 17 Cherry Tree Lane's fragrance (shared by Sakura bath ballistic), I find this added sweetness rather unnecessary, if not slightly distracting from an otherwise sensual calm, evocative of lazy days in the full bloom of spring's breeze.

Sakura:-

There are those who love Sakura (and the similarly scented 17 Cherry Tree Lane Soap), and then there are those who despise it. Then there is me, who finds Sakura to be a bit "ho-hum," even in comparison to 17 Cherry Tree Lane. Sakura is scented with lemon, mimosa, and orange blossom. However, while this equals a lovely, sweet, powdery perfume, the fragrance is often far too subtle and even occasionally carries a note that smells a little like...well, dampness, really.

That's the only way I can think to describe it; it smells a little like stale, standing water at times. Sad, this, because the very first Sakura baths I ever took back when it was a "new" product were stunningly fragrant. But ever since then... Additionally, being that this white Bath Ballistic is filled with little blue and pink specks of sea salt crystals, you'd think they might tint the water a delicate shade of pastel.

But sadly, they make no real impact at all, leaving the water looking dull as dishwater. So, despite a Sakura bath's giving you super soft skin (to the point where, hours later, you almost think you've applied a body lotion even when you haven't), for the most part, it's bland, it's weak, and overall, it's simply unimpressive.

What Lush says:-

"Say it with flowers: mimosa, orange blossom and jasmine.
You can only buy the flower shaped 17 Cherry Tree Lane soap inside Lush gift boxes so that's one good reason to put this down on your present list. Blossom celebrates our Japanese connections, with a Sakura Bath Ballistic and a gorgeous little soap, wrapped up in a cherry blossom paper and tied with cherry coloured ribbon. It's a lovely way to say arigato gozai mas (thank you very much)."

Blossom is one of Lush's cheaper gifts and will cost you £7.78 which to be fair is not badly priced but considering the items cost less individually makes this gift not worth buying, you end up paying for its packaging more than anything. If you buy the items individually they come to under £6.00 thats a big difference!! So my advice is buy the items seperately as you really are wasting money on this gift!!

Summary: The items cost less bought individually!!