My glittering Christmas (Lush Christmas Carol Melt)

Member Name: sweetpea01

Product:	Lush Christmas Carol Melt
Date:	02/06/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks pretty & smells beautiful

Disadvantages: No longer available & not for glitter haters

Today has been one of the hottest day's so far and at about 25 degrees I have no idea why I am going to be reviewing a Christmas product! I've just stumbled upon this item as browsing through the Lush range, trying to find products that I can review and also products I can add to the collection. I'm still wondering why the product title is Christmas Carol Melt, as it's a bath ballistic! Maybe someone became confused! Anyway to put the record straight A Christmas Carol is a full on bath ballistic! I was fortunate to have quite a few of these ballistics when they came out year after year and I am so glad I did, even if the volume of glitter I did find a tad over the top!

A Christmas Carol has only ever been a limited edition for Christmas and came out in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. It is the Christmas version of the year round Fairy Jasmine Bath Ballistic. It is the limited edition angel shape, complete with wings and in fact in 2002 when she first came to our shelves she was actually named Fairy Jasmine with Wings. A little useless fact there!

This lovely lilac angel is scented with Queen of the Night jasmine and sweet ylang ylang, with a dash of sultry vetivert. In the bath, however, what begins as a femininely powdery scent consistently goes on the side of subtlety. But depending on what you're looking to achieve, don't be too quick to write this beauty of a bath off.

Sure, you might not get much fragrance (due to the sheer expense of jasmine absolute combined with the fact that this 130g bath is only two thirds the size of her already subtly scented big sister, Fairy Jasmine). but what you do get is glitter galore and water that glistens to the point where you think you've died and gone to heaven, a team of A-list angels having decorated the place to make it all that much more beautiful in celebration of your arrival. So you have been warned and for all of those glitter haters out there this one is definately one for you to miss!

This glitter makes Christmas Carol a fabulous bath for getting yourself ready for a Christmas party. For those nights when you want to paint the town red, Christmas Carol will evenly paint your entire body with gold, pink, pastel green, and iridescent glitter (and if you dunk your head into the water, she'll not only paint your hair as well, but she'll leave it super soft and shiny). And she'll do all of this not just for one night, but for several days (and when it comes to your home and all who pass through it, possibly years) on end. Unfortunately as much as the glitter comes in handy for those Christmas nights out however the day after your office's xmas party and you go into work looking like a disco ball is not always a good look!

Unfortunately, however, some batches of the 2006 edition additionally dress you in sharply shredded plastic confetti normally found in Lush's Christmas Party Bath Ballistic. Not only do these shards of glass-like confetti look and feel fairly awkward on the skin, but Lush also appear to have replaced some of the glitter content with these mis-shapen scraps. Mind you, this sparkle-rific bath is not for the timid. If you're not the glittering type (who, in the case of the 2006 Christmas Carol is also pro-shrapnel), then you are warned to bath with Christmas Carol at your own risk. Otherwise, you may conclude all too late that this glittering angel is actually the devil in disguise!

Christmas Carol dissolves and fizzes as soon as it hits the water and the good news is that it doesn't leave a salt trail behind so you can have a comfortable, relaxing bath! The water does go a lovely pale lilac hue (just make sure you rinse the bath afterwards just incase of staining!) and the glitter or shrapnel (dependant on batch) float along the surface. I didn't particuarly find the water change in terms of softness but it does produce a thin layer of white bubbles. Christmas Carol has a very subtle sweet scent as I said above but it will certainly fill the bathroom. As soon as you get out the bath and have dried yourself off you will see the glitter on your skin along with your towel. Unfortunately this ballistic doesn't really moisturise your skin and you will definately have to use a moisturiser which will then make the glitter stick alot longer!

Christmas Carol I think will never be brought back to our shelves as it was always a limited edition item and was no doubt going to be discontinued forever. Christmas Carol weighed 130g and cost £2.25 which I thought was a great price for a Christmas item, especially being a limited edition. I have however recently seen these listed on Ebay so I am hopefully going to get more!!

Summary: A very merry christmas product!