I think it buzzed off halfway through the bath! (Lush Honey Bee Ballistic)

Member Name: bamamo

Product:	Lush Honey Bee Ballistic
Date:	08/02/09 (104 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Rhassoul mud is cleansing/moisturising agent, will last two baths, smells good

Disadvantages: Scent didn't last in the air/water too long

Another Lush review as I slowly but surely work through my untested, unreviewed goodies from my grab bags!

Despite my slight aversion to ballistics on the whole (I find them to be a little disappointing once they've fizzled out so to speak), I was keen to try this one because it smells like Honey I Washed the Kids soap, which I use frequently.

My first impression was wow, this thing is HUGE! I often find that Lush's products are a bit wasteful in that you don't really need to use the whole thing, much as I'm sure their cash flow (but not mine!) would love you to. Fortunately the majority of them, at least those in the standard "ball" shape, have a seam down the middle. After a bit of sawing down this line (okay, quite a lot...) with an old knife, you can snap the ballistic in half to make it go further. I find half to be plenty.

The scent is a sweet honey/toffee/caramel which almost smells good enough to eat. Unlike some sweet-scented Lush products, this one doesn't have floral undertones or anything "spoiling" what it's supposed to smell like!

So after cutting it in half, I ran a bath and dropped in the Honey Bee. As I predicted, the water began to turn yellow as it dissolved. I'll be honest, it did look like I had peed in the bath. I hadn't. I picked it out halfway through it's fizzing and noticed that while the outside was bright yellow, it was laced with brown, slightly sludgy bits. I later found this was Moroccan Rhassoul mud (also found in Lush's Waylander Rhassoul soap), which is used to cleanse and soften skin.

I did find that the water felt soft and silky so it would appear this was doing it's job. The scent was strong as the ballistic dissolved and very pleasant.

HOWEVER I found that the scent and silky feeling of the water all but disappeared after not too long of a soak, leaving only the yellow water. The scent was pretty weak now as well, although as I washed with Honey I Washed the Kids, this wasn't such a big deal as it topped up the scent.

My skin felt soft after the bath and was lightly fragranced even before washing with the same-scented soap. It could be that the change in the feel of the water (eg less silky) was down to my skin drinking up all the goodness. I have terribly dry skin which is, on the whole, pretty thirsty!

So, what did I like about the ballistic? It's scent; the fact that it will last two baths; the addition of a cleansing agent so I feel like it's doing some good rather than just changing the smell/colour of the water; and the fact that there is complimentary soaps and shower gel from Lush (Flying Fox shower gel).

What don't I like? The pee-yellow water; the way the scent fades a lot during the bath; the way the just-dissolved feeling of the water doesn't seem to last.

So, the big question. Would I buy this again? Probably not. I have 1 1/2 left from my grab bags and that's plenty for me, thank you! If you do like ballistics, then this is really not bad, but I'll always favour bubble bars for how they last the whole bath and are generally better value for money.

Honey Bee costs £2.65 and is available in store or at Lush.co.uk. Worth a try if you like your baths and honey/sweet scents.

Summary: It's okay, but nothing to write home about and I probably wouldn't buy again.