Did you say 'Mars Bar'? (Lush Ma Bar Bubble Bar)

Member Name: llamalove

Product:	Lush Ma Bar Bubble Bar
Date:	29/12/04 (241 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: looks like a big sweet, smells like chocolate and toffee, gives you gorgeous soft skin

Disadvantages: not edible, tastes disgusting, ...ask my other half!

Although I do most of my ‘Lush’ shopping online, it doesn’t take much for me to quickly nip into one of their stores if I’m passing…and the red illuminated sign on the shop front in Romford’s shopping centre yesterday reading, ‘FREE STUFF WHEN YOU BUY OTHER STUFF!’ was all the excuse I needed.

It didn’t say what ‘free stuff’ i had to buy or how much ‘other stuff’ I would get free, but I kind of forgot about the offer as soon as I got in there anyway. With my little sister in toe, I headed straight for the bubble bar display in an attempt to convert her from a shower girl to a bath girl.

I first noticed ‘Ma Bar Bubble Bar’ in the Lush Times, which is delivered to my home, but from the description it wasn’t one that I immediately wanted to try. I love chocolate but only Cadbury’s, and I utterly detest ‘Chocolate Flavoured’ stuff. Eugh! But looking at it there on the shelf with it’s toffee cream and chocolate brown stripes with a huge brown sugar lump in the centre, I couldn’t help but pick it up.

You see, Ma Bar just looks like a big sweet…and it smells like one too. In fact, being my fiancé’s birthday today, I ran him a lovely bath this morning and crumbled half of one in there. Eyeing the bath suspiciously, 101 questions followed about why his water was turning a bit …brown? (Yes, nice hey?). So I took out the other half to let him have a look and a sniff and just managed to stop the daft bugger before he popped it into his mouth! So yes, it does look very edible but apparently, after he licked the crumbs on his lip, I’ve been told it doesn’t taste too nice.

I suppose I should have anticipated what was going to happen really…with a name like ‘Ma Bar’ I did have to repeat myself very loudly several times after hearing…”What is it? A Mars bar? Mmm…” Actually, the name came more from a play on words with the phrase ‘Mother’s Day’ as it was for this occasion that it was invented. Fortunately for us ‘non-mothers’ and ‘mothers who should feel special EVERY day of the year’, it made a comeback after much demand and is here to stay! Whoop whoop! But anyway, back to the product…

For those of you who are not (yet) familiar with the bubble bars that Lush sell, they are slices of a large solid bar that you crumble into the warm running water of your bath to produce an abundance of bubbles. They come in a variety of different guises…my favourites being, ‘Creamy Candy’, ‘Karma’, ‘Fever’ and now… ‘Ma Bar’.

The smell of this product makes you want to eat it (and some of you might not be able to resist …but that’s your choice). Even though I really can’t stand chocolate flavoured tastes and smells, the chocolate and toffee combination of aromas in this bar really go well together and give it a totally different appeal to just chocolate. As you crumble it under the warm tap and it starts to melt, the bathroom (and beyond) begin to smell like a gorgeous, warm, milky, toffee flavoured, hot chocolate drink.

The effect on your skin is also gorgeous. Ma Bar is jammed with all sorts of sumptuous goodies…cocoa butter, Sweet Orange Oil (Citrus dulcis), Bergamot Oil (Citrus bergamia) and a whole bunch of other bits. It will leave your skin feeling soft, supple and hydrated and you’ll smell edible for the rest of the day.

Ma Bar cost £1.95 for a 120g bar. Each bar will give you enough creamy bubbles for at least 2 baths…but up to 4 if you’re purse is feeling a bit light after Christmas! It can be purchased in any Lush store or online at www.lush.co.uk

Oh yes, and as for the ‘Free Stuff’, when I got to the till, the kind, gorgeous, generous girl behind the counter popped a whole handful of products in my bag for nothing… ‘Red Rooster soap’, ‘Blue Skies bubble bar’, ‘Sea Vegetable Soap’, ‘Ginger Man Ballistic’, ‘Creamy Candy Bubble Bar’, ‘Bohemian Lemon Body Soap’ and a ‘Shimmy Shimmy Massage Bar’! So get down to your nearest Lush store if you’re in for some freebies and expect a few more reviews as I work my way down mine.

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