I'm a bit frosty towards this one (Lush Snowdrops Bath Ballistic)

Member Name: calypte

Product:	Lush Snowdrops Bath Ballistic
Date:	22/11/08 (149 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A head-clearing mix of scents, the bits are pretty

Disadvantages: A bit medicinal-smelling, the bits are sticky!

Lush's 2008 Christmas range hit the shop in October - a bit early for getting into the yuletide spirit, methinks! However, with December almost upon us I figure we're about there, especially with so many products to get through ;) I'm like a kid in a sweetie shop with all the new Lush stuff to try out, and this - white (albeit sparkly!) and therefore not *too* festive - seemed like a good place to start.

The scent of the Snowdrops is a strange mix: mint, yes, but with mandarin and grapefruit - what?! And yet it did appeal: a bit 'out there', but fresh and tingly and waking-up-ish (even though I take baths before bed!). To say the smell is a bit heady is rather an understatement: that it was so obvious in the shop (ie drowned out by a zillion other products!) should have been a warning sign. The Lush bag sat in my living room that night, and this ballistic stank the room out (in a not unpleasant way!); a full two days later I came home from work and realised I could smell it as soon as I opened the front door!

With that in mind, I decided half a ballistic was a safer start, at least - and despite the difficulties (not to mention danger - that was a sharp knife!) I'd definitely recommend this as the way to go - this stuff is potent! Even with just half the sphere, the scent was pretty overwhelming... and alas, not 100% 'nice'. Not nasty, just... sharp. A bit medicinal, even? Once I'd been in the bath a goodly while I did get used to it and started to find it okay-ish, but I never thought 'mmm'!

So, why would Lush put these scents together, then? Here comes the science-y bit - ie, now a word about essential oils!

Sweeter and a bit lighter than orange, mandarin is a fresh and uplifting scent, calming at the same time. It's a great pick-me-up all round, whilst paradoxically also a great cure for insomnia. The other citrus in the Snowdrops is the sharper, tangy grapefruit. This is also used to lift any sadness or depression, and apparently is also good for the digestive system - as is peppermint. This is a stimulating, mentally refreshing oil - so obviously not really a pre-bed bath! Lush advertise this as a get-up-and-go morning product; definitely doesn't fit with my routine, but I think a bit of head-clearing a few hours before sleep can be very effective. Oh, and anything minty helps with my snuffly nose!

Back to the bath, and scent aside what else is going on with this ballistic? Well, it's snowy white so isn't going to colour your bath any (you mean my tap water is really that colour?!), but it does come with decorative elements. Two in fact: some rather bizarre sugar crystals that looked like glacier mints which, when freed from the melting ballistic, sank instantly and clunked against the bath! They did melt eventually but clicked about again the bottom of the bath for quite a bit first! The other embellishment is a large number of really rather attractive, mostly translucent, iridescent slivers of plastic. Now, I'm generally pretty against bits in my bath (as regular readers may know, from a few previous rants!), but these seemed so innocuous, and so pretty, that I decided not to mind. Even when they started sticking to me. In fact, these bits stuck everywhere: me, the bath, ALL OVER ME! And let me tell you, these aren't harmless little glitter particles. Not only to they cling like mad, but when you try to brush them off they go rather scratchy - argh!! Not so great, but certainly not as bad as many. They did detach from me relatively okay as I towelled down, although I suspect I'll be finding shiny snippets of plastic in various places throughout the house for a while to come!


Overall, then, I wasn't terribly impressed with this. While not nasty, it just didn't really appeal as an experience - mostly the smell just didn't do anything for me, and definitely wasn't a 'comforting hot bath' scent. That said, it wasn't vile, and if someone gave me one of these I would still use it - probably when I had a stuffed up nose, admittedly ;) I probably won't be buying another one, though. Glad I tried it, but now it's time for the rest of the new stuff... all of it ;)



~Boring bits~

Price: £2.95

Availability: Bear in mind that this is a festive product, and probably won't be about for long after New Year. If you don't live near a shop, the website (Lush.co.uk) has the full range - and a free postage offer right now!

Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Large Sugar Crystals, Perfume, Iridescent Glitter (Polyethylene terephthalate and Acrylates copolymer), Mandarin Oil (Citrus nobilis), Grapefruit Oil (Citrus paradisi), Peppermint Oil (Mentha piperita), *Limonene, *Linalool
* Occurs naturally in Essential Oils

Lush say:
"Take the head clearing, reviving citrus scents of mandarin and grapefruit, then add a generous dash of peppermint and you have the most amazing, life affirming Ballistic ever to sneak up on you and give you the slap in the face you need (metaphorically speaking of course)."

I say: nice idea, but not for me.

Summary: Nice idea, but didn't work for me