Twas Not the Night for this! (Lush Twas The Night Before Christmas)

Member Name: sweetpea01

Product:	Lush Twas The Night Before Christmas
Date:	07/06/09 (43 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Looks visually wonderful

Disadvantages: Lack of fragrance

As I've done a few Lush reviews I thought why not carry on! Lush have brought out some wonderful Christmas limited editions which really should not be forgotton about! Lush always make certain products for each holiday, they tend to be limited edition and available for a short time only. Some become so popular that they come back year after year, sometimes the same and sometimes in different shapes. Christmas 2005 was no different and they released a new soap called Twas The Night Before Christmas. Now unfortunately Lush seem to produce unimpressive Christmas soaps such as Bob (the exception is of course Snowcake) but on the whole its all talk. Would this soap be the same?

Twas The Night Before Christmas Soap is mysteriously deep purple like the night sky, decorated with star-blue sparkles and sold in slices from a large round pie depicting Santa and his reindeer riding over a large golden moon, seeing it as a whole block is to be fair pretty visually impressive! 'Twas The Night Before Christmas shares the same exact fragrant recipe as Black Pearl Bath Ballistic (which I will be reviewing shortly!), and it's also a very close rendition of Skin Sin Body Lotion's scent, as well.

All of the above bear a blackcurrant, lavender, and chamomile fragrance, while this soap and Black Pearl additionally share the sweetly smoldering scents of frankincense (olibanum simply being another name for frankincense) and myrrh. And you can't get anymore Christmasy than frankincense and myrrh, considering these herbs were gifts from the Three Wise Men (and wise men they were indeed!)

Initially, I quite enjoyed this soap, the first few washes with each slice of Twas The Night Before Christmas left me heavily perfumed with the ambrosial fragrance of blackcurrants for the entire day. (Many Lushettes complain that Lush's blackcurrant fragrance is fleeting on the skin, but for some reason, my body soaks the stuff up like an aromatic sponge!). I adored this fragrance and would at this point of recommended this soap to all but it was all going to change!

However, after several days, even I came to agree with the majority of my fellow Lushettes, I found that lavender began to overpower blackcurrant more and more, and while the overall scent was certainly still a lovely one, it increasingly lacked not only its delicious sweetness, but also its potency. What started out as candied herbs for Christmas soon became...well, it became your more typically herbal, perennial lavender and chamomile soap, and one that practically left the skin fragrance free. Now don't get me wrong I absolutely adore lavender and will quite happily smell it all day long but when you use a Christmas soap you want it to remind you of Christmas and be slightly special, not something when you could pick up in any supermarket.

There are not all negatives about Twas The Night Before Christmas. In it's defense it gave a good wash. The soap lathered up well into a soft lilac lather and lasted well. Twas does not melt as easily as other soaps too which is a bonus but don't leave it around by water as it will no doubt turn to mush. After use your skin is left soft and smooth and despite the very very subtle smell you couldn't argue with the fact that it gave a moisturising wash!

Summed up, though this is an ultra-creative soap by visual design, it's a shame that its fragrance doesn't manage to retain much of that originality and artistry but then I do find that some of Lush's soaps which are beautiful to look at lack the power to give a wonderful fragrance for long.

Twas The Night managed to stick around for Christmas 2005 but it was not brought back the year after unlike the likes of Bob and Greenwash (xmas edition). May the scent had put people off. I think if you didn't manage to get your hands on a slice of this then you really haven't missed out and if you are that desperate see if you can get a Black Pearl ballistic.

Summary: Thank god it was a limited edition!