In The Bath With A Dirty Little Scrubber! (Lush You Snap the Whip Body Butter)

Member Name: jo1l

Product:	Lush You Snap the Whip Body Butter
Date:	27/10/05 (288 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Messy. Sore Red legs!

Lush perhaps better known for their Bath Ballistics, Soaps and Bubble Bath Bar’s actually do a rather good line in exfoliating bars. When it comes to an exfoliating product I’m of the principle the more bits in it to scrub away dead skin, aid circulation , banish cellulite and all the other good stuff the ad men tell me I’m doing in an attempt to avoid paying out for liposuction, the better! To me there is no point having some tube of gunk that you then play spot the exfoliating granule in. I’m not quite there in the No Pain No Gain stakes but I’m a happily little scrubber if I can feel a tingle on my skin.


As with most Lush products it’s go one of those stupid names or so I thought. “ You Snap The Whip” is basically an exfoliating bar about 2 inches square, it’s pitch black and it smells of black currant. It has nothing that screams BUY ME at all! So I went ahead and bought it! Paying £3.95 for a 95g bar. Having tried their best selling “Buffy the Backside Slayer” exfoliating bar I did assume that “You snap the whip” would be a similar experience abet a blackcurrant smelling one instead! On their web site it can be found under body butters with Buffy and other exfoliating bars. Now a body butter to me is some kind of lotion you liberally smear all over your skin not an exfoliating bar perhaps I’m being picky!


According to the Lush web site, each bar of “You snap the whip” contains Cocoa butter - renowned in Lush circles for it’s moisturising properties and ground pumice and charcoal -for exfoliating purposes. As with all Lush products it hasn’t been tested on animals and packaging is minimalist and recyclable. Lush promised “coal black body butter for soft, strokeable, blackcurrant scented skin.” sounds good doesn’t it? Lush even kindly tell you how to use this - “To use it stroke the bar over your skin when it’s wet and rinse off thoroughly in the bath or shower.”


When it comes to trying a new Lush product the sooner the better is my motto. That night I set the scene, nice warm Lush scented bath, candles lit, chilled wine to hand and Dido lamenting a lost love in the background -Dido always makes me feel rather smug. The only thing missing being a tub of Hagan Daz to eat in the bath but we’re on a low fat we’ll beat the need for liposuction diet.


Having immersed myself into the scented waters I quickly grabbed hold of the bar , for a fleeting second I did wonder how messy this might get but filed that thought to the back of my mind as I raised a leg out of the scented waters and rubbed the bar over my thigh. At this point nothing happened well a part from my thigh now having a dirty grey/black soapy appearance, there was a slight vague ribena/aniseed smell fighting to be smelt above the others in my bathroom. In retrospect I should have stopped at this point! The fool in me then rubbed a bit harder and suddenly we had that familiar tingle I get when I normally enjoy being a bit of a scrubber in the bath. “You snap the whip” is very similar to the first time you use a Buffy bar -it takes a few rubs to get things going then suddenly you hit the jack pot in the exfoliating stakes and you actually get down to the job in hand. This is perhaps the only thing the two bars have in common. Next up was my other thigh, one quick rub of the bar later and I felt the familiar tingle but it also felt very slightly sore. With the next rub I came to the conclusion that taking off the epidermis layer of my skin was perhaps not a recommended bathing activity. What I did notice that there wasn’t any of that familiar greasy moisturising film you get with Buffy in fact all I noticed was the fact my legs appeared bright red, the bath water was reminiscence of a Pit head bath, it was now a wonderful grey -you haven’t washed for weeks shade. Bit’s of soapy grey scum dribbled down the titles and to add insult to injury every time I moved in my murky grey bath the sodding pumice stone/charcoal bits got me! The moment was ruined, even Dido sounded happier than I did!


Lush promised me a scrubbing session that would leave my skin feeling soft and moisturised. What I got was red sore looking legs, that felt dry to the touch a day after -so much for the promises of silky soft skin made on their web site! I’m not too sure where my cocoa butter went to but it wasn’t rubbed on my skin to be sure! I don’t suffer with sensitive skin and have subjected my skin to some hideous tortures in the name of exfoliating over the years but this has to be the worst ever!


Lush products are notorious for their messy side effects i.e. your bath looks like it’s not been washed for a good few weeks. “You snap the whip” is no different but I suppose I begrudged cleaning out the bath more due to the fact I’d felt cheated and let down by this scrubber I’d invited into the bath! I can only assume that it needs to be stored in a similar way to my trusty Buffy i.e. not in the soap dish going soggy in between use.mine ended up in the bin! Lush recommend that you use “You Snap the Whip” on a weekly basis I recommend you don’t bother at all! “You snap the whip” would be an ideal pressie for your worst enemy! So if you see me running out of Lush clutching a bag of these you’ve been warned………..


Not recommended unless you have masochistic tendencies.

Summary: An exfoliating bar for masochists