For those who've been shopping with Lush for a few years, some time ago, you may have panicked as I did when hearing 'Flying Fox' temple balm was being taken off the shelves. For the unfamiliar, Flying Fox is a sexy Lush jasmine and honey fragranced shower gel. Lush created it specifically to help calm PMT - but it turns out that men love it just as much apparently... although we won't go into that here. The temple balm version was akin to a solid perfume but was meant to be rubbed on pulse points whenever you felt a bit stroppy! 'Poor Mr. Mc!' I cried, 'it's the only thing that stops me killing him some months!' So imagine my delight (and Mr. Mc's relief) when the staff told me not to worry, Flying Fox temple balm was being ever so slightly tweaked and reborn as Lust perfume.

I waited patiently and a few months later, Lust appeared in the same tough, black plastic push-up tubes as the other solid perfumes. The tube looks small, 6 cm high and 8cm in circumference, just like the others in the range. It's very plain packaging - it simply has 'Lust Solid Perfume' written on it in white writing, and that's all. I'm going over old ground here: I always point out in my Lush reviews that the packaging isn't up to much, and it's true, but Lush's little black plastic tubes are both recycled and recyclable - so don't base your decisions on the packaging! Take one for team mother earth and ignore the toughness of the plastic. Those of you who haven't shopped at Lush before, you have to learn to look past the packaging and look to the product to make your judgement.

The great news for all us die-hard Lushies is that they haven't actually played with the scent that much; it still smells very much like Flying Fox and would layer up beautifully with your shower gel. The not-so-great news for the uninitiated is that Lust is a very strong fragrance that takes some getting used to. The Lust fragrance is described a 'dirty jasmine' - meaning strong and heady. The main fragrances are: masses of jasmine followed by much lesser quanties of rose, ylang ylang, sandalwood and a tiny bit of vanilla. It can overpower the wearer at first. In fact, I was once told after applying it that I smelt like a friend's potpourri(!) 'but in a good way - I really like my potpourri!' he added. I would also like to add a very important note here: the fragrance still works wonders on PMT and general strops!

I advise you to apply Lust, then wander about a bit and wait 30 minutes before you smell it and judge whether to buy or not. The scent calms down after about 30 minutes on the skin and settles into a beautiful floral jasmine with just a touch of rose, that although still strong, is much less 'in your face' than you think it will be on applying. The vanilla smell is almost none existant - there is no sweetness whatsoever to this perfume, it's thick, strongly floral and heady. If you don't like a strong perfume, you're not going to like Lust. It's not heavy and 'masculine' sandalwood-based like say 'Opium' (Dior) or anything similar; it's still very feminine and floral, but make no mistake, people will notice you're wearing it. I often find that too much jasmine or sandalwood will bring on a migraine (I can't use Lush's 'Sex Bomb' bath ballistic for this reason), but I'm quite safe with this perfume. In part, I think that's due to lesser quantities of perfume being used. I've mentioned in another review that Lush charge less for their solid perfumes than their liquid ones not just because of size, but also because they put less of the perfume oils into the solids than the liquids. I think that makes the solid route a good way to ease yourself into Lust, rather than going for the full-on double the strength liquid hit. Having said that, the solid fragrance is still strong and will last somewhere in the region of 6-7 hours on your skin.

Like all Lush solid perfumes, Lust is colour coded, which the big kid in me just loves. The perfume stick is bright red. When you apply it, you can see where you've been because of the red streaks! Make sure you rub in well - you don't want to face the world with a big red stripe down your neck (yes, I've done this too). The texture of Lust solid perfume is just right in my opinion, it glides on well and is easy to rub in without being overly greasy. Another advantage of Lust solid perfume is that it is one of Lush's least expensive ones at only £4.50 a tube; great value I think. These tubes will last and last despite their small size. As the texture is slightly firmer than some solid perfumes, Lust will last you longer - I go through a tube about every 2-3 months. What an absolute bargain: 2-3 months of perfume and change from a fiver! Like all solid perfumes, Lust is of course extremely portable and won't distroy the contents of your handbag/make-up bag if the top comes off - and that's really important to me; my handbag's like a black hole! It's one of the many reasons I'm such a fan of solid perfumes. Lust isn't for everyone, but if you're not afraid to wear a bold perfume, after about 30 minutes you'll be smelling extremely foxy! Who knows, you might even seduce someone!