Concentrated liquid fairy (Lush Snow Fairy)

Member Name: calypte

Product:	Lush Snow Fairy
Date:	29/12/08 (207 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Glorious sweetie scent!

Disadvantages: Sickly sweet sweetie scent?

My obsessive-compulsive desire to try EVERYTHING in Lush has brought some pleasant surprises this year: the delicious scent of the Christmas Morning bubble bar, originally disregarded for being covered in party streamers; the unimpressive-seeming Pumpkin soap turning out to be my favourite yet! So, I suppose I must take the negatives - the Christmas Party ballistic! - as part-payment. However, having told you about some of the horrors, I figure there's time in 2008 yet to squeeze in a last positive note or two? ;)

I've never been drawn to Lush's shower gels - they do seem rather expensive, after all. However, since Snow Fairy was part of the Christmas range I was working my way through entirely, and smelled okay if a tad overpowering, let's give it a go! And yet again - I'm glad I did!

As I say, one whiff of the bottle and Snow Fairy is quite overwhelming - it's a very concentrated sweet scent, and I had to assume that it'd calm down a bit diluted in use. We-ell, it does, but it's still quite strong! It's incredibly sweet/sweetie-type scent - my favourite description has been that it's a super-charged version of the Creamy Candy Bar or Rockstar soap. For those who haven't sniffed those before, it's a bit like bubble gum meets flumps - sweet and vanilla and candy floss!

Add to the bright pink colour, and the sparkles (although I haven't had any on me, yet, they're stuck at the bottom of the bottle!), and there is something very definitely girlie about this product - and not just that, but something perfectly princess-y: something for the more grown-up (inner) six-year-old, methinks ;) But don't worry, gents: if you fancy giving it a go I won't tell ;) The lingering scent might give you away though! Yup, this one hangs about - me and even more so the bathroom carried the scent for quite a while: great if you like it, not so much if you don't.

I definitely would say this is a love-or-hate product, and I'm guessing your liking for the Candy bubble bar or Rockstar soap is a good indicator: one of my friends (hello if you're reading!) is okay-ish with those two - nice enough, but nothing that grabs her - and she really didn't like this, finding it far too strong. Me, on the other hand: I rather like the sweet scent in the more subtle form, and thus found the Snow Fairy rather lush (pardon the pun) in a slightly indulgent and completely girlie way that really lifted my spirits of a morning.

Of course, scent is all for naught if the product doesn't work - luckily, this is as good a shower gel as any from Radox or Palmolive ;) I particularly like the thick, creamy but slightly gel-like consistency, and the fact that a small blob foams up hugely on a shower puff! It cleans well, and left my skin feeling lovely and soft to match the scent.

The only real downside to this is the bottle. Because of the thick consistency, the rather solid little plastic bottle makes it extremely hard to get the gel out, particularly near the end. I'd also complain slightly that it's all very artificial - no essential oils in the ingredients. Of course, it's still a 'natural' Lush product (and heck, you're still paying for that!) but it feels like a slight cheat, almost.

Overall, this is a nice little shower gel, which is to be judged on whether or not you can stand the scent: is it sickly or a sugar-rush high? Me? I'll be buying a BIG bottle to see me through to next Christmas! :)


~Boring bits~

Prices:
£2.89 for 100g - the size I got, and you need relatively little per use, so it lasts well
£5.82 for 250g
£9.74 for 500g - so obviously the bigger bottle is better value

Availability: get it before it goes! A Christmas limited edition, try grabbing a bottle in your local Lush store if you're lucky enough to have one, or www.lush.co.uk otherwise.

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Propylene Glycol, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Lactic Acid, Synthetic Musk (Ethylene Brassylate), Titanium Dioxide, Iridescent Glitter (Polyethylene terephthalate and Acrylates copolymer), Benzyl Benzoate, Colour 18050, Methylparaben

Lush say: "Sparkly, candy floss pink, sweet-as-sugar shower gel for fruity, fluffy fairies.
The Snow Fairy flies in from the North Pole, all pink, sparkly and candy scented. We'd imagined that it would be popular with girls and lovers of our fluffiest fragrances but we never believed it would be so popular with grown men too. Use it to wash your hair and body after a ballet lesson or a gymnastics class (or even a football match)."

I say: indulge your inner six year old princess! :)

Summary: Squished up fairies in a bottle - or just a sweet shower gel, you decide ;)