Luxury Lush Pud - Christmas 2015

Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Lavender Oil, Benzoin Resinoid, Tonka Absolute, Ylang Yland Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Cream of Tartar, Water, Lauryl Betaine, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Gardenia Extract, Benzyl Benzoate, Coumarin, Linalool, Perfume, Colour 42090. Colour 15510, Colour 45410, Candy Pink Lustre and Candy Holly Leaf.

Vegan

This is the first of my reviews of Lush's 2015 Christmas range and I thought I would start with one of the most colourful offerings this year. The Luxury Lush Pud is mainly a neon pink bath ballistic with round discs of different colours and a top layer of white that is topped off with a decorative holly on.

Luxury Lush Pud is the same size as Lush's other round bath bombs like Twilight, Frozen and Big Blue and this actually shares the same scent as Twilight.

For those in the know, Twilight has a malty, sweet lavender smell that is perfect for sending you off to a good night's rest and the Luxury Lush Pud does the exact same thing. The fragrance lasts for many hours on your skin and the water leaves it silky smooth as well. The only issue I had with this bath bomb was that it wasn't that moisturising in the long run and although my skin felt smooth, it was quite dry at the same time. This could be easily remedied with the Dreamtime Bath melt/oil or Monsieur Gustave bath oil for a boost of moisturising oils and both of these items would work very well with the lavender scent.

As I have mentioned, this is an extremely colourful bath bomb and the bath water reflects this as such; creating neon pink water that has trails of multi coloured froth from the coloured discs that creates an attractive and inviting bath to indulge yourself in. It is quite a fast fizzer, dissolving in just over 2 minutes so it is quite a short show compared to some of the others but the one thing that I found curious was that The Experimenter with all its colours created quite murky water and in comparison Luxury Lush Pud has a range of colours but still produces beautiful water so I don't know how that happens!

This is certainly a bath bomb that I will get a couple of before they disappear until next Christmas but Twilight is certainly the better bath bomb in my opinion!

4*/5*

£3.95

Lord of Misrule Shower Cream - Lush Halloween 2015

Ingredients: Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Patchouli and Peppercorn infusion, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Stearic Acid, Lauryl Betaine, Propylene Glycol, Perfume, Lactic Acid, Organic Wheatgerm Oil, Black Pepper Oil, Patchouli Oil, Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute, Titanium Dioxide, Limonene, Linalool, Snowflake Lustre, Colour 42090, Colour 47005 and Methylparaben

Vegan 

Sharing it's scent with the bath bomb of the same name, LoM shower cream has been a long desired for product of Lush fans worldwide. Originally released as part of the Oxford Street Collection, this was brought to all stores for Halloween. 

It is a vivid bright green with snowflake lustre which is completely different from anything that Lush has produced before. Featuring the same main ingredients as the bath bomb, the shower cream has an added ingredient, Wheatgerm Oil, that promotes skin cell formation, and is great for nourishing and rejuvenating dry, mature, dehydrated skin, and reducing scars, stretch marks, sunburns, and damaged skin. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects and Wheatgerm Oil is a high enriched source of vitamin E, A, D, Proteins, Lecithin, and Squalene. Wheatgerm Oil is great applied externally for skin irritations such as roughness, cracking and chaffing making it incredibly effective in the shower cream. 

I found that it was quite a thin liquid and quite oily but it still lathered up well and created a large amount of suds when used with a shower puff and my skin felt incredibly well moisturised and the fragrance lasted well into the next day and I received quite a few compliments on its unique perfume. 
The shower cream has been released in 4 different sizes so that all fans can stock up on it before Halloween is over and can only be found in Oxford Street!

5*/5*
£4.95 - 100g 
£9.75 - 250g 
£16.50 - 500g
£27.95 - 1kg 

Nightwing Shower Jelly - Lush Halloween 2015

Ingredients: Glycerine, Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Fresh Lime and Aloe Vera Decoction, Carra Geenan Extract, Lime Oil, Canob Syrup, Citral, Limonene, Colour 17200, Colour 42090 and Colour 77266.

Vegan 

Throughout my Lush journey, I have fallen in love with the versatility of the shower jellies and so was very excited when it was announced that there would be a new one for Halloween. 

Nightwing, as a friend of mine informs me, is the hero that the original Robin became after he left being partners with Batman and moved to the city of Bludhaven and so it is easy to see where Lush have drawn inspiration from. As a tribute to the Batman theme and the holiday that it has been released for, it is jet black and in the shape of a bat. 

It has a very beautiful aroma and there was a lot of fan speculation that it would have the scent of Calacas but this was proved to be wrong and although they do have a very similar scent, the only way I can describe the difference is that Calacas is the fruit pastille/ jelly bean and Nightwing is the wine gum which offers a slightly more sophisticated citrus scent. 

Unfortunately, although it is extremely potent in the tub, I found that in the shower and after you've toweled off, the scent is barely there and so it is actually one of the weakest shower jelly I've had from lush. Also due to the design, it would probably be easier to cut it up before you use it in the shower as it gets even more slippery and slimey than the usual shower jellies, thus making it hard to use on yourself without it slipping out of your hands. I also found that when I put a sliver on my shower puff, it didn't create that many suds and they were an unattractive grey colour.

I think that this is a very good novelty product from Lush but I won't be stocking up on it to see my through the year. I also found that I had to rinse some excess liquid out of my tub as it leaked in my bag which is something that I've found has happened quite a few times with the Lush shower jellies at the moment. 

2*/5* 

£3.95 for 95g 

Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bar - Halloween 2015

Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar, Sodium Lauryl Betaine, Cornflour, Perfume, Juniperberry Oil, Lime Oil, Grapefruit Oil, Citral, Geraniol, Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool, Colour 15510, Colour 45380:3, Gold Glimmer Lustre and a Cinammon Stick

Vegan 

I was initially worried that this bubble bar would have the scent that it's name suggests but thankfully this is not the case and instead it is a sophisticated citrus smell that is a pleasant change from the wide range of overly sweet and Cinammon relates that are predominate in lush's winter selection this year. 

What stops this from becoming the generic citrus scent of just lemons and limes, the Juniperberry oil adds a refreshing and a slightly smokey, woody aroma dimension to Sparkly Pumpkin creating an extremely pleasing aroma that is perfect for the dark autumnal nights.

This is a product that couldn't be overlooked whilst on show, as it is a bright orange mini pumpkin covered with a generous helping of gold glimmer and a decorative piece of a cinnamon stick, which is a welcome change to the array of pink and white bath products that are on offer.

This is a bubble bar that could certainly be broken into 2 so that you could make the bubble bars last longer and still get a decent amount of bubbles in the bath and turn the water an attractive shade of orange that mimics the autumnal leaves. 

There are quite a few ways that you can use bubble bars to get the maximum amount of bubbles. The way I use is to place the bar in a sieve and hold it under the tap which I find produces the most bubbles for my bath, another way is to crumble it under the taps but I find that you often loose chunks through this process and another way is to crumble the bar onto the surface of the bath and then let the water run over the crumbs, I've not tried this method but it does seem to work quite well. 

For any glitter phones, the glitter is mainly there for decoration and barely makes an impact in the water and doesn't leave any mess at the bottom of the tub. I found that it didn't produce the softest water or the most moisturising but the fragrance lasts for a very long time which I was pleased about and I imagine if you put a butterball/ butter bear in, that would be a good companion to provide moisturising and add another layer to the fragrance. 

4*/5* 

£3.65 

Sorry that it is so short, the water was extremely hot!

Lord Of Misrule Bath Bomb - Halloween 2015

Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Popping Candy, Cream of Tartar, Black Pepper Oil, Patchouli Oil, Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute, Lauryl Betaine, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Gardenia Extract, Limonene, Perfume, Colour 17200, Colour 42090 and Colour 19140

Vegan
This has been a Lush staple at Halloween and has cemented itself as a fan favourite throughout the years, which has led to the fragrance being available in other formats, such as the perfume and the shower cream, so that fans can get their fix throughout the year. 
Lush describes this as a 'mischievous bomb that features a spicy herbal blend of patchouli and black pepper. Inspired by the ruler of the Pagan Feast of Fools, LOM has a deep green exterior that slowly froths away to reveal a rich wine coloured centre.' 

The origins of the festival are French, but it spread across the rest of Europe and according to a Lush article about the history of the festival; 'Before the holiday season began, peasants would draw straws to choose a representative for the title of Lord of Misrule. This lucky individual became the ultimate Christmas party planner: he was tasked with organizing all the holiday festivities that were held at court, in the houses of nobles and in universities. Donning an improvised paper crown and ragged clothing, the Lord of Misrule’s power over those he normally served turned regular social constraints on their heads for his entire ruling period. He was given full license to indulge in whatever he desired, and to encourage others to partake in the revelry and debauchery he created. The festivities often included elaborate masquerade parties, intricate performances, games and abundant feasts.' 

The colour combination in this bath bomb leads to trails of pink and green froth spewing forth and eventually becoming wine coloured water. Although Lush has obviously drawn inspiration from the frivolities, you could equally take a more Halloween spin on it and you could imagine yourself bathing in the blood of your enemies! Certainly, the red centre of my bath bomb looked like it was spewing up from the depths of hell due to the way the green shell dissolved. 

This is quite a slow dissolver and it does take a good couple of minutes for the red centre to make an appearance, mine was taking so long I thought they had forgotten to put it in! It made my skin feel very smooth and the fragrance lasted well into the next day.

This has a fragrance that I've not smelled in Lush before, a sweet but equally herby and spicy fragrance. This is due to the three main ingredients; Black Pepper Oil, Patchouli Oil and Vanilla Extract. The black pepper adds a warm spicy fragrance to the bomb that stops the vanilla absolute becoming overpowering and from the patchouli becoming too heavy and earthy. Essentially, Lush has reached a perfect balance between these fragrances and created something truly magical. I shall definitely be getting more to keep me going throughout the year. 

5*/5* 

£3.95 each 

Yog Nog Soap

Ingredients: Water, Glycerine, Rapeseed Oil, Coconut Oil, Sorbitol, Soya Yoghurt, Perfume, Clove Bud Oil, Ylang, Ylang Oil, Gardenia Extract, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Eugenol, Linalool, Cocoa Powder, Nutmeg Powder. 

This is a beautifully presented Christmas soap a turning festive images such as stars, Christmas trees and baubles and smells good enough to eat! If this was a pudding, I would eat it every day and it would be perfect. 

Yog nog is one of the first soaps from Lush I have actually used in the shower rather than just washing my hands with it. It did produce a light lather to wash myself with and I found that it did loose some of its scent under the running water but after I towelled myself off, the fragrance came back with full force. 

The combination of ingredients create a wonderfully fudgey, warm and sweet aroma and has become one of my favourites from Lush.

Ylang Ylang oil has a sweet floral aroma that helps create the fudgey scent that evokes memories of walking past sweet shops at Christmas time and eagerly gazing in at the shop windows at the displays and the Clove Oil provides a spicy and yet another sweet scent that is warming on the sense and creates a lovely perfume. Clove buds have been associated with Chirstmas traditions and I remember making Pomander Oranges at primary school but some further googling reveals that is a Colonial American tradition so I'm not entirely sure why we were making them! Another ingredient in this soap is soya yoghurt which helps create a creamy and moisturising lather that soothes the skin and also has anti oxidant properties to boot! And finally cocoa powder has residual traces of cocoa butter which gives Yog Nog a silky smooth texture and softens the skin when used as well as helping create the fudgey sweet smell. It is decorated with nutmeg powder which also helps create the overall fragrance and into invoking memories of Chirstmas home cooking and baking. 

This is the perfect Christmas soap in my opinion, and for fans of the fragrance there is also a festive bath bomb and I have seen on the Kitchen of a Yog Nog perfume so there is also a possibility that you can pick up this beautiful fragrance at another time during the year. I shall certainly be stocking up on the soap and bath bombs to see me through the post Christmas months. 

4*/5*

£3.50 for 100g 

£8.75 for 250g 

£17.50 for 500g 

Lush Haul - Halloween, Christmas and Kitchen Products

So I've been terrible at updating this blog recently, I've moved back to Bath and had to survive 2 weeks with virtually no internet which was great fun! But the great thing about being back in Bath is a) I'm back with my friends b) one of those friends will go shopping with me and c) there is a Lush store in town!

So one Friday afternoon, the day the new range was released in stores, I persuaded her to come with me to Lush and we went a tiny, little bit crazy! We were in there for about an hour and I ended up with a lovely staff member named Kaz carrying one of my baskets for me as I was getting so much! They didn't have all the products in store yet so I did get some on line but a couple more products have been released on line so I suppose I shall just have to do some more shopping plus I got some more general products too :)

This will mainly be a picture heavy post and I will put reviews up in the coming weeks.

Bath Bombs and Bubble Bars

1 L-R: Shoot for the Stars, Holly Golightly, Father Christmas
2 L-R: Luxury Lush Pud, Dashing Santa, Five Gold Rings
3 L-R: Bah Humbug, Snow Angel, Lord of Misrule

1 L-R: Sparkly Pumpkin, Peeping Santa, Cinders, Golden Wonder
2 L-R: Butterbear, So White, Candy Mountain, Magic Wand

 Shower Gels and Jellies

1 L-R: Santa's Belly, Nightwing, Snowman
2 L-R: Salt and Peppermint Bark, Lord of Misrule, Snow Fairy, Rose Jam

Dusting Powders 

Kitchen 

1 L-R: Brimstone Scrub, Elixir Bath Melt
2 L-R: After 8.30 Massage Bar, It's A Pleasure Treasure MB, Cosmic Dreamcatcher MB

Miscellaneous

1 L-R: Celestial, Jersey Bounce
2 L-R: No Drought, Christingle
3 L-R Yog Nog, Damaged, Dream Time, Montalbano

Hi guys, I have had no internet for a while and won't have it until next week but hopefully I should be able to get some reviews up soon!

The Comforter Shower Cream

Ingredients: Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Blackberry and Fair Trade Vanilla Infusion, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Almond Oil, Lactic Acid, Titanium Dioxide, Bergamot Oil, Cassis Absolute, Cypress Oil, Limonene, Linalool, Snowflake Lustre, Colour 17200, Colour 45410, Methylparaben and Propylparaben

Vegan 

This shower cream processes one of my all time favourite scents from Lush, The Comforter fragrance. This has been a hard fragrance to track down in other formats than the bubble bar as Lush usually only produces the shower gel version in the Kitchen and that makes a rare appearance. 

The Comforter shower cream was originally developed as an Oxford Street exclusive and was one of the things I was the most excited to pick up when I first went up there, but this product has been released all over shops in the UK and is available to purchase online too probably making it a best selling product given the popularity of the bubble bar. I'm certainly thankful that I don't have to search on eBay or wait on the Kitchen to grab a bottle of this gorgeous smelling fragrance. 

For those who haven't tried/ smelt the Comforter bubble bar, it literally smells like sweet black currants with a slight hint of vanilla to make it slightly more dimensional in fragrance. Other products that Lush offer do have a very similar scent family such as Respect Your Elders soap and You Snap The Whip, but this shower cream has replicated the scent of the bubble bar perfectly in my opinion. It has a wonderful, sweet fruity scent and honestly smells like it could be a coulis on top of a summer pudding!

As the name suggests, this is more of a moisturising shower wash rather than a cleansing gel and it left my skin silky smooth, smelling incredible and well moisturised. For those who did manage to grab a bottle of the shower gel, this is slightly different. Firstly, this is thinner in consistency and secondly, it is a  completely different colour. This is a vivid pink that harks back to the bubble bar but this has got silver lustre throughout that gives a shimmery glitteryness to the liquid, not dissimilar to the lustre found in the Twilight shower gel. 

This lathers up quite well with a body puff and creates soft pink bubbles that spread easily over your body but the only problem I did have with the cream was that I accidently get some on the bathroom rug and it did stain and I used a white body puff and it did stain that as well so do be careful! 

This started to work as soon as the lather hit my skin, leaving it moisturised, soft, silky and smelling amazing and the fragrance did last for a while meaning that you get wafts of fruity goodness throughout the day and it was only at the end of the day that I felt that I needed to moisturise. 

This is one of my all time favourite shower creams to date and will certainly be a permenant product in my collection, especially as you can now buy a kilogram of it! 

5*/5* 

£4.75 for 100g 

£9.50 for 250g 

£15.95 for 500g 

£27.50 for 1kg 

Calacas Shower Gel

Ingredients: Water, Aloe Vera Gel, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Lauryl Betaine, Propylene Glycol, Perfume, Lime Oil, Olibanum Oil, Neroli Oil, Lactic Acid, Citral, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Colour 42090, Colour 45350, Methylparaben and Propylparaben.

Vegan 
When speaking to long time Lush fans, one fragrance always comes up in conversation - Calacas. This extremely popular fragrance was first released for Halloween (please correct me if I'm wrong) with the name 'Day of the Dead' and is inspired by the Mexican celebration, Dia de los Muertos. 

Dias de los Muertos take place on November 1st and 2nd, All Souls Day in the Christian Calendar and honours the dead with festivals and lively celebrations that combine indigenous Aztec ritual with Catholicism.  They celebrate the lives of the deceased with food, drink and parties and other activities that the dead enjoyed doing in life. The dead are part of the community at this time and are awakened from their sleep to share in the celebrations. The most recognisable symbols from this festival may be the Calacas and Calaveras (skeletons and skulls) which appear everywhere during this period and are usually portrayed as enjoying life. They might only be half decorated as this represents the duality between life and death and how, in the end, we shall all become a skeleton. The festival is made up of two days each celebrating death. Dia de los Inocentes is on the first day of November and honours the children that have died and Dia de los Muertos which celebrates the adults' lives. 

The description on the bottle reads 'Very superstitious... Wash your face and hands with a jelly bean scented blast from the Mexican past.' This perfectly summarises this beautiful concoction of lemon and lime zestiness creating a wonderful sweet citrusy scent that is supported from the neroli essential oils and lime oil that would be perfect all year round; from waking you up in winter to a sunny boost in the summer. It has a lasting scent and every so often you get a delicious fragrance wafting up to your nose. 

From looking on eBay to see if I could find an old bottle, Calacas used to be a lime green, a colour to match the fragrance, but due to discolouration after a couple of months it has been changed to an almost see through greeny/orange. Luckily before purchasing an old bottle on eBay, the Kitchen announced that it would be made and I grabbed myself two bottles of goodness. 

It is quite a thick shower gel, similar in consistency to It's Raining Men, and produces a nice amount of lather when used with a shower puff. It leaves you feeling uplifted and refreshed with silky smooth skin to boot.

I am so glad that I was able to purchase Calacas and hopefully it will be out in the Kitchen next year some time so I can stock back up again. This fragrance was available in other formats so even if it turns up in a shower jelly, bath ballistic or perfume I shall certainly be purchasing it! 

5*/5* 

£10.25 for 250g 

Skydancer - Far From The Maddening Guns

Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Cream of Tartar, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Water, Bergamot Oil, Cinnamon Leaf Oil, Sicilian Lemon Oil, Lauryl Betaine, Benzyl Benzoate, Lilial, Eugenol, Limonene, Perfume, Potassium Aluminium Silicate, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Colour 47005, Colour 42053 and Colour 42090:2

This doesn't say that it is Vegan on the website but another Lush reviewer who is vegan has tried it so I assume that it is ok! 

This beautifully designed bath bomb has been created by Lush in order to support English Hen Harriers. They say that 'Profits from each and every one of these soft floral and liquorice-scented bath bombs will help fund equipment to satellite tag many endangered hen harrier chicks born in the coming years.With bergamot, Sicilian lemon and cinnamon leaf oils, this bath bomb will take you under its wing and fight wildlife crime in one clean sweep.' For those of you who don't know, Lush is an extremely charitable company with very strong ethics and will often create products to raise awareness and support for their cause e.g. animal welfare, human rights and environmental conservation. They have an ongoing Charity Pot which is a hand and body lotion, and some more limited edition products such as the #GayisOk Soap, the May Day bath bomb (in support of Brian May and the Badger Culls) and finally Skydancer. 

In an article published on the Lush website, it explains why they have chosen this charity to support; 

England’s most endangered bird is being intensively persecuted: the beautiful bird of prey of open moorland, which feeds on red grouse, is regarded a pest by gamekeepers on grouse shooting estates. While there is thought to be enough suitable habitats in the country for more than 300 breeding pairs, just four pairs bred in 2014 raising 16 chicks. Three of these fledglings, Sky, Hope and Highlander, were satellite tagged to track their progress when they flew the nest in the hope that wildlife conservationists could learn more about these increasingly rare birds. Yet both Sky and Hope disappeared over the Forest of Bowland within days of each other. Neither tags nor bodies have been found on the site in which they vanished, raising suspicions that both were destroyed or disposed of. Volunteers watching the nesting sites have reported that another five male birds have vanished this summer whilst hunting miles away from the nest.  Without both adults caring for the eggs, a female hen harrier faces starvation unless she leaves her nest to hunt forcing her to abandon the nesting site and the eggs cooling beyond survival.

This bath bomb has an extremely potent scent, one that if I had smelt in store I don't think I would have put one in my basket. It has a scent that vaguely smells of liquorice (which I loathe) and a slight floral element too and when it arrived in the post, it engulfed my room with the smell and overpowered the other bath bombs that I had purchased alongside it and every time I smelt it, a new element of the fragrance came to the foreground. Thankfully, it wasn't nearly as strong when it was in the bath and it mellowed out to give a lovely soft perfume. 

As you can see, the width is nearly the height of a 250g bottle
of shower gel

This is quite a slow dissolver as it is HUGE so it is worth putting it in when you first draw your bath and letting it dissolve as the water rises or you can sit back and relax and let it dissolve around you, either way it takes about 15 - 20 minutes for it to fully dissolve. If you are careful enough when putting Skydancer in, the yellow ring will dissolve first making it appear that the bird in the centre is flying around your tub which I think adds to the whole experience. 

I really love this bath bomb so it is probably I good thing that I got it online rather than in a store as otherwise I would have never purchased it so it shows that you should always take a risk with Lush and try products that you might not otherwise try so I think that when I get back to Bath, I shall try and purchase some of the bath ballistics and bubble bars such as Grass, Big Blue etc (in other words, not the sweet or citrus scented products) and see how I get on with those! This bath bomb turns the water a similar yellow colour to Fizzbanger with a thick layer of white foam on top and the water is velvety smooth and moisturising without being greasy on the skin at all and left my skin silky smooth with a beautiful fragrance too that lasts for a good couple of hours. 

This is a really special limited edition bath bomb with a unique fragrance that I don't believe Lush has recreated in any other products and the fact that money will be going to charity as well makes this product extremely good value for money and because it is so big, you could certainly split it into halves or thirds but certainly try one whole for the full experience. I'm not sure how long this product will be around for so grab one whilst you can! 

5*/5*

£3.95