Spring – Page 5 – Lush Upon A Time

Antiope Naked Shower Gel from Lush

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The Antiope Naked Shower Gel has followed in the footsteps of the Tender is the Night naked shower cream; It is the second packageless ‘naked’ shower gel/cream that Lush have dared to only release in a naked form. Although I wholeheartedly miss the bottled seasonal gel and creams we have previously been spoilt rotten with, I know in my heart that plastic is actually just a luxury and that making and using it in such huge quantities does more bad than good to the world.

Through the exploration and inventing of packageless products Lush are proving that plastic packaging for cosmetics isn’t the only manufacturing and distribution route we can follow now and in the future. Whatever you believe in regards to the naked Lush products, we all know that they are a small yet positive step in the right direction of helping save the planet we live on. If the release of ‘naked’ products gets people talking and consciously being more responsible with plastic, then Lush have achieved a lot more than any other cosmetic companies thus far.

My first impression of the Antiope naked shower gel was how incredibly bright it was. After a long and dull Winter its brilliant and bold yellow colour sure was a sight for sore eyes. There’s just something about it that radiates the sunshine, out of all of the Mother’s Day 2018 stock it was the Antiope that I was immediately drawn to. That was until I smelt it.

I’ve heard a fair few crazy descriptions of the Antiope’s scent, it’s more than unique and definitely one of those scents that will forever be an interesting topic of conversation amongst Lushies. To me, with it being unused and just in my hands it smells of leaf compost in the Spring time; The Spring time being a dryer and slightly warmer time of year, by this I mean it isn’t a muddy scent but still has earthy, dry elements to it. This scent obviously wasn’t what I had expected at all and this expectation is reflected in a lot of other people’s reactions to first sniffing Antiope too.

Containing Amazonian clay, Brazilian orange oil and limonene you’d expect Antiope to be fruity-sweet upon first sniff. The collector in me still decided to buy some Antiope, with its scent not being my usual go-to, it did take a bit of persuading back and forth in my head to actually use it. One night I decided to just go for it and took it into the shower with me. We have just had a new shower fitted so I didn’t have any excuses to not try it at least once.

Once I’d let the shower gel run under the hot water for a few seconds it was ready to start lathering up. You use a naked shower gel just as you would a normal shower gel. Instead of fiddling with a lid and then squidiging the product out of the bottle you now just have to lather the naked shower gel similar to how you would a bar of soap. Antiope lathered up quickly and with minimum effort, its lather was highly pigmented in colour and a little of it went a long way too, even when it was well and truly rubbed into my body it remained a bright yellow, the brightness of it was just as bold as the Yuzu and Cocoa shower cream.

As soon as the hot water came into contact with the Antiope its scent completely changed. The earthy tone it had when dry was still noticeable (albeit much more subtle) but it also suddenly become very sweet, I’d describe it as almost pineappley. At first I thought my nose was playing tricks on me so I lathered up some more, my nose wasn’t however paying tricks on me! its scent had suddenly became very, very desirable.

When first lathering it up I did get a little scared at the intensity of its colour, I felt like I was turning myself into a character from the Simpsons. It however rinsed off just like any other Lush shower gel does and I was pleasantly surprised with how cleansed and smooth it left my skin. Once out of the shower I couldn’t smell the earthy tone of the shower gel on my skin anymore, there was a very gentle scent of sweet pineapple left behind and that lasted for a few hours after.

The only problem I really had with it was storing it after use. The Lush naked shower gel and creams are double the concentrate of the liquid shower gels and for the Antiope in particular with it being such a bright yellow it caused a little problem. For all of the other naked products I have, after use I leave them out on a metal rack to dry out as instructed. I found that Antiope was a bit of a dripper though.

My husband walked into the bathroom about 20 minutes after I had left. Where the Antiope had dripped so much he thought that I had, had a wee in our shower and not washed it away! *cringe*. I made him smell it to prove my innocence and luckily he believed me… It’s not ideal for drying it out but leaving it in a metal Lush tray instead saves any mess or unwanted shower-wee-wee accusations. All in all I did like Antiope, it’s one of the best examples of why you should always give a Lush product a try even if not impressed at first sight, or for Antiopes sake, first sniff!

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Mum in a Spin Bubble Spinner from Lush

The Mum in a Spin Bubble Spinner is yet another brand new release from Lush’s Mother’s Day line. Packed with a long list of relaxing ingredients including both lavender and tonka absolute, it’s a must try product for all, not just mum’s. When Lush first released the bubble bar equivalent of a fidget spinner I honestly had no idea what a fidget spinner was.

I have since learnt that a fidget spinner is a small toy comprising of two or three prongs arranged around a central bearing. They are designed to be spun by the fingers as a means of improving concentration and a reliever of stress.

Although the bubble bar equivalents of a fidget spinner do not work in quite the same way, (the water from the tap is what essentially makes the bubble spinner spin) I can see why they are so popular. Getting in on the fidget spinner craze is a very clever move on Lush’s part, their original creation of a Bubble Spinner sold very well which is why we have now been presented with a brand new bubble spinner product, the Mum in a Spin.

Mum in a Spin is a reusable bubble bar, much like the first bubble spinner that Lush created it has a wooden pin in its middle. This allows the bubble bar part of it to spin as the tap water hits it just like a water mill. It has 3 spokes, two of them are decorated with the letter ‘M’ and the third with a love heart spelling out Mum/Mom.

Reusable bubble bars are slightly different to the normal bubble bars, you don’t have to break a reusable bubble bar up to use it, you simply run it under the tap to create bubbles. Once you have the desired amount of bubbles you then put it somewhere it can dry off, ready for the next time you want to use it.

As Mum in a Spin is submerged under running tap water, its scent fills the room. It shares its scent with the much loved Twilight bath bomb, making it the perfect night-time-bath treat. As the bubble bar is run under the tap copious amounts of bubbles begin to form, the water also becomes a stunningly bright pink. Overflowing with ingredients that have been carefully put together to help you wind down, it didn’t take very long for me to feel the stresses of the day melting away as I let myself lay back underneath the blanket of fluffy white, Twilight scented bubbles.

Sometimes I find that the reusable bubble bars don’t create quite as many bubbles as the ordinary bubble bars do, I found that with Mum in a spin this wasn’t the case at all. You can get 3 very generously bubbled bubble baths out of just the one Mum in a Spin. Another trait that reusable bubble bars tend to have is that they don’t create as vividly colourful water as their ordinary counterparts, this wasn’t the case for Mum in a Spin either, I was very happy to be bathing in such a beautiful and bold shade of pink water.

Another thing that impressed me about the Mum in a Spin bubble spinner was that its scent lasted throughout the whole bath, it also lasted on my skin once I was out of the bath too. There is nothing better than stepping out of a Mum in a Spin bubble bath followed by slathering yourself up with Sleepy body lotion.

I know some people are eager for Lush to start creating new scents as they’re growing bored of the same scents coming back time and time again. There is however something quite special about revisiting much loved scents through a different product format, I don’t think I could ever get bored of the Twilight scent. Overall I am very impressed with the Mum in a Spin bubble spinner, it ticks every box for what I like in a bubble bar. I will therefore be stocking up on them before 2018’s Mother’s Day period is through.

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FOMO Jelly Face Mask from Lush

FOMO Jelly Face Mask is one of 5 brand new face masks that Lush released in July 2017. Face masks aren’t new to Lush but ones made into jellies are! To look at, the jelly face masks resemble an ordinary Lush shower jelly, however they are used very differently. I had seen pictures of the jelly masks from the Lush Summit 2017 back in February, unfortunately they weren’t however for sale and were simply there only as a display to show the world all of the things to come…

We however didn’t have to wait long as back in July the jelly face masks became available in all stores. I always use a clean tea spoon when it comes down to getting Lush face masks out of their pot. I use a spoon to apply the fresh face masks too, I feel it helps the product to last longer, so many people complain about the fresh face masks having such a short shelf life. My method for using a spoon is to stop any cross contamination happening, grabbing a chunk of it out of the pot with your fingers is quick and easy BUT it risks the chance of bacteria from your hands getting in to the rest of the product that you want to save for another time. Using your fingers even if washed well can leave the leftover product to go mouldy very quickly. Since I started using Lush face masks with a spoon my face masks last months and months passed their sell buy if kept in the fridge too.

Containing calamine powder, neroli oil and rose absolute, there are certain elements to FOMO that remind me ever so slightly of the Don’t Look at Me fresh face mask and the Rose Jam shower gel.

When it comes down to the application of the jelly masks it is completely different from how you would apply the fresh ones. Once you’ve spooned a grape sized amount of jelly from the pot you then work it in your hands to form a paste. This action is very similar to what you do when using the fresh face cleansers however you do not add water.

Unlike the fresh face masks the new jelly face masks do not need to be kept in a fridge, I however do store them in a fridge. Jelly masks also have a much longer shelf life than their fresh-face-mask equivalents. You can easily get 6 to 8 masks out of just the one pot. It forms up a paste very quickly and application is mess-free, quick and easy. After 15 minutes it is time to take the face mask off, I use a hot and wet flannel. It comes off easily and no residue is left on my face at all.

Once the face mask was off my face felt brand new, the redness had gone down and my face was super soft and perfectly hydrated.

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