Hot Java Bath Bomb from Lush

My favourite thing about the Lush Kitchen is that it gives Lush customers the chance to try long-forgotten, discontinued products from Lush’s product archive. I first got into Lush because I was looking for non-medicinal ways to help me deal with chronic pain. After a little research into ingredients and what-not, the Hot Java Bath Bomb was one of the first products on my list that I wanted to try.

Years later, Hot Java is still one of my favourites purely for how it soothes my aching muscles. Sadly, with the closure of the weekly-Lush-Kitchen in 2017, I had to get used to the fact that we’d probably never get the chance to purchase it separately again. BUT in 2020, the Lush Kitchen made a return in the form of a monthly subscription service, and I have remained hopeful that the Hot Java bath bomb would make an appearance sometime.

Finally in the 18th Lush Kitchen subscription box, the Hot Java bath bomb was included! Its scent doesn’t feature in any other Lush product but because of its spicy nature, a lot of people compare it to the likes of the Hot Toddy shower gel.

The Hot Java bath bomb is the standard shape and size Lush bath bomb but is quite unique to look at, it’s a dusty red colour and decorated with flakes of cinnamon-stick. These flakes of cinnamon-stick continue inside of the bath bomb which I’ll touch upon again later.

Alongside the cinnamon-stick flakes the Hot Java bath bomb also includes cinnamon and ginger powders, ginger absolute, and the following essential oils; Ginger, coriander, ylang ylang and juniperberry. My nose picks up mostly on the ginger element of the Hot Java bath bomb, it’s not a scent I’d describe as pleasantly moreish but it’s one I don’t mind because I know how good each ingredient in it is for soothing aching muscles.

As soon as you place the Hot Java bath bomb into your bath water you are greeted with an explosion and gentle hiss of small red bubbles, it’s a fairly fast fizzer and within the first few seconds the flakes of cinnamon stick start to scatter across the water too, slowly but surely, sinking to the bottom of your tub. Sadly, these flakes are a huge factor as to why so many customers don’t enjoy using the Hot Java bath bomb.

Yes, the Cinnamon flakes do create quite a mess BUT when soaked with the hot bath water it really does make for a toasty-warm bathing experience like no other.

As I said earlier, the Hot Java bath bomb is a very quick fizzer, fully dissolving in just under 4 minutes. I can’t help but wonder if it would sell better if it was in a muslin cloth like the Deep Sleep and Love Me Do bath bomb are. This would stop all of the cinnamon pieces from making a mess, keeping them all in one place while you still get the benefit of the cinnamon stick being soaked in the hot water.

The bits don’t bother me much, but I know they can make or break a bath bomb for some people.

Overall, I am a fan of the Hot Java bath bomb, it could maybe have a few things about it tweaked to make it more desirable for all but if I’m looking at it from a perspective where I just want a bath that will warm me up and help relax my tired muscles, it’s perfect. There’s just something about the blend of cinnamon and ginger that makes me feel like I’m being massaged by lots of tiny little hands…

If you look through Instagram under the hashtag #HotJavaBathBomb you can see that the bath bomb is either a huge hit or miss with customers. Back in the day, when it came up on the Lush Kitchen menu some customers would bulk buy them, worried that they wouldn’t be available again for a very long time.

I do miss the older Lush Kitchen purely because the subscription box only allows you 1 of each item BUT I really did appreciate getting to use Hot Java once again thanks to the Lush Kitchen subscription box!

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Princess Peach Body Spray from Lush

At the time of writing this review, Lush’s most recent collaboration with the, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is by far Lush’s most popular collaborations to date. Today I’m going to be reviewing another of my favourite products from the collection, the Princess Peach Body Spray.

The Mario and Luigi shower gels that are also a part of this collection are both remakes of older Lush shower gels, unlike Princess Peach which is a brand-new Lush scent!

I do love when older Lush scents come back to life in new products, BUT brand-new scents are always exciting too. The Princess Peach body spray is described on Lush’s website as a ‘fruity burst of peach and pineapple’.

Ingredients wise, the Princess Peach body spray contains organic sweet orange oil, buchu oil, litsea cubeba oil, olibanum resinoid and champaca absolute. This carefully selected group of ingredients create such an uplifting fragrance that is fit for a princess. If you’ve ever wondered what Princess Peach smells like, the Princess Peach body spray is the answer!

If you are familiar with Lush’s Peachy bath bomb, Princess Peach is quite similar to that but with a tropical twist. The longer you sniff it, the more complex the fragrance gets. At first, I can smell a cocktail of peach and pineapple then after a few more seconds there’s a muskiness to the scent, it reminds me of the little mushroom sweets I used to eat as a kid.

With mushrooms being such an intricate part of the Super Mario Bros. world I can’t help but think this may have been deliberate.

They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but as soon as I see the pink label on this body spray with Princess Peach on it, my inner princess couldn’t help but squeal a little. Lush were wise to use these types of visuals on their packaging for this particular line. I know Lush are trying hard to use less and less packaging but sadly I think this line has had so much success due to its packaging.

The packaging with all of the characters on them is a huge reason that customers were tempted into Lush stores. I feel that how great the products actually are, is secondary to the Mario Bros. packaging.

The packaging of this body spray was brilliant at tempting new customers in but how amazing the body spray smells is what has made new Lush customers, forever-Lush-customers. Old customers like me, seem to have really loved the Mario Bros. line too so it’s a win, win!

I am very interested to see how well future collaborations go if the products aren’t so obviously a collab, like the Princess Peach body spray is.

Just a few spritz of the Princess Peach body spray either on your body or clothes is all you need for it to last on you all day. Its delicate fruity scent is delightful and a good choice if you dislike the heavier Lush scents. Overall, I adore this body spray and hope it’s not the last we see of the scent. I will be reviewing its shower jelly equivalent in the next few days so keep checking back! 

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Absolute Delight Bath Bomb from Lush

My favourite thing about the Lush Kitchen is that it gives Lush customers the chance to try long-forgotten products from Lush’s product-archive. The Absolute Delight Bath Bomb is one of Lush’s older, original bath bombs and one I have always wanted to try.

Fortunately, the Absolute Delight bath bomb made it into the Lush Kitchen Subscription box back in February of this year (2023), so I finally got to use the Absolute Delight bath bomb and what an absolute delight it was!

As far as I am aware the Absolute Delight bath bomb does not share a scent with any other Lush product, it’s truly one of a kind.

The Absolute Delight bath bomb isn’t as eye catching as some of Lush’s newer bath bombs, it has a plain and simple design, much like all of the original bath bombs first invented and created by one of Lush’s co-founders, Mo Constantine (AKA Mrs Lush!).

The Absolute Delight bath bomb is a pastel pink bath bomb without any further decoration. To look at, it is fairly similar to the older version of the Blackberry bath bomb. The fact that the Absolute Delight bath bomb is so plain is not a negative at all, when it comes down to Lush, it’s quite often the case that less is more.

Absolute Delight is the standard sized and shaped bath bomb fitting snuggly in my hand. It contains a varied list of ingredients. In it are both jasmine and rose absolute and the following essential oils too, bergamot, geranium and sandalwood.

The Absolute Delight bath bomb’s scent is a very gentle one, it’s an incredibly inviting powdery-sweet, yet creamy floral blend. The rose absolute is definitely the star of the show and shines through rounding off all of the other ingredients in it. Its pale pink colour fits in with its subtle scent perfectly.

As soon as you place the Absolute Delight bath bomb into your bath water it begins to gently fizz away. Tiny, pastel-pink bubbles fizz out of it as it bobs about your bath, floating on the water’s surface, slowly spinning around. In the water, apart from the obvious difference in colour, it is very similar to the likes of another bath bomb from Lush’s early days, the All That Jas bath bomb.

The Absolute Delight bath bomb turns the water a powdery pink colour. Some bath bomb colours are so strong, that once it has all dissolved you can’t see your hand when you place it under the water. The Absolute Delight bath bomb isn’t a highly pigmented bath bomb though, it would be a good choice of bath bomb to use if you’re wary of too much colour in your bathtub.

The Absolute Delight bath bomb is a very quick fizzer; Fully dissolving in just under 2 minutes. You won’t get bath art out of this bath bomb but what you do get is the silkiest bath water I have ever had from a Lush bath bomb. I couldn’t quite believe how soft and hydrated it left my skin AND without being at all oily.

Its scent doesn’t last for very long on your skin but how it leaves your skin feeling lasts all day.

It really is the most hydrating bath bomb I have used from Lush. I’m not sure what ingredient made it so soothing on the skin, but I think Lush need to use it in more bath bombs. Sometimes the bath bombs with big chunks of butter in (such as the Yog Nog bath bomb) are too oily for me, the Absolute Delight had the perfect balance of hydration.

How it left my skin once I was out of the bath was by far my most favourite thing about the Absolute Delight bath bomb, I’d love to see more bath bombs like this!

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