love – Page 14 – Lush Upon A Time

Agbogbloshie Bath Bomb from Lush

Agbogbloshie Bath Bomb

You may have noticed that this bath bombs name is a bit of a mouthful, it however isn’t a name created by Lush to annoy us, it is in fact the nickname of the largest electronic waste dump in the world. The Agbogbloshie Bath Bomb was yet another product showcased at the 2018 Lush Summit. I had actually watched a BBC documentary on Agbogbloshie prior to the Lush Summit so already knew a little bit on the cause and inspiration behind this product.

Situated in Ghana, Agbogbloshie is where most of the world’s electronic waste ends up. Burning the waste is a quick and easy way to strip anything from it that could be sold on for very small amounts of money. For so many people in Ghana this is their only source of income and how they survive.

The burning of this electronic waste puts toxic chemicals into the atmosphere affecting air, land and water. Exposure to these toxins are extremely hazardous and not just to humans but to the environment too. The toxins created from the burning of the electronic waste are said to inhibit the development of the reproductive system, the nervous system, and also the brain. Concerns about human health and the environment of Agbogbloshie continue to be raised and this bath bomb represents the issue. Despite of all of these frightening facts nothing in Agbogbloshie is yet to change.

The Agbogbloshie bath bomb is the same size and shape as an iPhone. In a world where we are obsessed with technology, (especially our phones) this bath bomb of course caught most people’s immediate attention. Apart from its shape, the first thing I noticed about the Agbogbloshie bath bomb was its royal-blue-colour. Colour Wise, it’s a shade of blue that is very similar to the blue in the Intergalactic bath bomb.

The best part of this bath bomb is however its scent. Luckily for us (the consumer), the Agbogbloshie bath bomb’s scent is far, far away from the toxic stench that the people of Agbogbloshie have to breathe in. It in fact, shares its scent with the Calacas shower gel (which happens to be one of my all time favourite Lush scents!) Calacas is a hugely popular Lush scent and has featured in several other bath bombs before now. The, The Enchanter, Monsters’ Ball and Skullduggery to name a few.

The Calacas scent is refreshing, uplifting and zingy. Lush have carefully combined oil of lime, neroli, cooling aloe vera and olibanum to make this gorgeous and energising bath time treat. Although the Agbogbloshie bath bomb was a super quick fizzer I managed to get a shot of it bubbling away.

Even after the Agbogbloshie bath bomb has fully dissolved its scent remains right up until the last drop goes down the plug hole. My skin was left delicately fragranced and well hydrated too. If you did want to spoil yourself, after using this bath bomb I’d recommend putting on some Calacas body lotion, that is if you have some hanging around!

My most favourite thing about Lush is being able to layer up certain scents with different product formats, the Calacas scent is just so incredibly moreish I don’t think I will ever get bored of it. Overall I think the Agbogbloshie bath bomb is a great new member of the Calacas scented product family. It was perfect in the bath and also taught me a great deal about Agbogbloshie and how things need to change.

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Incredible Mum Bath Bomb from Lush

Incredible Mum Bath Bomb

The Incredible Mum is a superhero shaped bath bomb that was first released by Lush in 2018. Its name makes it very obvious that it is a part of the Mother’s day range, and what an incredible Mother’s day range Lush have showcased this year!

The Incredible Mum Bath Bomb is quite unique when it comes down to its design. One half is orange, the other half a beautiful shade of hot pink. Its top half also has a raised, purple superhero eye mask. Incredible Mum also comes with a superhero, paper cape that is sandwiched between both the orange and pink sides.

Containing bergamot, orange flower absolute and ylang ylang oil, I knew I’d really like this bath bomb long before I had even had a chance to sniff its fruity and soft floral fragrance. Its scent isn’t the same as (but reminds me of) 2017’s Cupid bath bomb.

Both Cupid and the Incredible Mum bath bombs have bergamot and limonene in. I figure that this is what my nose picks up on when I tie the two products together fragrance-wise. I love Incredible Mums refreshing scent, although I am afraid that I am a little biased as anything that contains bergamot oil is always irresistible to me!

As soon as the Incredible Mum bath bomb comes into contact with the bath water there is an explosion of orange, pink and purple. The bath bomb dances around the water’s surface sending swirls of pink and orange patterns. As Incredible Mum charges around the bath spilling out all of that colour, it is followed by its yellow and pink, paper cape.

Although Incredible Mum is quite the fast fizzer, it is still one of my favourite products from this years Mother’s day line. Its scent stays with you throughout the whole of your bath while also remaining on your skin for several hours after getting out of the bath too. It not only leaves you smelling great and feeling physically brighter but also softens and hydrates your skin so well that you don’t even need to moisturise once out of the tub.

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Overall I am very pleased with the Incredible Mum bath bomb. True, it is nothing compared to the Roller bath bomb – a past Lush cult-favourite for Lushies around the mother’s day period. It is however quite the product just for its unique design and scent, CAPE AND ALL.

Many people have asked what happens to the paper cape once the bath bomb has dissolved. It’s made of paper and doesn’t dissolve alongside the bath bomb, it’s exactly the same as the secret paper notes you used to find in the Blackberry and Fizzbanger bath bombs but just on a much bigger scale.

The only negative thing I want to say about this bath bomb is in regards to its name. I honestly don’t think what I’m about to say is a huge issue BUT not everyone has a great relationship with their parents, (I dread Father’s day, I know I shouldn’t feel weird about enjoying that line of products but I do.)

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For example, I feel that the Roller bath bomb sold well (not just because of its level of perfection) but because it wasn’t completely entwined by its name with Mother’s day. Unfortunately not everyone has an ‘Incredible Mum’ and I wouldn’t want anyone to feel as if they need to miss out on this product because of this.

The Madame President bath bomb that was new to this year, alongside Incredible Mum was a fabulously empowering product for women and I think Lush missed a trick by making the Incredible Mum’s name so ‘Mother’s Day’. I cannot stress enough how good this bath bomb was in every other aspect though, I am very sad that I didn’t get the chance to stock up on it.

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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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