Lush – Page 48 – Lush Upon A Time

Granny Takes A Dip Bath Bomb from Lush

Last week the Granny Takes A Dip Bath Bomb made a very pleasant and unexpected return to the Lush Kitchen. The Granny Takes A Dip bath bomb was sadly discontinued as a staple store product earlier this year (2015). Its retirement however made way for a new product of the same name and scent, the Granny Takes A Dip bubble bar.

Although I am a fan of the new bubble bar equivalent of Granny Takes A Dip, it’s definitely not nearly as theatrical in the bath as the bath bomb ever was. Up until last night I had only one Granny Takes A Dip bath bomb left in my personal stock. I didn’t want to use it as, as any Lush junkie will know, it’s pretty much an extinct product now.

My very last one has been carefully wrapped in cellophane to keep it as fresh as possible. I was therefore ecstatic to see it pop up on the Lush Kitchen menu.

I think the main reason behind the discontinuation of this bath bomb was because of how easily it breaks, that and a lengthy production process. Much like the Sacred Lotus bath bomb, I have never actually managed to get an unbroken Granny Takes A Dip bath bomb from shop to home.

Granny Takes A Dip floats upon the surface of the water, as it slowly dissolves it creates a vast amount of colourful foam. Every time I use the Granny Takes A Dip bath bomb I am reminded about how wonderful it not only smells but looks in the water too.

Back in the old, old, old Lush catalogue this bath bomb is described as ‘a sensory explosion in the tub. A ginger, pepper and lemon-scented bath time experience.’ The lemon, ginger and pepper oil within it blends perfectly together making the Granny Takes A Dip bath bomb a spicy, zingy and refreshing bath time treat that is very good for achy muscles.

I’m so glad that Lush brought this retro bath bomb back, even if it is for a short time. I decided that it was worth ordering a few while I could so thanks to the Lush Kitchen I now have 3 new ones on the way 🙂

I hope that Lush will one day make a new Granny Takes A Dip scented bath bomb as the scent is beautiful and I feel sad that it has been banished.

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Yog Nog Bath Bomb from Lush

Yog Nog Bath Bomb2
Slowly but surely I have been working my way through all of the winter 2015 Lush products.

Today I’d like to introduce you to the Yog Nog Bath Bomb. As you can see from the above picture, Yog Nog is a very unique looking bath bomb. It really is like no other. It has the most beautiful exterior, instead of it just being the standard smooth bath bomb it has lots of little Christmas shapes all around it.

Lush have stated that Yog Nog is ‘sweeter than dipping into your biscuit tin,’ which I know has left a lot of people intrigued. If you’re a frequent reader of my blog you’ll know that the ‘sweet products’ although very popular, are not always my favourite. Curiosity however took over and as soon as the 2015 Winter line became available online I ordered myself one to try.

Upon first sniff I was surprised at how much I actually did like the scent of the Yog Nog bath bomb. Sweet things and I do not always have the best relationship. For this reason I was a little worried that I wouldn’t like it. Being honest, I can’t even eat sweet things, I struggle after just two bites of a Kit Kat Chunky.

Although the Yog Nog bath bomb is sweet, there is definitely a note of spiciness within it. I think that this is the Yog Nog bath bombs saving grace with me, without that small splash of spice I don’t think I’d have been as keen of it as I was.

The Yog Nog bath bomb’s scent is compared to cinder toffee which makes it a great choice for a Christmas present for anyone with a super, sweet tooth.

Upon coming in contact with the water, the Yog Nog bath bomb fizzes yellow and white.

As Yog Nog’s solid shell dissolves away you start to notice that it has several lumps of soft, buttery, bath melt hidden inside.

A Yog Nog bath left my skin beautifully smooth, soft and moisturised. It hydrated my winter battered, dry skin perfectly. What made it really special was that the scent of it stayed with me on my skin, throughout the rest of the day.

I found this bath bomb very relaxing, the only thing I disliked about it was how much oil it left around my bath tub. Although it was amazing for hydrating my skin it made the tub very slippery which is a little dangerous for me in particular as I am not at all stable on my feet due to EDS. When getting in and out of the bath I had to be very careful but in all honesty I always do so in hindsight it wasn’t a bad trait.

Most Lush bath bomb products wash off of your bathtub with a quick splash of hot water from the shower head, Yog Nog however needed a little bit of help, a dab of fairy liquid followed by the shower head removed it just fine. When you use a Lush product that is a little more hydrating than others, fairy liquid is actually the perfect thing to remove the excess oil left behind as it cuts through grease etc. It doesn’t only just work on dishes and cutlery but is also a very handy bathroom cleaner too!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Yog Nog bath bomb and I put it in amongst my other favourites Stardust, So White and Luxury Lush Pud.

The good news is they actually have a Yog Nog Soap and after Lush sent me a sample I ordered a great big bar of it, it smells so, so good!

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So White Bath Bomb from Lush

I will never fully understand why people walk straight past and ignore the plain Lush products such as the So White Bath Bomb. Yes it’s white and on first glance admittedly boring but how do you know what’s inside? Never judge a book by its cover…

You’ll realise once you begin to take note of what ingredients each Lush product has that bath bombs have so much more going for them than just their colour or shape. Initially a bath bomb is a quick and easy way to practice aromatherapy at home, once you start to learn about all of the essential oils and fresh ingredients that Lush use, you start to understand all of the benefits to gain in using each and every individual product.

So White is a fantastically big and bulky sized bath bomb, I hadn’t used this particular one prior to 2015 but will admit to being really excited about trying it out as I believe the plainer bath bombs have hidden secrets!

Once the So White bath bomb hits the water it begins to fizz away, slowly revealing its not ‘so white’ innards. Small streaks of pink start to fill your bathtub, the pink streaks getting more and more noticeable as time goes by.

I am a huge fan of the colour pink and was therefore very, very happy that this bath bomb, just like the Luxury Lush Pud left you with pretty, pink bath water.

The gorgeous apple scent of this slow dissolving bath bomb lets ones imagination run wild. It fills my bathroom with the sweet scent of fresh, crisp apples and I can never help but think of the scene in Snow White where the Evil Queen tricks poor Snow into taking a bite from the cursed apple…

I can still smell the scent of the So White bath bomb on my skin once I have got out of the bath, the very first time that I tried it I could not stop sniffing myself which is always a good sign!

A So White bath always leaves me calm, uplifted and eager to drag out my Disney DVD’s.

I will most certainly be stocking up on this beautiful bath bomb before the end of winter this year (2015) as it’s one of my favourite Winter products of all time. Try it yourself, you won’t regret it!

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Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb from Lush

Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb

The Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb is a pastel-green, Halloween ballistic that has a strong, musky and spicy herbal scent. Its long list of ingredients contains both patchouli and black pepper oil so it is quite an acquired taste. I am not huge fan of patchouli but I always try a Lush product at least once.

Unlike any other Lush bath bomb, Lord of Misrule has its own unique design. Instead of being smooth all over, this bath bomb has a flower/rounded star shaped crown on its top, this was clearly included in its design to signify its ‘Lord’ status.

As soon as I plopped the Lord of Misrule bath bomb into my bath water the bath bombs colourful and foamy magic unfolded right before my eyes. A huge amount of green froth bubbled up to the top of my bath water and the bath bomb then began to bob around, spinning slowly.

Lord of Misrule’s scent immediately engulfs whatever room it is in, when I had my first one delivered I could smell it before I had even opened the box. I find you can still smell Lord of Misrule hours after it has been removed from a room, it is quite possibly the strongest scented Lush bath bomb I have used to date. With it having such a strong scent I couldn’t quite believe how much its scent intensified once in the water.

I Wasn’t particularly impressed with this as I found the patchouli (the ingredient I don’t always get on with) far too strong even before I’d put it in the bath. I felt as if I was drowning in the scent. I would however like to point out that just because I dislike its scent, it doesn’t mean that you will too.

Although I can’t hack Lord of Misrule’s scent, I will admit to there being something wonderfully mystical about how it performed in the bath, I can see why so many people are head over heels in love with it and its colours.

Unfortunately the Lord of Misrule scent triggers my migraines. Regardless of the migraine trigger, I stayed in the bathroom for as long as I could to get some photos.

The pinks and greens that were spiraling out of the Lord of Misrule bath bomb were creating some of the prettiest bath art I had ever seen.

The pink and green contrast so well, if it wasn’t for its scent I could see myself using it all of the time. Another surprise it had was the addition of popping candy. The popping candy always makes for an interesting bath especially when you aren’t expecting it.

Near the end of the bath bombs bath time show, the hot pink colour overpowers the green turning the bath water a deep-pink, it reminds me of mulled wine.

I am so in love with the water melon coloured foam that Lord of Misrule creates I just wish I could have enjoyed it more. Stupid migraines!

As I didn’t get a chance to review this bath bomb in quite the same way as I have reviewed others, I’d like to leave you with a link of someone else’s review on it (migraine free!)

You would have probably already heard about Jen from All Things Lush UK, she needs no introduction as she’s the Lush queen of the world. BUT, if you have been living under a rock and haven’t heard about her, here is a link to her review of the Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb. I know it is one of her all time favourites and I guess not liking every Lush product is perfectly normal, we’d all get very bored if we all loved and hated the same products after all!

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Snow Angel Bath Melt from Lush

Snow Angel Bath Melt

The Snow Angel although primarily a bath melt could in my opinion also be considered as part bath bomb because of how solid and robust it is. It doesn’t instantly start to melt in your hands in the same way as other Lush bath melts do either.

Upon first glance of Snow Angel you immediately notice how big it is. I had seen it online several times before actually getting hold of one and I can remember how surprised I was with its generous size. It is in the shape of an angel and its front is white with speckles of gold shimmer, the other side of the bath melt is a sparkly gold.

Before I got so heavily into Lush products I used to avoid all of their products with glitter as the thought terrified me. I am so glad that I learnt that there is in fact nothing to be afraid of when it comes down to the products with shimmer in. They are not messy at all, I always describe it as ‘cosmetic shimmer’ as I find it similar to make up that has a slight shimmer to it. It’s honestly not a one way trip to glitter-hell!

Upon hitting the water Snow Angel’s gold shimmer spreads out, as does white foam. The sweet yet delicate scent of marzipan instantly fills the room as the Snow Angel floats gracefully around your bath. As Snow Angel slowly melts away the water becomes a glorious, butter-yellow, it is at this point that your skin starts to benefit from the super-moisturising hidden ingredient, soft, organic cocoa butter.

This bath melt helped soothe my dry, winter battered skin and left my skin so soft. The next day I could still feel the benefits of the Cocoa Butter, my skin was still positively glowing from the previous days good-old-soak.

You will most certainly always get out of a Snow Angel bath with the most radiantly moisturised skin.

I personally wasn’t a huge fan of its scent, I have however never been much of a marzipan person so my dislike of its scent was inevitable.

Snow Angel’s ability to hydrate and moisturise my skin was definitely the highlight of using this product, for that sole purpose I would one-hundred-percent recommend it.

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Skydancer Far From the Madding Guns Bath Bomb from Lush

The Skydancer Far From the Madding Guns Bath Bomb is a limited edition Lush product created to raise money for England’s endangered hen harriers.

As England’s current most endangered bird, I’m so happy that Lush are providing them with a life line as well as a voice. All profits made from the sales of the Skydancer bath bomb will help fund the satellite tagging of future hen harrier chicks. This will allow research to be carried out in the hope of saving the hen harrier from extinction.

The Skydancer bath bomb’s design is unique when compared to any other bath bomb from Lush, it resembles a harrier hen flying with the sun on its wings.

Skydancer has bergamot, Sicilian lemon and cinnamon leaf oil in, all of which are firm favourites of mine. With all of those ingredients Skydancer has quite a complex scent. It is sweet, spicy and fruity too. The cinnamon leaf oil in it gives Skydancer a warmer and much spicier tone than I am used to for a product with bergamot and Sicilian lemon oil in. Despite the long list of ingredients, the final product however has a very subtle fragrance, all of the ingredients compliment each other beautifully. It appears that Lush have managed to add each ingredient in the perfect quantity.

Upon hitting the water Skydancer starts to fizz, the yellow foam is really thick and silky smooth, I couldn’t quite believe how slowly this bath bomb fizzed away. As soon as it hit the water the scent of Skydancer really hit me, I could also pick up hints of aniseed, I’m not a huge fan of it but luckily it wasn’t too strong. I remember people saying that the May Day bath bomb had hints of aniseed too but I couldn’t really detect it in that bath bomb either.

After about 10 minutes I got inpatient and dunked the blue bird under the water to see how it looked… Sorry! I’d say this bath bomb took a little over 15 minutes to fully dissolve, I imagine it would have taken a little longer if I hadn’t dunked it.

My skin felt fabulous after a long soak in its water.

I’m really angry with myself as with this being a charity bath bomb I should have done this review sooner. The Skydancer bath bomb is still available in most stores and is currently still available online. If you haven’t tried it, please give it a go as it’s for a good cause and it is quite an impressive bath bomb if I say so myself.

Be quick though as they won’t be available for very much longer!

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Don’t Look At Me Fresh Face Mask from Lush

Lush’s Don’t Look At Me Fresh Face Mask was one of my Oxford Street buys, luckily for the rest of the world, it’s now available in most Lush stores as well as online.

Don’t Look At Me has a rich, fine, exfoliating texture and is packed with murumuru butter and zingy lemon juice. The murumuru butter nourishes the skin while the lemon juice helps tone the complexion.

The substance is a lot lighter than other Lush face masks I have used before.

Comparing it to the face mask Cupcake, it has a completely different consistency. I’d describe Don’t Look At Me as being runny and icing-like where as the face mask Cupcake is more of a thick, porridge-like mix.

I really liked Don’t Look At Me, the fact it has lemon juice, grapefruit and neroli oil in gives it more of a zing than the other masks I have tried.

In my personal opinion I’m not overly keen on the scent, there’s something in there that makes the sharpness of the lemon juice have less of a kick. It masks what should be a pleasant smell making it a little too earthy for my liking.

I however didn’t let my dislike of its scent deter me, upon application I found my skin instantly soothed, it helped me slip into a well needed state of relaxation.

The application of Don’t Look At Me is really easy. When I am ready to put it on, I take it out of the fridge and apply a generous layer around my face with a tea spoon. (As shown below)

I use the back of a teaspoon to apply it as I don’t like to use my fingers. With fresh products I like to be as sterile as possible, no matter how clean your hands may be, I wouldn’t want to risk speeding up the process of mold growing.

You can get 2 to 3 face masks out of one pot so the less contact you have with the left over product the better. Obviously, fresh products don’t last forever. I find using a spoon prolongs their shelf-life.

After 15 minutes of wearing the face mask, I rinsed it off with warm water, followed by a splashing of cold.

My skin felt great and I will most certainly be using this product again.

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Sacred Lotus Bath Bomb from Lush

I have been waiting to try out this bath bomb ever since it was released as a Lush, Oxford Street exclusive, it has a design like no other bath bomb. It resembles the shape and appearance of a lotus flower, its uniqueness makes it one of the more attractive, exciting and greatly anticipated products that were created exclusively for the Oxford Street, grand opening collection.

In colour it is white and yellow with purple upright petals; Often described as ‘star-shaped’ the Sacred Lotus is a very pretty product. Unfortunately the shape of the bath bomb leaves it vulnerable. I still haven’t managed to transport one from Oxford Street to my home in North Yorkshire safely. I’m hoping that should Lush decide the bath bombs vulnerable shape is a fault, that the idea of a redesign outshines the choice to discontinuing it as they did the easily breakable Granny Takes A Dip bath bomb earlier this year (2015).

The Sacred Lotus Bath Bomb has neroli oil, jasmine and tonka absolute in. When I finally made it to Oxford Street and I had a big pile of them in front of me all I could really smell was the jasmine. I was completely oblivious to the neroli oil within it. I had expected the Sacred Lotus to have a very strong scent it was however quite the opposite, very gentle.

When I very first used the Sacred Lotus bath bomb it wasn’t until it was half way through its show, fizzing away in my bath water that I realised its scent had so much more depth to it. All of a sudden I was hit with a wave of fruityness and I realised that it also had neroli oil in.

Neroli is one of my favourite essential oils as it not only smells beautiful but it has been scientifically proven to increase the production of serotonin levels in the brain, a.k.a the happy hormone.

Apart from its delicacy, Sacred Lotus is a very enjoyable bath bomb. A real sacred lotus is an aquatic plant, similar to a lily pad and it is found in India. I like how the bath bomb resembles this in use.

Jasmine absolute is a very popular ingredient throughout India too. It therefore made perfect sense for Lush to pair the jasmine ingredient in with the Sacred Lotus bath bomb.

Upon hitting the water Sacred Lotus begins to fizz, leaving a trail of white, purple and yellow foam. During the bath bombs reaction with the water near the end, the purple petals break off going off on their own little journey of purple fizz.

Sacred Lotus is a truly unique Lush bath bomb that every Lushie has to experience in the flesh at least once, it isn’t until you see a bath bomb like this in action that you appreciate how much work goes into each and every Lush product.

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Love Soap from Lush #GayIsOk

love-soap

I was so pleased to get my hands on Lush’s Love Soap, its creation was to support equal rights for all.

It isn’t hard to see what it’s all about, the hashtag #GayIsOk cannot be ignored while looking and using this product as it is literally written all over it. I couldn’t think of a better more prominent and eye-catching way of designing it.

Did you know that at the point of writing this post it is still a crime to be gay in 76 countries? I thought everyone in the world was protected by the human rights act so I am really confused that people in this day and age are still being told who they can and can’t love? Really?! sadly this is a lot of peoples reality.

Although this soap is primarily supporting equal rights for same sex couples across the globe, it also sends out a message of hope to anyone who has ever been told who they can and can’t be in love with.

It isn’t just same sex couples that are in the firing line. You could be criticised because the person you love is older than you, younger than you, a different race from you, a different religion from you or even because the person you love has a disability or mental health issue. It’s not fair on anyone.

People in life will always express their disapproval of things that have nothing to do with them. Being gay does not make you a bad person, no one should be made to feel ashamed of who they are.

I’ve never publicly spoke about it but I went through hell as a teenager all because of someone that was too scared to come out. I would have had a much better childhood if being gay wasn’t ‘frowned upon’. Even in the countries that it is perfectly legal in, people don’t come out as they’re too scared of people’s reactions.

The person who put me through hell as a kid is gay. I’m sad that they couldn’t be comfortable being themselves back then. They instead told everyone that would listen that I was a lesbian, not her, me. It was almost like they were testing the waters to find out what their peers thought of gay girls. Rumours were started and just like that I became ‘Lesbo Lu’. The stories were constant, they never stopped, never took a break. It felt like everything she said was about me being a lesbian. No other topic was ever brought up. My ‘friends’ would sit in a corner sniggering to everything she said, never once standing up for me because they were too scared of associating with a ‘lesbian’.

It got to the point where I thought maybe I was a lesbian and I hadn’t realised it yet? everyone thought I was gay, everyone said I was gay, why did I not feel gay? – simple answer is because I’m not.

It’s very easy to fall into a trap of doubting yourself because of other people’s opinions, this isn’t fair. If only we lived in a world that allowed us to be comfortable in our own skin no matter what.

The way I was treated by most people (because of these rumours) was disgusting and I haven’t forgiven the person who caused it neither have I forgiven the people that thought it was a thing to dislike/laugh at me for.

In adulthood I actually found out on my way to work that the person who had started and fueled the rumours had come out as gay. I finally understood why she had done it.

I can’t forgive what went on but I do now understand.

At the time I didn’t have any reason to think she was, I would never have suspected it and I guess that was all a part of the plan to protect herself. I know now that she was also going through her own hell because she was to frightened to be her true self. The softie in me wishes that I had known, maybe I could have helped her and saved us both a whole lot of heartache.

Not being able to have the courage to be yourself is a lonely position to be in.

This is why we all need to stand together to spread the message that who we fall in love with should be our choice, no one else’s. It should not be against the law and people should not have to fear for their life just because of who they are.

Let’s take the fear out of being ourselves,

#GayIsOk let’s tell the world!

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Cupcake Fresh Face Mask from Lush

Cupcake Fresh Face Mask WM.png
Cupcake was the very first fresh face mask from Lush that I tried.

There are several different fresh face masks to choose from in Lush, I decided on Cupcake as its ingredients were the best suited to my faces needs at the time. I am often surrounded by stress and my skin pays for it. Even at 25 I still get blemishes all over my face, something I am very self conscious about.

Cupcake face mask is an excellent choice if you are suffering with oily or blemish prone skin, the cocoa powder and rhassoul mud that is in it are both highly absorbent making it an excellent product for drawing out dirt and impurities from your skin.

Mixed in with the cocoa powder and rhassoul mud is fresh mint. Fresh mint is another great ingredient, it’s a herb that is used in thousands of cosmetic products as it is both antiseptic and cooling, it is the perfect ingredient to stimulate, soothe and tone angry skin.

Cupcake balances out my skin perfectly. It draws out all of the impurities while cleansing and soothing my skin all at the same time.

Application is easy, I like to keep mine in the fridge to keep its ingredients fresh. When you’re ready to put it on, take it out of the fridge and apply a generous layer around your face/your problem area. I like to use a teaspoon to apply mine, I prefer using a spoon as it doesn’t get all over your hands and also stops any bacteria from your fingers ending up in the left over product. Using this spoon method every single one of my face masks have lasted well past their sell by date.

Cupcake rinses off really easily, I like to leave it on my face for 15 minutes to about half an hour. Once the time is up I grab a clean flannel and rinse it in hot as I can stand it water. I then slowly wipe the mask off, sweeping it in downwards motions, I like to use hot as I can stand it water as I find this really helps to drag all of the dirt and impurities out of my pores.

There wasn’t much difference to my skin after the first use but after I had Cupcake twice my skin was noticeably in a much better condition. My pores had also shrunk in size which really impressed me.

I get 3 maybe 4 face masks out of one of the small pots from Lush, I therefore think Cupcake is a really cost effective, high end quality face mask. I am really pleased with this product and will certainly be buying it again when my skin decides to have another break out.

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