Soap – Lush Upon A Time

Ghost in the Dark Soap from Lush

Ghost in the Dark Soap

When I found out that Lush were bringing out a Halloween soap that not only glows in the dark (see below photo) but also shares its scent with the Avobath bath bomb, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

When the Ghost in the Dark Soap arrived on my doorstep I was pleasantly surprised at how big it was, it fits more than snuggly in my hand. I was also very pleased with how much it mirrored the aforementioned bath bombs scent, Avobath. With my eyes closed I’m not sure I could tell them apart in a sniff test!

As Lush products go, I know the soaps aren’t always the most interesting items that Lush have to offer. With the Ghost in the Dark soap having the ability to glow in the dark, a whole new level of fun has come to a no-longer-simple bar of soap. The first question everyone asks when they realise that this bar of soap actually really does glow in the dark is, ‘HOW?!!’

The magic ingredient is called luminescent zinc sulfide. I was going to do a whole paragraph on it but then I remembered who I was and how bad I was at Chemistry at school, I have therefore linked up to Lush’s website (here) as I think it would be better all round to let the experts explain the science behind it.

Rich with mood and energy boosting ingredients such as lemongrass and bergamot oils, a quick wash with a bar of Ghost in the Dark will banish away any early morning fatigue you may be feeling; Sharpening your senses and leaving you alert and ready to face the day.

Although I have only used this soap on my hands so far, (I don’t normally use bars of soap anywhere else as my skin is notoriously fussy) it does lather very quickly and it’s really hydrating too, something I never expect from a bar of soap as they normally dry my skin out.

Overall I think the Ghost in the Dark soap is a fantastic addition to Lush’s Halloween line. It has certainly helped me get through the darker Winter mornings, I have also used it several times now and although it has shrunk a tiny bit, I can see it’s going to last for quite some time making it excellent value for money.

The fact it glows in the dark adds a novelty factor to it too, I imagine this has helped it sell as it’s quite the unique selling point!

I have very much enjoyed exploring the Avobath scent in the soap format. I have my fingers crossed that Lush use this scent again very soon as it really is a life saver in the mornings when you’re feeling groggy.

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Chamomile Lawn Soap from Lush

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The Chamomile Lawn Soap from Lush is 1 of 4, 3D printed soaps that were in the Mother’s Day 2018 collection. One reason it has taken me so long to get to the point of reviewing each of these soaps are because of how pretty they are. I simply just didn’t want to rub away at their beautiful and intricate designs. Never-the-less soap is meant to be used and eventually I got around to giving them a go.

The Chamomile Lawn soap has 3 perfect chamomile flowers etched into it. Each soap is a bold, grassy green colour and packed full of calming ingredients making it the perfect soap to use after a long, hard day. Containing lavender, chamomile and neroli, Chamomile Lawn helps you wind down, relax and sets you up for a restful evening and hopefully good night’s sleep.

Scent wise the Chamomile Lawn soap’s most noticeable ingredient has to be the neroli oil. With Chamomile Lawn containing both lavender and neroli oil it is easily mistaken as sharing its scent with the Unicorn Horn bubble bar. Both are indeed very similar, the Chamomile Lawn soaps inclusion of chamomile oil however gives the soap a much stronger more rounded scent than the Unicorn Horn, it’s an almost earthy scent in ways.

The unique shape of the 4 Mother’s Day, 3D printed soaps not only makes them easy to display but also helps when it comes down to gripping them during use. I was worried that its size would cause me to have problems keeping a hold of it in use, this however wasn’t at all a problem.

Normally I would rarely use a bar of soap for anything more than just washing my hands. I however found that Chamomile Lawn lathered up easily and had a really creamy consistency so I decided to use it in the shower. A little of Chamomile Lawn also appears to go a long way, this unfortunately wasn’t the case for all of the Mother’s Day 3D soaps, we will however save that for their own review!

Although I didn’t find using Chamomile Lawn in the shower a particularly moisturising experience, my skin did feel well cleansed and soothed after use. A quick splash of Lush’s Dream Cream once I was out of the shower, helped hydrate my skin where the Chamomile Lawn soap had left me needing a hydration boost. I like to pair Chamomile Lawn with the Dream Cream body lotion as their scents are fairly similar. Overall I really enjoyed this Mother’s Day soap, it’s as good in use as it is beautiful.

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Tunnel of Love Soap from Lush

Tunnel of Love Soap

I rarely buy Lush soaps, it’s not because I dislike them I just simply prefer using the bubble bars and bath bombs. When I however set eyes on the Tunnel of Love Soap it was love at first sight. Above is a photograph of a slice of the soap and below is a photograph of it pre cut. The below image is how they arrive in to store, it is then up to the store staff to cut it into smaller pieces, ready to sell.

The soap in all of its glory is truly beautiful, I couldn’t stop staring at it when I was by the soap counter in Lush Oxford Street. In all honesty I feel for the store staff, I would feel like the worst person on the planet if I was asked to chop up this huge lump of soap. It’s not just a sight for sore eyes, it’s a work of art!

The Tunnel of Love Soap has a long list of natural ingredients that reflect the Valentine’s period perfectly. It contains both sweet wild orange and lime oil making it have an almost identical scent to the Lush Winter bath bomb, Never Mind the Ballistics. The addition of rose water in it is what gives the Tunnel of Love it’s valentine’s twist.

Its scent is bright and sweet, the orange oil is the most dominant ingredient recognised by my nose, the rose water is next and it rounds the citrus-sweetness of the orange oil off perfectly, giving the Tunnel of Love a more subtle, citrus-scent which is why I feel I like it so very much.

There aren’t many Lush soaps that lather up as quickly as the Tunnel of Love soap, it is one of the best Valentine’s soaps I have used to date, leaving the likes of Roses All the Way and Love You, Love You Lots soap in the shadows. I like all of the Valentine’s Day soaps from the past but there’s just something a little bit more special about the Tunnel of Love soap. It’s so much more creamier than any other floral soap I have used before now.

Its scent although subtle, stays on your skin a good few hours after using it. Although in lather it is quite a creamy soap, it doesn’t leave your skin as soft and hydrated as the naked shower cream from this year (Tender is the Night) does. I however wouldn’t expect this to be the case as it’s rare for a soap to not dry my skin out a little. Out of all of the Valentine’s soaps I have used so far, Tunnel of Love is undeniably the best yet. I’d definitely recommend grabbing a bar before Valentine’s day 2018 has been and gone.

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Orangutan Soap from Lush

Orangutan Soap

Whether you are or aren’t a fan of Lush, the one thing you can’t fault them for is the amount of charity work that they do. It’s so refreshing to see a company that doesn’t solely obsess over making profit just for themselves. Lush’s most recent charity-product is the Orangutan Soap. All proceeds (minus VAT) made on the sales of these soaps are going towards the Sumatran Orangutan Society. Their aim is to buy 50 hectares of old Indonesian palm plantation so that they can restore the land back into native forest. This will give the Orangutans a much needed extension on their dwindling home and habitat.

Currently there are only 14,600 wild orangutans left in Sumatra, the decline in forest space is slowly but surely working towards making the orangutan in Sumatra extinct. To help raise the money for this product Lush have made 14,600 orangutan shaped soaps to sell, this means that each soap made represents one of the remaining Sumatran orangutans. This really hit home for me, it made me realise just how close we are getting to losing the Sumatran Orangutans forever.

The first thing I noticed about the Orangutan soap was its intricate design. It truly is a work of art, the attention Lush have given just on its detail alone is more than impressive. It resembles an orangutan so accurately, it even has delicate lines all over it to represent the orangutans fur. Lush have almost made the orangutan shaped soap too pretty to use, I bitterly regret not ordering 2 for myself now. One to use and one to leave on display.

The Orangutan soap contains patchouli and orange oil giving it a musky and smoky scent with a layer of orange sweetness. In some ways it reminds me of the Supertramp and Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds bubble bar. The patchouli is definitely the most dominant ingredient within it, there is however just enough orange and coconut oil in it to soften the strength of the patchouli slightly.

When using the Orangutan soap I was surprised at how quickly it created a workable lather. Although the soap has quite a strong scent, after using it its scent doesn’t remain on your skin for very long. It is however more moisturising on your skin than I had expected, the addition of coconut oil has made a real difference to how the soap feels on the skin. I wouldn’t say the soaps scent was a favourite of mine but it isn’t at all unpleasant, I can imagine it working very well with the Lord of Misrule bath bomb. That isn’t a cocktail I could try myself though as that bath bomb triggers my migraines. If anyone does try the two together, I’d really love to hear your thoughts on the pairing.

Overall I really do like this soap, the scent doesn’t blow me away but it’s perfectly sculptured design does. A lot of time and effort was clearly put into the making of this product, I hope that the Sumatran Orangutan Society benefits from the sale of this soap even more than they had hoped.

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Golden Pear Soap from Lush

When it comes down to Lush Cosmetics I rarely review the soaps. This isn’t because I dislike them, I just get through them so slowly that I am currently still working through a long list of soaps from 2014! The fact that they can be used day in day out, while lasting so long is a real credit to Lush. At the 2017 Lush Creative Showcase I was instantly drawn towards the Golden Pear Soap. It looks just like a real pear and photographs beautifully, realising this, I couldn’t help but bump it to the top of my review list.

The Golden Pear has a very sophisticated scent, its ingredients include pear puree, cardamom oil, Brazilian orange oil, sandalwood and murumuru butter. What I like most about this soap is how its scent differs from when you first have it to when you use it. Straight off of the shelf the Golden Pear has a strong and very sour scent, it’s not sour in the same way as the Calacas shower gel is though. The use of actual pear seems to soften the zest of the orange oil in it while also giving it a sweeter edge. It reminds me of boiled sweets that you’d get from one of the old fashioned sweet shops, pear drops and pineapple cubes spring to mind.

Once in use the Golden Pears scent becomes less sour and a much warmer fragrance. The pear in it that smells so fresh at first quickly becomes more musky and super sweet. This extra layer of warmth reminds me ever so slightly of the Fizzbanger bath bomb. As I mentioned above, the Golden Pear soap looks just like a real pear. That is until you see that the soap is in fact divided into 2 pieces then stuck back together with a creamy center, much like one of Lush’s popular bubbleroons. Yuzu and Cocoa and Peeping Santa being 2 of my personal favourites from the bubbleroon family.

Sadly for bubbleroon fans Golden Pear is just a soap, sorry if I got your hopes up when making the comparison… It is however a very good soap so don’t feel too hard done by. It lathers up quickly while its pear like design also makes it the perfect shape for wet hands, there’s no slipping and sliding in your hands with this soap, it’s a very easy lather.

Golden Pear Soap1

It’s very normal for a bar of soap to dry out my hands, with the Golden Pear soap this doesn’t however happen. Alongside its truly unique scent, this is what made me really like the Golden Pear soap. The murumuru butter in it makes it so much more moisturising than other bars of soap, it leaves my skin feeling so soft. Its scent does however fade on me quite quickly, it doesn’t seem to last on my skin but I have heard others say it does on theirs so don’t just take my word for it.

As Lush soaps go, the Golden Pear is certainly one of the best to have come out this year. I like its scent but can see how some may find it a little over powering, its sweetness level is up there with the Snow Fairy fragrance.

The oddly shaped soaps that are famous from Lush are often a little difficult to handle. In my opinion a lot of them are more of a novelty product than anything else. Golden Pear however breaks the mold, it’s a work of art as well as a brilliant soap. The fact it doesn’t even look like a soap gives it that special edge. Thanks to the Golden Pear soap I have decided that I need to give Lush’s soap selection more credit, expect to see a lot more soap reviews here in the foreseeable future!

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Fairy Ring Soap from Lush

fairy-ring-soap

At the Lush Creative Showcase I picked up the Mistletoe bath bomb and recognised the scent straight away. I squealed at one of the sales assistants, ‘SILKY UNDERWEAR!’ my boyfriend didn’t have a clue as to what I meant but thankfully the sales assistant did.

One of my favourite things about Lush is that you can enjoy their carefully crafted scents in lots of different formats.

The release of the Mistletoe bath bomb has led me into falling back in love with the silky underwear scent. When I see that the Lush Kitchen menu had Fairy Ring Soap, which shares the same scent too, I couldn’t stop myself from ordering a block.

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The Fairy Ring soap contains a beautiful combination of yummy ingredients, jasmine, ylang ylang and vetivert oil. Mixed together they give the soap a sweet and musky scent that I can never get enough of.

There aren’t as many products in the silky underwear scent family as I’d like. I hope that the Lush Kitchen bring some of the retro products back soon and that in time its family will grow.

All of the Lush soaps that I have tried seem to last forever. When it came down to using the Fairy Ring soap I found that it lathered up very quickly and left my skin in a surprisingly soft and hydrated condition, this didn’t last very long though, my skin dried up after about half and hour.

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This was easily fixed by slapping on some body lotion. I just wish that Lush had a body lotion with the same scent, using something with a different scent sometimes works really well, I however don’t always want to mix scents.

I’d literally buy several thousand litres of it if it was made into a body lotion. There are so many products that I wish had body lotion equivalents but this scent in particular I’d be very interested in.

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Northern Lights Soap from Lush

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When the Northern Lights Soap was last on the Lush Kitchen menu I couldn’t help but pick up a bar. Ever since I had very first used the old Northern Lights Bath Bomb I’d loved the scent.

The newer and updated version of the Northern Lights bath bomb is currently available everywhere as a part of the Winter 2016 product line. This had reunited me with the beautiful scent and of course I fell head over heels in love with it all over again. The chance to buy anything that shares its scent is currently my biggest Lush desire, whatever the format!

One of my favourite things about Lush is that you can enjoy their older scents in lots of different formats. Until this year the Northern Lights scent had been put at the back of the scent cupboard and I’m so pleased they’ve brought it back as it really is one of my all time favourites.

At first it took me a little while to get used to the Northern Lights scent, when it was first put in front of me I was almost convinced that it was too strong a scent for me. By the end of my very first Northern Lights bath I was however a super fan and desperate to try more.

There aren’t as many products in the Northern Lights scent family as I’d like. I hope in time its family will grow to the same size as the Calacas or Pop in the Bath scent… These things however take time so I will wait patiently enjoying the presence of the bath bomb and the soap for now.

As you can see the Northern Lights soap is quite the colourful eye sore, when I first unwrapped it from its Lush Kitchen wrapper it was basically glowing.

The fragrance that radiates from it is so hard to put into words, it’s slightly citrusy but just has a little more bite.

The soap itself seems to last forever, it lathers up very quickly and its scent remains just as strong. I was pleasantly surprised at the condition of my skin after washing with it too.

Bars of soap normally dry out my skin but not Northern Lights. My skin wasn’t as hydrated as I like it after I’ve just used Lush but it also wasn’t so dry that I needed to cake myself in body lotion as soon as I had dried myself off…

Although it didn’t do a bad job on my body I think I’ll leave this one for washing my hands, unfortunately this is how I feel about all Lush soaps. I just find that soaps don’t help my skin look and feel its best in comparison to how the body conditioners or the shower creams do. This is why I rarely review soaps, Northern Lights had however impressed me enough to warrant me writing a whole post on it.

They really, really need to bring out a Northern Lights shower gel or jelly, that and a body lotion.

Wow, I’m totally hooked on its scent. I wish I’d have bought several of the bars now just so I could leave them around my house, the unique and dangerously addictive scent gets me every time.

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Roses All The Way Soap from Lush

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We haven’t even finished the first quarter of 2016 and already Lush have brought out more new and exciting products than I can keep up with. We’ve had the Valentine’s Day range, the Mother’s Day range and of course the Easter range as well as everything else in-between.

In all honesty I am literally stuck in a state of disbelief that we have actually already entered March?! As the saying goes – time flies when you’re having fun and with all of the new Lush goodies on offer, by me, fun is most certainly being had!

Today I am reviewing the Roses All The Way Soap, never before been released – this beautiful heart shaped, rose detailed soap had me intrigued within seconds of stumbling across it.

The Roses All The Way Soap is a generous size that takes up the best part of my hand. Comparing it to the usual, rectangular soap slabs its unique design, size and shape make it a lot easier to grip when using it in the bath or shower. For me, as a disabled person my particular needs in a soap are catered for just on the fact that it is easier to grip. Until my Lush addiction hit me bad, I was never a fan of floral scents, I don’t know why but I had always associated rose, lavender and other flowery scents with getting old.

Slowly but surely the Rose Jam scent however grew on me, alongside that, a lot of other scents that I never thought I’d enjoy all of a sudden became desirable. I’d go as far as to say that my sense of smell has matured since joining the Lush crowd. I am now recognising and appreciating scents I had never really taken much notice of before. Lush has opened my eyes and although I am still far from an expert when it comes to scents, I am getting better!

Roses All The Way Soap is of course primarily a rose scent. At first I thought it was the Rose Jam scent but after a while I realised it actually has a softer floral tone and is actually quite sweet, almost zesty. The more I used it, the more prominent the lemon oil in it appeared to be.

The idea behind this soap was inspired by Alice In Wonderland’s ‘painting the roses red’ part of the book. The back of the soap is white, as you use it, its red side starts to turn a light pink, eventually fading to a bright white. Any one who is familiar with the Alice in Wonderland story will know that the Queen of Hearts angrily demands that all of the white roses in her court yard are to be painted red. Painting the white roses red is exactly what her pack-of-card guards set upon doing.

Several hours after my bath I can still smell this soaps soft and zingy fragrance on my skin. It lathered up well and didn’t dry out my skin which has amazed me as most bars of soap do, especially those that are primarily floral.

Overall I am really impressed with Roses All The Way, it’s a wonderful addition to the Lush Soap family. Since enjoying it so much I have made it my new Lush goal to try several more Lush soaps in the near future. Watch this space!

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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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