Gold, Frankincense & Beer Shower Jelly is a product very popular with the majority of Lush fanatics. It's a product that gains a lot of attention and excitement, often by consumers who are keen to try this out for the first time. Making it's last appearance during the 2011 December retro range, it's a shower jelly that has built it's notoriety through the praise and adoration from those of us lucky enough to have tried it.
Initially, I was a little skeptical that this product would be anything special. Presented as a rather ugly, and slightly 'gloopy' brown coloured-jelly, it's not the most attractive product in the world. At first, I was even tempted to scorn the fact that Lush had decorated the jelly with sprinklings of golden lustre, on the basis that it's near impossible to 'dress up' anything that resembles the colour of mud. However, I was quick to forgive this jelly on the basis that two of it's key ingredients are, in fact, brown in nature; Stout and Frankincense feature heavily here so there's no wonder the jelly is coloured as it is. When I hazarded a first sniff, I was pleasantly surprised by it's wonderful fragrance and was rather excited to see how it performed in the shower. This shower jelly is definitely a lot sweeter than you would imagine; concocted from a mixture of mandarin and star anise, mandarin juice and sweet orange oil, it possesses somewhat of a fruity edge to it, which was unexpected but very much loved by myself.
However, it is the ingredients in it's name that dominate this product's fragrance. The smell is rather hard to describe; a sort of pungent stout scent with elements of sugary sweetness coming from the inclusion of frankincense. It is this latter ingredient, alongside the citrus elements, that give this shower jelly it's unique scent, whilst removing the sourness that you would expect from the beer.
It's quite a sophisticated and rather sexy smell, although it definitely sides more with Lush's more masculine fragrances than it does the likes of Snow Fairy and Rose Jam. It's got a slight earthy musk to it, alongside a subtle spicy kick from the addition of black pepper and cinnamon, making it a very warm and comforting scent; it reminds me very slightly of the chewy ale bottle sweets that I used to eat as a child.
The jelly is made from carrageenan extract which is a natural and nutritious seaweed gel full of vitamins and minerals to help soften and condition your skin. Gold, Frankincense & Beer Shower Jelly also features four different types of oils, which is perhaps why this jelly is a little softer and less elasticated than the likes of Calacas or The Joy Of Jelly. However, this shower jelly lathered up wonderfully and produced quite a thick and creamy lather, which worked wonders at softening your skin and leaving it feeling radiant.There are several ways that you can use the shower jelly. Firstly, you can rub the whole block, or a broken-off piece, directly onto your skin. However, I find that this is fairly ineffective as it does not create much of a lather and the jelly becomes too wet, making it slippery and difficult to hold on to. What I find works for me, is breaking off a grape-sized piece and then rubbing it into a sponge or shower-puff, before lathering all over my body. This tends to help the jelly foam up, wherein the puff them holds the lather whilst you clean yourself.
As Gold, Frankincense & Beer is a rather soft jelly, I found that this method of application was pretty effective. The jelly tended to smoosh into the shower puff nicely and create a velvety lather that I could then use all over my body.
What is promising is that I was left with a wonderful sweet and woody smell on my skin, which clung to my hair and clothes for most of the day. I received a number of compliments, which only served to demonstrate that this is a product with a long-lasting and poignant scent. I thoroughly enjoyed Gold, Frankincense & Beer Shower Jelly, despite convincing myself beforehand that I would hate it. It's a unique and very sultry-smelling jelly, and one that I would be very interested in buying again. I only hope that Lush bring it back again sometime soon.
Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Glycerine, Stout (Beer), Mandarin and Star Anise Infusion (Citrus nobilis, Illicium verum), Propylene Glycol, Mandarin Juice (Citrus reticulata), Carrageenan Extract, Perfume, Sweet Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis), Clove Bud Oil (Eugenia caryophyllus), Black Pepper Oil (Piper nigrum), Cinnamon Leaf Oil (Cinnamomum cassia), Fine Sea Salt (Sodium Chloride), *Citral, *Eugenol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Methylparaben, Golden Sparkles (Polyethylene terephthalate).
Vegan?: Yes.
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