The Sun Solid Perfume

They say that cosmetics can't change a person, but I know differently. Ever since I began collecting Lush, I find that I get more pleasure out of deciding what to take on holiday with me than the actual holiday itself. On Sunday, I jetted off to beautiful, sunny Spain and I found far more excitement in choosing the products I was going to share my trip with, than that I was going away for the first time in years.

Knowing that it was going to be scorching, I opted to take a perfume that would accentuate the wonderful heat - The Sun. Originally released as a liquid perfume for the Volume 2 range, Lush have recently brought it out in solid form as well.

There are many reasons why solid perfumes are a good investment. Firstly, they are very easily to transport from place to place. They take up very little space and have no way of leaking, so can be stored in pockets, purses and bags and taken near enough anywhere. Secondly, they are great value for money. This one in particular comes in at £5 for a 12g tub, and while the weight in conjunction with the price may seem rather expensive for perfume, it's far more compact than your typical liquid fragrances so you get a lot more bang for your buck.

Finally, and this is more of personal preference, there's just something really wonderful about the packaging and designs of these solid editions. They're a great little collector's item and when bought in conjunction with others, look rather fantastic on your shelf. 

What I like about The Sun Solid Perfume is that it isn't as acidic-smelling as it's liquid counterpart. When I first tested the liquid perfume, I was a little put-off by how strong it was in the bottle. Luckily it mellows out quite a lot and I grew to love it, but the solid addition doesn't have any of those potent acidic smells to begin with.

Made from a combination of orange, sandalwood and jojoba oil, this perfume is a bright, refreshing and very uplifting fragrance. Straight from the tin it reminds me of freshly peeled oranges - it captures the tartness you experience when peeling back the layer of skin and pith from an actual orange. There's nothing synthetic about this citrus smell as all - it's as natural as you can get.

Underneath this, there is a very subtle but equally warming hint of sandalwood. This gives the orange a base on which to stand so it's not as thin and two-dimensional as you can imagine it being. The sandalwood makes more of an appearance on the skin, where it pads out the zesty scent and grounds the overall aroma. It makes the perfume just slightly more sultry and sophisticated, which I love.

To use solid perfumes, all you have to do is massage your finger over the surface of the perfume and then rub it into key areas of the body. It's much more conservative than liquid perfumes as you don't lose any of the product when you're applying it to your skin - a 12g tub would easily outlive a 100ml bottle in that sense. 

Unfortunately, the one downfall with this solid edition is that the scent is very short-lived. I applied quite a lot to both of my wrists and found that within 10-15 minutes, the smell had all but disappeared. My friends did say that they could detect the perfume on me, but they too said it was a very weak one and not something they could pick up without standing almost on top of me.

While solid perfumes are definitely a unique way to enjoy the wonderful smells of Lush, I don't think that this one will prove as enjoyable as it's liquid cousin. While the fragrance itself is flawless, I will be sticking to the liquid edition in future to get my Sun fix. While I have given it a high rating, this is because of the design, the fragrance and the usability - it's the longevity that lets it down. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Organic Jojoba Oil (Simmondsia chinensis), Castor Oil (Ricinus communis), Candelillia Wax (Euphorbia cerifera), Brazilian Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis), Perfume, Sandalwood Oil (Santalum austro-caledonicum vieill), Mimosa Absolute (Acacia decurrens), Limonene,  Linalool, Titanium Dioxide, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Tin Oxide.

Vegan?: Yes.