Almond Buttercream

If it hadn't been for the release of Heavenly Bodies a few months back, I probably wouldn't have been as excited as I was for the release of this. Ever since I experienced the wonders of smearing myself in what smells and looks like cake batter, and feeling how amazingly soft my skin was afterwards, I've never wanted to share a shower with a product more than this one.

Unfortunately for Heavenly Bodies, Almond Buttercream has surpassed my expectations and cemented itself as my favourite buttercream to date. It's the perfect product to become acquainted with during those difficult morning showers - it's gentle on the skin and leaves you wanting to scoop out handfuls and spoon them into your mouth. 

For those unfamiliar with what a buttercream is, it's a combination of soap and shower gel; a softer-style soap that can be used like a shower gel, but contains key ingredients to help soften and repair dry skin. It doesn’t contain as many surfactants as traditional soap, so it won’t lather up like you’re used to, but this does mean it’s especially good for those people who find normal soap can sometimes dry their skin out.

This particular butter cream is jam-packed with essential oils and butters to give you a nourishing and highly moisturising experience. The inclusion of rapeseed and coconut condition the skin - helping to keep moisture from escaping from the skin, which aids in retaining softness and suppleness. The moisturizing properties of almond butter is great for people with delicate or sensitive skin, making it a good choice for dry skin on your face or to relieve itching and soreness from rashes and other skin irritations. The ground almond shells means that this product doesn't waste any of the nut and gives the buttercream a very subtle grittiness, which turns this product into a gentle exfoliator. 

As if Almond Buttercream wasn't luxurious enough, Lush have also included sweet orange, sicilian mandarin, lime and cinnamon leaf oil. Aside from their moisturising and toning properties, these ingredients give this product a beautiful, uplifting and rather sexy aroma.                                                                                                   To me, this buttercream smells rather similar to the aforementioned Heavenly Bodies, but whereas that one is dominated by the lime oil, this one is much lighter, more buttery and slightly less potent with the citrus fragrance. It has a gentle smell of chocolate orange, a subtle nuttiness intertwined with a rich, fudgey-vanilla aroma that's simply irresistible. As I said in my other review, it really needs to be sampled to understand how beautiful the product is - don't blame me if you find yourself poised with a spoon over a tub of the stuff - it really is that good!

Aside from it's scent, Almond Buttercream softens, cleans and replenishes tired and dried-out skin. It's easy to massage over the skin but don't expect it to lather up like a shower gel - it's more like a body butter in this sense. It washes off easily under running water and leaves a beautiful fruity fragrance on your skin. 

It's easy to scoop out of the tub and a small amount goes a long way. Just be careful not to use too much at any one time as it's very easy to get carried away with a product as gorgeous as this. A 250g tub will last you a good 10-20 full body washes, depending on how generous you are with your portions. While it works out more expensive than a shower gel or soap, it's worth the extra price to feel as gorgeously pampered as you do with this buttercream.

This has very quickly established itself as one of my favourite all-time Lush products and I hope they choose to bring this back soon so I can buy a few more tubs. I would definitely recommend that you give this at least one try, and I dare to you to find fault in this incredible product!

Quantitative Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Glycerine, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Almond Butter, Sesame Seeds, Perfume, Dried Orange Slices, Aloe Vera Extract, Ground Almond Shells, Fair Trade Organic Aloe Vera Gel, Sweet Orange Oil, Sicilian Mandarin Oil, Lime Oil, Cinnamon Leaf Oil, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Limonene, Eugenol.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Glorious Mud Body Mask

As I've said time and time again, most of my favourite products from Lush are not ones that I just assumed I'd love and did. Often, it is the products that I have no prior expectations of, only for them to blow my socks off, that remain firm favourites. This product is one such item.

Glorious Mud Body Mask is the first of it's kind that I've tried from Lush and one of only two body masks that have Lush have ever released - the other being Mask Of Magnaminty, which isn't vegan, so not one I'll be placing on my shopping list any time soon. 

Not the most prettiest of products, this solid block of mud surprised me when it exuded a gorgeous creamy vanilla fragrance - the same one that can be found in Lush's discontinued Creme Anglais Body Lotion. It's a lovely wholesome vanilla with a sprinkling of orange and a slight nuttiness from the sesame - nothing you would expect from a slab of what looks like glorified mud!

When new, this product is presented as a block that's a little softer than a soap but sturdy enough that it shouldn't break apart like mine has done. I need to explain that the pictures accompanying this review were taken of a body mask that is considerably old, which is why it's not in the best of conditions. A fresher one would be far more robust and I shall update my review and it's pictures when my fresh ones arrive. 

The product is really easy to use. Just like a body scrub, you can either massage it up and down the desired areas and then work it into your skin with your hands. You may also choose to divide this into more manageable chunks or even crumble it down into what is essentially dirt, and then lather it all over your body in this way. Unfortunately, I didn't have any choice but to do the latter as mine was so old that it couldn't retain it's shape. 

The gritty consistency really helps to scrub away excess skin, level out lumps and bumps and leave your skin smooth and soft. Lush recommend that you leave it on for a few seconds before rinsing away - leaving your body exfoliated, super-silky and highly moisturised. It's amazing what a bit of mud and a few oils can achieve! 

As this body mask contains sodium bicarbonate, I would recommend that you try and keep this away from the direct flow of water. I found that Glorious Mud tends to fizz and foam up when it comes into contact with water and I can imagine it dissolving away very quickly this way.  

The wonderful vanilla aroma is quite pronounced in the body mask and the warmth from the shower accentuates this even more. Your skin is left feeling really radiated and refreshed and smelling royally gorgeous - not to mention the fact that the fragrance lingers for hours in the bathroom and on your skin! The vanilla and sesame combination not only leaves you smelling wonderful, but helps to soften your skin while leaving the aloe vera to soothe and calm your skin as well.

I absolutely love this product - more so than I could have ever imagined. It does exactly what it claims to do and leaves you feeling spoilt but beautiful. When it was first released, this mask set you back almost £7, which isn't far off the cost of a body butter. Depending on how you choose to use this mask, Glorious Mud can last you up to ten showers, which I think makes it great value for money. 

I hope that Lush choose to bring this one back in the kitchen as well as offer other variations for the fans to try. It's a hard-working, gloriously original product that will leave a hole in my life until I am able to use it again. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Rhassoul Mud, Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Cold-Pressed Sesame Oil (Sesamum indicum), Aloe Vera Extract (Aloe barbadensis), Perfume, Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Myrrh Resinoid (Commiphora myrrha), Sweet Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis),Benzyl Salicylate, Coumarin, Limonene.

Vegan?: Yes.

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I Should Coco Soap

On paper, I Should Coco sounds like a dream product - a soap made up mostly of creamed coconut infusion and desiccated coconut. It took a lot of will power not to sink my teeth into it and treat it like a block of coconut ice. I cannot deny that I didn't at least give this soap a little lick to test the water, but I did refrain myself from taking a nibble.

As most Lush fans will know and recognise, the company are big on using coconut in their products. Known for it's super softening properties, not to mention it's incredible natural smell, this is an ingredient that is both versatile and highly effective at what it does. Unfortunately, it's also a fragrance that incites a rather strong reaction from most people, and if you're one of those who don't like its smell, I can guarantee that you'll hate this soap.     

I Should Coco, as I touched upon above, visually resembles a piece of coconut ice - with it's white body and pink desiccated coconut shavings on top. Much like the old-fashioned sweet, this soap also has shavings of coconut threaded throughout the entire block, which gives it quite a rough consistency. This texture makes it a rather effective exfoliator - something I'll touch upon later on in the review. 

The soap has a gentle but long-lasting fragrance - a sweet, warming scent that intensifies in the shower and makes for a very comforting experience. The addition of orange oil adds a slightly uplifting, citrus element to the scent, but it definitely doesn't upstage the coconut. There's also a hint of the coriander oil present as well, which I feel almost takes away from the creaminess of the coconut very slightly. 

In the shower, the soap lathers up fairly easily but I was disappointed to find that I Should Coco didn't perform as well as I was expecting. For a soap that is so crammed full of coconut, I was expecting the bar to produce a thick, silky foam that instantly softened my skin - something similar to the consistency of Big Shampoo or Gentle Lentil Shampoo. However, much like Porridge, this soap has so many excess pieces of 'stuff' threaded throughout it's body that it prevents it from lathering up as much as it could do. 

The hundreds of flakes of shredded coconut do make this soap a really effective exfoliator - giving it a rough consistency to scrub and soften without being too harsh on the skin. However, I found that there isn't a good balance between the amount of coconut and the amount of actual soap present. For this reason, I was only able to use this as a body scrub and not for it's intended purpose of cleaning the body. 

While it doesn't perform well as a soap, it does leave you smelling beautiful - showcasing smooth, radiant skin afterwards. It doesn't dry you out and is perfect for those with delicate skin. This is great to use on the face as well as the body as it's quite a gentil scrub so won't irritate or scratch the skin. However, I had to use a shower gel alongside this to clean myself properly with so it's not the most effective soap to use if you're using it by itself.

Overall, I really enjoyed the scent of this and in it's favour, a 100g lasts a lot longer as a scrub than most of Lush's regular body butters. However, I was hoping for a product that could cleanse as well as exfoliate and I didn't feel that this soap did this successfully.     

Quantitative Ingredients: Creamed Coconut Infusion (Cocos nucifera), Sodium Palm Kernelate, Propylene Glycol, Desiccated Coconut (Cocos nucifera), Perfume, Sodium Stearate, Titanium Dioxide, Orange Oil (Citrus dulcis), Coriander Oil (Coriandrum sativum), Vetivert Oil (Vetiveria zizanoides), Glycerine, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Editronate,  Limonene,  Linalool, Colour 18050.

Vegan?: Yes.

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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.  

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Dad's Garden: Chamomile And Honeysuckle Liquid Perfume

What I love about Lush perfumes is the backstories that go into making them. There's something really special about knowing how much thought and effort has gone into producing a scent and this can sometimes sway me into appreciating a perfume more because of it. 

Dad's Garden Chamomile and Honeysuckle is an example of a fragrance that I have grown to love even more after reading what inspired the Lush team to create it in the first place. Described by the company as a 'sensitive and sophisticated' perfume, this scent is one of two that play tribute to Mark Constantine's late dad. 

This particular perfume is a beautiful yet haunting mixture of chamomile, lavender, jasmine and orange flower - a gentle yet poignant offering that represents the smells and memories that Mark has of his father's garden. I would describe this as a floral fragrance - yet it's not a typical, 'run of the mill' example.                                                                                                                                         It's clear from the get-go that chamomile is the dominating note here - a fresh, uplifting but slightly apply aroma that jumps out at you from inside the bottle. Both the jasmine and orange flower come through as well, complimenting the aroma of the chamomile and adding the natural sweetness of fresh flowers. The lavender is almost an afterthought - the final layer that brings it all together and adds a silky, sultry finishing note. It's more of a herbaceous floral aroma than a straight up flowery combination but this doesn't make it any less beautiful. 

Dad's Garden disperses quite quickly onto your skin - losing the warm, compact scent that it showcases in the bottle and instead branching out into a light, bright and rather uplifting offering. This is quite a gentle and rather pretty smell, despite all of the strong ingredients that have gone into creating the scent. 

I was expecting a rather potent floral fragrance - something along the lines of Imogen Rose, and I was pleasantly surprised that it's not at all like this. It's a sophisticated and rather youthful offering from Lush - something that I've noticed a lot when it comes to many of the perfumes in the Volume 3 collection.

While it is not one of my favourite ones from Death, Decay & Renewal, that's not to say that the fragrance isn't a wonderful addition to their perfume family. Lush have yet again been able to dispel the myth that all floral perfumes are samey and old-fashioned - Dad's Garden is both unique in it's aroma and youthful in it's deliverance. A great spring/summer scent to compliment the nicer weather.

Quantitative Ingredients: DRF Alcohol, Perfume, Roman Chamomile Oil (Anthemis nobilis), Lavender Oil (Lavandula angustifolia), Jasmine Absolute (Jasminum grandiflorum), Orange Flower Absolute (Citrus Aurantium amara), Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Salicylate, Coumarin, Eugenol, Farnesol, Isoeugenol, Limonene, Linalool, Lillal, Geraniol. 

Vegan?: Yes.

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Gold, Frankincense & Beer Shower Jelly

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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Romance In The Stone Bath Bomb

Every so often, a product comes along that sparks an interest in me far greater than most other products usually do. Sometimes it's the look; whether it be it's unique shape, it's colour scheme or it's attention to detail on the decoration. Other times it might be the promise of an exciting scent or the way it's supposed to perform in the bath, shower or on your skin. Whether it's that high expectation that you set upon hearing about the product, or whether that product just isn't as good as it could be, there are always those moments when you feel royally let down by an unfulfilled promise. 

Romance In The Stone is probably the first product in a long while that has left me feeling confused, saddened and a little annoyed. Released during one of Lush's 2013 retro releases, it looked and sounded like something I could easily fall in love with. But things were not to be...

This is one of Lush's smaller bath bombs; a light, cream in colour with real dried rosebuds arranged and decorating each end of the product. Out of the bag, it has a wonderful fresh floral scent intertwined with a refreshing burst of citrus; created using a blend of rose and orange fragrance. This addition of the orange sets it apart from most of Lush's rose-scented ballistics, giving it a unique kick that makes it different from the likes of Rose Queen and Tisty Tosty. First impressions were good.

In the water, the rose petals and dried buds broke away from the product while it was fizzing and floated across the surface before sinking to the bottom of the tub. For those of you who dislike your baths containing any unwanted 'debris', it is easy enough to let this ballistic dissolve whilst sat in a strainer, or placed in a thin sock to stop the pieces of flower getting in your way. However, doing this will stop you from being able to collect and enjoy the sonnet that Lush have snuck inside this bath bomb, supposedly to make this bathing experience just that little bit more romantic.

Here's the problem. Firstly, I discovered that all three of my Romance In The Stone ballistics didn't work correctly. Even when I used one a mere 3-4 days after they arrived in the post, the bath bomb still plummeted to the bottom of the tub and left only a murky biege-coloured water for me to 'enjoy'. I even went out of my way to buy another bath bomb a few weeks later, thinking that I may have received one from a dodgy batch, only to discover that it did exactly the same thing. 

Secondly, if you compare the pictures of my bath bombs to the ones in the original Lush picture, mine don't possess the same allure as promised. My ballistics didn't display any of the beautiful mandarin or fuchsia colours in the flowers; instead, my roses looked wilted and old. Again, perhaps if I'd left these in a drawer for a few months this discolouration would be understandable; for a freshly made bath bomb, it's definitely not what I was expecting. 

Finally, and perhaps the worst part of this whole experience, was the horrible scent that Romance In The Stone produced when dropped into the tub. Instead of the delicate rose and orange fragrance that I was expecting, the scent that this ballistic gave off reminded me of aged pot-pourri that has gotten a little damp and begun to turn mouldy. It was an awful stale scent, which only cemented my concerns that perhaps all of my ballistics had been from a faulty batch. 

Unfortunately, I forgot to email Lush about this and never received an explanation as to why these ballistics were such poor quality. Given that most reviews I've read online about Romance In The Stone have been very positive, I've concluded that I was just unlucky with my purchase, and it's not a product fault. I really hope that Lush bring this bath bomb out again soon, as I'd love to sample another one and hopefully have a better experience this time around. However, until that happens, my opinion on this product is very negative. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Perfume, Red Rosebud, Aloe Vera Extract, Orange Blossom, Red Rose Petals, Sweet Wild Orange Oil, Sicilian Mandarin Oil, Tangerine Oil, *Citral, *Limonene, Sonnet Scroll.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Sunny Citrus Soap

Citrus-scented cosmetics are easily the greatest products on the planet. If you were to consider my all-time favourite Lush fragrance families (Calacas, Ponche and Karma), you'll see that I love everything that features some sort of zesty, fruity goodness. So when I read the ingredients list for this soap, I almost hyperventilated at the sheer thought of what it would be like.

Sunny Citrus is one of those soaps that doesn't get mentioned often on the Lush forum or indeed anywhere online where Lush is discussed. Neither does this soap get many opportunities to share itself with new and devoted fans - it's made very few appearances in the retro range over the last few years. 

Yet I believe it's perhaps one of Lush's best-smelling citrus soaps - sitting above the likes of Orange Jelly, Mandarin's Tea Party and Sexy Peel. Sharing it's scent with the Sicilian Bath Bomb, this gorgeous soap is made from a combination of mandarin, tangerine and orange oils with neroli and bergamot oil thrown in there to add an uplifting and refreshingly complex aroma. 

To me, this soap smells a little like the orange Starburst chew or a tropical Solero ice-cream. It's a beautiful, creamy orange smell with a lime twist to top it off. Whereas a few of the soaps mentioned above are equally as zesty, this one just seems that little bit richer and more decadent. 

Lush describe it as the perfect soap to wake up to and I have to agree with this sentiment. When I used this first thing in the morning, it did perk me up and leave me feeling revitalised and ready for the day ahead. The yummy fragrance really helps to improve your disposition and this alone is enough of a reason to invest in a chunk next time it makes an appearance. 

In the shower, this soap lathers up wonderfully and produces a slightly oily foam, which nourishes the skin and leaves it feeling and smelling wonderful. Although I was slightly disappointed that the fragrance didn't seem to strengthen under the water, I was happy to find that I could smell the citrus elements of this for many hours on my skin, albeit fairly faintly. 

As far as Sunny Citrus Soap goes, it's definitely one of my favourites and I will buy a few chunks when it next makes it's appearance. However, as I've mentioned a few times before, I'm not really a soap person and would much rather have a shower gel to sink my teeth into (not literally, of course!). For this reason, I hope that Lush expand upon what products they offer in this scent. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Propylene Glycol, Sodium Palm Kernelate, Water (Aqua), Fresh Lime Juice (Citrus limetta), Sodium Stearate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Titanium Dioxide, Orange Oil (Citrus dulcis), Tangerine Oil (Citrus reticulata), Mandarin Oil (Citrus nobilis), Neroli Oil (Citrus amara), Bergamot Oil (Citrus bergamia), Perfume, Glycerine, Sodium Chloride, Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), Colour 42045.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Creme Anglaise Body Lotion

Creme Anglais was one of Lush's more expensive body lotions, back when the UK stores still stocked it. Unfortunately, it was discontinued a while back, and I wonder whether or not the price had something to do with it.

Lush claim that it's one of their most luxurious lotions ever, blending together sweet orange oil, almond oil, cocoa butter and saffron to produce a homely, sensuous vanilla body cream. It is this latter ingredient, saffron, that hikes the price up as it is the world's most expensive spice. So why include it in here then, you're surely wondering? Well, saffron is known for it's healing properties, possessing anticarcinogenic, and antioxidant benefits that strengthen and detoxify the skin. 

Aside from the herb, this product also contains sweet almond and orange oil, both of which help to add to Creme Anglais' warmly fragrance, and more importantly, creating a deep moisturising lotion that eradicates dry and flaky skin. Vanilla oil intensifies the creamy scent of this lotion, and is known to calm and soothe irritated and sensitive skin.  

The lotion is a gorgeous golden colour and the smell hits you immediately upon opening the tub, smelling of a mixture of vanilla and cocoa butter with just a hint of orange. Creme Anglais is a product that stays with you, permeating your skin and leaving it soft, supple and strongly scented. Anyone who's looking for a subtle-scented body lotion should not attempt to use this one as it does tend to stay with you for a couple of days! 

Furthermore, it's quite a thick lotion, very similar in consistency to Coco Lotion, but one that sinks into the skin very quickly and doesn't leave you feeling greasy.

This body lotion is definitely worth it's price tag in the fact that it's super hydrating and very luxurious on the skin; you don't have to use a lot here as it's very moisturising, so it lasts longer than your average 225g tub of Lush lotion normally would. However, I wasn't overly keen on the smell; it is a little overbearing with it's cocoa butter scent, and I found that, once applied to the skin, the scent that lingered was a little acidic-smelling and not very nice at all. I much prefer the sensual fragrance of both Charity Pot and Vanilla Dee-Lite, and will be relying of these guys in the future.

Quantitative Ingredients: Sweet Almond Infusion (Prunus dulcis), Saffron Infusion (Crocus sativus), Extra Virgin Coconut Oil (Cocos nucifera), Fair Trade Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Fair Trade Shea Butter (Butyrospermum parkii), Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Myrrh Resinoid (Commiphora myrrha), Sweet Orange Oil (Citrus sinensis), Triethanolamine, Perfume, Cetearyl Alcohol, Benzyl Salicylate, Coumarin, *Eugenol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Methylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Karma Bath Melt

Aside from The Comforter, Karma is my favourite Lush scent. It's a unique and very beautiful smell unlike anything else I have ever smelt before. It's both sophisticated and simplistic, sweet and citrusy, herbal and floral. As a lover of this scent, I appreciate the fact that there’s a bubble bar, a soap, a body lotion and a fragrance; all regular products I can invest in at anytime in any one of Lush's stores, as well as online. However, I would never argue against new renditions of the scent, which is why I was super excited when I first found out about the Karma Bath Melt. 

To look at, it's stunning; a petite glittery golden pyramid, about the same weight as a You've Been Mangoed Bath Melt. What I find odd about this product, is that there's quite a difference in the weight and size of these bath melts, depending on where you purchased them from. This is very noticeable when you place two next to each other; the picture illustrates how different the specifications of the product can be - with the product on the right weighing almost a third more than the pyramid on the left. Does anyone know why this is?

Aside from it's size, the Karma Melt contains cocoa butter and almond oil to moisturise, as well as patchouli, sweet orange, lemongrass and elemi oils to make up the distinctive Karma scent. To finish off, the bath product is coated with a layer of golden lustre to make it look luxurious and magical. 

Like most Lush bath melts, you are supposed to drop it into a hot bath tub (the hotter, the better), and allow the product to melt away, filling your tub with essential oils to help relax, moisturise and soften your tired skin. When I first placed the Karma Bath Melt into my tub, I found that it didn't take anytime at all for the glitter to begin dispersing across the surface of the water. As you can see from my pictures, I chose to use a whole pyramid for my bath. However, in hindsight, I would suggest that you divide the melt into three and use it for three separate occasions. 

My reasoning for this is because firstly, there is a lot of glitter that comes with this product, and although it doesn't coat you as much as you think it would, it does tend to paint the bath quite a bit. Secondly, this bath melt releases a good amount of oils and butters into the water, so a third of this would still be enough to nourish and soften your skin. 

The longer I left the bath melt in the tub, the more glitter began to disperse across the surface and stick itself to the edge of my bath tub. While this was going on, the oils began to mix in with the water and create silky-soft bathing water. In fact, there are enough oils in Karma Bath Melt to leave little beads on the surface, which can then be lathered directly into your skin. 

When I did get into the tub, I was initially hesitant because of the amount of glitter that decorated the water and sides of the tub. However, you're left surprisingly glitter free when you exit the bath so don't let that aspect of the bath melt put you off. In total, it took a good 5-10 minutes for the pyramid to fully melt so I was able to relax under the water and let the butters get to work on my skin.  

The water did turn a beautiful golden colour and the scent was definitely very present throughout the bathing experience. I could detect the wonderful fragrance on my hair and skin when I exited the bath and it remained with me for hours afterwards. However, to reiterate a previous point, I don't really understand why Lush have chosen to include so much golden glitter in one product. If you slice the melt open, you'll find that the whole bar is made up of glitter and this is just too much, especially as it would no doubt put off even the most avid of Karma fans. In it's defence, you won't end up looking like Ziggy Stardust after use. However, the gold glitter did decorate my scalp a little for some three weeks after I had initially used it, which didn't really bother me all that much, but which I'm sure would annoy many customers. Although it was only a few specks here and there, I know that some people would find this frustrating.

Ultimately, this product is good value for money and is gorgeously presented. The Karma scent is strong enough to see you through the entire bath, whilst not being too overwhelming. It leaves your skin feeling really hydrated and fully moisturised, whilst smelling beautiful at the same time. 

My only concerns lie in the shelf life of such a product. I was able to get my hands on a few of these a couple of years back and found that they lost their scent quite quickly and became quite stubborn in the bath. This picture is of one of these melts and I didn't find it anywhere near as moisturising as the new ones I have purchased from the Kitchen. For this reason, I would suggest that this is one product that shouldn't be stored for too long. 

I have enjoyed using this bath melt and as a novelty product, it's definitely worth investing in a couple. However, I would like Lush to consider removing some of the lustre and including more oils to make this product even more appealing to a wider range of people.

Quantitative Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, Laureth 4, Almond Oil, Perfume, Patchouli Oil, Sweet Orange Oil, Lavandin Oil, Pine Oil, Lemongrass Oil, Elemi Oil, *Citral, *Citronellol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Gardenia Extract.

Vegan?: Yes. 

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