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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Extra Virgin Soap

When Lush announced that they were bringing this soap back, my heart literally jumped into my throat; I was super excited. Despite it's strange taste, I adore olive oil and can eat it with almost anything (dipped bread, anyone?). So the idea of lathering something so beautiful on my skin, was an opportunity I was not going to pass up.

Extra Virgin soap is a strange, light Persian green colour with pieces of glycerine suspended throughout the entire block. To make it a little extra special, Lush have also added in chunks of fresh black olive, however you'll probably only find a small handful of these in each piece. 

When I initially unwrapped my soap, I wasn't immediately bowled over with the scent that greeted me. This wasn't because I didn't think the smell was pleasant, but more because I was a little underwhelmed with how gentle the smell was. However, it wasn't long before I realised that the soap's subtle aroma was actually one of it's most alluring characteristics. 

Extra Virgin is quite a strange product to describe - it's one of those fragrances where each ingredient has an equal standing, so I found that no one smell stood out more prominently than another. You can definitely pick out a light citrus smell, which owes itself to the addition of grapefruit oil; it also has that savoury and almost smokiness of the olive oil with a lingering aftertaste of fennel - both of which sit nicely with the fruity element. Finally, you can detect a little herbal offering from the bay and coriander - again, these intertwine with the other ingredients and help to create a very interesting, refreshing and rather unique aroma. 

I was really looking forward to using this in the shower, as with the addition of so many different oils, I was hoping for a really moisturising experience. As I expected, this soap offers more of a thick, oily foam and it is a little more stubborn than other soaps at producing a lather to wash with. For this reason, I would suggest applying it directly onto your skin as rubbing it between your palms can prove rather fruitless at times. 

Unfortunately, despite it's claim to be a nourishing soap, I found that it dried out my skin a little and didn't leave it as silky-smooth as I was expecting. I couldn't detect the smell of this once I had left the shower, which is a shame as it's a lovely scent that a lot of people would enjoying wearing throughout the day. It did leave my skin feeling cleansed and refreshed but this is something that most soaps offer me anyway. 

Overall, Extra Virgin is definitely for fans of the more gentle scents and one that would work well as a massage bar, shower gel or perfume - I would definitely purchase a few if these were made available. 

Having looked at the consistency of the bar, I can imagine this being a very long-lasting soap - a 100g bar would easily last you over a month, even if you used it 4-5 times a week. However, it's another soap that has not fared well with my skin and not one I would purchase again to use on myself. This is such a shame as I was expecting this to become one of my favourite all-time soaps.  

Quantitative Ingredients: Glycerine, Water (Aqua), Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Perfume, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fresh Olives, Grapefruit Oil, Fennel Oil, Black Pepper Oil, Bay Oil, Olibanum Resinoid, Rose Otto, Coriander Oil, Cassis Absolute, Sodium Chloride.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Breath of God Liquid Perfume

Breath of God is described by Lush as being a 'critically acclaimed, perfectly balanced perfume.' They go on to claim that this fragrance bridges a gap between masculine and feminine smells; creating one that is universally pleasing to all, and one that develops differently on everyone who wears it so that it moulds to your senses, not yours to it. I suppose, like every opinion, there are going to be those of us who agree with those claims and those who very much disagree. Unfortunately, I am in the latter category. 

The first time I experienced the Breath of God scent was when I tried the toothy tabs of the same name, which I thoroughly enjoyed and have been buying ever since. A few months later, and Lush release Inhale/Exhale, a limited edition bath bomb that also presents the same scent. Again, after initial concerns, I ended up enjoying the experience very much and raved about this unique scent that I just 'had to try more of'. However, when I dared to purchase a bottle of the Breath of God perfume, my reaction was very different to the above.

Described as being a 'thought-provoking fragrance', there are many elements that make up this perfume. There is a mixture of sandalwood, cedarwood, rose, ylang ylang, neroli and benzoin oils, which have all been blended together to create this distinctive smell. Immediately upon smelling this, I can pick up the strong, woody scent of sandalwood alongside the undertones of smoky cedarwood. Then straight after, I also get elements of the lemon and grapefruit oils, which masks the poignancy of the other ingredients somewhat. 

Unfortunately, I did not experience the 'gentle, yet fresh delicious flavour' that Lush describe it as, nor the vanillary, melon-citrus fragrance that other reviewers as described it as being. Instead what I smelt was a mixture of men's aftershave and burnt charcoal - the overwhelming smell you get if someone sprays themselves with too much Lynx and you get a strong whiff up your nose before you have a chance to hold your breath.  

Rather than being able to isolate individual smells and enjoy different layers of scent, I found that Breath of God's fragrance was very domineering and very heavy. To me, it felt as if there were too many ingredients in the mix, which caused them to clash with each other rather than working to create a well-rounded perfume. 

However, like most Lush scents, it quickly fades into a delicate-yet-strong smell that continues to evolve throughout the day. In it's defence, it did remain on me for the entirety of my work day and it did get more bearable when it had mellowed somewhat. However, I still thought that it was a very masculine scent and not something that made me feel uplifted or sensual at all. 

It seems to me that this is very much a 'marmite' type of perfume; you either love it or you hate it. Unfortunately, it didn't match well with my personality and made me feel very boisterous when I had it on. It's too overpowering for my liking and is not one that I'd use again. 

Quantitative Ingredients: DRF Alcohol, Perfume, Cedarwood Oil, Rose Oil, Ylang Ylang Oil, Vetivert Oil, Lemon Oil, Grapefruit Oil, Neroli Oil, Black Pepper Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Cade Oil, *Benzyl Salicylate, *Citral, *Coumarin, *Eugenol, Geraniol, *Citronellol, Benzyl Benzoate, Farnesol, *Limonene, Linalool.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Granny Takes A Dip Bath Ballistic

Granny Takes The Dip is the first bath bomb in a while that has really excited me. Both the product description and the pictures I was able to access online, made me extremely impatient for this product to arrive in the post. When my Lush box finally arrived first thing this morning, I couldn't wait to run myself a bath and throw one of these bad boys in.

What first took me by surprise, was the size of this ballistic. From the images online, I expected the product to be about the same size as a Karma Bubble Bar, maybe even slightly smaller. However, on inspection, it was more like the size of the Comforter Bubble Bar, perhaps even bigger - the bath bomb was huge!

The ballistic is made up of four vivid layers - a fluorescent pink decorates the outer walls and underbelly whilst a baby blue sits inside this - both colours reminding me a little of the Party Popper Ballistic that Lush released a couple of years ago. The core is then made up of a ring of cherry red cocooning itself around a circle of bright green. Together, the four colours make this bath bomb one of the most vivid and extremely beautiful offerings that Lush have had in a while. 

As soon as I removed the bath bomb from it's wrapping, the scent engulfed my senses. Containing ginger, pepper and lemon, Granny Takes A Dip has a unique but rather comforting fragrance. To me, the product smelt a mixture of vanilla and lemon - not unlike the gentle aroma of sherbet or the thin layer of dusting you find on the surface of Lemon Bon Bons. As there are no obvious vanilla elements in the ingredients list, I figure this aspect of the scent comes from the combination of bicarbonate and cream of tartar.

As the ballistic fizzes away in the water, this fragrance intensifies and you can pick out a subtle hint of the black pepper. It's far from overpowering so don't be put off if you're not a fan, it doesn't offer much to the overall smell. The pepper just helps to give it that warm, citrusy and slightly spicy smell that Lush claim it to have. Unfortunately, I found that the ballistic's overall scent dispersed quite quickly, and although I could smell it on my skin for a while after bathing, in the tub I could barely smell anything at all. 

The best aspect about this product is how it works in the tub. Although it's a gentle and rather quite bath bomb, the second it hits the water, a beautiful vivid swirl of creamy foam begins to disperse across the tub and create wonderful patterns on the water. 

Because of it's design, Granny Takes A Dip rests wonderfully on the surface and as the water begins to ebb further into the ballistic, streams of blue, then red and finally green start to emerge. These form a rainbow effect which trails out across the water and makes stunning rivers of colour across the surface.

As you can see from my video, the bath bomb takes almost ten minutes to fully dissolve and leaves the water a beautiful light violet colour, which stays with you throughout the entire bathing experience. This is a bath bomb that you may wish to enjoy whilst in the bath, soaking up the peppery citrus scent before it dissipates completely. 

Despite it's wonderful fragrance and stunning performance, I was rather dissappointed with this ballistic. I feel as if the scent should have been around a lot longer than it did, especially given it was freshly made only a few days before. Furthermore, the water didn't retain even the slightest bit of softness; something that I expect of all bath bombs. My skin felt neither moisturised or conditioner when I exited the bath.

Having said this, it is one of the better value bath bombs. For £3.25, it's a steal and given it's size and performance, works a treat for all of those with a tight budget - you could easily cut it in half and enjoy two separate baths.

I would definitely be tempted to buy this again, although I would consider combining it with a Butterball Ballistic or one of Lush's bath melts, just to give it that extra boost of scent and softness. I would recommend that you try this, at least once. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Cream of Tartar, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Lemon Oil, Black Pepper Oil, Ginger Oil, Perfume, Gardenia Extract, Citral, Limonene, Colour 42090, Colour 45350, Colour 14700, Colour 45410.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Dr. Peppermint Solid Shampoo

I ordered this from the Lush site when I was compiling one of my crazy and expensive purges, and it wasn't until it arrived that I felt a little silly in doing so. I had initially placed it in my basket as it was part of their retro range, and I was unsure how much longer it would be available to buy. When it arrived, I was immediately put off by the smell - mint. Now you may be thinking - why would you buy a product that has mint in it's name when you don't like mint smelling things? Truth be told, I don't dislike mint at all, I'm just a little indifferent towards it. However, I'm not very keen on strong smelling mint products, and this shampoo bar has a very potent smell.

Despite this, I was actually pleasantly surprised when using it for the first time, to discover that it doesn't smell very strong when applied to your head. For those who bought it for the scent, this may be a detrimental aspect of the bar, but for me it's a definite positive. 

This shampoo bar claims to wake up dull and boring hair, as well as possess properties that may help to stimulate new growth. Thinning hair is natural as we get older but, while we’ll never be able to stop the inevitable, there are a few things we can do to try and hold back the hands of time a little longer. Dr Peppermint uses the special properties of stimulating menthol to wake up those lazy hair follicles and get them back to work.

That tingling sensation you feel with Dr Peppermint is actually an increase in blood flow to all the little capillaries that supply your hair follicles with the fuel they need to make new hair. 

In it's favour, my head of hair did feel fractionally fuller after using this bar a few times, but as with all of the solid hair care products I have used so far, this bar did not agree with my locks. It dried out my hair and left me with patches of flaky scalp that I have never experienced in my life before. 

In spite of this, I can definitely see it as a bargain product as you need very little of it with each use.

Rub the bar between your hands with water, work the lather gently and thoroughly into wet hair, then rinse away. One light lather is enough, and you only need to work up the tiniest amount of 'froth' and it'll coat your entire head with a soft, foamy creme. I can see this bar lasting 2-4 months, depending on how often you wash your hair. And for a measly £6.25, this is great value for money.  

Unfortunately, yet again the solid hair care product has done nothing to improve my stubborn locks and this will not be a product I buy again. However, this will not put me off trying other solid shampoos and conditioners. Please don't forget that everyone's hair type is different, and what doesn't work for me, may work wonders for you.

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Water, Peppermint Oil, Spearmint Oil, Neroli Oil, Black Pepper Oil, Ground Black Pepper, *Eugenol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume.

Vegan?: Yes

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