Cosmic Dreamcatcher Massage Bar

I've been wanting to get my hands on this massage bar for a very long time - it's one of those items that always seems to find its way into conversations, and going by the description alone, it makes for a very unique and interesting sounding product.

Cosmic Dreamcatcher is an age old favourite for many Lushies; first appearing over ten years ago and making fleeting visits throughout the years. Possessing a mystical herbal scent with elements of fruit, spice and incense, this fragrance is rather difficult to explain. But I shall try my best.

Upon opening the wrapper, it was apparent that the combination of thyme and sage present in the ingredients list, act as the main note of the massage bar. It reminded me a little of dried grass - that savoury element that would appeal to fans of products such as Tramp Shower Gel.

Behind this, the vetivert and olibanum oils give the aroma a smokey backdrop, which compliments the savoury aspect of the smell and helps to pad out the overall fragrance. The addition of fresh mango helps to give a subtle but pleasant sweetness that intertwines throughout the scent and brings it all together nicely.  

Together, these ingredients give Cosmic Dreamcatcher a very interesting scent that will appeal to those who like earthy, woody scents. Fans of the Breath of God line will no doubt be all over this like a rash. I would warn you however,  that it's one of those products that would be an acquired taste. I cannot say that I fell in love with the smell immediately, but I did grow to appreciate it more with every use.

What I did noticed immediately upon taking this bar out of it's wrapper, is that it's extremely delicate and begins to melt the second it touches your skin. In fact, it's easily the greasiest massage bar I have ever tried from Lush. For this reason, I would recommend that you try to handle it as little as possible. Whereas normally I would recommend that you apply this directly onto the body and then use your hands to lather it across the skin, Cosmic Dreamcatcher works better when the oil is collected in the palm of your hand and then smoothed across the area of your choice. 

It does leave your skin rather greasy and shiny for a good twenty minutes after application, so I would recommend that you use this when you have time to let your body absorb the oils. I found that once the various butters and oils had dispersed, I was left with wonderfully soft and lightly fragranced skin. This effect lasted for the most part of the day and I could still smell elements of the frankincense (olibanum) some eight hours after I had initially applied the bar. 

Combined to aide relaxation and balance your spiritual energies, this bar definitely calms the skin and works in harmony with your body to de-stress and de-clutter your mind. Although I wouldn't claim it's one of my favourites, it definitely offers the consumer something a little different, and does work wonderfully as a 'before bed' treat. 

It's not one that I would rush out to buy again, but I have enjoyed using this over the last few days, and I'm glad I've had the opportunity to try it. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Fresh Mango, Perfume, Vetivert Oil, Olibanum Oil, White Thyme Oil, Sage Oil, Paprika Extract, Citral, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Grease Lightning Spot Treatment

When you're a teenager, you envisage a time in the future when you'll be spot free and sporting a clear complexion. No one ever tells you that when you grow up, there's not a miracle cure that'll just stop you from breaking out when you eat too much sugar, or when the weather changes etc... Some people are blessed with an inability to get spots; for the rest of us, there's always Grease Lightning.

Grease Lightning is a gentle but powerful spot treatment gel designed to target and eradicate pesky spots, without drying out or effecting your skin in any other way. I remember when I first began 'going through the changes', I relied heavily on various spot treatments to help clear my skin up. However, what I found was that most of these commercial brands completely dried my complexion out, which then caused me to get flaky, easily-irritated patches on my chin and nose.  

Lush's answer to this was to create a gel from carrageenan seaweed, aloe vera and sea water; three ingredients that help to cleanse and moisturise the skin without stripping the skin of it's natural oils. Furthermore, Grease Lightning contains an infusion of rosemary, thyme and tea tree oil to give the gel antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that help to eradicate pesky spots and stop them from re-appearing. This face gel is tea tree scented but it's quite a light fragrance.

To use, you simply have to squeeze a small amount onto the tip of your finger and apply it to the area you want to target. The clear gel will dry and set on your skin and get to work immediately. What I love about this product, is that it's less wasteful than your average spot treatment. Rather than smearing half a bottle over your entire face, just to target an annoying cluster of spots on your nose, Grease Lightning is only used on the specific areas where it's needed. This means that for £5.95, it's great value for money as it'll last a lot longer than a £6 bottle of *insert generic product name here*.

In addition, this bottle is small and compact enough to fit perfectly in your bag, and can be used without  any cotton wool or a mirror, so can be applied throughout the day, with ease. I tend to apply this in the evenings and before I go to bed, and in the morning, my spots are always less inflamed and smaller. Within a couple of days, the offending spots have all but disappeared. 

I don't tend to use this often, as I'm lucky enough not to break out more than a couple of times a year, but I like to keep a bottle handy as it also works to quicken the healing process on cuts/inflamed areas.

Quantitative Ingredients: Thyme, Rosemary and Tea Tree Infusion, Water, Fair Trade Organic Aloe Vera Gel, Sea Water, Grape Juice, Carrageenan Extract, Lavender Oil, Witch Hazel Extract, *Limonene, Perfume, Methylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Bada Bing Bada Boom Shower Jelly

If there was ever a product that sold itself on name alone, this would be the one. Ever since Lush announced that this shower jelly was going to be one of their Kitchen releases, I have annoyed everyone around me by inserting it's title into almost every sentence that comes out of my mouth. It's seriously catchy!

However, my enthusiasm was short lived when I realised that Bada Bing Bada Boom Shower Jelly is just another name for The Joy Of Jelly; a product that didn't win my heart over at all. Having carried out a little research, I found out that Lush decided to revamp Joy of Jelly a few years after it had first made it's appearance. They changed it's appearance and gave it a far catchier name. The rest, as they say, is history. 

In all fairness, Bada Bing Bada Boom is a lot more visually stunning - sporting a beautiful deep shade of red - reminiscent of the red wine that features as a key ingredient in the product. At first, I thought that Lush had also included little specks of gold lustre as the jelly has a slight glimmer that seems to reflect the light. However, on closer inspection I realised that the shimmer is caused by thousands of tiny bubbles that pass right through the jelly. 

As well as wine, this jelly offers both a herbal and a floral element to it's aroma. Firstly, Bada Bing features thyme and sage; both of which build a subtle aromatic layer that nestles itself alongside the other key ingredients. Secondly, and most prominently, this jelly has a combination of rose, lavender and jasmine. These three ingredients make up the strongest part of the scent and give this jelly a rather heady, unique floral smell. Finally, the inclusion of white wine vinegar adds a slight savoury-sweet after-thought that wraps all of the smells together. If you're worried about the red wine, as I was, you'll be happy to know that you can detect elements of it's scent in the mix, but it's not at all pungent or overpowering. 

Together, these ingredients make for an interesting fragrance, and one that I'm not very keen on. Lush describe it as being sexy and alluring, and I can imagine why some people would think this about it. However, I find the aroma a little strange and not one that has any redeeming features. On their own, I enjoy each and every one of the scents that have gone into creating this jelly. However, when combined, they give off a rather odd aroma that doesn't really do much for me. 

Although I'm not keen on it's scent, I cannot deny that Bada Bing Bada Boom Shower Jelly does lather up well in the shower. If you enjoy it's fragrance, you'll be pleased to know that it intensifies somewhat when exposed to the hot water and it does tend to linger on your skin for a long time after use. The shower jelly also lathers up really nicely and is amazingly moisturising; something we can thank the inclusion of the seaweed for. It did leave my skin feeling super clean and not at all dry like a lot of other shower products I have used in the past.    

This is obviously a popular product, hence why Lush have chosen to bring it back through their Kitchen. Fans of Sex Bomb will no doubt want to check this out, as it does share it's scent with the popular bath bomb. However, it's not one that appeals to me or my senses. For this reason, I would not choose to buy it again.

Quantitative Ingredients: Glycerine, Red Wine, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Thyme, Rose petal and Lavender infusion, Rose Petal Infusion, Carrageenan Extract, Perfume, Jasmine Absolute, Clary Sage Oil, Ylang Ylang Oil, Synthetic Musk, White Wine Vinegar, Lilial, Linalool, Limonene, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Parsley Porridge Soap

The trouble I find with being a regular consumer of Lush, is that I'll often buy a new product without reading the description or browsing through the ingredients list first. Often, I'll compile a image or scent in my head that I think represents the item I've just bought, only to discover the reality is nothing like I envisaged. Such is the case with this soap.

Parsley Porridge is a rather unattractive looking product - a murky green slab of soap with specks of brown oatmeal throughout it's body. If you were to add pieces of pistachio to the mx, you'd have something very similar to the Noubar soap I reviewed last year.  

Described as being an antibacterial soap, this product is packed full of herbs and natural oils to help cleanse, soothe and heal the skin. Firstly, there's both thyme and parsley; two refreshing plants that give off a fresh and crisp fragrance that dominate a good part of the soap's fragrance; the addition of aloe vera gel and oil makes this soap soothing on the skin and gives it it's healing properties. Furthermore, it is this latter ingredient that overpowers most other smells that make up this product - if you don't like the smell of aloe vera, you'll want to avoid this soap at all costs. 

Much like Movis, this soap possesses a slightly strange consistency, different from what you'd normally expect from a soap. Parsley Porridge is rather soft to touch - squidgy between your hands to the point that it would turn into mush if you were to squeeze it too tightly. It's texture is very similar to the FUN bars that Lush offer, if not a little oiler and more compact. I wonder whether this strange texture is due to the freshness of the soap or because it's naturally this way. I hope it's the former. 

In the shower, this soap doesn't foam up that much - producing more of an oily lather like Putty For My Hands. It's easy enough to clean yourself with, and your skin does feel nice and smooth after application - just don't expect this soap to create a huge amount of lather on your shower puff.

Much like the above soap, Parsley Porridge is made from a mixture of whole oats and glycerine, which helps to create a soap that is naturally gentle on the skin. This works well for people with sensitive skin as it eradicates dry or sore areas, without removing the moisture and natural oils from your pores. Furthermore, the tea tree and aloe vera infusion helps to cool irritated skin and prevents it from breaking out. Furthermore, the oats form a delicate and natural exfoliator, which conditions your skin without being too harsh on it.  

What I liked about this soap was that it maintained it's size and shape after days of use, which suggests that this product is long-lasting and worth it's price tag. Additionally, if you happen to love this smell, you'll appreciate the fact that it lingers on your skin for a while after you've left the shower.

However, much like Putty For Your Hands, I felt that this soap would be much more suited as a hand soap, and not something I'd want to lather over my body in the shower. The fragrance was a little too 'clinical' for my liking and I felt as if I was bathing in tea tree oil, which isn't the most pleasant of smells. 

If you love Narcotic Shower Gel or anything dominated by tea tree, you'll probably love this soap, and a 100g will last you a long time. As it happens, I wasn't overly keen on Parsley Porridge, and after using my chunk as a hand soap, I won't be investing in it again.

Quantitative Ingredients: Tea Tree Infusion, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Glycerine, Sorbitol, Fresh Aloe Gel, Water (Aqua), Fresh Parsley, Fine Ground Oatmeal, Thyme Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Grapefruit Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Chloride, Chlorophyllin, Limonene, Geraniol, Farnesol, Linalool, Perfume, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide.

Vegan?: Yes.

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