Noriko Soap

Despite owning close to 10kg worth of Lush soap, it has only been over the last few months that I've began to use it regularly. Being a big fan of their shower gels has meant that my collection of soap has been overlooked somewhat, especially when I'm deciding what to use in the shower, meaning that it's built up very quickly. 

Noriko Soap was at the top of my 'to try' list for two reasons; firstly, it happened to be one of my newest acquisitions, and I thought it wise to try the freshest blocks first; secondly, because I was rather intrigued with it's description, as well as it's inclusion in the Christmas 2013 range. 

First created back in 1999, this soap is named after its creator, Noriko, who was inspired to create a soap using Japanese-inspired ingredients. It's a weird sort of soap, with a very strange, almost-savoury scent to match. In fact, I find it very difficult to fully describe this scent as it's like nothing I've ever smelt before. 

What I can pick up are elements of ylang ylang, a woody floral sort of scent, which sits very subtly in the mix. Lush claim that rose absolute is also supposed to sit highly in it's fragrance, however, I could not detect this at all. There is a gentle citrus undertone here, which somewhat elevates the ylang ylang scent and is no doubt brought about by the addition of Brazilian orange oil in the ingredients list. It's a very unique scent, and one that would be best suited for those of you who don't like overpowering smells.

The soap is a creamy white in colour and is decorated with a thin slice of coloured jelly on the top. I get the impression that the jelly is to add a bit of colour to the soap as it doesn't serve any other purpose here and unlike a normal shower jelly, is quite rigid and hard in consistency. Interestingly, this soap is the first of Lush's soaps that I notice contains tofu, which supposedly helps to nourish the skin and add an overall creamy texture to the soap. 

On the positive side, this soap is very resilient in the water, which means that a 100g block lasted me a long time. It's very easy to lather up and leaves your skin feeling very smooth. Furthermore, the soap contains little bits of agar agar gel throughout each piece, which helps to exfoliate the skin and gently massage the body. It did leave my skin feeling soft and clean, without drying it out. 

Noriko leaves behind a faint floral scent, on both the skin and in the bathroom, which was very pleasant. This gentle smell is not obtrusive and can be overridden with body lotions and perfumes, without worrying there'll be a clash of smells.

The only small downside for me was that the smell wasn't to my particular tastes. In all fairness, I found it a little boring. Despite it making my skin feel wonderful and smooth, this wouldn't be enough to make me buy it again. It's an odd choice to include alongside the Christmas selection, but I'm glad I got to try it at least once.

Quantitative Ingredients: Propylene Glycol, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Rice Decoction, Sake, Tofu, Water, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Agar Agar Gel, Titanium Dioxide, Perfume, Lavender Oil, Rose Absolute, Ylang Ylang Oil, Brazilian Orange Oil, Glycerine, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Gardenia Extract, *Geraniol, *Farnesol, *Benzyl Salicylate, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Linalool, Colour 42090, Colour 14700.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Ocean Salt Self-Preserving Scrub

Ask any one of my friends and they will tell you; if I had been asked a few weeks ago to name a Lush product that I wanted the company to veganise, the first words out of my mouth would have been American Cream, very quickly followed up with Ocean Salt! I can't tell you exactly what it is about the scrub that seems so appealing to me, but it's something I've wanted to try every since I first knew of the product's existence. 

Ocean Salt Self-Preserving Scrub is a cleverly developed face and body scrub that Lush have been working on for quite some time. Not happy with releasing highly natural, low-preservative products, the company wanted to take their innovative ideas that one step further, and produce a range that was completely preservative-free. In order to give their products their properties, as well as maintaining a long shelf life, Lush have carefully crafted each item so that the ingredients form a self-preserving formula. 

When it comes to Ocean Salt, the change of formula has not only made it better for your skin but also removed the sole ingredient that made this product non-vegan beforehand. Lanolin is a waxy residue that comes from the skin secretions of sheep, and is often used in cosmetics to help bind ingredients together as well as give them an oily consistency to soothe and heal skin. Lush have removed this animal derivative, and replaced it with far nicer sounding ingredients; silken tofu, Japan wax and mango butter.

One other change that this product has gone through, is that it's no longer marketed as simply a facial cleanser (or facial scrub as it was referred to). Instead, the new, improved product can now be used over the whole body. 

Despite my excitement about Ocean Salt, I'd never actually smelt or researched it in that much detail beforehand, so trying it for the first time was rather interesting. One of the key ingredients here is lime soaked in vodka - an ingredient that gives this scrub both it's crisp, uplifting scent and it's cooling properties once it's applied onto the skin. Then there's an array of different fruits; grapefruit, mango butter and lime oil, all rich in minerals that help to soften and hydrate the skin. Furthermore, the addition of avocado butter, coconut oil and seaweed leave it conditioned and smelling wonderful. 

The most prominent ingredient though is salt, which makes up most of the scrub's body as well as being sprinkled over the top for decoration. Sea salt is rich in minerals and excellent for scrubbing away dead skin as well as being a natural preservative; allowing the ingredients in Ocean Salt to remain as fresh as they can be. The salt adds to the citrus scent of the lime, giving this product an overall lovely refreshing fragrance.

To use in the shower, just scoop as much or as little out of the tub and lather it all over your body, rubbing it in a circular motion to really stimulate those pores and exfoliate tired skin. Although this is probably an obvious point to make, I would recommend that you don't use this on newly shaved areas. I made the mistake of slathering this all over my legs mere minutes after I taken a razor to them, and I was in a lot of pain afterwards.  

One thing I found off-putting when it comes to Ocean Salt was that the texture of the salt was a little harsh on my skin, and it scratched a lot when I was exfoliating myself in the shower. I was expecting it to be similar in consistency to Rub Rub Rub but I found that it was almost as rough as one of Lush's many solid sugar scrubs.

Furthermore, unlike the above body scrub, Ocean Salt was also a little difficult to spread over large areas. I found that each scoop would exfoliate the immediate area it had been applied to, but by the time I had spread it across my entire thigh or my right arm, it was nothing more than white foam and a few stray bits of salt. For this reason, my 250g tub went down very quickly, and if you're planning on using it as a full body scrub, you're likely to only get around 5/6 uses out of it, whereas a same sized pot of Rub Rub Rub will see me through a couple of months. 

Overall, I wasn't as enamoured by this product as I thought I was going to be. Whether it was my high expectations or something else, Ocean Salt is not a product I would rush out to buy again. Although the scent was highly refreshing, it did take some getting used to and the overall condition of my skin after use was not that different from how it was before use. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Fine Sea Salt, Hand Harvested Sea Salt, Fresh Grapefruit Infusion, Silken Tofu, Glycerine, Japan Wax, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Fresh Organic Lime Extracted in Vodka, Mango Butter, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Avocado Butter, Lime Oil, Seaweed Absolute, Violet Leaf Absolute, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume, Colour 42090.

Vegan?: Yes.

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