Lush Kitchen Competition!

When I first heard about Lush's new Kitchen Initiative, I was really excited about the prospect of all of the new products being made available for me to try. Unfortunately, it has become a very expensive habit for someone like me, who cannot resist purchasing every single vegan product that they off. Furthermore,  Lush have made it very difficult for people outside of the UK to get their hands on these wonderful products. 

So I've decided to offer one Lush fan the chance to own some of the items that Lush have released so far.

Up for grabs is;

-1 tub of Dream Cream Self-Preserving Body Lotion
-1 Tub of Strawberry Twin Shower Jelly
-1 Hippy Chick Ballistic
-1 Error 404 Bath Bomb
-A Piece of Demon In The Dark Soap
-A Piece of Ice Blue Soap

plus...

-1 mystery item!

All of the above products are limited edition products, most of which you can no longer obtain. 

To be in with a chance to win the lot, all you have to do is leave a message (and your contact details) underneath this blog post. 

The competition will run until Friday May 16th, 9pm (English time). I will pick a winner using a random number selector so it is completely fair. Good luck!

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Happy Blooming Bath Melt

I remember a family member buying me a Berry Box, back when I had only been a vegetarian for a couple of years and I was considered 'difficult to buy for' during the seasonal period. At the time, I had no idea how most of the products worked, and I would probably be embarrassed if I could remember how I 'disposed' of them. Although many years ago, I still remember that one of the products in the gift set was a Happy Blooming Bath Melt. This was my first experience with a bath melt, and although I didn't have the funds to go out and purchase a few more, I remember raving about it for weeks after I had used it.

The first positive aspect that you'll notice about this bath melt is that it's considerably bigger than any other I've seen Lush produce. The product is designed to be broken into three separate pieces; each having the strength to hold it's own in a bath tub, making this melt extremely good value for money. I believe Happy Blooming used to sell for about £3.50, make it incredibly affordable at just over £1 per bath.

For those unfamiliar with how bath melts work, you have two options to go about using yours effectively. As these products are designed to give the consumer a sensual experience, a lot of Lushies choose to drop the melt in whilst they're lazing in the tub, which can take upwards of 10-15 minutes to fully dissipate. This may sound like a long time but if you're planning on remaining in the bath for an extended period of time, it's a nice way to retain the scent of the melt for longer as well as keeping a steady flow of essential oils being released into the water. If you've got less time to spare, you can hold the melt under the tap as you run your bath, and this will reduce the bath melt down a lot quicker.

With Happy Blooming I learnt that it's probably best to do the latter, as I found that my piece sunk to the bottom of the bath and it took a while for the oils to surface. Whichever way you choose to use this product, you'll find that the melt turns the water a pretty pale pink colour.

Probably the biggest attraction for me, is the fact that this melt possesses a beautiful, sensual cherry flavour. Just like the shower jelly, Happy Blooming smells of Bakewell tart; a combination of dried cherries and almonds that give the product an almost marzipan-scented aroma. However, unlike the jelly, the bath melt has the almonds slightly less prominent in the mix so you get more of the cherry scent here.

Happy Blooming contains cocoa butter, passion flower seed and ylang ylang oils, which not only add to it's amazing smell, but helps to moisturise, soothe and soften the skin. Furthermore, calamine is also added to calm sensitive skin, so would be a perfect accompaniment for those with eczema or just very dried and damaged skin. 

The next morning I could still smell this on me, and I was able to detect whiffs of it all day, so it definitely seems to linger. Although the bath water felt very oily when I was in the tub, this soon disappeared when I towelled myself down and I was left with beautiful, soft velvety skin. 

This is a wonderful bath melt, perhaps one of my favourite ones to date. I only hope that Lush plan on bringing it back in the future, not just as an exclusive for their Kitchen range, as it was great value for money and one I would use regularly to condition and revigorate my skin.

Quantitative Ingredients: Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Calamine Powder, PEG#6 Caprylic / Capric Glycerides & PEG-60 Almond Glycerides, Passion Flower Seed Oil (Passiflora edulis), Perfume, Dried Cherries (Prunus cerasus), Fresh Passion Fruit Juice (Passiflora edulis), Titanium Dioxide, Ylang Ylang Oil (Cananga odorata), Benzoin Resinoid (Styrax tonkinensis pierre), Colour 14700}.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Tropical Jungle Body Lotion

It wasn't until the recent release of the rare body lotions through the Lush Kitchen, that I realised I have a bit of an obsession with them. Normally, it is their range of shower gels that I fawn over religiously; searching the very corners of the internet to find rare and limited edition specimens to lather myself all over with. However, since Lush have released Tramp, The Comforter, American Cream and The Olive Branch lotions, alongside this one, my fingers have begun to itch for more scented creams to be made.

Tropical Jungle is by no means a new product, although it does possess a new title. Originally known as simply Jungle, this body lotion shares it's scent with the regular solid conditioner of the same name. Unfortunately, the conditioner and I never got on that well, and I was left with a slightly bitter taste in my mouth after experiencing some pretty nasty results from using it. However, I never got over how much I adored the scent. So when I realised this lotion was making a comeback, I couldn't wait to stock up.

This product has a strange but wonderful fragrance. When you think of tropical-scented cosmetics, I'm sure you imagine a combination of Caribbean fruit; pineapple, mango and papaya - perhaps a little coconut to boot. And while this body lotion does have a sweet, fruity fragrance, there's a certain extra element that makes this nothing like anything you've ever smelled before. 

Initially, I think this lotion has an almost woody, wheatgrass smell - there's definitely remnants of damp grass and reeds in the mix. However, at the same time as this, you also get a slightly bitter zest that's a little like Kiwi fruit or soured passionfruit. Underneath this is a very gentle layer of ylang ylang, which brings it all together and creates an incredibly fresh and natural smelling exotic fragrance. Tropical Jungle is not reminiscent of hot sandy beaches, palm trees and cool, crisp summer waves lapping the shore - it plays more of a homage to a damp rainforest after a gentle storm. It's really rather wonderful. 

Unlike most of Lush's body lotions that I've tried, this one has stepped away from using almond oil and cocoa butter to concoct it's scent. Instead, these ingredients don't play any part in the overall fragrance of the product - only working to soften, smooth and moisturise the skin during and after application. 

With it's slightly thin consistency, Tropical Jungle is absorbed very easily into the skin and should be used scrupulously to avoid any build up or greasy areas. As with most of my body lotions, I applied this by massaging in circular motions across my skin, and found that it only takes a matter of seconds for it be fully absorbed. 

It's definitely not the most moisturising body lotion I've used from Lush, but it does make your skin look and feel softer after use. One aspect I did appreciate is that this product leaves a very slight gleam on the skin, which adds a bit of healthy glow to your body, without making it look greasy or shiny; Perfect to use over tanned areas to make that colour pop a little more.  

The most impressive part about this product is that the scent stays with you all day - having first applied it at 6am in the morning, I could still pick up remnants  of the aroma when I arrived home some twelve hours later. This is definitely a body lotion you'd have to commit to, with results like that, as once it's on your skin, you're not going to be able to rid yourself of the scent for a long time.

Overall, I really love Tropical Jungle and cannot wait to smell it on my skin during the hot summer months - I can imagine the aroma would be wonderful to coat yourself in before heading to the beach/park for the day. I would definitely buy this again if it became available in the future. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Almond Oil, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Ylang Ylang Oil, Vetivert Oil, Cypress Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Tramp Body Lotion

For those of you who have read my review of the infamous Tramp Shower Gel, you'll know that this scent family is definitely not one of my favourite ones. In fact, before I received this body lotion in the post a couple of days ago, I was convinced that it was perhaps my least favourite smelling fragrance ever. I'm all for natural-smelling cosmetics, which is part of the reason I love Lush as much as I do. However, this one has a smell that normally makes me rather nauseous. Some of you might question then, why I bothered to purchase a pot of this to begin with.

Tramp Body Lotion is by no means a brand new product. First made many year ago, the Lush Kitchen release, marks only it's second reappearance since it was first discontinued. Claiming to be a rich and soothing body lotion, this product is identical in scent to that of the shower gel with the same name, and just like it's older brother, claims to leave you smelling like a woodland nymph.

While I'm not necessarily striving to smell like a moss-covered tree trunk, this body lotion contains a mixture of ingredients that give it it's earthy traits. With almond oil and cocoa butter as the base, Tramp contains a combination of oakmoss and patchouli which gives the product it's unique scent.

In the tub, you can immediately pick out the oakmoss - a rather domineering woody, mossy smell, which gives the lotion it's strange aroma. It is this element of the shower gel that I'm the least fond of. This is intertwined with the naturally sweet smell of patchouli - an uplifting and almost fruity smell that dampens the oakmoss just slightly. 

The consistency of Tramp is quite thick - similar to the likes of The Comforter and Sympathy For The Skin. When applying onto your body, I find I have to massage it in circular motions to ensure that it's evenly spread and doesn't sit on the surface for a long period of time. This is a lotion that takes a while to permeate your pores so it's not wise to put your clothes on immediately after use.   

As with all of Lush's thicker lotions, it's best if you go careful with how much you apply. If the right amount is used, Tramp leaves your skin feeling really moisturised and it has a slight cooling element, perfect for those hot summer days. If too much is applied, this lotion can feel really heavy and leave your skin rather greasy.    

What I really liked about the lotion is that once it has had time to absorb into the skin, the scent is much more gentle than it is in the pot. The sweetness of the patchouli came to the forefront a little more and combined with the creaminess of the almond oil, made for a wonderful smell. I actually loved how it smelled on my skin and couldn't help but sniff my arms. Whereas the earthy element of the shower gel is intensified when mixed with the heat of the water, the lotion doesn't do this, making it a much more pleasant experience. 

As it says on the label, the fragrance of this lotion lingered for many hours on my skin and would make a perfect addition on those summery days when you want to feel at one with nature. Surprisingly, I really really enjoyed this lotion and would definitely invest in another pot; that's if I didn't have a total of 17 other body lotions to get through first! 

Tramp Body Lotion has definitely made me re-evaluate my dislike for this scent, and has certainly opened a number of doors in terms of the fragrances I like and dislike. Fans of the shower gel will no doubt love this lotion, and for those like me, who weren't too keen, you may still really enjoy this product as I did. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Almond Oil, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Oakmoss Absolute, Patchouli Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Methyl Ionone, Eugenol, Isoeugenol, Perfume, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Creamed Almond And Coconut Shower Smoothie

Creamed Almond and Coconut Shower Smoothie was one of the products I managed to acquire over a year ago, after trawling though the many pages of rare Lush goodies on eBay, seeking out new and exciting items. I must have just missed the official release of this through Lush as it was not long before I purchased this that Lush brought it out as a retro item on their website. Unfortunately, with more Lush products to review than you could shake a stick at, it was never one I got around to writing about on here. So when the opportunity came by to purchase a new tub from the Lush Kitchen, I was slightly glad I had waited - things are always best fresh.

My experience with shower smoothies has so far only branched as far out as Lush's Whitewash and Lush Lime editions; both of which were many months out of date when I received them. For this reason, I was rather intrigued to see how different, or perhaps how similar these two matched up with a new one. As it happened, I didn't notice a lot of difference - shower smoothies obviously last extremely well past their use-by date.

Almond and Coconut Smoothie is a beautiful concoction of butters and oils, all of which have been creamed together to produce a product that not only cleans your skin like a soap, but softens and moisturisers it like a body lotion. Almond oil, coconut oil and rapeseed oil are just some of the ingredients added in here to give the smoothie it's softening qualities, all of which also add to it's overall texture and scent.

As well as the above oils, this product contains jasmine, ylang ylang and vanilla. The combination of these three make up the overall scent of the smoothie - a sweet and gentle fragrance that lingers on your skin long after you have left the shower. It's surprising that this smell permeates your skin like it does as, in the tub, the scent is a very subtle one.

To me, this smoothie smells very similar to Sympathy For The Skin Body Lotion - a light vanilla fragrance with just a sprinkling of nuttiness from the almond oil. I can see why people would describe it as having a coconut element, but I couldn't really detect this strong enough to say it left an impression on me.

The smoothie is velvety-soft to touch and very easy to use; I found the most effective way was to simply scoop it out of the tub with my fingers and immediately rub it all over the area I wanted to lather. Unfortunately, despite it feeling soft and silky on my skin, it didn't lather up at all, meaning I had to keep returning to the pot for seconds and thirds and fourths etc.. However, given that it's both a soap and body lotion, I didn't expect it to be as effective as a shower gel - so in some ways, I was expecting this. 

For the above reason, you do tend to use more of the smoothie than you would a shower gel or jelly, as a single scoop doesn't tend to spread over that wide an area. This means that Almond and Coconut Smoothie is not a product you'd use daily; it's more of a weekly treat for your skin if you feel you need it.    

This smoothie did leave my skin velvety soft after I had exited the shower and it works wonders to smear over newly-shaved legs, to calm irritated skin. It's possesses a fragrance strong enough to leave an impression on you, but not so strong as to override any perfume you choose to put on over the top. In fact, this smoothie works well with most of my perfumes, particularly American Cream, Rose Jam, Calacas and Tuca Tuca.

At almost £10 a pot, this is a rather extravagant purchase, but one that is definitely worth it. I tend to use this on those days of the week, where I've overslept my alarm and don't have time to shower and moisturise. I can halve my regime by doing both in the shower and the effects of this maintain themselves throughout the entire day. I will definitely buy a second tub if this is brought back at any point. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Fair Trade Vanilla Pod Infusion, Almond Oil, Glycerine, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Water (Aqua), Ylang Ylang Oil, Jasmine Absolute, Labdanum Resinoid, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Perfume, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes.

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Wiccy Magic Muscles Massage Bar

Over the last few months, I've been desperately trying to reduce my collection of massage bars; I seemed to have amassed a large number of them over a short space of time, and I'm aware that these sorts of products can dry out quite a bit if left for too long, unused. Wiccy Magic Muscles was not a massage bar I was particularly excited to try, and not one at the top of my list; I had read about the love/hate reaction that people tended to have with the product, and I assumed that I would be one of the less-impressed parties. I love it when I'm proved wrong!

As the name suggests, Wiccy Magic Muscles Massage Bar is designed to moisturise and soften your skin, as other bars do, as well as soothe and eradicate aching muscles. Unique in its appearance, this massage bar is patterned with a layer of aduki beans on one side, and a smooth surface on the other. The addition of beans is supposed to give a bumpy platform for which to massage your body with, and help to reduce any aches and pains that you're suffering from. 

I found it effective to massage my body using the smooth side first, and only when the oils had bled onto my body, use the uneven side to massage the oil into my skin. This worked wonders for me post-workout or after a hard-day's work. However, this method was only effective for roughly 4-5 uses before the beans began to crumble from the bar and I ended up with a mound of beans and very little lotion left to use.  

As expected with any Lush product, Wiccy Magic Muscles contains an impressive array of ingredients to help aide it's massaging properties; cinnamon leaf oil is added to help counteract feelings of depression, weakness and exhaustion, as well as being an antiseptic, antibiotic and analgesic ingredient;  cocoa butter, Shea butter and coconut oil are present, to moisturise your skin and give the bar it's oily consistency; peppermint oil is used to help unwind the muscles and stimulate relaxation of both the body and mind. All of these ingredients work together to stimulate the circulation of blood under the skin and help to loosen the muscles. 

Within seconds of applying it to my skin, I experienced a tingling sensation - very similar to when I used to use the Original Source Mint Shower Gel. My skin felt really cool and refreshed after application, and this feeling continued for some time. I cannot wait to try this massage bar in the warmer months as it'll work wonders to help cool irritated or sun-kissed skin, or just as an evening treat to counteract the sticky, humid weather. 

This massage bar has a very distinctive, very potent smell that would probably not appeal to everyone. To me, it smells strongly of peppermint with a subtle chocolately scent; the fragrance is very similar to that of After Eight mints, but with a very slight menthol aftertaste. Although not my favourite smell, I've come to appreciate it a lot more, and it does work at making you more relaxed and stress-free.

For a product I was not interested in trying, I was very impressed with the results that Wiccy Magic Muscles Massage Bar demonstrated. In fact, I would say it is probably one of my favourite massage bars from Lush. I love that there is a bumpy side to massage the oils into my skin. Although, it is this side that lost the massage bar from getting full marks; the addition of the aduki beans does reduce the lifespan of this product and make it a little fiddly to use towards the end.

Quantitative Ingredients: Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Aduki Beans, Shea Butter, Organic Jojoba Oil, Cinnamon Leaf Oil, Peppermint Oil, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, *Cinnamyl Alcohol, *Cinnamal, *Coumarin, *Eugenol, *Isoeugenol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume.

Vegan?: Yes.

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American Cream Liquid Perfume

The only regular member of Lush's catalogue, that possesses the scent of American Cream, is the aptly named conditioner, which for vegan fans, is off limits. I cannot tell you the number of times I was given strange looks for walking around a Lush store with a bottle of the conditioner, sniffing it whilst browsing, before popping it back on the shelf and making a quick exit. I loved the beautiful, unique scent, but just wasn't prepared to break 'vegan-edge' to try some. So when I stumbled upon a brand new bottle of the now-discontinued American Cream Liquid Perfume,  I was ecstatically happy, and no doubt the local Lush employees were too. 

American Cream is a scent modelled on the creamy vanillary milkshakes popular in diners during the 1950s. Released as a limited edition forum-special at the end of 2010, it's scent has been composed carefully to replicate the fresh smell of strawberries and milk, and although I wouldn't say it smells like your typical milkshake, it definitely has a playful, fruity fragrance like no other perfume.

First impressions of the scent are that of a musky vanilla mixed with the sweet, floral undertones of sage and just a hint of lavender. There is a sweetness to the scent that lends itself to the strawberry reference, however, it's not a natural fruity smell that you would immediately associate with the berry. The nuttiness of the vanilla is definitely at the forefront here, and this at least, is very natural smelling and fresh. However, the fragrance is somewhat dominated by the herbal notes, which gives the perfume it's warmth and makes the scent very wholesome.

I actually find this fragrance very difficult to describe, as it's unlike any scent I have smelt before. It's definitely a very feminine smell, and one that would be best suited during the colder months of the year. American Cream gives off a very comforting, homely smell, which means it would come across as rather cloying and heavy during the warmer months.

For those of you that have the privilege of being able to use the American Cream Conditioner, it does indeed smell identical to this; Lush have definitely managed to replicated the infamous scent successfully in liquid perfume form. The only negative aspect about this perfume, is that unlike the conditioner, which holds a very dominating and long lasting smell, the perfume is more reserved, which means the scent is somewhat lost during use.

I found that the perfume's scent remains strong on your skin for a good few hours after application, but by about the fifth hour, I could no longer smell the perfume at all, which was rather disappointing. This would work wonders next to the body lotion of the same scent; giving your skin a 'top up' of scent throughout the day. But as a stand-alone perfume, it doesn't hold it's ground as strongly as I was hoping.  

If Lush were to bring American Cream back as a forum special, in the coming years, I only hope they revamp the fragrance and give it the longevity I was hoping for.

Quantitative Ingredients: DRF Alcohol, Perfume, Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Clary Sage Oil (Salvia sclarea), Lavender Oil (Lavandula angustifolia), Benzoin Resinoid (Styrax tonkinensis pierre), Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Coumarin, Methyl Ionone.

Vegan?: Yes.  

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