Karma Bubble Bar

First of all, can we just admire how beautiful this bubble bar is? The look of this product alone should make you want to buy it, with it rich, dark purple pyramid with a splash of orange around the middle and a glittery, golden melt top. Just...Wow...

I first used this product on January 7th, 2016... I was a bit late to join the Lushie community (but I'm here now!). No, I don't remember this date because of my 'awesome' memory, I referred to my personal Instagram account because I remembered that I took a picture of it and was so in awe, that I had to post the picture.

Anyway... Karma bubble bar... If you're a massive fan of the Karma scent family then this bubble bar is going to be heaven for you, if you're not familiar with the Karma aroma then you still need to check out this bubble bar because the smell is not overpowering but is still there enough to make you want to devour it.

Karma bubble bar is made up of six key oils: patchouli oil, sweet orange oil, lavendin oil, pine oil, lemongrass oil and elemi oil. Patchouli is a herb that belongs to the mint family but instead of having a mint scent, it has an earthy, woodland aroma that is used in aromatherapy for relaxation and uplifting effect of the mind.

Lavendin oil is a stronger version of lavender; it has the same properties as lavender: it's soothing, calming and healing. Lavendin oil also has a stronger scent that lavender. If you're not a fan of lavender, don't worry! You can only smell a slight hint of it in the Karma bubble bar.

Pine oil has a very fresh, woodland aroma (like patchouli) and is used for it's cleansing properties and it's soothing and calming effect on the mind. This is probably why Karma is such a popular scent in the Lush community because, all of the ingredients are steered towards making you calm and relaxed, making sure that your mind is made to feel free of any stress and that the woody, citrusy aroma of Karma is just so damn good!

For Lush's bubble bars, I used to crumble them underneath the tap like Lush recommend, but I found that a lot of residue from the bars would settle at the bottom of my bath which wasn't nice. Now, I place the bubble bar in a sieve and I hold the sieve underneath the hot water so that every single crumb of the bubble bar is used to create bubbles and a magical bathing experience. I have found that this method works very very well.

For its size, Karma didn't take long to disintegrate. I was probably holding the sieve under the water for about four minutes. This was actually quite impressive because The Modfather bubble bar is very small in size but took about seven minutes to disintegrate. So that was the first thing that impressed me about Karma bubble bar.

The second thing that instantly impressed me was the number of bubbles. After those four minutes, Karma had left me a mountain of bubbles. I couldn't believe it! There were so many!

The smell was perfect as well. I am slowly learning to love the Karma scent more and more (however, I still think that the Karma perfume is way too strong for my liking!) and the bubble bar - with its mix of citrusy and earthy aromas is heaven. You can smell Karma straight away and whilst you're bathing in its waters, it instantly puts your mind at ease so that you can relax.

The bubble bar creates a deep, purple colour which I think is the thing that makes this one of my top five bubble bars from Lush. The colour is just... I don't even know how to describe how gorgeous it is. The pictures here don't even do it justice.

The golden tip n the top of the bubble bar is pure, golden oil to make sure that the bath is also moisturising. It makes the water slightly shimmery, but not enough to put you off or leave glitter residue on your body and in your bath once you've drained the water. Karma bubble bar is very moisturising. Whilst I was reading my book in the bath, every 15 minutes or so, I had to keep stroking my arm because I was amazed by how smooth my skin felt.

I was very disappointed when I had to get out of the bath but the scent of the bubble bar followed me around for a good hour and it had made the bathroom smell amazing so at least I had a tiny bit of it still with me.

I cannot wait to use this bubble bar again. Even though it's in the year-round stock, I have about ten of these in my box because I just can't get enough of it.

Karma bubble bar is perfect.

Demo:

Description on Lush:
Get an instant lift with this bubble bar with our signature exotic orange and patchouli fragrance. Sweet orange oil is refreshing, tangy and uplifting, as is lemongrass oil. Lavandin is a close relative of lavender and has similarly relaxing properties. Pine oil adds a fresh, green note to the perfume and elemi oil, which is traditionally used in incense recipes, adds complexity and freshness.

Ingredients:

Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Cornflour, Mango Butter, Citric Acid, Perfume, Patchouli Oil, Sweet Orange Oil, Lavender Oil, Pine Oil, Lemongrass Oil, Elemi Oil, Glycerine, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Laureth 4, Citral, Hydroxycitronellal, Limonene, Linalool, Copper Sheen and Radiant Gold Lustre, Gold Glimmer Lustre, Colour 15985, Colour 42090, Colour 45430

Price:

£4.50/each

Vegan:

Yes

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

Dream Cream Hand and Body Lotion

Dream Cream is Lush's number one hand and body lotion product and upon hearing this, I was intrigued. What makes it number one? It can't be that good, can it? I decided to give it a try...

I went onto the Lush Cosmetics website and ordered the 450g tub. I don't know why I ordered the biggest size, I guess I just felt optimistic that I wouldn't be wasting my money.

When it arrived, I immediately gave it a try. Taking off the lid, I was instantly hit with the smell of lavender (and I love lavender!) and a hint of the rose water and tea tree oil. I fell in love with the smell instantly.

Applying the cream to my body, I noticed that it had quite a medium thickness in consistency, like Tropical Jungle or Karma Kream. Its application was smooth and Dream Cream absorbed easily into my skin, making my body feel instantly nourished and I loved how it didn't make my skin feel greasy like some body lotions do.

The oat milk in Dream Cream is used to cool and calm the skin so if you have eczema, dry skin or hot, irritated skin, then I suggest that you buy Dream Cream because it has all of the ingredients to help skin that needs a bit of TLC.

Rose water also helps calm the skin and lends a hand to reduce redness or any irritation, so if you have a bad sunburn (like I did!) then the rose water in Dream Cream will help give your damaged, sunburnt skin some love and will make it less painful whilst it gets to work on soothing the area.

Chamomile blue oil, lavender and tea tree oil all help calm the skin and are wonders to help any skin that needs healing so again, if you're suffering from sunburn right now, these ingredients will speed up the healing process of the burnt areas of skin.

I used Dream Cream religiously for my sunburn and it helped cool and soothe it, just like Lush state and my skin felt instantly rejuvenated. Obviously, it didn't work overnight because sunburn is a pain to get rid of, but in a week, my skin didn't feel sore, the peeling had gone and all I was left with was a silly tan line on my back.


I also used this lotion when I had a sudden onset of dry skin on my leg. I applied Dream Cream and after a few days, the dry skin had gone.

Overall, I completely understand why this is Lush's number one hand and body lotion. It worked absolute wonders for my skin. Even though I don't suffer from dry skin that often, when I do, my immediate go-to cream is this.

And...If you don't believe me on how good Dream Cream can be, then get a small tub for yourself and try it out. Let me know what you think of it in the comment section!

Description on Lush:

This simple cream works like a dream on upset skin: cooling and soothing ingredients like oat milk, rose water and chamomile blue oil calm down hot and itchy skin. That's why it's one of our bestsellers, with many of you telling us it gives great relief from eczema. We steep oats in hot water to make oat milk. Oats have long been used to treat eczema and cool skin down as they contain antihistamines, and we've added extra nourishment in the form of rose water, cocoa butter, organic extra virgin olive oil, and vegetable glycerine.

Ingredients:

Oat Milk, Rose Water, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Tincture of Benzoin, Rose Absolute, Chamomile Blue Oil, Tea Tree Oil, Lavender Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Benzyl Benzoate, Citronellol, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume, Methylparaben, Propylparaben

Price:

£6.50/100g
£12.95/240g
£20.95/450g

Vegan:

Yes

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

B-Electro Shower Gel

B-Electro is one of the coolest looking shower gels that I think that Lush have released, parring with Narcotick and Calacas.

From the outside, it portrays an electric green colour and inside the bottle, the liquid tells the same story. What attracted me to this shower gel is the description on the bottle: "Danger! Danger! High Voltage!" It is reminscent of the hilarious song by Electric Six called 'Danger! High Voltage!' This song is a very fond childhood memory of mine, my parents and I used to sing this song all the time, laughing at the video and how the song is sang.

So as soon as I saw the description, I knew I had to get this shower gel and see what it was like, so when I grabbed a bottle in the Lush Kitchen, I was eager to try it out.

B-Electro has a very full smell; full in the sense that there is a lot going on. Lush mentions that it has a zesty, floral smell and reading this description, I was confused. How can a shower gel have both of those smells at once? Wouldn't that be disgusting?

Squirting it onto my shower scrunchie, I noticed the floral smell straight away and it shared similarities with Ghost shower gel. The rose petals, rose absolute and jasmine definitely make their appearance in B-Electro. Underneath the floral aroma, I could smell a woody element which comes from the tincture of benzoin. But all in all, I was quite disappointed with the smell because I couldn't smell any citrus in the product like Lush said, it was a woody, floral smell instead. Still nice, but not what I was expecting.

The bright green liquid has the 'normal' consistency that you would expect from a shower gel: it wasn't too thick and it wasn't too thin. It created a light foam and because I'm used to thick foams coming from Lush's shower gels, B-Electro's light foam was slightly disappointing. However, it still lathered up quite nicely and the jojoba oil made sure that the shower gel moisturised my skin and made my body feel soft.

The aroma of B-Electro lasted on my skin for about half an hour which was good and my skin stayed moisturised throughout the day.

Overall, I wasn't too impressed with the false advertising of the smell - I don't know, maybe other users of this shower gel smelled the citrusy aromas of the grapefruit oil - but the shower gel still did smell amazing with it's floral, woody smell. And it's the smell of B-Electro that will make me want to keep using this product. It's not on my list of top 10 shower gels, but it still is very good and I was thoroughly impressed with how moisturising it was.

Description on Lush:

Danger! Danger! High voltage, a lather's best, when full of zest!
Charge on full power by sneaking into a steamy session with enlivening grapefruit oil. Soothing, fresh rose petal infusion cleanses as organic jojoba oil boosts skin with sumptuous moisturisation. It sure is exciting, but there's no risk of short-circuiting when you have grounding fennel on your side.

Ingredients:

Fresh Rose Petals, Water (Aqua), Sodium Alkyl Sulfate, Glyceryl Stearate & PEG-100 Stearate, Fine Sea Salt, Cocamide MEA, Perfume, Glycol Cetearate, Propylene Glycol, Lauryl Betaine, Grapefruit Oil, Fennel Oil, Rose Absolute, Jasmine Absolute, Tincture of Benzoin, Organic Jojoba Oil, Benzyl Benzoate, Citronellol, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Colour 59040, Colour 42090, Methylparaben, Propylparaben

Price:

£11.00/240g

Vegan:

Yes

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

Ultrabalm All-Purpose Balm

I've been waiting to write this review for a few months now - ever since I bought this product. The trouble is, I don't really suffer with dry or cracked skin.

But! Luck (or not) was on my side about a month ago when I found some dry skin on the heel of my foot, I knew this was my chance to try Ultrabalm.

With only three ingredients in this product, it's as natural as you're going to get. The jojoba oil is the ingredient that gives Ultrabalm it's moisturising and hydrating properties, candelilla wax is the vegan alternative for beeswax and it acts as a barrier to make sure that the jojoba oil stays on your dry skin. The third and final ingredient is rose wax and this helps soothe and calm irritated, dry or sensitive skin, it can also help reduce redness.

This is Lush's version of Vaseline but where with Vaseline you can use it on your lips, I do not recommend this with Ultrabalm. This was the first ever thing I used Ultrabalm for. I got a tiny amount on my finger and massaged it into my lips. No. No. No. The texture was so odd for my lips and I felt like it's not a smell that I would want hanging around underneath my nose all day. It's also very very greasy, so it didn't do anything for my lips at all.

As I just mentioned, this is a very greasy product so you do not need a lot for it to do it's job. After I had realised that it wasn't good as a lip balm, I tried it on the balls of my feet where I had some dry skin. Again, I put a little bit of the product on and over the course of the week, I noticed that my feet were much more moisturised and the dry skin and gone.

Success!

I then tried it on the palms of my hands. I work in retail and handling clothes every day and dusty rails doesn't do wonders for my hands. A week later, I got the same result for my hands as I did with my feet. My hands felt softer and the dry, peeling skin had pretty much completely disappeared.

The last thing that I tried it for was sun-damaged skin. Silly me spent a whole day out in the sun reading and didn't put sun-cream on so for a week, I was in agonising pain and my back was peeling. I applied Ultrabalm to my peeling skin. It took a little longer for it to work for sun-damaged skin as there was a lot of damage! But after about 10 days, Ultrabalm had helped add the moisture back into my skin; to help get rid of the peeling, I used Rough With The Smooth body scrub. These two products made a great team is sorting out my stupidness.

For the price of £9.95, it may sound like a lot for a 45g tin but honestly? Ultrabalm has soothed my skin so many times, the best time being when I had sunburn. I have only mentioned three times where I have used the product, if I had named all of them then this post would be very very long. It can be good for little cuts or scrapes as the candelilla wax acts as a barrier for dirt as well and Ultrabalm can also be good for stings - whether it's a bee or nettle - as the rose wax is soothing.

It might sound expensive but this product can do everything - apart from act as a lip balm! - and from the looks of things, this product is going to last me a very long time! It's a good job that it's self-preserving!

Description on Lush:

This is a very simple but effective formula, with just three moisturising ingredients. Pop this anywhere that feels really dry for instant relief: chapped lips or hard skin such as elbows, or use to tame lashes and eyebrows, brighten up tattoos, or to protect your skin when you're dyeing your hair. Perfect for carrying in your bag or on your holidays.

Ingredients:

Organic Jojoba Oil, Candelilla Wax, Rose Wax

Price:

£9.95/45g

Vegan:

Yes

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

Monsieur Gustave Bath Melt

I live three hours away from London so finding the time and the money to go there is hard, so when I do go, my first stop is always Lush Oxford Street.

The first time I went in there, I was in heaven. I knew it was the largest Lush store in the world but to actually see it was incredible. I managed to go again in May.

This time, I prepared for the massiveness of the store and I knew exactly where I wanted to go; straight up to the top where all of the bath products are: and this time, I was after the exclusive bath oils and melt.

For those of you who have been to Lush Oxford Street, you will remember the beautiful table that is full of the exclusive bath oils. The colours are vibrant and range from blue to pink to orange to purple. It's a fantastic spectacle.

Basket in my hand, I was wrapping up whatever I could, whatever caught my eye and the Monsieur Gustave bath melt was one of the products that I just couldn't ignore.

I finally got to use this beauty in my bath a month later. Bath melts and oils can be used to moisturise skin when it's feeling particularly dry and it can be used in bath cocktails to just add that nourishing element.

When I popped Monsieur Gustave into the bath, I knew that it was going to take ages to melt because of my previous experience with bath oils, so I found a comfy position, got my phone out and got ready to video and take pictures of the experience. It took 15 minutes to fully melt.

Beautiful purple oils danced across the surface of my bath, creating magical glittery patterns all around me and I watched, fascinated as the dark purple bled out from the bath melt.

After mere minutes, I noticed that my skin already felt 100% smoother from the cocoa butter than it did before I got in the bath.

I noticed that I could smell tobacco. At first I thought that couldn't be right, but I looked up the ingredients and noticed that tobacco absolute was on the ingredients list. I was surprised to say the least. Some of you are probably thinking 'ew, I do not want to bathe and come out smelling like tobacco'. Well guys, I'll stop you right there, it smells gorgeous. With rose absolute and lavender oil mixed with tobacco, Monsieur Gustave gives off a woody scent with a very slight floral smell hidden underneath. It wasn't the strongest scent ever which was slightly disappointing, I expected it to be much stronger after my previous experience with bath melts and bath oils, but it was strong enough to relax me and my aching bones.

After Monsieur Gustave had finally melted, the water had settled a very light purple, almost bordering on pink; it was gorgeous. So I turned off the recording, put my phone down and picked up my book, letting the beautiful smell and colour help transport me to the world that I was reading.

Once my bath time had finished, I took out the plug and let the gorgeous coloured water go down the drain. I noticed that the bath melt had also left purple stains around the edge of the bath, but like any bath product, this was easy to wash off.

I towelled myself down however, I noticed that there were pink stains on my towel from the bath melt, I then realised that some of the oil had stuck to my skin whilst I was in the bath. I tried to not let that ruin my beautiful experience of Monsieur Gustave but it was when I looked down at my hands later on in the day that I realised the bath melt had stained my fingernails. I was not happy.

But... The smell did linger on my skin for a good couple of hours so that made me happy. It didn't overrule the fact that my nails were now stained, but walking around the house smelling of this product kept transporting me back to my bath.

After a couple of days and some intense scrubbing, the pink stained nails had gone.

This is a fantastic bath melt and when you go to Oxford Street, I 100% recommend that you pick up this product. Sure, it stained my nails but looking back, it wasn't really a big problem, it was just slightly annoying. Monsieur Gustave smells amazing, looks amazing and makes your skin feel amazing. So what more can I say? Head to Oxford Street right now and go and pick up a handful of these little purple balls of amazingness.

Demo:

Description on Lush:

L'air du panache. Without question, without fail, and invariably, exceedingly lovely.

Ingredients:

Organic Shea Butter, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Laureth 4, PEG-6 Caprylic/Capic Glycerides & PEG-60 Almond Glycerides, Lavender Oil, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Perfume, Organic Jojoba Oil, Rose Absolute, Tobacco Absolute, Benzyl Benzoate, Citronnellol, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Colour 45410, Colour 42090:2, Colour 45410:2, Purple Lustre

Price:

£2/each

Vegan:

No

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

Thanks Dad Soap

My Dad isn't a fan of Lush. At all. He won't even walk into a Lush store and I'm always trying to convince my Mom and Dad how good this company is alas, my efforts haven't worked yet. Since my Dad wouldn't be using any of the Father's Day products, I thought I would take it upon myself to go on a Father's Day haul just for me.

Sorry Dad, you're missing out.

From first glance, Thanks Dad is an eye-catching soap with bright yellow and red. It's got the letters D and A etched onto the sides of the soap and Lush shops all around the world have been playing with the idea of those little toy blocks you used to have when you were a child and you could make words with them, the word here being: Dad (obviously).

If you've tried out The Modfather bubble bar and you love the smell, then you will the love the smell of Thanks Dad; The Modfather's main aroma was Brazilian orange and the same goes for the soap. It's not a strong scent, if you smell it, you're not overwhelmed with the scent of orange, but it's more subtle - which I prefer. It's fruity, zesty smell is gorgeous; it actually doesn't smell synthetic, it smells very fresh, like someone had just squeezed fresh orange juice all over me. I loved it.

I used it on my hands first and I noticed that the shape of this soap isn't really the best. The chunkiness of the soap makes it hard to actually wash your hands and it gets quite annoying. Normally, I cut my soaps up into small pieces so that they're easier to use but because this soap is so cool, I wanted to use it whole first before chopping it up.

Thanks Dad isn't the best soaps for lather either. I don't know whether this was because I was using it whole or not but I wasn't impressed, it definitely wasn't as good as other soaps that I've used from Lush. I found that I had to use a lot more water on the soap and on my hands to get the lather I required, it extended my shower time by much longer because I was constantly trying to get lather.

Another thing that slightly annoyed me about this soap is that I left it on my sink and whilst it was drying, it was leaving bright yellow stains everywhere. It was a pain to clean up.

The same applied when I used the soap in the shower, it didn't lather very well but it did fill my shower with the fresh orange aroma and also left a slight hint of the smell on my skin when I exited the shower. The scent of the orange oil lingered on my skin for about an hour which I was quite impressed with. The smell of the soaps from Lush don't normally last that long when I come out of the shower but Thanks Dad's longevity was impressive.

For those of who are regular readers of my blog, you know that Lush soaps don't really moisturise my skin. After using them, they leave my skin and my hands feeling taut. Thanks Dad did a similar thing except my hands and skin didn't feel as taut. Sure, my body didn't feel silky smooth and nourished, but it didn't feel as taut as the other soaps have made my skin feel.

Overall, this soap isn't great but it's not rubbish either. Thanks Dad offers a gorgeous, fresh orange aroma that lingers on your skin and makes you feel refreshed but it's difficult to get a good lather and the size makes it difficult to use. I think I would possibly use this again but I wouldn't use it religiously.

Description on Lush:

If this soap was a Dad, it would probably say something embarrassing like: "You might not want to be seen with me; I'm pretty square". You'd laugh, sigh and reply that it is actually a cube, which isn't the same thing. And, that the Dad jokes are getting quite tiring. However, this soap is not a Dad. It's an alphabet block that begins in a fiesta of Brazilian orange oil and cleanses with fresh orange juice. Just in case you forgot who to give it to, it's pressed with a D, A and another D. Because, those Dad jokes are quite funny really and you'd like to say thanks...

Ingredients:

Glycerine, Water, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Fresh Orange Juice, Sorbitol, Brazilian Orange Oil, Limonene, Sodium Stearate, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Soidium Hydroxide, Colour 45350, Colour 14700, Colour 17200

Price:

£4.95/100g

Vegan:

Yes

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

Twilight Solid Perfume

When you think of Twilight from Lush, you automatically think of their Twilight bath bomb - which is one of their more popular bath bombs due to the amazing colours that gets spewed out the centre.

Most people forget that their are other Twilight fragranced items out there, albeit they're more hard to come by, but they still exist.

I wouldn't say that I'm a massive fan of the Twilight scent - like the Karma family, I do like the smell but I wouldn't say that it's my favourite but even so, I like it enough to splurge all of my pay checks that carries the Twilight scent.

The Twilight solid perfume was released in the Lush Kitchen and I was a bit weary to get it at first. I'm very picky when it comes to perfumes and I like to test them out in the shops before I buy them. At the end of the day, who wants to buy a perfume online only for it to come in the mail and it smell disgusting? Definitely not me. So I was taking a big leap of faith here by purchasing the solid perfume, especially since perfumes can differ from their bath bomb counterparts. But, I ordered it and eagerly awaited it's arrival so that I could try it out.

The solid perfume has a very similar smell to the bath bomb but the one thing about the smell that I found different was that it's very much a stronger smell and there isn't really a dominant smell. The lavender oil and ylang ylang absolute create the floral element of the perfume, the tonka absolute adds to vanilla aroma. 'Lavender and vanilla?!' I hear you scream, 'those two ingredients can't make a nice smell, surely?'.

Well guys... They do, they really really do. I mentioned before that I wasn't a massive fan of the Twilight scent family, but this perfume has made me a bigger fan and appreciate the scent more. It's mix of floral and vanilla creates this perfect aroma that you won't be able to get enough of. It's also got a slight spicy smell, it's not overpowering but it's definitely there in the background. My Mom isn't a Lush Cosmetics fan at all, she doesn't get my whole obsession, but when she smelled the Twilight solid perfume, she wanted to steal it off and keep it for herself. Maybe that will put it in perspective of how nice this perfume smells.

When I am using this perfume, I apply it on my wrists and on both sides of my neck. I work in retail and every time I lift my arms to reach for something or I turn my head quickly, I get a waft of the perfume and it's gorgeous. You don't need much of this at all. I always wear this to work because the smell lasts for about two/three hours; I did think that it would last longer however, because my other perfumes (not Lush) last for a good six/seven hours. So the longevity of the perfume was slightly disappointing for me.

I have used this perfume nearly every day since it arrived in March and the pictures here just show that the perfume is going to last ages; three months using it and it looks like it hasn't even got a dent. It's also self-preserving so there's no rush to use it in a year.

Overall, this is a very impressive solid perfume from Lush and the fact that it's bettered my opinion on the Twilight scent family, I think that says something. The longevity of the smell could be slightly better but other than that, this is a must-have for any Lushie who loves Twilight. I'm definitely going to be buying this again when it's re-released in the Kitchen.

Ingredients:

Organic Jojoba Oil, Castor Oil, Candelilla Wax, Perfume, Benzyl Resinoid, Lavender Oil, Tonka Absolute, Ylang Ylang Absolute, Benzyl Alcohol, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Cinnamate, Benzyl Salicylate, Courmarin, Eugenol, Farnesol, Geraniol, Isoeugenol, Limonene, Linalool

Price:

£9/12g

Vegan:

Yes

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

Black Pearl Shower Gel

Black Pearl shower gel has been a rarity in the Lush community for years so when I saw it on the Lush Kitchen menu for the week beginning 30th May 2016, I knew that I had to get my hands on some.

I had seen pictures after pictures depicting how beautiful this product was and how amazing it smelled, I had reviews telling me that I had to get it otherwise I would be missing out on it. 

This review is going to do just that: if it hasn't done already.

Upon first looking at Black Pearl, it has an ashen-grey colour which doesn't look too appealing, but if you look closer, then you can see the silver lustre through the bottle. In the ingredients, Lush state the the lustre as "edible"... Hmmm... Can someone let me into the Lush Kitchen please so I can try this out? *begging*

When you take the lid off, the shower gel looks even more shiny and the grey doesn't actually look that bad as when you first see it. Maybe it would be better if the shower gel was actually black with silver lustre? Would that be possible, because that would be amazing and would suit the name more.

Chamomile is an essential oil that helps sensitive skin and can also be used as an alternative to lavender; it's gentle oil soothes and calms skin that has been irritated.

Lavender is also used in this shower gel and it helps soothe your mind and your muscles so if you've had a hard day at work or you're just aching in general, lavender will work wonders. Lavender absolute can also be found in Black Pearl; it's sweeter than it's oil counterpart and has a less floral fragrance. Lavender absolute is also calming and soothes muscles.

The olibanum oil found in the shower gel has a more woody, spicy aroma. The oil is effective on sore skin, so it would be good for eczema. 

Black Pearl has loads of gorgeous silver lustre

Black Pearly with it's gloopy, silver consistency

Whilst I was lathering up with Black Pearl in the shower, I couldn't really smell the olibanum oil; the lavender was the frontrunner scent and smelled very similar to the Softy foot lotion. If you don't like lavender, I wouldn't recommend this shower gel

Because I love lavender, this shower gel was perfect for me. The smell was so strong that it was overpowering, it was subtle and it did actually manage to make me feel slightly relaxed. 

The consistency of Black Pearl is quite gloopy - it's slightly thicker than The Comforter but this didn't mean it lathered up poorly.

I found that it is one of the best shower gels for it's lather. The first time that I used it, I squirted the 'normal' amount onto my shower scrunchie and I realised that I could get away with using a lot less. So that's what I did when I used it for the second time; I squirted a lot less on (maybe the same size as a 10p piece?) It still lathered up beautifully and after I had finished cleaning my body, I had a lot of lather left over on so I just kept massaging this gorgeous shower gel onto my skin.

The longevity of the lavender aroma didn't really last a long time on my skin, so I was slightly disappointed. The smell lasted for about 20 minutes which isn't long at all compared to other shower gels that Lush have released.

Overall, Black Pearl is a fantastic shower gel; sure it could actually be black (please?), it could have a slightly stronger smell and the smell could last longer but the look of this shower gel trumps all of those slight negatives. If you're looking for a shiny, lavender scented shower gel that makes your skin feel smooth, then this is the shower gel for you.

Description on Lush:

Feel like everything is shivering your timbers? Take a deep breath and seize a more mellow outlook with restful lavender and chamomile. Relaxing olibanum and myrrh help to restore balance to skin as treasured almond oil leaves behind a loot of silky softness.

Ingredients:

Water (Aqua), Sodium Alkyl Sulfate, Chamomile Infusion, Lavender Flower Infusion, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Fine Sea Salt, Glyceryl Stearate & PEG-100 Stearate, Cocamide MEA, Glycol Cetearate, Perfume, Propylene Glycol, Lauryl Betaine, Silver Edible Lustre, Lavender Absolute, Chamomile Blue Oil, Olibanum Oil, Myrrh Resinoid, Almond Oil, Limonene, Linalool, Methylparaben, Propylparaben

PricE:

£11.25/250g

Vegan:

Yes

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

Outback Mate Soap

Outback Mate was the second soap that I ever bought from Lush; the first one being Rock Star. The thing that drew me to Outback Mate was how beautiful it looked. It has this gorgeous light blue exterior and on one side of the soap it's dark blue with etches that made the dark blue side look like the waves in the ocean.

The name of this soap refers to the the Australian outback and the link to Australia and this soap is that eucalyptus - which is the main ingredient in this product - is grown in Australia. The eucalyptus plant has a very minty smell and this combined with peppermint oil and lemongrass oil creates a gorgeous mint aroma with a hint of pine.

For those of you who are regular readers of my blog, you will know that I absolutely love two scents: citrus and mint. Sure, they might be the two of the most over-used aromas in products, but I just love them too much to care.

Eucalyptus has also been used in products such as Vicks vapour rub or Tiger Balm as the plant has soothing and relaxing qualities. Outback Mate has a slight - and I mean slight - resemblance to the aforementioned soothing balms, but not enough for you to make you feel like it's medicine or enough to put you off it. It's a very subtle mint smell.

The mintiness makes this a brilliant soap for the summer as the refreshing and cooling ingredietns help you feel invigorated.

Some Lush soaps haven't really agreed with my skin and Outback Mate is - unfortunately - one of them. Not in the sense where my skin goes itchy or blotchy; but the soaps make my skin feel taut and if you have read my reviews of the Rock Star soap and the Sunrise soap, you will know that they had the same effect. It kinda makes me feel sad because I see loads of Lush fans saying how amazing their soaps are and I can agree with them, but only to a certain extent. Maybe Lush need more moisturising properties in their soaps? Maybe they can make a whole soap range dedicated to the people who skin feels taut after using them *I'm kidding... I think*.

It's because of this that I can't really tell you whether Outback Mate is moisturising or not.

I can say this though: whilst I was using it in both the shower and on just my hands, I noticed that the smell of the soap lingered on my skin for a good half an hour which was amazing because the smell of this soap is just gorgeous.

The other thing that I also noticed was that Outback Mate didn't lather up as well as I thought it would do. It still produces a soft blue foam that you can wash your body with, but normally I don't have to stand there for a good few minutes working the soap up before I use it.

Maybe it's because I'm using the 100g as a whole? I've seen people cut their soaps into small 25/30g chunks and claim that it works better that way, I will have to give that a go and once I have, I will update this post to let you know what happens.

Even though the soaps from Lush leave my skin feeling taut, there's something about the range as a whole that just makes me keep coming back for more. I love the smells of the soaps and Outback Mate has such a bloody brilliant smell that I just want to finish my 100g bar so I can buy a 250g and I'll have even more mintiness to revel in.

Description on Lush:

Get clean down under with this zingy blend of eucalyptus, lemongrass and peppermint. Wake up with a smile on your face, or put one there with tingly peppermint, and lemongrass to uplift. Eucalyptus clears and cheers in this refreshing soap that's perfect to wash away the blues.

Ingredients:

Eucalyptus Infusion, Glycerine, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Sorbitol, Water (Aqua), Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Perfume, Eucalyptus Oil, Sodium Stearate, Lemongrass Oil, Peppermint Oil, Sodium Chloride, Titanium Dioxide, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Citral, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Limonene, Soft Blue Glimmer Lustre, Colour 42090

PricE:

£3.50/100g
£8.75/250g
£17.50/500g

Vegan:

Yes

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

Karma Kream Hand And Body Lotion

With it's creamy consistency and it's stunning aroma, this is a hand and body lotion that both new and old fans of Lush are going to love and that fans of the Karma family are going to treasure.

I wouldn't say I'm the number one fan of the Karma scent, but I definitely appreciate how good it smells and so when I had some spare money left over from my purchases from the Lush Kitchen, I decided to buy this lotion and give it a try.

If you have never used a Karma product before, I would describe the smell as earthy, sweet and citrusy all in one. It may sound disgusting that all three of these scents have been mixed together, but it wouldn't be one of Lush's most sought after scents for no reason; and that's because the earthy aroma is very much in the background of the scent family. 

The earthy element of Karma comes from the patchouli oil, lavenden oil and pine oil, the sweet smell is created by tincture of benzoin, orange flower water and the sweet orange oil and the citrus scent comes from lemongrass oil and elemi oil.

The most dominating smells are those of the sweet and citrus elements. 

After applying this lotion after I had stepped out of the shower and towelled myself dry, I noticed that the consistency of the cream was quite thick and gloopy but this didn't stop it from being one of those lotions where it's thick and therefore you have to use loads of it. I have found that with quite a lot of the products from Lush, it doesn't matter whether their creams have a thick or thin consistency, their creams absorb beautifully into the skin.

It's very similar to Tropical Jungle body lotion in the sense that if you a little bit too much then your skin will end up feeling greasy for a while after first applying it. Lush states that you can use Karma Kream in generous amounts but I recommend that you don't unless you want a greasy body.

I only applied a little amount to each area of my body so my skin didn't feel greasy at all. My body felt moisturised and silky smooth due to the almond oil and the cocoa butter that has been jam-packed into this fabulous lotion.

On other days, I also tested Karma Kream out as just a hand lotion and it worked just as well as it did with as a body lotion. My hands felt moisturised for hours and hours and didn't feel greasy at all as long as I didn't use too much of it. 

The longevity of the cream is also impressive. The smell lasted for a good couple hours on my skin and I loved walking around my house smelling of Karma and I also combined the lotion with spritzing my body with the Karma perfume which was gorgeous. The moisturising properties of the lotion were also very very good. I woke up the next morning (I came out of the shower about 8pm the previous night) and my body still felt smooth. Karma Kream hand and body lotion probably has the longest longevity of moisturising out of all the other lotions that Lush release.

This is probably one of my favourite creams from Lush and I will definitely be purchasing some more once I have finished my 225g tub.

Description on Lush:

A gentle hand and body cream to nourish skin and perfume it with orange, patchouli and pine for a scent that lasts all day. It's loaded with almond oil, cocoa butter and glycerine to leave skin suppled and positively glowing, while orange, pine and patchouli give an exotic air.

Ingredients:

Water (Aqua), Orange Flower Water, Almond Oil, Glycerine, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Stearic Acid, Triethanolamine, Patchouli Oil, Sweet Orange Oil, Lavendin Oil, Pine Oil, Lemongrass Oil, Elemi Oil, Tincture of Benzoin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cinnamal, Citral, Geraniol, Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume, Methylparaben, Propylparaben

PricE:

£6.95/100g

£13.95/225g

Vegan:

Yes

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty

Helping Hands Hand Cream

Whilst I was at university, I had to wash up. A lot. My hands used to get so dry and my skin used to peel. I started using Sympathy for the Skin at first and it was the only Lush hand cream that I owned. I then went into the Lush by my university and I saw that they sold this product: Helping Hands: a hand cream to use when "your hands spend too much time in the sink."

I bought it immediately. I started applying Helping Hands as soon as my hands were dry after washing up and it would help my skin feel moisturised again. And it worked very very well for those 'washing-up' hands. It would be the first thing I would do after washing up. Sometimes, I would even take it into my kitchen with me so that it was on hand after I had washed up.

I finished living at university a month ago and I still own the same cream as I did last year so it definitely lasts a long time.

Now that I'm not at uni, I don't really do that much washing up *sorry mom, sorry dad* but I do work in retail and when the shelves/rails are dusty, it really affects my hands and causes them to dry out very quickly.

So I started using Helping Hands again to see if it would help with having dusty hands *ew*. I apply some before I go to work and by the time and my hands are fine, but when I have applied the lotion after I have finished work and my hand are incredibly dry, I had to keep applying the cream about every 20 minutes. For those 20 minutes, the cream did however make my hands feel smooth and it did feel like it had absorbed well. It just didn't last long. This cream does work slightly better though for when after you've washed up. Not much better though.

Helping Hands has a woody, grassy scent which is made up of linseed mucilage and a floral scent which is made up from lavender oil, African marigold oil and alkanet extract. Even though the ingredients suggest that this cream will have a floral aroma, I found that it was more grassy than floral. The smell isn't strong either, which I like when it comes to hand creams. The smell is very slight and you only get a whiff of it when you're applying it.

Almond oil, shea butter and cocoa butter are jam-packed into Helping Hands to give it it's moisturising properties but with three moisturising ingredients in the product, I thought it would have lasted longer than 20 minutes.

This hand lotion is thicker than most hand creams from Lush. It's definitely a lot thicker than Sympathy for the Skin and it's slightly thicker than the Charity Pot. For Lush, it doesn't matter whether the cream has a thin or a thick consistency, you don't really need much for it to work. But with Helping Hands, I needed to put slightly more on that I would have liked for my hands to feel soft and then there's that 20 minutes problem...

Even though I thought it would have a floral smell, I still love the aroma that Helping Hands gives off and I guess you could say that the smell does last for a while as I had to keep reapplying it and I love how moisturising it is at first. But for me, that's the thing that let's this cream down. If it kept my hands moisturised for longer, then this would be in my top five for hand creams, but it doesn't and that's why I will always pick other Lush hand lotions over this one.

If you suffer from very dry skin from washing up or even eczema then this cream will work brilliantly for you, it will work absolute wonders, it did for me. But if you're using it as a general, every-day hand cream where your hands are only slightly dry, then I don't recommend it.

Description on Lush:

Originally created with nurses in mind as well as all those with cracked and sore hands. Honey is a natural antiseptic and , together with lavender and African marigold essential oils, brings relief. An infusion of gentle chamomile helps to reduce redness, while linseed mucilage softens rough hands and helps to minimise cracking. Almond oil, shea butter and cocoa butter are what makes this cream so moisturising, all bound in a loose emulsion that ensures it sinks in.

Ingredients:

Chamomile Water, Linseed Mucilage, Almond Oil, Glycerine, Stearic Acid, Fair Trade Shea Butter, Cetearyl Alcohol, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Triethanolamine, Honey, Lavender Oil, African Marigold Oil, Perfume, Alkanet Extract, Limonene, Linalool, Methylparaben, Propylparaben

Ingredients:

£7.95/100g

Vegan:

No

Rating:

xoxo

Kirsty