Want To Believe Bath Melt

Back when I would spend my entire monthly salary on eBay 'bargains', I never filtered what I would and would not invest in. Therefore, I found myself quite quickly building up a collection of, what I can only describe as relics: products that were clearly passed their best, but still excited me enough that I wanted them in my life.

One of those less than perfect items was the interesting-looking Want To Believe Bath Melt - which isn't the most attractive product to begin with, so you can only imagine what they would look like 3-4 years past their best before. To say that they were a royal flop in the bath is an understatement. Having said that, I actually quite enjoyed the unique idea behind the bath melt, and was a little disappointed when I couldn't give it any more than an embarrassing one-bottle rating.

When Lush released them in the Kitchen in late 2016, I was really excited to finally discover how a fresh one would function in the bath, and how the fragrance would fare on the skin. Having already had a lot of positive experiences with products that feature charcoal, I was expecting quite a lot from this item, and I can honestly say that I was impressed with the outcome.  

Taken from the idea of naughty children getting coal in their Christmas stockings, this bath melt is for those who haven't quite made Santa's 'nice' list this year. Packed with an array of ingredients to soften and replenish the skin, this seasonal treat is a gift that keeps on giving.

Firstly, the inclusion of charcoal makes this far more effective than most of the other Lush bath melts that I have tried before. Not only is charcoal known for drawing out toxins and bacteria from the skin, it is also great at balancing out oily skin and leaving it looking radiant without any excess grease. Although I have dry skin, I did notice that my complexion looked and felt far more radiant within a short while of being in the bath. In fact, my face felt noticeably smoother and more radiant for a good 24 hours after I had used one of these. 

Alongside the charcoal is fennel oil, which is not only one of the key components in the overall smell, but also uses its antiseptic properties in the water to calm and clean the skin while you're bathing. Furthermore, the soya milk softens the water and offers a creamy respite in the tub, while the cocoa butter and starflower oil, which evidently is known for its anti-aging properties, only adds to the experience, and ultimately makes this a feast for the skin.    

Described as having a liquorice scent, Want To Believe offers quite a dry, aniseed-like smell. Yes there is the fennel element present, and you get a slight sweetness from the starflower oil. However, the charcoal does play a part at grounding the scent - which is rather gentle to begin with, need I say, and giving it an almost powdery fragrance. In addition, the inclusion of the granulated sugar adds a gentle syrup-like note to the bath melt, which is lovely.

Despite the black attire, this bath melt is a real softy at heart, and I was thrilled to see how much of an impression it made in the water. Within a matter of seconds, the bath melt was dissolving across the tub - sending out both swirls of creamy white foam and glistening flecks of black and silver lustre. It certainly wasn't the most interesting of experiences to watch, but it was something very different, and I appreciated that.

While I used the whole melt in a single bath, this would easily last across two or three, if you wanted to stretch your money a little further. Given how silky-smooth the water was after using an entire one, I can safely say that you'll definitely get the full-body moisturising session you're craving, using only half of this. In fact, if you don't enjoy baths that are too nourishing and silky, you may wish to segment this bad boy to prevent disappointment. 

Although no one wants a piece of coal in their Christmas stocking, I would happy to have a handful of these in mine. Despite being very different from the usual fruity bath oils/melts that Lush pride themselves on, I really appreciated how well this worked in the water. It may not have a fragrance that will bowl you over, but it does have enough butters to leave your winter-kissed skin soft and ready to face the day ahead.

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, PEG–6 Caprylic / Capric Glycerides & PEG-60 Almond Glycerides, White Granulated Sugar, Perfume, Cold Pressed Organic Starflower Oil, Powdered Charcoal, Fennel Oil, Soya Milk, *Limonene, Silver Glimmer Lustre.

Vegan?: Yes.

2017 Price: £5.75 each.

Year Of Original Release: ?

Coming soon!

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Santa's Christmas Naked Shower Cream

While I love whenever Lush bring out a new product, this year's seasonal range has given me a whole of work to do - given that nearly every liquid product has been released as a solid edition as well. Although the reason behind this move is one that I support wholeheartedly, I cannot imagine my flat mates will be best pleased that I currently take twice as long in the shower, just so I can demo both versions at the same time. 

Santa's Christmas is one of the first Solid Shower Creams that I ever experienced, so I had no idea what to expect from the bottle-shaped, soap-look-a-like that joined me in the shower one early September morning. While a part of me was excited at the prospect of a solid shower cream, I held slight reservations that it was going to be little more than a soap under a different guise. How wrong could I be?

Firstly, I need to make it clear that not one of Lush's solid shower gels/creams can be compared to a bar of soap. Whereas soaps dry my skin out and leave my hands with a distinctive parched feel about them afterwards, not one of these limited editions has that effect. These exclusives are a different ball game altogether, and it only took me a matter of seconds to realise this in the shower.

Despite my intrigue into how the product worked, I was slightly less enthused by the fragrance of Santa's Christmas. At the risk of repeating myself, I should state that the scent of this product is not in anyway bad at all. However, it's a smell that I would describe as being both nice or pleasant: two adjectives that doesn't exactly inspire the fireworks to ignite. 

A new addition to the company's growing collection of Shower creams, Santa's Christmas is a sweet and creamy fruity concoction of ingredients - as warming as the vibrant shade of red that both the solid and its liquid counterpart sport. While neither editions will stain you or your bathroom, I would recommend that you play it safe with any splashes that may occur during your shower.

With as many ingredients as the liquid version, you would expect the solid cream to offer a strong, complex aroma to contend with. However, I found that the fragrance was disappointingly mild overall, and many of the ingredients didn't make an appearance at all. Featuring cinnamon, black pepper, aniseed and lime oils, as well as fresh orange juice, a coffee infusion and benzin resinoid, Santa's Christmas sounds like a powerhouse of ingredients. Having said that, it is only really the lime, orange and benzin resinoid.

While each of these don't impact the scent of this very much, they each have an important role that helps to make this seasonal special both moisturising and slightly clarifying on the skin as well. From the bottle, you can first smell the lime, orange and benzin resinoid. As many have said before me, this shower gel smells like slightly flat vanilla cola: it's both creamy and fruity, and it's perhaps slightly surprising that there isn't any tonka or vanilla absolute present in the ingredients list, to suggest the sweetness.

There is a very subtle shout out to the cinnamon infusion, but I feel as if it's only really noticeable because you're aware that it features in the ingredients list to begin with. I couldn't detect either the aniseed oil or the coffee infusion at all. Having said that, my skin did feel crisp and refreshed after using this, and I believe it is the latter ingredient that helps to clarify the skin and bring out that radiance and that vibrancy. 

Unlike other shower creams, this one is quite possibly the most difficult to extract from the bottle. It is almost as thick as one of Lush's buttercreams, and so when trying to remove it from the bottle it took a lot of effort to do so. Frustrated by this, I ended up removing the black lid altogether and squeezing it out through the neck of the bottle itself. 

As I was expecting, it wasn't particularly generous when lathering up, and I found that I had to use more than a regular gel to clean my whole body. Furthermore, the cream did have a red tinge to it that worried me a little to begin with, as I was expecting to find splashes of colour on my skin after I had rinsed the lather away. Luckily, there was no staining afterwards, although I did find that my sponge was slightly tarnished by the colour.

Having said that, Santa's Christmas did prove to be just as moisturising as you'd expect a shower cream to be, and this makes it a great winter product to help keep the skin in tip-top condition in the harsher conditions. In

When in comparison with the solid edition, I found that this version had a better fragrance - in that the fruitiness and the vanilla-like notes were more pronounced and more noticeable. In the shower, this version offered a stronger smell overall and I could still detect this on my skin over an hour after I had towelled myself down. 

Both editions were equally moisturising and I was impressed by how soft and smooth my skin felt after using each of them. However, I found that the solid edition was easier to use as it produced more of a foam-like lather, so I was able to use less overall and make the product last longer than the bottled version.

Overall, I'll be honest and say that I would have probably rated this shower cream higher if the scent had impressed me more than it did. Don't get me wrong, it is a lovely smell, but not one with the complexity of originality that I would expect from a Lush fragrance. Having said this, I can envisage that this will be very popular product this Christmas, and it wouldn't surprise me if it made an appearance next year as well.

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Cinnamon Infusion, Coffee Infusion, Sodium Stearate, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Almond Oil, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Lime Oil, Aniseed Oil, Black Pepper Oil, Benzoin Resinoid, Fresh Lime Juice, Fresh Orange Juice, Titanium Dioxide, *Citral, *Limonene, Colour 16035, Colour 73360, Black Specerit Wax.

Vegan?: Yes.

2017 Price: £10.75 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2017.

Scent Family:
Santa Baby Lip Tint
Santa Baby Naked Lip Tint
Santa's Christmas Naked Shower Cream

Santa's Christmas Shower Cream

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Santa's Christmas Shower Cream

Lush is about as unpredictable as you can possibly get when it comes to their releases. Products that seem incredibly popular suddenly find themselves being discontinued to the shock of the masses; scents that create an instant buzz seem to fade into the distance, never to be seen or heard from again; fragrances that are rarely spoken about within the community, are suddenly made the focal point of a seasonal release.

I cannot imagine that there would be many people who ever envisaged Santa Baby being made into a Shower Cream, let alone one that would be so prominent in this year's Christmas range. While not in anyway bad, the fragrance is not exactly one that inspires a strong reaction from most people, myself included, and Lush must have had some reason for including it in their collection this year. 

Santa's Christmas is a new addition to the company's ever-growing collection of Shower creams - a sweet and creamy fruity concoction of ingredients that is as impressive as the vibrant shade of red that it offers in the bottle. Featuring both a coffee and a cinnamon infusion; lime, black pepper and aniseed oils, you would expect the scent of this to be very different from the one that greets you from the bottle. 

With so many different components, you would expect a strong, complex aroma to contend with. However, I found that this shower cream was far milder in fragrance than I was expecting, which is perhaps why it hasn't made as much of an impact on my senses as some of the more 'in your face' products.

From the bottle, the initial smell, that both myself and the majority of people who I've spoke to about agree on, is one reminiscent of flat vanilla cola. There is a soft bed of creaminess that makes its presence known straight away - one laced with both lime and vanilla, with a delicate layer of cinnamon underneath to  add a little subtle seasonal spice.

Surprisingly, you will notice that there doesn't appear to be any vanilla in the ingredients list. However, the inclusion of the cocoa butter not only makes this shower cream rather moisturising on the skin, but it also offers a comforting blanket of sweetness that governs the aroma without a doubt. 

Strangely, I wasn't able to detect much of the coffee or the aniseed in the smell, although I would imagine that they do contribute to the overall 'roundedness' of the shower cream. Having said that, I did find that this product did well at cleaning my skin and leaving it feeling really smooth to the touch, and I wonder if both of these ingredients helped to give my skin some much needed clarity, that I did notice I could feel afterwards.

When compared to the naked version of this shower gel, I found that Santa's Christmas was quite hard to lather up, whereas the solid edition did produce some of a standard-looking lather. In regards to this version, I found myself using more than I would with a shower gel, just to ensure that I had enough to clean myself with.

Furthermore, I found it quite ironic, given the fact that Lush have brought out a solid version of this, as Santa's Christmas was perhaps the thickest shower cream I have used from the company to date. You really have to squeeze the bottle hard to get the product out, and it comes out as a thick paste, almost sharing its consistency with that of wasabi.

Despite this, I found that the scent of this version was much stronger and I was able to detect it longer on my skin. Furthermore, there is something rather enjoyable about using a shower cream that temporarily turns your skin the colour red because of how potent the colour is.

This is by far one of my least favourite seasonal shower creams to date, but only because the likes of Yummy Mummy and Prince Charming have set the bar so high in comparison. I will enjoy using my 250g bottle for the foreseeable future, but I don't see this as being one I would want to purchase again, or stock up on before the Christmas season is over.

Quantitative Ingredients: Glycerine, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Water (Aqua), Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Almond Oil, Stearic Acid, Coffee Infusion, Cinnamon Infusion, Cetearyl Alcohol, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Triethanolamine, Lime Oil, Aniseed Oil, Black Pepper Oil, Benzoin Resinoid, Fresh Lime Juice, Fresh Orange Juice, Titanium Dioxide, *Citral, *Limonene, Colour 16035, Colour 73360.

Vegan?: Yes.

2017 Price: £10.95 for 250g, £17.95 for 500g.

Year Of Original Release: 2017.

Scent Family:
Santa Baby Lip Tint
Santa Baby Naked Lip Tint
Santa's Christmas Naked Shower Cream


Santa's Christmas Shower Cream

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Reindeer And Robin FUN Bar

Fun is always a product that I forget to use - what with the extortionate number of shower gels and jellies that I currently own. Aside from any seasonal releases and limited editions, I never feel the need to add a bar to my basket when I'm picking up my regular products or simply browsing a store. Yet it's one that I rekindle my love for whenever I remember to take one into the bathroom with me. 

Designed to be both affordable and fun, these bars are as versatile and as effective as they are great value for money, and are the perfect stocking filler for fans old and new. For children, they offer a great incentive to have a bath, where they can get creative and make the experience a little more interesting for themselves; for adults, we can reap all of the benefits of this multi-use item while also satisfying that inner child at the same time.

Reindeer And Robin FUN is one of three new limited edition versions to make an appearance this season, and is perhaps one of my all-time favourite FUN variations over all. Sporting a brown, red, white and yellow design; a set of paper antlers and some dairy free chocolate buttons for decoration, this bar is all set for you to make your very own array of Christmas animals. 

While it may be the least visually beautiful out of the three seasonal FUN bars (who really wants to wash themselves with a brown soap?), you only have to peel back the wrapper to reveal a fragrance so delicious, that you'd be hard-pressed not to want to eat it.

Containing both lime oil and pepper oil, this FUN bar is described as being cola-scented, and I have to say that this is exactly what my initial impression of it was when I tried it out for the first time. The lime oil is not as sharp or as citrusy as the likes of Calacas and Nightwing. Instead, it's a very warming, creamy fruity smell - a little like a lime-scented buttercream on top of a vanilla cupcake.

Alongside this, the black pepper adds a rounded, rather aromatic element to the FUN bar, that doesn't smell anything like the spicy condiment that you grind over your food, nor like the rich, peppery note that's found in anything Lord Of Misrule scented. Instead, it almost deepens the lime smell so that it's far more long-lasting when in use and slightly different to anything else that Lush have released with lime as the key ingredient. 

It reminds me of cola bottle candy, just without the fizzy element that is normally present because of the sugar. While it's definitely a very foody smell, and not one that I'd say is in any way complex, it is really delicious - one that children and adults with a sweet tooth will definitely enjoy. Furthermore, when a chocolate chip slips into the piece you're using, you get a rich, decadent note of chocolaty goodness to contend with as well. Yum!

As with all of Lush's versatile bars, this one can be used in a variety of different ways - crumbled under the running tap to aid a bubble bath, or massaged into the hair for an alternative to shampoo. The most popular choice is to break a small piece off and massage it across your skin, much like a solid shower gel. No matter how you choose to use this FUN bar, the same results are always heeded; your hair and skin will feel super soft and clean, and the wonderful fragrance will linger on your body for an hour or two after you've towelled yourself down. 

This particular bar produces creates either a rusty-red or brown lather (depending on what part of the bar you use) and smells really strong throughout the entire experience. At first, I was a little worried about staining as there were  quite a few splashes of brown across bath tub. However, I quickly discovered that these splodges wash off with ease. Having said that, I would recommend that you're careful when using this around anything that could stain, as I can imagine that if any of suds were to get onto clothing, it would cause a bit of a mess.   

What is really great about Reindeer And Robin is that I could still detect the delectable scent on my skin over an hour after I had towelled myself down, and this stayed with me as I settled down to sleep. While I may have gone to bed with my mouth salivating, I sure enjoyed waking up to the smell of sweet limes on my pillow. 

Overall, this is by no means a product that has changed my life, or indeed one that offers anything particularly ground-breaking. However, the smell is really beautiful and I will be buying a number of these before the seasonal products fly off the shelves for good.

Quantitative Ingredients: Cornflour, Talc, Glycerine, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Perfume, Persian Lime Oil, Aniseed Oil, Black Pepper Oil, Benzoin Resinoid, Gardenia Extract, *Citral, *Limonene, Bronze Splendour and Rosie Red Lustre, Colour 19140:1, Colour 19140, Colour 14700, Colour 17200, Dark Chocolate.

Vegan?: Yes.

2016 Price: £5.95 for 200g.

Year Of Original Release: 2016. 

   

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Reindeer And Robin FUN Bar

Fun is always a product that I forget to use - what with the extortionate number of shower gels and jellies that I currently own. Aside from any seasonal releases and limited editions, I never feel the need to add a bar to my basket when I'm picking up my regular products or simply browsing a store. Yet it's one that I rekindle my love for whenever I remember to take one into the bathroom with me. 

Designed to be both affordable and fun, these bars are as versatile and as effective as they are great value for money, and are the perfect stocking filler for fans old and new. For children, they offer a great incentive to have a bath, where they can get creative and make the experience a little more interesting for themselves; for adults, we can reap all of the benefits of this multi-use item while also satisfying that inner child at the same time.

Reindeer And Robin FUN is one of three new limited edition versions to make an appearance this season, and is perhaps one of my all-time favourite FUN variations over all. Sporting a brown, red, white and yellow design; a set of paper antlers and some dairy free chocolate buttons for decoration, this bar is all set for you to make your very own array of Christmas animals. 

While it may be the least visually beautiful out of the three seasonal FUN bars (who really wants to wash themselves with a brown soap?), you only have to peel back the wrapper to reveal a fragrance so delicious, that you'd be hard-pressed not to want to eat it.

Containing both lime oil and pepper oil, this FUN bar is described as being cola-scented, and I have to say that this is exactly what my initial impression of it was when I tried it out for the first time. The lime oil is not as sharp or as citrusy as the likes of Calacas and Nightwing. Instead, it's a very warming, creamy fruity smell - a little like a lime-scented buttercream on top of a vanilla cupcake.

Alongside this, the black pepper adds a rounded, rather aromatic element to the FUN bar, that doesn't smell anything like the spicy condiment that you grind over your food, nor like the rich, peppery note that's found in anything Lord Of Misrule scented. Instead, it almost deepens the lime smell so that it's far more long-lasting when in use and slightly different to anything else that Lush have released with lime as the key ingredient. 

It reminds me of cola bottle candy, just without the fizzy element that is normally present because of the sugar. While it's definitely a very foody smell, and not one that I'd say is in any way complex, it is really delicious - one that children and adults with a sweet tooth will definitely enjoy. Furthermore, when a chocolate chip slips into the piece you're using, you get a rich, decadent note of chocolaty goodness to contend with as well. Yum!

As with all of Lush's versatile bars, this one can be used in a variety of different ways - crumbled under the running tap to aid a bubble bath, or massaged into the hair for an alternative to shampoo. The most popular choice is to break a small piece off and massage it across your skin, much like a solid shower gel. No matter how you choose to use this FUN bar, the same results are always heeded; your hair and skin will feel super soft and clean, and the wonderful fragrance will linger on your body for an hour or two after you've towelled yourself down. 

This particular bar produces creates either a rusty-red or brown lather (depending on what part of the bar you use) and smells really strong throughout the entire experience. At first, I was a little worried about staining as there were  quite a few splashes of brown across bath tub. However, I quickly discovered that these splodges wash off with ease. Having said that, I would recommend that you're careful when using this around anything that could stain, as I can imagine that if any of suds were to get onto clothing, it would cause a bit of a mess.   

What is really great about Reindeer And Robin is that I could still detect the delectable scent on my skin over an hour after I had towelled myself down, and this stayed with me as I settled down to sleep. While I may have gone to bed with my mouth salivating, I sure enjoyed waking up to the smell of sweet limes on my pillow. 

Overall, this is by no means a product that has changed my life, or indeed one that offers anything particularly ground-breaking. However, the smell is really beautiful and I will be buying a number of these before the seasonal products fly off the shelves for good.

Quantitative Ingredients: Cornflour, Talc, Glycerine, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Perfume, Persian Lime Oil, Aniseed Oil, Black Pepper Oil, Benzoin Resinoid, Gardenia Extract, *Citral, *Limonene, Bronze Splendour and Rosie Red Lustre, Colour 19140:1, Colour 19140, Colour 14700, Colour 17200, Dark Chocolate.

Vegan?: Yes.

2016 Price: £5.95 for 200g.

Year Of Original Release: 2016. 

   

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