A few weeks ago I was invited to have a play with the new bits that Lush have got for Autumn Winter 2014. There is just so much new, seriously fun stuff, along with a few seasonal favourites, that I found it difficult to choose just one (or 2 or 10) favourites. And I seriously wish we had smell-o-vision already! You will just need to pop into a Lush store and decide for yourself.
Luxury Lush Pud bath bomb (€4.50) is a new take on an old favourite. Smells the same but looks much more festive: its gorgeous. Tonka, Ylan ylang and lavender make this lovely before bed.
Shooting Star bath bomb (4.50) smells the same as Honey I Washed The Kids soap and it looks a bit like a shooting star as it fizzes in the water. It leaves the water a soft blue after its finished fizzing... but it also has epic silver sparkle!
The solid soaps are great! The Fairy house toadstool is made with shitake mushrooms and skin conditioning Ingredients and apart from looking so cool as a whole (you only get a part unless you are feeling rich and buy the whole thing) it smells wonderfully woody.
Working from the small pic on the top in the middle and working clockwise : Snowcake soap (€4.50 per 100g) smells like marzipan. Rose Absolute and Cassie Absolute combine to leave skin soft and smelling yum.
Baked Alaska is a massive round white ball, until its cut open and the fresh citrus scent bursts forth and you see the amazing colours hidden inside. Perfect for waking you up in the morning the zingy Lemon Myrtle, Grapefruit and ylang ylang work together to enliven fresh-from-bed corpses.
Reindeer Rock Soap (€3.95 per 100g) is based on ancient Scandinavian rock carvings. This smells a bit like the comforter bubble bar, calming and comforting after rotten winter days.
Yog Nog is my favourite of the solid soaps though, (€4.50 for 100g), made from soya yoghurt, clove bud oil & ylang ylang, its finished with nutmeg and cocoa powder and it smells so fricking yummy. I will be investing in a big block of this for my bathroom to last me the whole winter because for me it is the perfect winter scent. I could sniff it ALL DAY. And Kelly (Big Fashionista) is a fan of this too.
The return of Magic Wand Bubble Bar (€6.75) made my daughter very happy, you can get about 5 or 6 really decent bubble-filled baths from this one wand and she adores the vanilla scent. And just below that is the Drummers Drumming bubble bar (€6.75) is positively yummy. It has bells on it. Bells. Perfect for kiddies.
Candy Mountain (€3.50) is super sweet and smells like Rock Star. Crumble about a quarter of the bar into running water and the whole house smells lush. and you have loads of bubbles.
The Christmas Hedgehog (€4.25) is just too cute to crumble, but when you do shea and cocoa butter soothe the skin and rose and ylang ylang take care of miserable-molly-moody-cow. And sets up the kids for bedtime nicely.
Holly Go Lightly (€5.95) turns the bath BRIGHT GREEN if you use the whole thing all at once. And the silver sparkle settles beautifully onto your skin and leaves you glistening. But in the interest of getting my moneys worth I would cut this into chunks and get 5 or 6 baths out of it.
The Bath Bombs are next up.
Butter Bear (€2.50) is Butter Ball re-invented. Personally I think he is smaller than the ball, but this is also reflected in the price. I do love how it makes my skin feel after a bath in its rich cocoa buttery goodness.
Father Christmas (€4.50) returns this year, he starts all red and then in a twist he goes green and that is the colour of the water! He smells like Snow Fairy.
Dashing Santa (€3.75) has gold feet which fizz faster than his body so it looks like he is running around the bath as he fizzes. Mandarin, Bergamot and Orange Flower uplift everything and just leave you refreshed.
Golden Wonder (€4.75) is back too, and the present inside is bigger this year... Again, I like to break this up and get a few yummy baths out of it.
Lush Bath Melts are some of my most favourite things: they smell absolutely DIVINE, and they are proper packed with good-quality skin-loving moisturising lushness that is great for my daughter. It means she gets a lovely fun bath without the need to rinse off the "fun stuff " and then put cream on. The melts let her have the bath and I don't need to make her stand like a star while I put body cream on. Once again, we get out moneys worth by chopping these up and getting at least 3 or 4 baths out of them:
Snow Angel (€4.95) is just so gorgeous. She doesn't just melt... she fizzes gently while releasing her fair-trade cocoa butter and Rose Absolute. And her glitter isn't glitter, No sir... its Lustre. And its just so freaking pretty.
Melting Snowman (€2.95) is back too this year, packed with cocoa butter and almond oil. He smells like a hot toddy this year with cinnamon leaf oil, clove leaf, lime oil and sweet orange oil chasing away winter shivers and warming you from the outside in.
Star Light Star Bright (€4.50) Le sigh... Cocoa butter, shea butter and coconut oil leave skin soft and supple, while ginger and lime oil pep up tired minds. While Snow Angel leaves you gold leafed, SLSB dusts its silver lustre all over your body while you soak in turquoise waters.
Snow Fairy Sparkle (€6.50) isn't strictly a bath melt, technically, its a body lotion with a lovely irridescent shimmer. It smells just like Snow Fairy shower gel, so it is the cult classic with a twist. You can use this as a bath melt though and enjoy the sweet snow fairy fragrance while getting the wonderful moisture boost from the mix of oils and butters. I am not overly fond of very sweet smells, but this will be a hit with the younger crowd and lovers of Snow Fairy.
Snowman FUN (€6.50) is the gift to get for frozen fans: you can make OLAF in your bath! FUN is fun, you can mould it into anything you like. It foams when you run it under the water: bubble bath. Its fun and gentle enough to use as shampoo for littlees, and the conditioning ingredients mean you don't need to do conditioner. Use it in the shower as a semi solid shower gel. And its mouldable: giving you 20 minutes of peace while the kids play in the bath and get clean while you sit by the door and take cool pictures of their intense concentration. This also comes in a gold version.
I spotted Snowman Jelly (€4.50) on the shelf... he wasn't even mentioned on the night, but I fell in love with him. He comes ready formed in a tub, you tip him out, rub him all over and then put him back in the tub till next time. Or tip him out of the tub, break a small bit off, tip the rest into the tub, lather the small bit and moosh it all over your self. He keeps his form, smells gorgeous (sicilian lemon oil, bergamot oil) and made from Carrageenan Powder (a seaweed extract) which is a great skin conditioner. Snowman Jelly is cool, he will last you aages just like Sweetie Pie.
And like all good brands, Lush have a Advent Calendar this year too. Its pricey, but not as pricey as others coming in at €64.95 for a mix of Xmas favorites. Or you could go in and make up your own box and get the fab folk who work at lush to pack and wrap it all for you.
This is my favourite Youtuber Kat with The Night Before Christmas gift set (€15.95)! This is my favourite seasonal story, so I will have to get the box, just because.
Seriously, the kids attacked me the morning after I got home from the event. Hannah grabbed the PR information and started pouring over the list of products marking the things she wants. Liam dove straight into the lovely presents that we were gifted and made it "Snow" with the new packing peanuts that are made from potato starch and are 100% bio-degradable. He also wanted to have a shower with all the Rose Jam Shower gel that smells like sweets. I had to direct his attention to getting ready for school and then I hid that sucker. I'll have a review up later in the week.
I'd love to get everything that I listed here, but damnit I have a budget to stick to. So I will get a few choice bits (the bubble wands and the Snowman FUN are already in my shopping cart) for the advent calendar that I do for them every year.
Is there anything that catches your fancy? Are you like me and just want everything? Or does lush just give you a headache?