Tag: bath

A Halloween Lush Collection

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You just can’t beat a seasonal Lush collection, and they’ve really gone for it on Halloween this year. There are little ghost jelly bombs, black lip scrubs and gift collections covered in cat faces. It was just enough to distract me from the fact that the Christmas collection is already in… I didn’t go too crazy as all bath bomb related bank balance damage needs to be reserved for Christmas, but here is what I did pick up…

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*Sparkly Pumpkin: It’s a classic. It’s also covered in glitter – but that’s part of the fun with Lush, right? It’s the bubble bar everyone expects in the Halloween collection – with juniperberry oil which is great for your skin, and lime oil and grapefruit oil, which are both very uplifting and I can never say no to a fruity scent. This year they’ve brought it out in pink is as well – though I’m a traditionalist so stuck with the classic.

*Bewitched: This black cat bubble bar will, I suspect, leave the bath water a very alarming black colour – but surely that’s acceptable at Halloween. It smells overwhelmingly of blackberry and includes woody olibanum oil and bergamot oil. The soft, big bubbles and spicy scent will be worth the black water…

*Monsters’ Ball: Now for the bath bombs, this one is enormous. I’m not quite sure of the obsession with pink for the Halloween collection (I guess it’s better than black), but this is a cute little Cyclops. It has lots of the same oils as the bubble bars, so would go really well with both. The olibanum oil in particular is meant to be very relaxing – even if you are left with one eye staring at you as the bath bomb fizzes away…!

*Pumpkin: Finally, how could I say no to a pumpkin bath bomb? This is essentially like bathing in pumpkin pie. With the sweet vanilla absolute and spicy cinnamon bark oil, it smells exactly like home baking and all things sweet and spicy. Maybe a bit sickly for some, but it’s not too strong or overwhelming. Ideal for a chilly, Halloween night.

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A Lushie Easter Collection

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Nothing can beat a seasonal Lush collection. Of course the Christmas one reigns supreme, but while we await that time of year a little spring collection is more than enough to lure me in. Spring may have sprung (just) but the evenings are still chilly enough to warrant an OTT bubble bath. Here’s the damage from my latest visit…

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*Bunch of Carrots: My absolute favourite – so cute and colourful! These are three reusable bubble bars to be used as long as you can make them last. The Sicilian lemon oil and bergamot oil make them wonderfully citrusy and uplifting, perfect for springtime.

*Big Bang: This bubble bar is another a citrus number, with tangerine oil that supposedly tones your skin as you bathe. It also has avocado butter to soften and hydrate, so no need for moisturiser after using this one.

*Pop in the Bath: This super cute bubble bar is described as the lemon drizzle scented piece of bathing confectionery. Again, it’s citrusy (there’s a theme here) but with a slight floral edge from the orange flower absolute.

*Mangnificent:  This soap is fruity tropical cocktail heaven. It has fresh pureed mango and dried mango slices to gently exfoliate the skin as well as all kinds of citrus oils to wake you up in the morning.

*Happy Hippy shower gel: This grapefruit wash is one of their bestsellers, and again supposed to snap you into action with its citrus “wake up” scents.

*Golden Egg: Could you ever do a Lush collection without glitter? This is Easter’s sample of the stuff, in a cute, toffee-scented egg which leaves your bath water looking like molten gold. It’s also packed full of cocoa butter and olive oil to leave your skin super soft.

*Which Came First?: This is one of their monster-sized bath bombs. You can crack it open to reveal a chick and enjoy three baths out of it. The vanilla makes this one just sweet enough,  but not overpowering.

*Humpy Dumpty: The second enormous bath bomb. This one you do just chuck in, and Humpty Dumpty’s outer shell will disappear to reveal a fried egg. This one is also really refreshing with Brazilian orange oil and bergamot oil.

A Few Favourites: December

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Oh December, how I love thee. This month has been filled with mad shopping dashes, endless present wrapping, cosy film nights and countryside walks. And it has gone by all too quickly!

This year, we spent Christmas at home. For the last two years we have dashed off to Switzerland for a family Christmas, so to enjoy the festivities in Kent was a real, relaxing treat. It is strange to think that this time last year I was on the slopes (can it really be a whole year?!) and we’re having many a wistful conversation about going back. We will. At some point.

But until then, there’s plenty to do. Before December finishes we have Stars Wars to watch, plenty of leftovers to eat (it’s turkey sandwiches for the foreseeable) and 2016 to ring in.

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*Bluebird Tea Co.: December is the time for hot drinks, and this month I discovered the Bluebird Tea Co. They do the most amazing tea blends which are all so fun and inventive, but it was their Christmas collection that really pulled me in. I found Mulled Wine and Snowball in my stocking on Christmas morning (thanks Santa!), and my personal favourite is the Gingerbread Chai. They ship worldwide, so be sure to check them out!

*Christmas films: One conversation with my sister led to the discovery that she had seen pitifully few Christmas films, so I was soon on Amazon ordering the best ones. We’ve had many a cosy film night, but the highlights have to be The Holiday and Love Actually – it wouldn’t be Christmas without them! Aside from the festive offerings, we’ve also had a bit of a Richard Curtis/Hugh Grant extravaganza with Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and the Bridget Jones films. It’s been amazing.

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*Lush The Magic of Christmas: I’ve had many a Lush Christmas bath this month, but their reusable bubble bar, The Magic of Christmas, has been my favourite from the lot. Not only does it look adorable on a cinnamon stick, covered in glitter and complete with a bell, but it smells amazing. It also worked so well with some of their other bath bombs to create Lushie bath cocktails!

*Festive beauty bits: This month I seem to have fallen back in love with make up. I’ve been particuarly enjoying the Maybelline Lash Sensational mascara, which is as sensational as everyone says it is. I haven’t been parted from bareMinerals The Soundtrack eye palette, which is perfect for shimmery, festive looks and I finally got round to using OPI Red Fingers and Mistletoe, which is an amazing deep, shimmery red. I’m probably going to have to drag the festive make up into January, as I’ll just miss it too much otherwise!

*Big city life: I think there is no better time to see a city than at Christmas, and I’ve been lucky enough to be in London and Paris this month. In London we rode Boris Bikes around Hyde Park, ate festive food in many a restaurant, did yoga in the sky and went out for celebratory cocktails. In Paris we dashed around all the landmarks, perused the Christmas markets, drank coffee by the river and admired the Christmas lights. It’s been a great month!

A Lush Christmas

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There are some things that are pretty good year round, but really come into their own at Christmas. Like Starbucks (with their red cups and flavoured lattes) and Michael Bublé (with that Christmas album), Lush is one of those things.

For someone who isn’t completely obsessed with baths, I’ve bought quite an embarrassing amount of Lush goodies over the past couple of weeks. Everything is just so glittery and smells delicious, how could I resist?! So today I’m going to chat you through everything for some inspiration on the perfect, festive bath…

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Moving across the picture left to right… 

*So White: This apple scented bath bomb smells Christmassy, but not in the typical way. It has a slow melting, rosy centre which will turn your bath snow white with pretty flecks of pink.

*Butterbear: Before they’ve had loads of cute bath bombs (think penguins and snowmen!) but this is one of the only ones this year. A Lush classic, it’s vanilla scented and super creamy with cocoa butter that will leave your skin feeling really soft.

*Peeping Santa: This one looks super cute, and the shea and cocoa butter will make for an amazing, creamy bath, but I don’t think it’s strawberry scent really has a place in the Christmas collection… Just me?

*Holly Golightly: This is the most eye catching of them all, with the almost ridiculous layer of silver glitter (but who doesn’t love a bit of glitter at Christmas?) It has spicy cinnamon leaf and patchouli essential oils to make you feel like you are bathing in hot toddy.

*Dashing Santa: He smells like the satsumas that lurk at the bottom of your stocking on Christmas morning, and his golden boots fizz away first which make him “dash” around your bath – cute!

*Yog Nog: This one is super sweet, leaving your whole bathroom smelling like a biscuit tin. The shea butter makes your bath really creamy, and the outside leaves the water an amazing golden colour.

*Cinders: Another Lush Christmas classic, this is meant to create the warming sense of a hot fruit punch. It also has popping candy, and the sweet orange oil makes it really uplifting (this is one of my favs!)

*Luxury Lush Pud: This one is meant to be soothing enough to put you to sleep on Christmas Eve. It creates amazing, colourful foam and smells of lavender, but not overwhelmingly so.

*The Magic of Christmas: This reusable bubble bar is the one I am most excited for! Complete with a bell, it has cinnamon leaf and clove to get your circulation going, while smelling entirely of Christmas.

If only baths could be this exicting all year round… Happy bathing!

Lush Picks

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Lush is my latest obsession. Previously I thought it was over-rated and over-priced. Now I’ve done the full 180 and just can’t get enough.

Now that autumn is here and winter is coming, baths really come into their own. What better way to relax as it’s getting chilly outside than sinking down into a warm bath filled with bubbles? Light some candles, grab a book or magazine or prop up your laptop to watch something… It just can’t get any better, right?

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Lush is expensive, there is no denying. Especially when you start thinking about cost per bath. However, I have come to love (and justify) it through a few very specific reasons. First, I don’t have a bath every single day but usually more as a weekend treat. When you’re only having one or two a week, it isn’t the biggest expense. They are also just so much more fun than ordinary bubbles, and the variety always makes choosing what to have exciting (sad, I know). Lastly, if you choose correctly, they make your skin feel amazing. The best ones leave it feeling soft, smooth and smelling delicious. All of the products are also handmade, cruelty free and come with eco-friendly packaging, so you’re doing your bit to save the world!

Here I’m going to talk about the latest products I picked up to give you some inspiration the next time you walk past one of their shops. Let the glitter commence…

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Yuzu and Cocoa Bubbleroon: First up is one of my absolute favourites, the Yuzu and Cocoa Bubbleroon. This is one that you crumble into the bath to create big bubbles while turning the water a yellow colour (not the most appealing but I can look past that). You could easily break it in half by taking the ‘macaroon’ top off, but I just chucked the whole thing in as I don’t think you’d get enough bubbles with just half.

The scent was what drew me to it. I love citrus scents, and it has a blend of citrus oils in it so it smells wonderfully fruity, but with cocoa absolute it has a chocolatey undertone. It has cocoa butter and shea butter in it so it leaves your skin feeling so soft I  just couldn’t get over it! Paired with the citrus scent this is without doubt one of my all time favourites.

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Frozen Bath Bomb: Do you want to have a bath bomb? Do you want to splash and play..? This is one that I had been eyeing up for a while before I bought it. It just looked so exciting, big, blue and glittery! Unfortunately, this turned out to not be one of my favs.

Before I start, I will just throw out there that this has a very fresh scent, and I much prefer fruity sweet offerings. So I think it’s me rather than the bath bomb… It has a mix of grapefruit, rose and neroli oil in it, creating the fresh scent. As you can see from the pictures, it does make your bath look amazing as the bath bomb fizzes away, but one of the things that I didn’t like about it was that it just didn’t last. By the time I’d faffed around, got my book, taken my make up off etc etc and finally got into the bath, the swirls of bright blue and white and its bubbly, glittery mixture had pretty much disappeared. It did leave bright blue glittery water, but I would have preferred for the effects to last longer.

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The scent also isn’t very strong. My skin didn’t smell of it afterwards and I couldn’t even really smell it while I was in the bath. Again, I can see how some people may enjoy something slightly more subtle, but I feel that when you are paying the money of a Lush bath bomb it should have more impact. So I probably won’t buy this one again, but that’s not to say that you may not enjoy it…

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Brightside Bubble Bar: This one is another of my favourites and I’ve repurchased it which speaks for itself. It is one of Lush’s pricier offerings at £4.95 but you get two decent baths out of it. The Bubble Bars are very similar to the Bubbleroons in that they create nice big bubbles while colouring the water, have strong scents and usually leave your skin feeling soft.

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This is another citrusy one which perhaps explains why I love it so much. This one has mandarin, bergamot and tangerine essential oils in it, so it has an amazing, orange scent. As you can see, it also looks beautiful and creates amazing big bubbles. This bubble bar leaves your skin feeling so soft and the scent really lingers on your skin afterwards (but not in a way that just makes you smell like a walking orange).

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Even though it does seem like quite an extravagance compared to some of the other bath bombs, I would highly highly recommend trying out this Bubble Bar or one of the others if you prefer a different scent (the Comforter is another really popular one, which smells of blackcurrant). One tip I have for the Bubble Bars.. Lush tell you to crumble them under running water. I’ve found that simply holding them under the water and letting the water break it up actually makes more bubbles. It takes longer but is definitely worth it.

Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bar: Last of all is the Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bar, undoubtedly one of their cutest concoctions! This is limited edition for Halloween so unfortunately you can’t get it any more, but they currently have the Holly Golightly bubble bar in for Christmas (which looks like a silver, sparkly Christmas pud) and that’s a similar idea.

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This Bubble Bar is very, very glittery. I think that is the unanimous first impression that everyone has of it, and I actually haven’t tried this one yet! It smells delicious with a blend of juniperberry, grapefruit and lime oils and it has a little cinnamon stick on top. I imagine that it will be very similar to the other Bubble Bars in the amount of bubbles it creates (meaning that it can only really be used for one bath). I’m slightly nervous about the glitter situation, as I don’t want to come out looking like a glitterball. The Frozen Bath Bomb actually left lots of glitter on me, but that had disappeared by the morning – so I hope this will be the same!

I’m now starting to get excited about Lush’s Christmas collection and I’m sure some of the bubble bars and bath bombs will feature on the blog soon! What’s your favourite thing from Lush?