Shattered Dreams

Oof, these busted bath and beauty items are giving me nuthin’ but shattered dreams (shattered dreams!) – unfortunate victims of a sudden drop and a short stop, both. 😦 And yes, I know being crushed all to bits impacts the functioning of this Luxury Lush Pud bath bomb and Unicorn Horn bubble bar not a whit, but for blogging purposes, I always prefer to have these things looking their finest.

But shattered or not, I can’t say really say my dreams with regard to these items were all that grand – I’ve been a bit off Lush as of late.  Or perhaps I was never actually “on” Lush to begin with – I’ve never really cottoned to their scent blends or company aesthetic. Then a string of expensive, dudderiffic bath bombs kind of sealed the deal on my whole informal Lush embargo, at least until I’ve used up the few items I already have in storage.

Which is where this Luxury Lush Pud and Unicorn Horn come in – might as well use up that which is busted all to crap, as no saying I know of goes.  Anyhow, my Pud wasn’t too badly damaged in its swan dive off the counter, so it performed nicely, throwing off first pastel – and then ultra vibrant – swirls of pink, turquoise and yellow bubbles.

And the Unicorn Horn, jaundiced devil that he is (there’s seriously so much yellow in that Horn), provided mounds of creamy, lavender-scented bubbles beneath which to sink.  A very relaxing and daintily-hued bath, broken bits or not.

Over and Over: A Mini Lush Review

So I dropped this Over and Over bath bomb into my tub the other day, and immediately began composing mildly snarky puns in my head about how over and over, Lush has been disappointing me with the longevity – or lack thereof – of their bath bombs.  Of the four or five I’ve tried so far this year, all have been ultra fast fizzers, petering away to nothing in well under a minute.  This bath bomb initially seemed to suffer from the completely opposite problem – after dropping it into my tub, it just kind of floated there, occasionally emitting a weak stream of pale yellow honeycomb bubbles.  For the next two minutes.  I seriously thought the thing was broken.  Or maybe that was just my back as I crouched over the tub with my camera (like a beauty blogging moron, guys!)

Then the orange shell covering the top half of the bath bomb melted away, and the Over and Over ballistic erupted into a cheery, frothy mess of hot pink and sunshine yellow bubbles.  For the next two minutes. Seriously, this bath bomb just kept going and going and going…it was the Energizer Bunny of bath products! Definitely enough to get me to eat my words on the subject of lasting power.  Don’t discount your bath bomb before it’s fizzed, and all that jazz.  It also made for some very, very pretty bath art.

Ah, but the smell…it was terrible!  Lush says lime and fennel, I say that closet at your grandparents’ house that smells like expired medicine, old Sears catalogs and unidentifiable cleaning products.  It was pretty nasty.  I actually climbed out of the tub and stepped straight beneath the shower in an attempt to wash off the ick. And given that the Over and Over bath bomb also stained the ever living crap out of the sides of my tub, necessitating a post-soak scrub-down of all ceramic surfaces – and all for the low, low price of $8.95 Canadian – I can’t imagine that this is a bath product I’ll be reaching for again, pretty though it was.

Metamorphosis: A Mini Lush Review

This bath bomb totally looks like the Death Star, right?  Actually, wait, before any big time Star Wars fans start nerding at me about the placement of the exhaust port amidst all of those little concave notches, I’ll amend my statement to say this bath bomb totally looks like Spaceship Earth, right?!  For those who don’t speak Disney-ese, that’s the name of the attraction that resides within the giant geodesic dome at the front gates of Epcot. The ride is basically a journey through the history of human communications – a very, very slow journey.  It also features some of the most disturbingly lifelike – and just plain disturbing – animatronics in any Disney park (and there really are so very many to choose from.)  But it’s essentially 20 minutes of darkened, seated, gently moving air conditioning, which means there will always be a place for it in Florida.

Anyhow, with its little speckled dimples, I think this Metamorphosis bath bomb from Lush looks like Spaceship Earth.  The ride is sometimes affectionately referred to as The Big Ball of Boring, which is also apt when describing this bath bomb – cool outward appearances aside, this one didn’t have much zing.  Again. This is kind of becoming a trend with my bath bombs, and a highly regrettable one at that – I don’t like it when the insides don’t match up with the super cool outsides.

While I didn’t love the scent of Metamorphosis, fans of the Lord of Misrule line (a black pepper, vanilla and patchouli fragrance) will find its spicy scent quite pleasant.  And while I also didn’t love that this bath bomb puttered out in a little under a minute – again – I did appreciate the deeply unusual colour combination, an odd assortment of charcoal grey, mustard yellow, baby pink and, right at the very end, a tiny puff of grass green.

At the moment the Metamorphosis bath bomb is an online-only purchase.  It retails for $8.95 Canadian.

Ballistics and Sparkling Red Slippers: A Mini Lush Review

Combating a dreary start to the week with a couple of cheer-inducing bathtime goodies from Lush, Sparkling Red Slippers bubble bar and a Never Mind the Ballistics bath bomb. Released as part of Lush’s 2016 holiday collection, I think both were brand new creations this season, at least for North American consumers.

For this super sunny bath, I crumbled up half of a Sparkling Red Slipper, a mica-dusted bubble bar the exact same shape and colour as one of Dorothy’s iconic ruby pumps, and ran it under the tap until I had a fluffy mound of bubbles.  If you like to spice up your bath with coloured bubbles and water, but you’re looking for something a little softer than Lush’s usual high intensity palette of neon pinks and blues, I’d suggest a Sparkling Red Slipper bubble bar – my bathwater was a beautiful, plush rose red, and scented like a bouquet of slightly peppery carnations.  Very nice!

Then, being quite careful not to drop my phone into the carnation-scented water, I lowered a Never Mind the Ballistics bath bomb into the cloud of bubbles and watched as it erupted into a delightful mess of banana split-hued bends and twirls.  And then I took pictures of it!

I quite helpfully took no note whatsoever of Never Mind the Ballistics’ scent, but I do remember giving the simple yellow orb (partially dipped in a hot pink, bath melt-type shell) a curious sniff and thinking that it wasn’t unpleasant, and vaguely reminiscent of tart, powdery candies.

Aw, dude, I *heart* you, too!  So nice when your bath products show you a little love in return. 😉

What a Wonder: A Mini Lush Review

Okay, so I never particularly care for the scent of, well, any of these, and I always have a bit of a hard time watching $7.00 to $11.00 literally dissolve into glittery nothingness in my bathtub in less than a minute, but ding dang, Lush’s bath bombs – fizzy little orbs of multi-coloured sodium bicarbonate tenuously held together with good-for-your-skin essential oils – are just plain fun.  Far preferable to regular old water (although much like dosing your drinking water with flavoured extracts, you really ought to give plain eau de tap a go every now and then; the pigmentation in these things cannot be good for your delicate bits if you’re using them every day.)

But pretty!  And glittery, and colourful, and…okay, so I won’t comment on the smell.  They all smell like powdered (insert approximation of whatever the heck Lush thinks X smells like.)  Weirdly, though, I really like the smell of this pretty little bath bomb, Lush’s Golden Wonder.  Lush’s website tells me its scent notes and active ingredients include lime oil and bourbon extract, which…maybe?  Smells like citrus to me, which I quite enjoy.

Actually, I really enjoyed everything about this bath bomb, from its buttery yellow hue, to its dusting of gold mica, to its secret green and purple core.  I even loved the weird little ghost creature that popped up right toward the end of the bomb’s life cycle, eking out one final, bubbly gasp before dissolving into the glittery gloom.  Really, look at this odd little guy!  I think he looks like one of those swooping ghost baddies from the Super Mario games.  Or Mr. Boo Berry without his hat.  He don’t look like nothin’ now, though, because I sat on his face (in a completely non-sexual way, of course.) 😉

The one thing I didn’t love about this bath bomb was that it, like so many Lush bath bombs I’ve purchased recently, dissolved totally in about 30 seconds flat.  And while I recognize that there’s more to bath bombs than the wow factor (this one was super moisturizing and turned my bathwater the coolest shade of glittery moss green) their main job is to put on a big show.  And when you’ve barely had time to whip out your camera, not drop it in the tub and fire off just a smattering of photos before everything’s said and done, well, that’s not very good value for your money (in this case $6.95 Canadian.)  All the same, the Golden Wonder bath bomb is one I would definitely buy again, should Lush bring it back next holiday season, with or without the little interloping ghost man!

Northern Lights: A Mini Lush Review

Whooo, what a colourful stunner this Northern Lights bath bomb turned out to be!  Good job, Lush, this one’s a keeper (indeed, I think Northern Lights makes the rounds just about every Christmas, although this is my first time giving it a whirl.)

And “whirl” is just the right word, as Northern Lights’ chubby little cylindrical shape keeps this bath bomb swirling, twirling and barrel rolling from the very first moment it hits the water.  The colour effect on this guy is pretty spectacular, too, morphing from a bubbly mess of Barney-type hues to a gorgeous spray of neon yellows, pastel oranges, periwinkles, dusky purples and bubblegum pinks.  The neon pastel colour palette of this bath bomb is unlike any other in Lush’s collection, and I had a ton of fun messing about with the slowly dissolving bomb.

Drawbacks?  I didn’t care for the scent, which Lush describes as a blend of ylang ylang and jasmine, two fragrances that have never rung my chimes.  However, gigantic grain of salt when it comes to my assessment of Lush scents, as historically, I don’t tend to care for any of them (eh, Twilight’s lavender is nice and The Comforter’s not-too-sweet currant is great in shower cream form, but you get my drift.)  Also, Northern Lights’ colour combination – yellow and turquoise in a plummy purple shell – results in gorgeous bath art, but also some seriously gungy-looking bathwater.  Just a bit of a warning if you’re not fond of sitting around in suds I describe as being the shade of shimmery bong water. 😉

It’s the Bomb! A Lush Bath Bomb Round-Up

Lush bath bombs, that is!  And 12 of ’em, one for every month of the year, featuring (top row, left to right) Twilight, Frozen, Pumpkin, Lord of Misrule, (middle row, left to right) Autumn Leaf, Monsters’ Ball, Intergalactic, Yoga Bomb, (bottom row, left to right) Luxury Lush Pud, Northern Lights, Shoot for the Stars and The Experimenter.

So I’ve heard tell that rubber duckies make bath time so much fun, but I think the song should be updated to include bath bombs, because that’s where the real bath time fun is to be had.  Actually, for me, fiddling around with multi-coloured bath bombs is pretty well the only reason to take a bath – otherwise, I’m Team Shower all the way.  But who can resist intensely pigmented, glitter-sprinkled balls of bicarbonate daffily dancing about their tub?  Not this blogger!  Also not the eight bajillion people that took advantage of Lush’s buy one, get one Boxing Day sale (I hear it was a circus.)

And so, without further adieu, an assortment of the bubbly bath art that beautified my 2016, co-ordinated to the header photo collage.  Bombs away!

Potential and actual repurchases include (top row) Intergalactic, Northern Lights, Twilight, (bottom row) Luxury Lush Pud, Monsters’ Ball and Lord of Misrule because they performed beautifully (vibrant colours, long-lasting bubble effect, cool bath art) and represented great value for an item with a fairly limited application.

If you’d like to read my thoughts on each of these bath bombs, or check out the matching manicures I often did to accompany bath time, simply click on the name of your chosen bomb in the top paragraph and you’ll be directed to my rantings and occasional ravings on why, oh why, Lush’s scent descriptions rarely, if ever, match the actual product in question.  Lush: The Only Place Where Mint Actually Means Orange! Until then, Sandra out!

Bomb of Misrule: A Mini Lush Review

With a matching manicure, of course, because that’s just what we do around here. 🙂

Today we have another Lush product to take a wee peek at, this time a Lord of Misrule bath bomb.  I’ve no idea what the inspiration is behind this bath bomb, although with its colour palette, little molded crown and name, I’d say Mardi Gras.  That doesn’t explain why it’s part of Lush’s recently-released winter holiday collection, though, unless Lush is just waaaayyy ahead of their springtime game (ETA: WAY ahead of their springtime game; a glance at the website tells me that this bath bomb is inspired by the pagan Feast of Fools!)

The scent of this bath bomb is quintessential Lush – its patchouli, vanilla and black pepper fragrance is the one I most closely associate with the purveyors of fresh rainbow bath stuffs.  For what it’s worth (what with scent preference being such a personal AND chemical thing) I smell none of those things, simply a zippy kind of herbal scent that I really feel neither here nor there about.  My husband said it was tolerable – that’s high praise for a Lush product!

But as with all Lush bath bombs, I’m here more for the big bath show than the scent (thank goodness; I have an appallingly poor track record finding Lush fragrances I like) and the Lord of Misrule bath bomb does not disappoint – it was so cool!  And it really did put on a big, impressive show, dissolving down into a gorgeous mess of hot pink and grass green bubbles that reminded me of Christmas ribbon candy.

So pretty!  It was kind of a shame to stick my bod in it.

But stick my bod in it I did, and it made for a lovely bath time treat – softly scented skin, tons of moisturization (I know this, because there’s not a bath I take with a bath bomb that doesn’t end with me crawling out of the super slick tub on my hands and knees) and sparkly, wine-hued water.  The limited edition Lord of Misrule bath bomb (and its accompanying shower cream) are available online right now as part of Lush’s Christmas collection.  It retails for $7.45 Canadian a piece.

And finally, we have my nails!  Keen readers will note that this is a water marble manicure, a technique I begrudgingly attempt but once a year during the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge. That’s because it’s a messy pain in the arse that works maybe a quarter of the time.  So why the heck did I choose to do one here for my two middle nails?  Because the ribbon candy-like effect of the bubbles seemed to lend itself really well to the technique, and I thought I could use the practice (ALWAYS.)  Amazingly enough, they turned out so well, thanks in large part to the two holographic polishes I used here, Enchanted Polish’s hot orchid pink, Dope Jam, and goldy-green Lost Boy – great colours, and they water marbled super well.

 

Monsters’ Ball: A Mini Lush Review

Plus some accompanying nail art, because when the inspiration is this awesome, you have to!  Or I have to. Other things I have to…do?  Perhaps buy another one or two of these Monsters’ Ball bath bombs from Lush before they disappear from stores come Halloween, because they’re the best.  Adorable little shape, super vibrant colours, bright, tangy scent, decently long-lasting effect, gorgeously-hued bath water, tons of moisturization AND not a total beast on the wallet?  This bath bomb is definitely the total fizzy package.  Let’s break it down, shall we?

Retailing for $7.25 Canadian, the Monsters’ Ball bath bomb is a limited edition item, which means come Halloween, it’ll be gone.  And I would never recommend stockpiling bath bombs, because they’re perishable, and they lose both their scent and their fizzing power rather quickly, even when stored in a cool, dry, airtight place.  I regrettably know of that which I speak!  And that was just one bath bomb that went a touch skunky after six or so months. I weep for the surely mold-covered Lush “collections” I see people post online with limited edition products from nearly five years ago.

But I digress!  Although while we’re digressing, let’s check out my inspired-by manicure one more time, this time out in the late day sun to take advantage of the pretty, sparkly holos I used for my mini Monsters.

But returning to the bath bomb, this is a super fun and great value seasonal product that’s one of the best things I’ve ever purchased from Lush.  I don’t need to point out how cute this little purple cyclops is (he reminds me of a reverse Sully from Monsters, Inc.) but, much to my delight, this bath bomb also smells bloody fantastic.  I have a primarily hate-hate relationship with Lush’s signature fragrances, but the scent of Monsters’ Ball (I’ve heard some people say it’s Calacas?) is bright and tangy, with a hint of citrusy effervescence.  To my nose, it smells exactly like a Sweet Tart, right down to that nose-tingling powered candy note.  Delicious!

This guy’s single eye is a tiny little bath melt, or a super concentrated little pat of emollient oils, so that would certainly account for the incredible job this bath bomb did at softening my skin (and slicking up my tub – safety first.)  That and Himalayan rock salt, which is the third item on its ingredient list.  But we’re not here to talk about soft skin. We’re here for the big bath art show!  So let’s get on with it already!

But first…is this cruel?  This is supposed to be a vegan product!  But he looks so very unhappy.  I mean, his butt and horns ARE being slowly dissolved off; I might be questioning the life choices that led to this moment, too.  Like, say, being a bath bomb?

The colours this guy threw off were amazing – first cotton candy pink and blue, and then a twilight’s worth of dusky purple, turquoise and plum.  Actually, this bath bomb reminded me quite a bit of Lush’s Twilight bath bomb, but a lot more vibrant, and bearing that completely kickass citrus candy scent as opposed to lavender. And just look at the beautiful bath art it produced (with a tiny little bit of bubble-boosting help from Lush’s The Comforter bubble bar.)

And I can’t ask him, because he doesn’t have a mouth (just that single unsettling eye) but I like to think this particular Monsters’ Ball bath bomb liked his contribution to my bathing routine, because this appeared in my tub just moments before the nearly-spent bomb cracked in half and fizzed out altogether.  I’m not crazy, right – that really does look like a heart?  Just trying to look on the bright side here, which is not too hard when you’ve had such a delicious bath.  I’d buy this bath bomb again in a heartbeat, and I hope you’ll check it out, too. 🙂

Fall Fun Series: Please Be-leaf Me

…when I say I intended to post this on Monday when it was originally scheduled, but life got in the way.  Or, more accurately, I was really bagged out from the last month’s challenge activities, and there was no more gas left in the blogging tank.

But time continues its relentless march, and I’ve got a post about leaves to get up.  Or how about just one leaf, like this Autumn Leaf bath bomb from Lush?  It’s quite cute, even if I’m not entirely sold on the rainbow sherbet-like colours for a Fall item.

Scented with citrus and sandalwood, the Autumn Leaf bath bomb smells…like a Lush store.  It is that all-encompassing, all-in Lush scent that I’m really not too sweet on.  My bath bomb was also super, SUPER soft, and the top point of the leaf crumbled to dust the second I picked it up.  Actually, you can see where dusty bits were falling into my palm as I simply stood there taking a photo.

But what of the effect, the whiz-bang, the big show?  Hmm, more like a no-show.  Or a mid-show – this bath bomb just did not have much life in it, letting off a little cluster of creamy, sherbet-hued bubbles before fizzing out in a little under 45 seconds.  It was pretty underwhelming, regrettably.  It also turned my bath the colour of pumpkin bong water, and the moisturizing effect was practically nil.

Ahh, but squishing the almost-used-up bits of bomb between my palms is still one of life’s more satisfying (and weirdly illicit-feeling) sensations, so I smushed ‘er up good. My favourite part is when the bomb continues dissolving in your hands, letting off little bursts of bubbles.

The Autumn Leaf bath bomb is available at Lush stores and online right now as part of their Halloween collection, along with a number of other cute seasonal items.  And while this guy may have been a bit of a dud, I’m excited to try some of their other Fall offerings, because even when they kind of suck, bath bombs are still pretty fun. 🙂