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.

Queen of Hearts

So I always thought I was the Queen of Halloween.  I’ve always loved dressing up in costumes, decorating my home and hosting terrible parties (my bad Halloween parties – yes, parties, plural – are legendary in their awkwardness, although I can’t say I loved them.  Nobody did!)  I was married on October 31st, for pity’s sake! But this gorgeous, lush pile of beautiful Valentine’s Day goodies suggests that my affections may lie with the 14th of February, and all its confusing, commercial connotations (riddle me this: Why do we give hand OR Hallmark-written sentiments to loved ones in the name of Saint Valentine, who was blind?  Also a martyr and a political prisoner, but how unsexy is that?)

It also took me next to no time to pull together this collection of items, from cute wax tarts, to the absolutely stunning silk floral wreath my mom and dad gave me in a fit of post-Christmas spoilage.  It, along with all of the other silk flower arrangements dotted about my apartment, lead me to think I may have a heretofore unacknowledged romantic streak!  Also a lot of pink, red and white things, most glittery, and right at hand, no less, living amongst me as decorative items, not just seasonal decorative items.

And so let’s see what sorts of beautiful things I’m loving on in the days leading up to Valentine’s, shall we?  On the left we have, from left to right, a Sex Bomb bath ballistic from Lush, berry-shaped wax melts from Rosegirls in Strawberry Jam, a blossom-shaped wax melt from Vintage Chic Scents in Jackie O (a delicious, creamy vanilla), a pink piped heart from Rosegirls in Cotton Candy Frosting, a gorgeous pair of wax lips (the actual non-edible kind) from The Bathing Garden in The Sweetest Thing, a green-berry kind of scent, and my magnetic, kissing kitties salt and pepper shakers.  I purchased the salt and pepper shakers at the same place my parents bought this gorgeous wreath, a store in my city by the name of Marie Antoinette.  It might be the most beautiful shop I’ve ever been in in my life, packed to the rafters (literally; lush bouquets and other decorative baubles hang from every available surface) with a gorgeous collection of carefully curated items. When I shop there (about once a month, following a delicious donut breakfast with my mom at Suzy Q Donuts across the street) I’m hard pressed not to walk away with the entire store.

And over on the right we have, from left to right, a Sparkling Red Slippers bubble bar from Lush, a Lover Lamp bath bomb from Lush (it smells like citrus cinnamon hearts), my favourite candle, Voluspa’s French Bourbon Vanille, nestled in a glittery stand from Bath & Body Works, a couple of loved-up iced sugar cookies from A Couple of Squares (shoutout to London, Ontario now), a neat stack of soap rosebuds, another faux floral arrangement, and finally, a wee ceramic gateau, hinged to conceal a small space for hiding tiny treasures, another darling find from Marie Antoinette.  I’m in love with it all!

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. 😉

Shoot for the Lush Stars!

Doing the matchy-matchy thing again with my nails and my bath products, this time co-ordinating my manicure to two releases from Lush’s winter holiday collection, Shoot for the Stars bath bomb and The Magic of Christmas reusable bubble bar.

Design-wise, both the bath bomb and the bubble bar are adorable as all get-out – super rich pigmentation, cute little add-ons and SO. MUCH. GLITTER!  But in terms of performance?  Well, true to its name, the golden stars embedded in the Shoot for the Stars bath bomb shot straight OFF the bath bomb the second it hit the water, leaving behind these oddly grainy little patches of oily orange ick that I didn’t want to look at, let alone share a bath with.  And while my bathwater was the most gorgeous shade of sparkly, darkened teal, getting there took the bath bomb next to no time, dissolving totally – and with very little fanfare – in a little under 30 seconds.  Very poor value for its $6.95 (Canadian) price tag.

Annnnddddd The Magic of Christmas reusable bubble bar (which became no such thing after a great big fault line opened up straight down the middle) smells like Tang.  Or that powdery orange “beverage drink” from McDonald’s.  Then again, I don’t think ANYTHING from Lush actually smells like its description, although that certainly won’t stop me from trying to find the one exception!  In the meantime, matchy manis make everything better.

RAWR to the World!

Here’s some festive dino nails (also grumpy, confused and deeply suspicious of that little heart springing off his tail) to match this Santasaurus bubble bar from Lush’s winter holiday collection.  The bubble bar itself was nice (is nice – he’s reusable) but smelled nothing like the toffee scent noted in its description.  Unless its sharp, almost tingly scent is actually Lush’s idea of toffee – I don’t find that the descriptions of their products ever really match up to the realities, so it’s entirely possible!  All the same, one pass under the tap for a minute or so created an absolute mountain of mint green bubbles, AND inspired some fun nail art.  Happy rawr-idays!

Fall Fun Series: Punkin’ Rock

Yesterday’s prompt in the Fall Fun Series was pumpkins, so today I have lots of sweet squashy goodness for you, starting with this deliciously spicy “bathscape” I pulled together out of some favourite scented wax, a homemade brown sugar scrub and two fun, seasonal items from Lush’s recently-released Halloween collection.

The first order of business was sweetly scented air, which I took care of by melting a couple of cubes of each of the two fragrances in ScentSationals Baked With Love combo pack, Pumpkin Sugar Cookie and Cinnamon-Pumpkin.  This wax was a surprise hit with me, so much so that I went out and bought a second pack, and I never do that.  Inexpensive (about $3.00 for two and a half ounces), readily available (at your local Walmart), long-lasting (I pulled it long before it ceased smelling) and, most importantly, delicious-smelling (both scents feature a really nice spicy-sweet note, with the Pumpkin Sugar Cookie half smelling like the world’s most delicious, pumpkin-flecked carrot cake), this wax was very nearly the total Fall package (the one drawback being that the wax itself was quite heavily pigmented, and it stained my white tealight warmer an indelible, smudgy brown.  I’ll be using my dark purple warmer for this one going forward.)

It was time to break into the bubbly next, which I did by crumbling half of this Sparkly Pumpkin bubble bar from Lush into a strainer and running it under the tap.  Lush lists juniper berry oil as one of the Pumpkin’s main ingredients, and indeed, this shimmery little guy smells like a gin distillery.  I have a real hate-hate relationship with gin, so I can’t say I’m hugely fond of the citrusy, woodsy, almost tangy scent of the Sparkly Pumpkin, but I’m willing to take one for the team in the name of bath time experimentation!  This two-use bubble bar runs a pretty outrageous $7.95 Canadian, but that’s Lush for you.

And because no good bath is complete without a delightfully fizzy bath bomb, THAT was provided by Lush’s whimsical little Pumpkin bath bomb.  Bearing a charming Jack-o-Lantern grin, I almost didn’t want to use this little orange guy, but for once, I really loved the smell of the product (mmm spicy clovey cinnamon good), so into the bath he went, with Great Pumpkin prejudice!  And while the Pumpkin, which on the smaller side retails for $6.95 , wasn’t the showiest bath bomb I’ve ever used, it scented my bath with all sorts of delicious, fragrant spices, tinged my bathwater the prettiest shade of shimmery peach and left my skin feeling delightfully soft and smooth (and speckled with gold glitter, but I’m laying that one at the door of the Sparkly Pumpkin.)

Finally, I hopped on into the bath with some of my homemade pumpkin spice sugar scrub to smooth out my rough bits.  If you’re interested in making this super simple beauty craftable yourself, you can find the recipe and instructions here.

Now is the part where I think I’m supposed to tell you to (wah-wah) Fall into the tub, but please don’t do that! I’d prefer it if you stepped in carefully, being mindful of all those slippery essential oils coating the bottom, yeah?  Happy Fall Tubbing. 😉

Herbal Refreshment

Not that kind of herbal refreshment (although I can’t even type the phrase without hearing Brittany Murphy’s Tai, of Clueless, New Yawk-drawling, “I could really use some sorta ‘erbal refreshment” to her new pals Cher and Dionne.)  I’m talking about the beauty variety, like the loaded-with-lavender bath I recently enjoyed. Lavender is one of those fragrances most commonly associated with relaxation; you’ll find it in all sorts of naturopathic sleep aids like teas and eye masks and bubble baths.  Its buds also taste pretty darn terrific baked into ultra buttery shortbread, believe it or not (and rendered down with simple syrup and added to lemonade as well.)

But that’s dried lavender (and in the case of the shortbread and the lemonade, cooking lavender – that’s very important!) which to me always errs towards the powdery – granny’s unmentionables drawer.  My preferred lavender is fresh and green and uplifting; very much an herbal refreshment.

I used a bunch of fun products for this lushly lavender bath, including a couple of items from Lush itself, a Twilight bath bomb and a bit of a French Kiss bubble bar.  A third of this lavender-sprinkled bubble bar tinged my bathwater the loveliest shade of plummy purple and produced an absolute mountain of fluffy, super moisturizing bubbles.  Plus it’s as cute as a wee little button!

Entertainment and additional moisturization was provided by a Twilight bath bomb, a lavender-scented bath ballistic embossed with tiny stars.  I’ll have a bit more to say – and show – on the subject tomorrow when I take a closer look at the Twilight bath bomb (including some pretty cool bath art) but this little guy is stupendous; the best Lush bath bomb I’ve used to date.  You can’t ask for much more than a sweet scent, a super cool – and long-lasting – effect and tons of skin softening goodness.

And if you’ve ever wondered what the inside of one of these things looks like…well, kind of like that egg husk that Hopper touches in The Upside Down in Stranger Things.  But turquoise!

And because I scoff in the face of overkill, I melted a wax tart from Ten Digit Creations in one of my favourite scents, Lavender Poundcake, a fresh, herbal lavender kissed with the very barest hint of buttery bakery, and gave myself a wee spritz with my Demeter Lavender cologne.  Overkill?  I say no-verkill!  And the perfect finishing touch to a really nice bath that did exactly what baths are supposed to do – leave you feeling refreshed and relaxed and smelling pretty darn awesome.

Pink(berry) Bath

While my American friends are off observing Memorial Day in all the usual fashions (I hear beer, beaches and BBQ factor prominently) it’s just another hot and sweaty start to the week everywhere else.  So what better time to highlight the berrylicious bath I took last night; add some more hot and sweaty to this Monday afternoon, whether you’re hanging with friends and family or just trying to make it through the workday without collapsing. Both groups sound like they could use a relaxing bath at the end of the day regardless – here’s some fun suggestions for making it a sweet one.

Pink and fruity was the name of this bath game, with two Comforting Lush products taking centre stage, The Comforter shower cream, a silky, black currant-scented body wash, and its complimentary bubble bar.  This plump bubble bar retails for a whopping $11.95 on Lush.ca; like many of Lush’s products, that’s quite enough to give the average shopper a bit of pause.  But as noted, this bubble bar is a bruiser, weighing in at a solid 200 grams.  I’ll get four to six generously bubble’d baths out of this guy, particularly if I continue to cut off the pieces as I use them and run them under the tap in a strainer, comme ca (far less waste this way; also, I find whole bars don’t hold up well to repeated direct use, taking on an odd, grainy kind of texture):

Ambiance and additional fruity smells were provided by a new-to-me wax vendor, Sassy Girl Aroma, and their – wait for this word (fruit) salad – Mango Pomegranate Strawberry Raspberry Guava wax chunks.  This is pretty much the best smelling stuff on earth, crazy name notwithstanding – sweet and tart and super, deliciously fruity.  So good.

The final touch was another Lush product, this time another new-to-me item, a Razzle Dazzle bath oil…bomb?  I’m actually not sure how to categorize this super emollient, neon pink butterball except to say it’s exactly like holding a super emollient, neon pink butterball.  A melt!  It’s a bath melt.  Which means when you drop it into your tub, it floats around, melting down into a little puddle of berry pink oils and other moisturizing stuff.

I can’t say this is an item I’d purchase again.  Retailing for $3.50 a piece, I found this bath melt to be pretty pointless, providing little of the moisturization you’d expect from a 20 gram ball of essential oils (on the plus side, it was delightful to scoop it out of the water and let it run down my hands and arms.)  It also smelled nothing like a raspberry, and was incredibly messy to handle.  Like trying to hold a pat of pink mica-dusted butter.  I’ll also note here that some months back a young woman got into trouble with this exact bath melt after she mistook it for something other than what it was and rubbed it all over her face and body.  You may remember her skin turned an angry neon pink – I believe it, because today I see that in between my fingers, there’s lots of hot pink smudgy bits, and that was with very little direct contact.  So a bit more effort than payoff on this one, unfortunately.

So there you have it, a fruity refresher fit for the workday warrior seeking relaxation, or the happy holiday-er washing the last bits of sand off the long weekend.  I hope you enjoy it, no matter the day’s activities. 🙂

Trevor Takes a Bath

Trevor the Pudgicorn has returned for his second appearance on my nails, this time hoofing back in a nice, hot bubble bath with his namesake bath product, a Unicorn Horn bubble bar from Lush!  Trevor’s got mad horn envy, although I can’t fault the guy – seriously, how adorable is this handmade, mica-dusted cutie?

Released as part of Lush’s Valentine’s Day collection, this limited edition, lightly lavender-scented bubble bar retails for $7.95 Canadian (so with our dollar completely in the frozen-over toilet, that means it’ll practically be free for you American Lushies.) 😉

And how does one use this mythical creature?  Well, some people just take the entire Horn and toss it into their tub, pulling it out when they’ve reached their desired bubble level. I find that completely submerging a bubble bar tends to do pretty funky things to its consistency, however, and so I choose to do what lots of people do come bath time, and that’s lop off a small chunk and run it through a strainer held under the tap. This method also weeds out any of those extraneous chunky bits that Lush is so famous for sneaking into their products (although this year’s version of the Unicorn Horn is blessedly free from candy and sparkle-type embellishments.)

Trevor likes it!