Lush/Soap&Glory Cocktail

I'm suffering with a bout of tonsillitis at the minute, and to cheer myself up last night, I decided to try my first ever bath cocktail. I'm not going to lie, I've always been a little against the idea, because it just seemed like a bit of a waste of money to me, Lush bath bombs are expensive enough as it is, but I was more than pleasantly surprised!

I mixed "Dragon's Egg" from Lush, "The Comforter" from Lush and Soap&Glory's Sugar Crush foam wash.

The smell of my bath was absolutely delicious. It smelled like an intense smoothie. The citrus smells from Dragon's Egg, the berry smells from The Comforter and the lime smell (reminiscent of the oul loop-de-loop ice pop) all blended together for one of the best baths I've had in a long time.

The water was a gorgeous orange colour, I was worried about how the pink in The Comforter would combine with Dragon Egg's usual amber colour, but they blended beautifully. I haven't found a blend of Dragon's Egg and The Comforter before, so I decided to give it a go. The Soap&Glory was just an added scent, and it's supposed to work as bubble bath, too, so the more bubbles the better! The smell has been lingering on my skin since midnight last night, and I still smell delicious. I feel so soft! I'd definitely do this one again, if I had the same combination lying around again! I've gotten about 4 baths out of my The Comforter so far, and I still have about half of it yet, it's definitely worth the value for money! My Seanik Shampoo bar almost fits into my little aluminium tin, I use the lid to let my Honey I Washed The Kids soap dry in, and the actual tin to let Seanik dry in.

I'm definitely going to try more Lush cocktails if I get the chance!

Cinders Review

What Lush says: This is a bath bomb to evoke the feeling of sitting by a crackling fireside, drinking a glass of warm fruit punch. Cinders is designed to bring comfort at Christmas. Lie back, letting the water support your body, and listen to the fire as the smell of fruit punch fills the room.

The week before Christmas I was treated to a bath bomb of my choice from Lush. I was delighted to come across this beautifully coloured bath bomb with a delicious scent. What I hadn't noticed, unfortunately, in the shop, was that it had hints of cinnamon in it. I really don't like cinnamon. Cinnamon challenge, you ruined my life forever. However, it wasn't the spicy smell that turned me off of the bomb that I had been so eagerly anticipating.

Appearance: On Christmas Eve, I threw this bomb into the bath, preparing myself for the popping candy to fizz, and the orange aroma to hit me, and nothing happened. The bomb fell to the bottom of the bath, took 10 minutes to dissolve and nothing spectacular hit me. I didn't even get the crackling sound I was promised, the popping candy fell to the bottom of the bath and was a bit sharp. The water turned a shade of yellow that reminded me of urine. When I woke up on Christmas morning, my mother informed me that it had left an obnoxious yellow ring around the bath.. Oops.  

Scent: I had been worrying about the smell of cinnamon, but there wasn't really any smell accompanying it after it had gone in the bath. I was disappointed because I had loved the orange smell it was giving off before I had popped it in the water.

Effect: This bath bomb didn't leave my skin feeling particularly moisturised, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend this Christmas "favourite", but maybe I got the bad one of the bunch.

PS: This photo is from Lush's website, and not one of Órlaith's, as I used the bathbomb before she could take photos of it.

Snow Fairy

I was looking through Lush's Christmas range online when Snow Fairy caught my eye. Packaged beautifully with a gorgeous label and simple black lid, I was immediately interested. 

The description?   

"Our winter temptress shower hair and body gel that’s bursting with fruit fragrance and has a sparkle of ice through it."

So me, a lover of all things fairy and fruity, just had to have it.

Snow Fairy smells absolutely delicious. It smells really like my bubblegum lip scrub (also from Lush).  

It's almost sickeningly sweet straight from the bottle, but when lathered up on my skin, it smelled absolutely beautiful.  It lathered extremely well, and fortunately, the shimmer stayed in the bottle and didn't linger on my skin. The scent remained on my skin for hours afterwards and I found it was particularly moisturising and kind to my skin. I love it! 

I'm a bit disappointed that I only bought the small bottle. The large bottle pictured is just for scale and to show the difference between the 500g and the 100g. I think that Snow Fairy is also a bit expensive, but as it's limited edition, I didn't mind paying for it, after all, it's worth it in my opinion for the occasional treat. Also, cost per use (as with my Seanik shampoo bar!).

* Photos once again taken by Órlaith.

Dragon Egg

(This time the photos are all by the infamous Orlaith)

What Lush has to say: "The ultimate lift: Dragon’s Egg makes bathtime exciting again as it fizzes and crackles and changes the colour of your water to a gorgeous citrussy gold. Its scent is reminiscent of lemon sherbet, with a hint of jasmine, leaving you feeling great and ready for a good day."

So tonight I tried my first Dragon's Egg. in the St Stephen's Day sales, Órlaith picked me up two of these little gems, and I adore them.

Appearance: I dropped the bomb gently into the bath after laying down and getting comfy. It sizzled gently, creating a path of beautiful white foam. The rice paper confetti floated off as the bomb spun around the bath, after a couple of minutes, it was leaving an orange trail of bubbles. In  a matter of seconds, the bath had become a glittering golden pool. The beautiful amber coloured water and the glitter were absolutely gorgeous. I was so blown away, I hadn't expected the colour to be so vibrant and pretty.

Scent: The smell in the packet was gorgeous. Citrus smells are my favourites and this was no exception, the lovely blend of lemon and bergamot was beautiful. It smelled distinctly of lemon sherbet, it was sweet, but not sickeningly so, nor was it overbearing. The smell lingered for the full hour that I spent in the bath with this, and the smell has lingered well. (I still smell delicious after 6 hours)

I was so impressed with this bath bomb, I can't wait to indulge in my second one!

Effect: This bath left me feeling awake, smelling great and noticeably soft. It was really moisturising. The smell and appearance of this bath bomb are just amazing, you really need to try it for yourselves. Although it was slow to start, once it began it didn't stop.

It wasn't an expensive one either, it was €3.95 which isn't their most expensive than compared to other of Lush's products.

All in all, an absolute must have.

Space Girl Review

This photo, again, is from the Lush website. New products will have their portraits taken by Órlaith, if she's brave enough.

What Lush says: Do you sometimes feel like you’re on a different planet? Don’t feel alien -  retreat to the bathroom to float in your own personal space until you feel ready for touch down,

Space Girl was the first bath bomb that I ever tried. It was sparkly, fun and smelled distinctly of parma violets. It was the cheapest in the shop at €2.95 and it definitely impressed me.

Appearance: I threw this one into the tub as soon as it had been filled, it whizzed, popped and crackled, from the purple planet shaped bomb came a myriad of shades of pink and purple. After the fantastic show, I was left with beautiful pink water. (Seriously, the prettiest bath bomb I've ever had)

Scent: The scent stayed true to what was it was pre-bath. The delicious parma violet smell lingered on my skin for hours after my bath. It has ingredients like grapefruit oil and almond oil and they really helped the bath smell lovely.

Effect: It had a lovely moisturising effect on my skin, I felt refreshed afterwards and I was really impressed by the bath bomb as a whole. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a bit more excitement in their bath.

Seanik Shampoo Bar

This is my "photography". Still waiting to buy more products for Órlaith to take photos of.

Soften tangled locks and add oceans of shine with this mineral-rich, sea salt volumizing shampoo. Seanik is made with nourishing ingredients from the sea: softening Irish moss seaweed and Japanese nori seaweed make your hair soft as silk from root to tips, and sea salt gives body and volume to hair that’s fallen flat. One seriously sexy shampoo, we added lemon oil for extra shine, and the exotic far eastern fragrance of sensual mimosa and jasmine oils to bathe you in the heady scent of tropical flora all day long.

Thus far, this is probably my favourite Lush product. It was the first one I ever tried, and it got me hooked on brand. It was simple, cheap (in the long run), and easy to use. At €7.99, it seems very expensive, but this one shampoo bar lasted me 6 months. I purchased the bar around the 21st of July and I threw the last few crumbly bits away on Christmas Eve. Depending on how often you wash your hair, and how many people use it, it can last from about  3-6 months. I personally wash my hair twice a week, and I got six whole months. 

The scent is quite strong when the product is dry, but once it's lathered up into your hair and washed out, the scent is quite weak and pleasant, leaving you to use your favourite conditioner to have your hair smelling just the way you like it.  

It's really easy to use, you just rub it on wet hair, and it lathers up. I normally rub in circular motions around my head for about 10 seconds, and I get a great lather. 

A great bonus with this product is that it leaves my hair incredibly soft and voluminous without product build up.. Every so often, I use a different shampoo because that's what's in front of me, but the shampoo works great for me. I have also noticed that my hair has grown about 4 inches since using it, but that's over 6 months. 

I like to pat my bar down with a towel to get off the excess water and I leave it in tin-foil to drain before just sitting it in the aluminium tin like a wheel. 

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a shampoo to give their hair a bit of lift, shine and lustre.

Introduction

Hello, lovelies!

My number one "beauty" love, is Lush, but I love makeup and other brands as well. This will be my little place to post reviews and such.

Months ago, I discovered Lush, and everything they have to offer. After reading a review on the "Seanik" shampoo bar, I took a quick trip to Lush with my friend Órlaith and snapped up the solid shampoo that I had high hopes for. This spiralled my love of all things beauty, sweet smelling and makeup. Now I'm stuck in a rut of endless trips to Lush, Boots and my local chemist.

And here I am, many months with my very own "beauty blog"

I'm going to post here as often as I can, this is my new project for 2014 and beyong, and I'll be doing reviews and whatnot on the various Lush products that I use. I've gotten a fair bit for Christmas and a bunch in the sales, so I'll have a good bit to keep me going for a while.

Orlaith is a cutie-pie and is gonna help me with photos and stuff around here, so until then...