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14 June 2014

Dear John Bubble Bar




After experiencing Dear John for the first time this week in the form of a soap, I was really interested to see if the scent differed in any way when presented in a different format. You tend to find in scent families, such as the Karma range, that particular ingredients are more prominent, depending on the type of cosmetic you're dealing with. For example, I think that Karma Kream is a very sweet rendition where the fruit is at the forefront, whereas in the liquid perfume the patchouli dominates the overall scent.  

Original Design
Despite the fact that this scent family first made an appearance well over a decade ago (when the company were known as Cosmetics To Go), the Dear John Bubble Bar is a brand new product to feature this fragrance. 
Unfortunately, my experience of this bubble bar was immediately tarnished when I discovered that for the £3.75 I had invested, I was only getting a bubble bar of 30g. To put this in perspective - all of the other bubble bars that Lush offer for the same price tag, range from 70g - 200g in weight, meaning that you're getting a lot less bang for your buck with this one.

Much like the Rose Bubble Bar that Lush brought out during their Mother's Day range this year, I assumed that perhaps they had concentrated the smell in Dear John so that the bar offered a far stronger scent than you would normally expect in the bigger bars. I was also told that despite it size, Rose was supposed to create the same amount of bubbles as it's bigger siblings so I was expecting this as well with Dear John.

Unfortunately, Dear John didn't do either of these two things. In the bath it produced an average amount of bubbles and I found that the scent dispersed quite quickly so that ten minutes into my soak, I could barely detect the fragrance at all. Furthermore, I found that the water was not in the least bit moisturising as I've come to expect from bubble bars and my skin felt rather parched upon leaving the tub.


On a positive note, I actually preferred the smell of this bubble bar to the soap of the same name. I found that it was far sweeter to begin with - the citrus element was more prominent which gave it a very uplifting, fruity scent. There was also a stronger thread of cedarwood throughout which gave it a fuller, more complex earthy smell than the soap. Finally, the coffee scent was balanced so that it gave the bar a spicy, slightly smokey smell without making it bitter. 
As I said in my review of the soap, despite there being a whole host of ingredients that make up the Dear John scent, you're presented with a rather mild, comforting smell - not the heavy, overpowering one you would expect from so many different layers. 

Overall, despite loving the smell that Dear John Bubble Bar offers, I was disappointed with the outcome and would not invest in one of these again. Having done a little research, I know that Lush used to offer customers a ballistic and shower gel with this scent, and I only hope that they bring these out sometime soon as I feel I would probably enjoy them more.  

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Vetivert Oil, Coriander Oil, Clove Bud Oil, Cedarwood Oil, Ground Coffee, Clove Powder, Eugenol, Farnesol, Limonene, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Whole Coffee Bean.


Vegan?: Yes.


2016 Price: £3.95 each.

2017 Price: £3.75 each.

Scent Family:
Copperhead Solid Shampoo
Dear John Bubble Bar
Dear John Body Spray
Dear John Liquid Perfume
Dear John Shower Gel
Dear John Solid Perfume
Dear John Soap



6 comments

  1. Hi Jen. I thought I would let you know that I talked a little about your blog over on mine today in case you wanted to check it out.
    www.thevegantaff.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. Wow - that is so wonderful of you, thank you :) I'm so glad you like my blog and I've really enjoyed reading yours! Keep up the good work and I look forward to reading more from you :)

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    2. I can't believe I've only just seen your reply! I'm so sorry if you thought I ignored you. You're more than welcome, I love your blog and read every single post, you deserve a lot more credit than I'm able to give.

      Thank you so much for your kind words, it really means a lot :)

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  2. I was upset when I got my Dear John Bubble Bars . When I first saw them in the kitchen bag I thought they were samples. I contacted Lush and I was told that they were pricey because of all the essentials oils in them. Whom ever emailed me back did agree with me that they really need to start putting the size of there bubble bars and bath bombs on the page where people can clearly see them. Apparently they have been getting a lot of emails.

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    Replies
    1. It's really interesting that you say this as I found the bar to be one of the weakest in terms of how soft the water was. With all of these essential oils, I would have assumed it would be the most moisturising bubble ever!

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  3. Mmm this sounds like a big fat disappointment, which is a shame really. :(

    I love the smell of coffee too!

    http://theremightbecoffee.wordpress.com/

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