All Things Lush UK: Karma Bath Melt

Aside from The Comforter, Karma is my favourite Lush scent. It's a unique and very beautiful smell unlike anything else I have ever smelt before. It's both sophisticated and simplistic, sweet and citrusy, herbal and floral. As a lover of this scent, I appreciate the fact that there’s a bubble bar, a soap, a body lotion and a fragrance; all regular products I can invest in at anytime in any one of Lush's stores, as well as online. However, I would never argue against new renditions of the scent, which is why I was super excited when I first found out about the Karma Bath Melt.

To look at, it's stunning; a petite glittery golden pyramid, about the same weight as a You've Been Mangoed Bath Melt. What I find odd about this product, is that there's quite a difference in the weight and size of these bath melts, depending on where you purchased them from. This is very noticeable when you place two next to each other; the picture illustrates how different the specifications of the product can be - with the product on the right weighing almost a third more than the pyramid on the left. Does anyone know why this is?

Aside from it's size, the Karma Melt contains cocoa butter and almond oil to moisturise, as well as patchouli, sweet orange, lemongrass and elemi oils to make up the distinctive Karma scent. To finish off, the bath product is coated with a layer of golden lustre to make it look luxurious and magical.

Like most Lush bath melts, you are supposed to drop it into a hot bath tub (the hotter, the better), and allow the product to melt away, filling your tub with essential oils to help relax, moisturise and soften your tired skin. When I first placed the Karma Bath Melt into my tub, I found that it didn't take anytime at all for the glitter to begin dispersing across the surface of the water. As you can see from my pictures, I chose to use a whole pyramid for my bath. However, in hindsight, I would suggest that you divide the melt into three and use it for three separate occasions.

My reasoning for this is because firstly, there is a lot of glitter that comes with this product, and although it doesn't coat you as much as you think it would, it does tend to paint the bath quite a bit. Secondly, this bath melt releases a good amount of oils and butters into the water, so a third of this would still be enough to nourish and soften your skin.

The longer I left the bath melt in the tub, the more glitter began to disperse across the surface and stick itself to the edge of my bath tub. While this was going on, the oils began to mix in with the water and create silky-soft bathing water. In fact, there are enough oils in Karma Bath Melt to leave little beads on the surface, which can then be lathered directly into your skin.

When I did get into the tub, I was initially hesitant because of the amount of glitter that decorated the water and sides of the tub. However, you're left surprisingly glitter free when you exit the bath so don't let that aspect of the bath melt put you off. In total, it took a good 5-10 minutes for the pyramid to fully melt so I was able to relax under the water and let the butters get to work on my skin.

The water did turn a beautiful golden colour and the scent was definitely very present throughout the bathing experience. I could detect the wonderful fragrance on my hair and skin when I exited the bath and it remained with me for hours afterwards. However, to reiterate a previous point, I don't really understand why Lush have chosen to include so much golden glitter in one product. If you slice the melt open, you'll find that the whole bar is made up of glitter and this is just too much, especially as it would no doubt put off even the most avid of Karma fans. In it's defence, you won't end up looking like Ziggy Stardust after use. However, the gold glitter did decorate my scalp a little for some three weeks after I had initially used it, which didn't really bother me all that much, but which I'm sure would annoy many customers. Although it was only a few specks here and there, I know that some people would find this frustrating.

Ultimately, this product is good value for money and is gorgeously presented. The Karma scent is strong enough to see you through the entire bath, whilst not being too overwhelming. It leaves your skin feeling really hydrated and fully moisturised, whilst smelling beautiful at the same time.

My only concerns lie in the shelf life of such a product. I was able to get my hands on a few of these a couple of years back and found that they lost their scent quite quickly and became quite stubborn in the bath. This picture is of one of these melts and I didn't find it anywhere near as moisturising as the new ones I have purchased from the Kitchen. For this reason, I would suggest that this is one product that shouldn't be stored for too long.

I have enjoyed using this bath melt and as a novelty product, it's definitely worth investing in a couple. However, I would like Lush to consider removing some of the lustre and including more oils to make this product even more appealing to a wider range of people.

Quantitative Ingredients: Cocoa Butter, Laureth 4, Almond Oil, Perfume, Patchouli Oil, Sweet Orange Oil, Lavandin Oil, Pine Oil, Lemongrass Oil, Elemi Oil, *Citral, *Citronellol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Gardenia Extract.

Vegan?: Yes.

2015 Price: £4.75 for 30g.

2016 Price: £4.75 for 30g.

2017 Price: £4.75 for 30g.