I've always considered myself to be a bit of a hippy at heart; being a vegan who's very in touch with nature and preservation means that I demonstrate this side of me practically every day. When I first started purchasing cosmetics from Lush, way before I knew much about them as a company, my initial allure stemmed from the fact that they seemingly made and sold natural products. So for this reason, to begin with, I imagined all of Lush's products smelling like Tramp or Smaragadine.
Described by Lush as a ' bath of purest green', Smaragadine is one of the few liquid bubble baths that Lush have ever released. Created back when the company were known as Cosmetics To Go, this product's name literally means 'emerald' in Greek, and it's certainly that. Much like Tramp Shower Gel, in the bottle this bubble bath is a beautiful deep and natural shade of green.
To coincide with it's colour, this product smells like Lush have taken the forest and trapped it in a bottle. Containing a complex blend of essential oils like patchouli, lavender, rose, sandalwood, ginger and peppermint, this liquid bubble bath comes together to form a strange and rather multi-layered smelling product.
Separately, these key ingredients each possess a unique scent; ones that you wouldn't automatically combine with some of the other fragrances on show here. However, Lush like to experiment, and what they've come with, seems to work quite well together. To me, Smaragadine smells heavily of patchouli, so those of you who dislike this fragrance would be best avoiding it at all costs. To pad this scent out is a combination of the different herbs and spices alongside the peppermint, which sit underneath the patchouli and give off very subtle waves of fragrance.
This shower gel reminds me of a combination of Tramp and Narcotic, the latter because of the slight 'tea tree' element that Lush have got going on here. Although there's nothing in the ingredients to suggest why it would smell like this, the product gives off an almost disinfectant sort of smell, which is similar.
The liquid bubble bath is rather runny in consistency so you have to be careful not to pour too much into the bath at once. Although my video demonstrates me adding the Smaragadine in after the water's been added, it works much better if you add it in alongside the running water, as the force of the flow stimulates more bubbles and you'll get more for your 'buck', as they say.
When in action, the bubble bath creates light, fluffy and very velvety bubbles, which are perfect to cocoon yourself in after a long day's work. The bath water turns a lovely light forest green colour, which given that it's my all-time favourite colour, helped give it that extra special touch. The smell was fairly strong and very sensual, with the rose and peppermint coming forth the most here. This combination of smells helped to make the whole experience very relaxing whilst the peppermint added that refreshing element.
Despite leaving my skin feeling rather soft and uplifted, I didn't like the scent all that much and I was not that pleased when I found that it lingered on my skin for a number of hours after use. Smaragadine is definitely an acquired taste, and one which didn't really sit well with me. It's not an awful scent by any means, but it's not one that appeals to me all that much.
Had I liked the smell, I'd have probably awarded this product a good five out of six; it does exactly what it says on the bottle and offers Lush fans a gorgeous, revigorating bath. However, it's not one I'd use again, and for this reason it cannot be rated as highly as I was hoping. Fans of Tramp will no doubt love this.
Quantitative Ingredients: Water, Rose Petal, Lavender Flower and Peppermint Leaf Infusion, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Propylene Glycol, Perfume, Patchouli Oil, Organic Orange Peel, Petitgrain Oil, Pimento Berry Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Ginger Oil, Cocamide DEA, Methyl Ionone, *Eugenol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Chlorophyllin, Methylparaben.
Vegan?: Yes.
2017 Price: £11.50 for 250g.
They must have taken leave of their senses to discontinue this.
ReplyDeletei agree - they used to do a body lotion in it which was to die for, the smell lingered all day I loved it.
ReplyDeleteplease bring it back again!
ReplyDeleteWhat was the point in Lush buying back the original Cosmetics To Go range if they then cancel all the best bits? we should start a twitter hashtag: #lush #bringbacksmaragadine
ReplyDeleteis Smaragadine for sale again....
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately not! Having said that, it hasn't made an appearance in a long time so maybe it might come out in the kitchen soon!
Deletetotally loved this. bring it back!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThey were mad to discontinue this, and Tramp. Oh, and add Middle Earth soap too, those were the top 3 things Lush have ever come up with AFAIK.
ReplyDeleteI had a bottle of this years and years ago, and then when they did "Retro" and bought things back I got a big bottle. I love this so much and have really eked it out because I can't bear to not have it. I have about 1/3 of a bottle left, that is supposedly about 4 or 5 years out of date but it still smells fabulous. The particular mix of essential oils, being largely ones that mature well means it hasn't "turned" and gone off thankfully. I use it as shower gel for special occasions, or when I am feeling down, and the wonderful scent lingers on my skin and in the bathroom for hours. It is very runny so I have to be careful, but only a tiny amount is needed on a shower scrunchie to get the lather of all lathers going!
This, as well as Tramp and Middle Earth were such wonderful products to use. So much of the offerings today are the same kind of fruity fruity sweet sweet, or citrus blast and I miss creations like these.