Vanilla Fountain Ballistic

It was only a matter of weeks after I made my first large order from Lush's website, that they discontinued this ballistic. At the time, I didn't realise the significance of losing such a product; it was only after I went online to make my second order and discovered that it was no longer available, that I realised how much I would have liked to have stored a few to last me. 

Vanilla Fountain Ballistic was first showcased back in 2008 - a product that was brought out to satisfy the thousands of consumers who had fallen in love with Lush's Vanillary range. Sharing it's scent with the popular perfume, this fragrance can be found in both Vanilla Dee-Lite Body Lotion and Vanilla Puff Dusting Powder aside other gorgeous products.

Possessing a scent somewhere in between a creamy creme brûlée and home-made burnt caramel, this bath bomb offers a fresh and very beautiful vanilla scent. The wonderful fragrance, which is mostly due to the inclusion of both vanilla and tonka absolute, is a natural-smelling, mellow, subtle scent that doesn't contain any of the nasty fake tones that you would normally get with high street equivalents. This is not a sickly-sweet, plastic vanilla in the slightest.

To give it some depth, Lush have also included a sprinkling of jasmine absolute which adds a light floral undertone as well as a slightly sweet layer. And while the sandalwood oil isn't prominent in the fragrance, it does ground the overall aroma and adds a subtle richness to it - especially once it has dissolved in the bath. 

Designed to evoke memories of the popular 70's/80's confectionary favourite - the sherbet fizzer, this ballistic is not as sour or as sugary as the original sweet. However, it does offer a comforting experience that will take you back to the days of your childhood without giving you cavities or ruin your diet.

Unfortunately, Vanilla Fountain isn't the most interesting of ballistics to use in the bath. As soon as it hits the water, this bomb sinks to the bottom of the tub and immediately begins to spew out streams of pale yellow. While the water is very quick to turn a creamy, custard colour, it's not a very exciting bath bomb to watch at all and isn't the most inviting of shades. With all of Lush's bath bombs, I am always wary that some tend to stain the tub, and I was convinced that this would be one such ballistic. However, I was relieved to find that it didn't leave a mark on my bath tub and rinsed away very easily. 

While the bath bomb pertained a heady, buttery-caramel fragrance outside the wrapper, this was dispelled quite quickly in the tub and I was disappointed to find that most of the overall scent was lost once the bath bomb had fully dissolved. Furthermore, Vanilla Fountain wasn't particularly moisturising, despite noticing what looked like puddles of oil on the surface of the water. Although it didn't dry out my skin, it didn't do anything particularly great with it either.

This ballistic did relax me when I was in the tub and it did leave a very subtle aroma on my skin afterwards. However, given the strength of every other product that I have tried with this scent, I was rather disgruntled to discover that I couldn't detect hardly any of the wonderful vanilla aroma once I had settled in the bath.

While I would describe myself as a huge fan of Vanillary, I would say that this is the weakest-smelling out of the entire range. While obsessive fans will no doubt relish in the fact that they can bathe in this beautiful fragrance, I can imagine many fans will be disappointed that this doesn't reach the potential it could have quite easily achieved. Although it's not a terrible bath bomb, it's not the greatest one either.  

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Dried Fair Trade Vanilla Pod, Perfume, Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute, Jasmine Absolute, Tonka Absolute, Sandalwood Oil, Coumarin, Lilial, Gardenia Extract, Colour 45350.

Vegan?: Yes.

2016 Price: £3.95 each.

2017 Price: £4.25 each.

Scent Family:

Heavanilli Massage Bar
Vanilla Dee-Lite Body Lotion
Vanilla Fountain Ballistic
Vanilla Puff Dusting Powder
Vanillary Liquid Perfume
Vanillary Solid Perfume