Lush DIY: Turning Shower Gel Into Body Lotion

It was only a matter of time before I found new ways to enjoy my Lush products. Now that I have tried pretty much everything that Lush are currently offering in their shops and I'm on top of my Lush Kitchen orders, I have a little spare time to experiment and convert my favourite Lush products into other formats.

Aside from pining after shower gel, week in, week out, the only other thought that pops into my head on a regular basis is: 'why won't Lush create a body lotion in that scent?' or 'I wonder what a body lotion in that fragrance would be like!'. It seems that when I'm not smearing myself with lotion in the shower, I'm looking for new ways to lather myself with lotion outside of the shower. 

Video:

Review:

What you'll need:

-A bowl

-A spoon

-An empty tub to store your lotion

-2-3 teaspoons of your favourite shower gel

-100g unscented body lotion

I feel a little patronising doing this edition of Lush DIY because I feel as if I'm not really doing anything particularly special here - just taking a simple idea and making it a reality. It's one of those things that I've often thought about but never committed myself to trying out - until now, that is. 

This recipe should in theory work with any and all of Lush's shower gels, so while I trialled it with my three favourite products, you could quite easily choose your favourite gel and have a go at creating your own body lotion in the same manner. 

Start off by measuring out 100g of unscented body lotion into a bowl. You can opt to make a bigger batch, and if this is something you'd like to do, just double or triple all of the ingredients in the recipe. However, I should state that smaller batches work better as they're far fresher when you use them and 100g will last you quite a while!

As I've had so much success with this product, I again used Calmer Solutions Unscented Body Lotion as I find that not only is this product completely fragrance free as it advertises, but it is also really moisturising on the skin and works as well as some of the more expensive, shop-brought varieties. 

Give your shower gel a shake and then spoon 2-3 teaspoons of it into the bowl with the body lotion - the amount will depend on how strong you want the body lotion to be. Stir it around until all of the gel has been completely dissolved into the moisturiser and then leave it to sit for 10-15 minutes. This will give the body lotion a little time to absorb the shower gel and it's scent. 

You'll notice that the body lotion will develop a light shade of whatever colour the shower gel is. This is something I found really exciting when making this for the first time and I actually prefer it to the boring white/cream colours that you get from Lush. Don't worry though, your skin will not be stained by this colour at all. 

You'll also notice that the consistency of the body lotion is quite light which is due to the oils in the shower gel breaking down the thickeners in the unscented gel. Again, I feel this works to the advantage of the product for many reasons. Firstly, I really dislike lotions that leave your skin feeling greasy and with these ones I didn't find this happened at all. They nourished my skin but were refreshing and very gentle on my body. Secondly, the lotion lasted a lot longer as I needed to use less each time.This means that they are good value for money. 

All three of these body lotions gave off smells that replicated the shower gels perfectly and I was really impressed to find that they all left their mark on my skin, which meant I could enjoy each scent a lot longer than I could before. Both the Ponche and the Twilight creations actually outlasted most of the Lush body lotions I have tried, which was awesome. 

While I cannot comment on how long these lotions will last, I have been using these for over a week now and have found that they still smell wonderfully strong and fragrant - with no sign of separating or discolouration. Given how over zealous I am being with all of these lotions, I'm unsure whether they'll be around long enough for me to see if they have a use by date.  

Having tried all of these out over the past week, I am amazed at the results. As I have been suffering from a rather nasty cold, my hands and feet became incredibly dry and my feet in particular developed areas of dry, flaky skin. After using these lotions twice a day, the dry patches disappeared in a matter of hours and my skin was left feeling really smooth, supple and soft.

For such a simple idea, I am very surprised that it hasn't been tried out by Lushies all across the globe and documented online. However, if there are consumers out there doing this, they don't seem very keen on sharing their endeavours. I really hope this inspires you to try this out with your favourite shower gel and I look forward to hearing and seeing your results!