Candy Floss Showder

'Stampede...in the gorge...Simba's down there!'. Okay, so I might have needlessly brought up a childhood trauma that many of you might never forgive me for, but it's also a good description of how I felt the day I visited the Oxford Street store for the first time. The whole experience looked and felt a little like a watering hole at feeding time - the word carnage springing to mind when I think of the determination etched on the faces of those desperately trying to scoop up the exclusive products.

While Lush were prepared for the blitz of bath products - their shelves stacked high and the floor littered with sacks full of the beautiful bombs, they weren't so prepared for the popularity of their shower section. Within ten minutes of the store opening, many of the products had disappeared from the shelves, and while Lush had more stock they were able to bring out, some of these items sold out very quickly. 

Candy Floss Showder was one such item, and while I was lucky enough to grab the last box available, I was less successful with their Lemon Sherbet variation - a product I have yet to acquire even to this day. Designed to look and smell like  a freshly spun batch of the popular confectionary, this limited edition product is the first of it's kind. 

Presented in a box reminiscent of the old-fashioned washing powders, this is one of four showders - each of which is slightly different from the others. While Life's A Beach acts as more of a coarse salt and sand scrub, this showder is less exfoliating but more moisturising on the skin. 

Containing calamine powder, clove bud oil and vanilla absolute, this unique shower companion shares its scent with the Creamy Candy family. The combination of ylang ylang oil and vanilla gives the showder a rich, decadent and very sweet candy-esque aroma, while the inclusion of the clove buds add a gentle level of heat that gives it a wonderful kick - especially when it comes into contact with the heat of the water. 

With the inclusion of granulated sugar to help gently exfoliate and polish the body, and calamine powder to soothe irritated and sensitive skin, Candy Floss acts as a great product that sits between a soap and a scrub. While it doesn't give the impression that it would be particular moisturising, I was pleasantly surprised to find that  it leaves the skin feeling and smelling delicious. 

Unfortunately, much like the shower sheets, I found this product to be a little disappointing in the shower. Firstly, it was very difficult to keep this box dry in-between and during uses, and I had to transfer the showder into an old plastic tub to prevent my box from disintegrating. 

Secondly, while the showder does react to the water and foam up a little in your hand, as soon as I tried to spread it across my body there was very little product to use because most of it had already been rinsed away with the water. Even when I attempted to use this outside of the flow of the shower, I found that the generous helping I had shaken out, didn't go very far in terms of washing my entire body. For this reason, I cannot imagine the box lasting for as long as a shower gel of the same weight would do. 

On the positive side, Candy Floss Showder has a very strong aroma and it definitely leaves its mark on your skin and indeed in the bathroom for a long time afterwards. Furthermore, it does leave your skin looking rather radiant and feeling incredibly soft after you've towelled yourself down. 

However, I cannot see this being something I use on a regular basis. As Lush offer so many amazing shower gels, including Snow Fairy that has a very similar smell to this, I would much rather purchase one of these and know that it'll last me longer, be less messy in the shower and work out better value for money. 

While I really love the design of the box and think that the showders are great fun for the few short weeks that they last, Candy Floss would not be on my list of regular items to purchase, and I'd much rather convert a block of Godmother into a sugar scrub and use this instead. It's an interesting idea but not one I would be interested in buying again. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Granulated Sugar, Calamine Powder, Citric Acid, Cornflour (Zea mays), Disodium Lauryl Sulphosuccinate, Perfume, Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute (Vanilla planifolia), Ylang Ylang Oil (Cananga odorata), Clove Bud Oil (Eugenia caryophyllus), Alpha- Isomethyl ionone, Eugenol, Limonene, Linalool.

Vegan?: Yes.

Year Of Original Release: 2015.

Scent Family:

Bunny Bubble Bar
Candy Cane Bubble Bar
Candy Floss Showder
Candy Mountain Bubble Bar

Candy Mountain Bubble Bar Slice
Close To You Massage Bar
Creamy Candy Bubble Bar
Creamy Candy Liquid Perfume
Rock Star Soap