Oxford Street Soap

When I first breezed through the sneaky photos that Lush and other bloggers had posted about the 'mysterious' new Lush shop that was opening on Oxford Street, one of the most interesting photos was that of a massive slab of soap. The image showed a piece that probably weighed as much as the average adult human, and had been crafted to look like a space on a Monopoly board. 

Immediately, questions began to flood my mind. Would we be able to buy this soap or was it just for show? What fragrance did it offer - would it be comprised of a consumer favourite or something completely new? If the latter, exactly what scent would be worthy enough of representing such an iconic piece of art?

Exclusive to the very store it is named after, Oxford Street Soap is exactly what you would expect it to smell like...and yet it smells unlike anything that I could have put into words before trying it out for myself. Comprised of Lush's most used essentials oils, this soap epitomises the very 'Lush smell' we know and love; it doesn't share its scent with any one particular product, it shares its fragrance with a small aspect of each and every single Lush product to ever come out of the company.

Including the likes of neroli, lemon, bergamot and jasmine, this soap is a beautiful homage to the diverse and very distinct world of Lush - a refreshingly crisp yet equally warming aroma that carries you through the day and on into the night. For me, the smell that links all of the other notes together is the Sicilian lemon oil - a sweet, fruity and very gentle citrusy smell. There is nothing bitter about this scent at all - in a way it reminds me of a fresh, creamy lemon cheesecake. 

However, don't for a second think that this ingredient elevates itself above the others...

The neroli is next - offering a green and slightly grassy floral aroma. While I wouldn't say that this soap smells at all like lemongrass, there is something about the aforementioned ingredients that comes close to replicating that crisp, fresh, zesty smell. 

The bergamot and jasmine pad out the aroma of this soap - all working in perfect harmony to produce a smell that people will love and cherish - one that would be incredible as a perfume or as a body lotion. When compared to the 29 and a half perfume, which is a fragrance designed to smell like walking into a Lush store, I would say that this soap is less citrusy and playful - offering a more grounded and slightly greener smell. I love it. 

Unfortunately, Oxford Street did not work very well for me as a soap. Don't get me wrong, this soap lathered up a treat - producing a thick foam that coated my skin with ease and left me feeling clean. And despite its generosity under the running water, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't shrink that quickly, even in between uses. 

However, once the foam had been washed away, I found that my skin felt very taut under the water and I had to lather on some shower gel just to ease the feeling. This meant that the wonderful smell didn't stay with me past leaving the shower - a travesty if there ever was one. 

Ultimately, I would probably only request samples in the future, just to keep a piece with me to sniff from time to time; it would not be one I'd buy again to use. Having said that, this is personal preference as it is as near to being a perfect soap if there ever was one. In fact, I debated for quite some time as to whether or not I should give this a rating of four or five. 

While it only received the latter, it's not that far away from being the former - the only thing stopping it being how it made me skin feel afterwards. Despite not getting on with this myself, I highly recommend that you test it out for yourself - it almost pains me that I cannot use this as freely as some of you will be able to do.

Quantitative Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Glycerine, Rapeseed Oil; Coconut Oil (Brassica napus; Cocos nucifera), Sorbitol, Perfume, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Stearate, Neroli Oil (Citrus Aurantium amara), Sicilian Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum), Bergamot Oil (Citrus Aurantium bergamia), Jasmine Absolute (Jasminum grandiflorum), Powdered Charcoal, Gardenia Extract (Gardenia jasminoides), Titanium Dioxide, Alpha-Isomethyl ionone, Benzyl Alcohol, Citronellol, Geraniol, *Limonene, *Linalool, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Citral, Colour 45350, Colour 61570.

Vegan?: Yes.

2015 Price: £4 for 100g. 

Year Of Original Release: 2015.