Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bath Bomb

After a long and rather expensive first part to the year, this purchase symbolises what I hope is the last seasonal item for a while. Although I know that Lush should be bringing out their Fathers' Day range at some point, the fact that I've already ordered the range from Spain, means that I shouldn't have to buy anything more (aside from any Kitchen releases) until the Halloween collection towards the end of the year.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow is the last Oxford Street exclusive to make an appearance in the shop - a bath bomb that is currently only available in the flagship store, but which I hope makes an appearance in the Kitchen at some point during the Easter releases. If not for the desire to ensure that every Lushie has the chance to at least try this product for themselves, I hope it's made available worldwide for the simple fact that it is such a great bath bomb, and needs to be experienced.

Sharing its scent with the soap of the same name, the fragrance lends itself far better to this format. While the design hints that this ballistic will be a fruity experience, it's rather intriguing them to discover that it is very different from the citrus affair I was expecting.

Containing neroli, mandarin and rose, the smell of this is like a woody, rose aroma, with a sickly sweet note that reminds me a little of Hot Milk? Bubble Bar. Initially, you get both the rose and the neroli - the former offering the usual powdery, dry floral component; the latter bringing a sort of metallic, green scent, with uplifting but spicy facets that give this bath bomb a woody, grassy aroma.

Alongside these two notes is a gentle and rather dry mandarin element. It's definitely not the usual fruity, zesty smell you'd expect from such an ingredient, and instead reminds me a little of those pot pourri sets you purchase that have slices of dried fruit added alongside the other components.

What is impressive about Somewhere Over The Rainbow is that it omits a very strong, long-lasting aroma - yet one that isn't overbearing, neither inside the packet or when combined with water. This is a fragrance that is as robust as it is delicate; one that'll linger on your skin and hair for hours after you've exited the bath, yet one that doesn't dominate other products when you're in the bath. For this reason, I consider it to be near enough a perfect bomb.

Upon contact with the water, the ballistic immediately begins to fizz, albeit quietly, and releases wave after wave of thick, colourful foam across the surface of the tub. At first, the outer peach-coloured layer froths and sends an impressive wave of foam across the water; the orange layer following suit, and the inner purple layer finishing last.

While the ballistic dissolves slowly and silently in the water, trails of blue, orange, yellow, purple and green also begin to burst from the bath bomb, and you end up with all seven colours of the rainbow on display while the product is doing its job. Although these colours soon dissolve into the water and leave behind a vivid, orange tub of water to bathe in, the colours create patterns across the surface while they're still present, which is beautiful to observe.

Once the product has finished, the bath water is as bright and vibrant as it is fragrant, and I found that I could detect the scent the whole way through my experience, not matter what other products I used while in the tub. The bath bomb was also rather moisturising on the skin, although not overly so. My skin was really soft and smooth after bathing in its water, and it cleared up a couple of the dry patches that I had developed on my hands.

For a bath bomb I wasn't particularly enamoured by because of its description, I was so surprised that I loved it as much as I did. Not being a fan of the soap led me to believe that I was going to find the aroma of this to be too potent in the hot water for my liking. However, I found that it worked incredibly well, and created a fresh and exciting bath that I was sad to leave.

Ultimately, this is a unique and very surprising bath bomb - standing out like a sore thumb amongst the many other citrus-dominated bubble bars and bath bombs that have banded together to form this year's Easter range. This is for those that want something different from the family of Brazilian orange oil inspired products that have been released, and different it definitely is.

As I am making a conscious effort to not stock up on every product that makes an appearance in Oxford Street, I won't be buying many more of these. However, this is not because of the bath bomb itself, which I think is easily one of my favourites to come out this year. If you can get to Oxford Street, try your best to grab a couple of these - if you don't live within means of a visit, set a date to order a couple of these when they (hopefully) make an appearance in the Kitchen.       

Quantitative Ingredients: ?

Vegan?: Yes.

2016 Price: £3.25 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2016.

Scent Family:
Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bath Bomb
Somewhere Over The Rainbow Soap