White Wedding Bath Bomb

As someone who doesn't consider herself a traditionalist, I don't know if I'll ever get married - it's just not something that I've ever given much thought to, and I've certainly never had any dreams of grandeur over the 'perfect dress' or how the supposed 'happiest day of my life' would go down. However, if there was a smell that I could blacklist from my big day, the scent of this product would be one of them.

White Wedding Bath Bomb was designed and released by Lush back in 2008, as an interesting and rather unique gift idea for either the guests, or the bride and groom on their wedding day. Packed full of confetti to make the experience as close to the real thing, this white ballistic seems like the perfect bridal bouquet for bath lovers.

While I am not one for floral fragrances, I was intrigued to see what Lush considered to be a suitable marital arrangement. Having been to so few weddings in my time, I wouldn't have a clue as to what scents are associated with 'the big day', and I was initially very impressed with the ingredients that Lush had selected and the reasons why.

Containing jasmine, ylang ylang, bergamot and rose, it initially appears as if this bath bomb has been blessed with the four most popular floral ingredients.However, the reason behind why these were selected is far more clever.

Jasmine, one of the world's most famous aphrodisiacs, offers a heavy scent that remind us of warm, sulty evenings in sheltered moonlit gardens; Ylang ylang, from the flower whose petals are spread all over the marriage bed in the far east, gives us sweet, grassy undertones - like little personalised kisses.Then there's a generous helping of bergamot, to keep you feeling calm but curious, while it dances between the other floral notes on offer; while rose, the ultimate symbol of love and purity, puts the finishing touches together like a well-versed book.

So why was it then that my first encounter with this bath bomb turned out to be such a negative one? While I could detect that the jasmine was definitely the strongest element, with the ylang ylang offering a strong, sweet, almost resinous afterthought, there was something about the floral arrangement that wasn't very appealing to my senses. Although I appreciate and enjoy all four of these ingredients when they've been featured in other bath bombs, there was something about this one that just didn't sit well with me. And then it clicked.

White Wedding Bath Bomb smells like a member of the Lust family, decaying; it smells like the Floating Flower Ballistic has been left in a damp puddle to rot, and someone has taken a sample of this smell and jazzed it up a little with some added floral components. As aggressive as this description may appear to those reading this, and despite the fact that the bath bomb doesn't present itself with any overly potent smell to begin with, my reaction to the smell of this product was quite averse, which rarely happens with Lush products.

Luckily, the smell did dampen a bit in the bath tub, so I was able to bathe peacefully without feeling at all nauseous, and in fairness to the bath bomb, I did find the gentle floral properties of the rose and the bergamot rather soothing in the water. However, I could not shake the initial smell that I detected from the start, and every time I tried to look past this, I kept coming back to that almost mouldy-smelling flowery smell that appeared to thwart every other note that was fighting to be noticed. I would definitely describe it as more of a youthful floral smell than a mature one, which is perhaps why I found it a little too unsettling for my tastebuds.

In the water, the bath bomb fizzed away fairly quickly - dancing across the surface and decorating the water with an array of pink and white confetti hearts. There were a good number of these rice paper cut outs so I was worried that I might find them stuck to my skin or nestled into my hair by the end of the experience. However, I was pleased to find that the confetti sunk to the bottom of the tub and stayed down there for most of the bath. Afterwards, a simple rinse with the shower hose cleared the bath of all debris, and I didn't have to worry that the paper hearts were going to clog up my water pipes.

For someone who appreciates the more colourful bath bombs that Lush offer, this one was fairly average for me. While the water did become slightly cloudy, and the confetti did pattern the bottom of the bath tub, there was not really enough of a change here for me to get excited by the experience.

Having said that, I was impressed that the fragrance of White Wedding was present throughout the whole experience, and even managed to appear stronger than a bubble bar that I added in alongside it for moisture. As it's quite  a fresh smell, I also enjoyed the fact that it left me feeling uplifted as well as clean afterwards. This is perhaps a good choice for the warmer months, when you need a little 'pick me up', but aren't looking anything too cloying.

Ultimately, this is not a bath bomb that I would want to purchase again. Although the smell isn't the worst that Lush have ever produced, there is a nasty bite of jasmine featured that has put me off wanting to use it in the future. I can definitely see this being a popular bath bomb for those who enjoy floral smells more, and I can recognise that my experience doesn't echo that of everyone else's. However, much like the actual event, they'll be no White Wedding in my future, that's for sure.

    

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Perfume, Ylang Ylang Oil, Jasmine Absolute, Rose Otto, Bergamot Oil, Titanium Dioxide, *Benzyl Benzoate, Citronellol, *Farnesol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Rice Paper Hearts.

Vegan?: Yes.

2017 Price: £4.25 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2008.