Ectoplasm Naked Shower Scream

This review may seem a little harsh to some but there are times when the truth has to be said out loud, and I have always striven to offer my honest opinion about Lush. For all of my regular readers, it goes without saying that I have never sugarcoated any of my reviews. Whether it goes against the grain, or follows the general consensus, I aim to offer complete transparency for those wishing to seek advice before buying a product.

Although some products may not be to my liking, I will always look for the reasons why they would appeal to others. However, there are times when a product will leave me rather baffled as to what swayed the company into releasing it, when it just doesn’t seem to represent the quality they strive for, and usually achieve. 

Now I’m not ignorant: I understand why Lush thought that Ectoplasm would be a great range to offer consumers for their seasonal release. And from the outside, I fully embrace the idea as well, as Ectoplasm Jelly Bomb does offer a wonderful smell that would work so well in so many different formats. However, I will state very clearly that I do not think Ectoplasm Naked Solid Shower Scream is at a stage where it should be being released for consumer purchase. There comes a time when novelty is simply not an excuse for a poor product, and I genuinely think this shower cream is just that. 

Stepping away from the angry blogger, I should start by saying that the design of Ectoplasm Naked Shower Scream is simply beautiful. The idea of something so vivid and vibrant in my shower built a huge excitement inside of me when I found out it was being released, and while it's a little messy when left to dry on bathroom surfaces, it impressed me a lot by just how fluorescent to turned out to be. However, this was about the only thing that impressed me about this Halloween special. 

For those who have sniffed the original jelly bomb, you’ll no doubt recognise that the ‘classic’ Ectoplasm smell is a sweet, fruity and rather sherbety concoction of tangerine and grapefruit oils. The two combine well together and offer something uplifting and yet comforting at the same time. Yet despite being modelled on this jelly bomb, the naked shower scream doesn’t seem to smell anything like its older sibling.

Firstly, I found that the smell of the naked gel was very weak - both before and during use. Normally, the naked shower gels and creams tend to be a little subtler than their liquid counterparts. However, I found the scent of this to be very quiet, and the other products in my box completely overshadowed the smell. 

Once I had given it a little time away from the other products, I was able to pick up hints at the tangerine oil in the ingredients list, although the grapefruit was far subtler and didn't make anywhere near the same impression as it does in the jelly bomb. For this reason, Ectoplasm Naked Shower Cream actually smells rather like the orange Starburst sweet, for those familiar with popular British candy. The slightly sour element of the grapefruit seems to be missing here, so the overall tangerine smell was rather underwhelming.

In the shower, the fragrance didn't elevate very much at all. In fact, at times I could smell some of the other cosmetics that were sitting in my bathroom, not even being used. This disappointed me very much as the potential for the Ectoplasm range was super exciting in my mind, and yet this product was not living up to my expectations at all.

As you will no doubt have guessed, this shower cream left no lingering impression on the skin afterwards. Given that I could barely smell the product to begin with, I wasn't surprised when there was zero trace of other citrus oil on my body after towelling myself down.

What I will say is that the shower cream does tend to be rather moisturising - definitely more so than a soap, and quite a lot of Lush's shower gels as well. Given that it includes cocoa butter as one of the base ingredients, the cream did leave my skin feeling really smooth and soft to the touch, and I found that I could still feel the benefits of this a couple of hours later. 

As Ectoplasm is a cream and not a gel, the product itself doesn't lather up and create an abundance of foamy suds to clean yourself with, as the buttery base prevents this from happening. However, the naked cream does work rather well, when compared to other naked gels/creams, and I was able to massage it across my body very quickly and leave enough of trace to wash my whole body with.

A word of warning though: this naked shower scream is definitely squidgier than the other naked products I have tried, so it's best not to use it directly under the water. The consistency means that it's far more likely to shrink if constantly exposed to hot water, and the bottle does get a little slippery if left this way as well. 

Furthermore, the nature of this product also means that leaving it out to dry can be a bit of a problem if you don't want a mess. You'll need to store it on a flat surface with preferably a piece of greaseproof paper underneath to catch the colour. In addition, I would also suggest that you pat it down a little after use (although I don't know what with as you will stain a towel) as leaving it wet will no doubt also shrink it a little quicker.

Overall, this product needs to head back to the drawing board and get tweaked. While the colour is super vibrant and it moisturises the skin well, the scent really needs to be stronger and far more in-keeping with the original scent to make this as impressive as it should be. This pales in comparison to its liquid sister, and I only hope that the perfumes and wash card are a tad more impressive.

Quantitative Ingredients: Propylene, Glycol, Sodium Stearate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate Cocamidopropyl, Betaine, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Almond Oil, *Limonene, Tangerine Oil, Tangerine Water, Tangerine Juice, Fresh Grapefruit Juice, Grapefruit Oil, Litsea, Cubeba Oil, *Citral, *Linalool, Perfume, Colour 59040.

Vegan?: Yes.

2018 Price: £8.95 for 200g. 

Year Of Original Release: 2018.


Scent Family:
Ectoplasm Jelly Bath Bomb
Ectoplasm Liquid Perfume
Ectoplasm Naked Shower Scream
Ectoplasm Shower Scream
Ectoplasm Solid Perfume


Ectoplasm Washcard