Winter Berry Soap

As I have been so absent from the community these last few months, I quite literally have no clue what products have been released, and every new item I pull out of my box is a complete surprise. Therefore, when I first pulled out a slab of Winter Berry Soap, my immediate reaction was that it was just a brand new rendition of the Raspberry Milkshake Soap.

However, upon inspection of the ingredients list and the scent that greeted my nose, I realised that it was not as I originally assumed. In fact, upon further investigation, I discovered that this brand new member of the Christmas range supposedly shared it scent with the Angels' Delight Soap that was a regular feature of the season range a good many years ago. 

For those who have not perhaps been travelling with me on my Lush journey, I can honestly say that the aforementioned smell, which also happens to feature in the Tennis Ball Bath Bomb and the Magic Wand Soap as well, is easily one of my favourite fruity smells that Lush have ever produced. However, I feel as if some of its magic has been lost very slightly in this latest soap offering.

To my nose, the smell of Winter Berry is a bright, fruity tangerine smell, with an extra playful burst of magic that can almost be associated with any other citrus smell you wish to imagine. Think you can smell a fruity strawberry smell here? You're probably right. Something a little more bright and citrusy overtaking your nose? Why not. There is something about this warming aroma that smells almost synthetic but equally as fresh and playful, and blimin' beautiful.

However, what spoilt this experience for me was the soap itself. On the surface, I loved the fact that Lush included an abundance of strawberry seeds to add a little exfoliation action when I lathered the soap across my skin. You can honestly feel the presence of the seeds under the surface of the soap, and it does make a difference to how smooth your skin feels afterwards, without being at all 'scratchy' in the process.

The design of the soap as well, with its bumpy surface, means that you almost feel as if you're giving yourself a massage whilst you're cleaning yourself. This only serves to calm and relax your body and mind a little more, which is perfect if your plan is to head to bed soon after you've had your shower.

However, a design flaw that I noticed was that the soap appeared rather thin from the very first use. Although easy to hold and manoeuvre across the body, within a couple of days it almost felt as if the soap was going to break in half when under the water: it felt flimsy and like there was very little product in the block to begin with. 

While Winter Berry is sold in 100g blocks, I almost feel as if you're getting a lot less product that other soaps of the same weight. This is probably more to do with the shape of the design itself, but needless to say that I feel as I won't be able to utilise this soap as long as some of the other seasonal soaps, because of the fact that the way it shrinks leaves it harder to use across the skin.

Having said that, Winter Berry does produce quite a nice oily lather, which coats the skin with ease and leaves a wonderful fruity fragrance that lingers for a good hour after you've left the shower. However, by itself it hasn't proven to be particularly nourishing on my skin, and I did need to use a body lotion afterwards to put back some of that moisture into my skin again.

Overall, I really appreciated the scent of this soap and I did enjoy the strawberry seeds to add a little exfoliation. However, the design and shape of this doesn't allow for any sort of longevity once the soap begins to shrink, and therefore wouldn't be one that I would invest in a second time around. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Glycerine, Propylene Glycol, Organic Sesame Oil, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Perfume, Organic Castor Oil, Cranberry Juice, Tangerine Oil, Bergamot Oil, Strawberry Seeds, Citric Acid, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Bicarbonate, *Citral, *Limonene, *Linalool, Colour 45410:1, Colour 17200.

Vegan?: Yes.

2019 Price: £5.50 for 100g.

Year Of Original Release: 2019.