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.

Cranberry Fizz Lip Scrub

Cranberries have never been something that my family or I have ever indulged in, aside from my mum drinking a glass of the juice every morning when I was much younger. I think the fruit is definitely more of an American Thanksgiving tradition than anything else, as I don't recall ever having cranberry sauce or jelly on any of my meats growing up.

To be honest, I usually find the fragrance of cranberries to be a little too bitter and sour for my liking, so I tend to shy away from any cosmetics that have the fruit at the forefront of their smell. However, I was intrigued and very surprised when I sniffed Cranberry Fizz Lip Scrub for the first time and found myself enjoying the scent rather a lot.

Containing peach kernel, orange and lime oils, it's safe to say that the smell of this lip scrub is gorgeous. It's like a fruity collaboration between the cranberry and the other components, so rather than the bitterness of the cranberries coming through, the orange and peach soften the edge with a syrup-like burst of fruity sweetness. The lime oil then runs through all of this with it's uplifting and slightly zesty appearance.

Although not really something that should be particularly important, the taste of this lip scrub was one of the best I have tasted so far. Many a time I found myself scooping the product right out of the pot and consuming it like it was a dessert. Whereas I would normally detect a very delicate soapy component to the taste of Lush's lip scrubs, I found that this wasn't the case with this one - which could be seen as a good or a bad thing, depending on how much restraint you have when it comes to your sweet-tooth.

To use, I simply scooped out a tiny amount with my finger and then rubbed the scrub all over my lips in a circular motion for about thirty seconds. Then the best part: I used my tongue to lick off the excess sugar from my lips before applying my favourite lip gloss or balm to finish the routine.

With Cranberry Fizz, I found that my lips felt super smooth and soft almost immediately, and they continued to feel this way for a good few hours afterwards. Any dried skin that had been present before using this disappeared, and after trying this across the space of a few days, I found that any signs of chapping disappeared within forty-eight hours.

Ultimately, this little lip scrub is a must have from this year's Christmas range. Although small and possibly something that many consumers will ignore, I highly suggest that you tuck one of these away in your loved one's stocking, so that they can enjoy smooth and soft lips during the more harsher months of the year.

Quantitative Ingredients: Caster Sugar, Organic Jojoba Oil, Fair Trade Shea Butter, Citric Acid, Peach Kernel Oil, Sodium Bicarbonate, Cranberry Seed Oil, Brazilian Orange Oil, Ginger Absolute, Lime Oil, Titanium Dioxide, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Tin Oxide, *Citral, *Limonene, Flavour, Colour 77491, Colour 15850:1.

Vegan?: Yes. 

2018 Price: £6.50 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2018.

Merry Berry Soap

I think it's become a very British thing to invest in The Great British Bakeoff every year: the name itself suggests as much. While I can honestly claim that I watch television perhaps an average of twice a month, most of this is due to me binge-watching the series over a small expanse of time. There is quite literally nothing else on TV that interests me enough to even turn the box on itself.

When I heard that Merry Berry was one of the soaps in this year's Christmas range, I gave a little smile imagining what fragrance the company would go for to represent one of, who I believe is, the sweetest and most talented women on TV. When the soap arrived, I just knew that Lush had gotten this one right.

Containing a whole host of tantalising ingredients for your skin and nose, this limited edition comes as a round slab, with a circumference of roughly seven centimetres and a depth of just over two. This is a big piece of soap, and also rather pretty-looking with its deep red coloured design and creamy white pattern across the top.

From the start, it was both the rose absolute and the lemon oil that made the biggest impression for me. In fact, there is something rather reminiscent of Rose Jam here that I just couldn't shake, even after a few weeks of using this in the shower. While not an exact replica, it does remind me of the popular scent family, albeit far richer and more sophisticated.

My nose could detect a rich, rather indulgent dry rose smell at first, laced with warming dose of lemon oil that entangles itself around the floral components and uplifts the whole smell. Alongside this, a delicate layer of clove oil creates a rich, comforting blanket to ground the whole aroma somewhat. 

Next up, we have a generous helping of dried cranberries and blueberries: both of which add their own sweet and slightly sharp fruitiness, which as Lush suggest in their description, gives this soap an aroma that reminds me very slightly of dried fruit cake. When in use, these berries come forth quite a bit, whereas before coming into contact with water, they're a little more reserved.

What I found with Merry Berry was that it created a different lather depending on how and where you used it. In the bath, this soap will produce a light but rather heavy foam that coats your skin with ease and leaves a wonderfully lingering delicate smell. If you choose to use this in the shower, the lather takes a little more work to stimulate, and what you get instead is a thicker, more oiler lather to wash yourself with. 

Either way, I was impressed that this product actually appeared to moisturise my skin quite well for a soap, which I think is in part to the inclusion of the castor oil in the ingredients list. Furthermore, Merry Berry did leave a warming blend of rose and fruit on my skin after I had towelled myself down. 

My only qualm with this product was the fact that the size and shape made it slightly difficult to lather at first, and some of the berries can be a little scratchy if they poke through the surface whilst you're washing. Having said that, the soap is definitely a lovely addition to this year's Christmas range and I can imagine more products will appear in this scent as time goes on.     

Quantitative Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Propylene Glycol, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Organic Castor Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Perfume, Sodium Stearate, Dried Cranberries, Dried Blueberries, Geranium Oil, Rose Absolute, Sicilian Lemon Oil, Clove Bud Oil, Citric Acid, Glycerine, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Bicarbonate, Alpha-Isomethyl Ionone, *Citral, *Citronellol, Coumarin, *Eugenol, *Geraniol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Colour 17200.

Vegan?: Yes. 

2018 Price: £6.95 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2018.

Sultana Body Lotion

With a total of ten body lotions being released from the Lush Kitchen this month, there was bound to be one that didn't live up to the expectations I had set. In fact, I don't think there hasn't been a Lush order where at least one of the products has stuck out like a sore thumb, and dampened my excitement a little in the process.

Sultana Body Lotion was actually one of the ones I was most excited about trying. With the recent release of the shower gel, and last year's Halloween Bewitched Bubble Bar, I have come to appreciate the scent an awful lot more than I used to. There is something so rich and comforting about the fragrance, and I couldn't think of a better way of indulging myself in the smell than by smothering myself with a body lotion to match my craving. Unfortunately, it didn't take more than me removing the lid and giving the lotion a quick sniff to realise just how underwhelmed I was about this release.

As to be expected from this fragrance, the collaboration of apricot, cranberries and currants help to make Sultana a very fruity concoction. Paired with a generous dosage of olibanum oil and what you get is a smell that is both richly fruity but also very sultry as well.  

While it is called Sultana, it is the latter ingredient that normally makes the biggest presence when it comes to all of the products in this scent family. However, I found very quickly that the amount of olibanum present in the lotion was considerably lower than expected, and I didn't experience that rounded, almost sticky-sweet fragrance that I was expecting. Although the fragrance of the body lotion is still very similar to all of the other products with the same scent, I just felt as if it wasn't as rich or as decadent. 

There is something about this lotion that suggests that this aforementioned ingredient has somewhat less of an impact on the senses, and the fruity elements present are definitely what's holding this smell together. On the skin, it was the apricots and currants that kept the aroma alive, and the olibanum tended to fade into the background rather quickly.

While you could smell the familiar combination of olibanum, apricots and currants, there was definitely something rather weak about the smell of this when compared to every other format I have tried. After applying this across my body, I was no longer able to smell it at all within the first thirty minutes - making it the weakest of the ten new body lotions. Furthermore, the lack extra oils and butters, as other lotions contain, Sultana was not as moisturising to boot.

The consistency of this body lotion was on par with the likes of Karma Cream and Ginger Body Lotion, and was really easy to apply onto the skin. In fact, you needed very little to moisturise your whole body with, and I found that the cream itself absorbed into the skin very quickly as well. 

While it didn't offer any glean on the surface of the skin, it did leave my body feeling very moisturised and hydrated. Due to the lack of extra oils in the ingredients list, Sultana would definitely be an all-rounder: working with every skin type without irritating the skin or making it too greasy. If you're looking for something light, this would be a great lotion to go for, as it doesn't leave you feeling at all heavy of oily. 

My main issue with this body lotion however, is the fact that the scent dissipated so quickly that I could barely enjoy the fragrance on my skin before it had completely disappeared. And while it worked well as a lotion, there wasn't anything extra special about how my skin felt afterwards - any better than what I could achieve with a regular body lotion. 

This is certainly not a body lotion I would buy again, which is a shame because the shower gel was one of the highlights of the last Lush Kitchen release. Having said that, there was bound to be at least one body lotion that didn't live up to my expectations, and I not like I don't have another seven tubs of lotions to keep me going for a while. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Almond Oil, Apricot Infusion, Cranberry Infusion, Currant infusion, Water (Aqua), Glycerine, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Organic Jojoba Oil, Stearic Acid, Organic Illipe Butter, Triethanolamine, Olibanum Oil, Bergamot Oil, Cetearyl Alcohol, Butylphenyl, Methylpropional Hexyl, Cinnamal, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume. 

Vegan?: Yes.

2018 Price: £14.95 for 225g.

Year Of Original Release: 2018.

Scent Family:
Bewitched Bubble Bar

Blackberry Bath Bomb
Sultana Body Lotion
Sultana Shower Gel

Sultana Of Skin Body Conditioner

Sultana Of Soap Soap

Sultana Shower Gel

As I stated in my recent 'first reactions' video, Sultana Of Soap was a product I used during the beginning of my journey into the world of Lush. However, with so many products to try and review, it was quickly forgotten in favour of the many new items that were coming out on a weekly basis in the Lush Kitchen. A couple of years ago, when I had finally caught up and was able to go back to products I hadn't used in years, I rediscovered the Sultana scent all over again and fell in love.

Sharing its scent with last year's discontinued Blackberry Bath Bomb, Sultana Shower Gel is as exquisite as it is beautiful. There is something about this smell that tantalises my taste buds every time, and the soap will always make me salivate a little when I go into stores. There is something so rich and sultry about this aroma that makes this fragrance stand out from all of the other fruity scents that Lush have showcased over the years.

Much like the soap, this limited edition shower gel features a combination of apricots, cranberries and sultanas, with a big helping of olibanum to give the smell a depth like no other shower gel on the planet. While it is called Sultana, it is the latter ingredient that makes the biggest presence. The olibanum is what gives this scent its almost sickly-sweet properties - offering sticky, almost honey-like notes that give this shower gel both depth and warmth. While olibanum is known for having woody notes as well, these sit more underneath everything else featured here - so while you can detect them, they're not as present as the other ingredients. 

The apricot, cranberry and currant infusions work alongside the olibanum and give Sultana an even stronger burst of sweetness. Much like many dried fruits I have tried, these three each bring their own burst of matured richness that you just don't get from fresh fruit. I would describe the scent of these three as being almost dry and slightly syrup-like, and there's an air of sophistication about the combination that makes this smell almost slightly old-fashioned.

Much like Avocado Wash, Sultana is very thin in consistency, which has its merits as explained below. It is also prone to separation a little: you'll notice that the top of the bottle will harvest a layer of oil that needs to be shaken before the gel can be used.

In the shower, you don't need to use much of this gel at all to create a light, fluffy and very fragrant lather. Because the consistency is rather watery, you need to be careful when squirting this from the bottle because you'll probably end up with a lot more than you actually need to use. A tiny, pea-sized amount will easily wash half of your body and more, which means that this shower gel would could last far longer than other gels of the same size.

As soon as Sultana met with the heat of the running water, the fragrance multiplied tenfold and the whole bathroom was engulfed with its beautiful scent. This lingered around for a short while after I had towelled myself down, and I found that I could still detect this on my skin for a good couple of hours as well. It is now when this could have been the perfect opportunity to indulge myself i the Sultana Body Lotion to top up and prolong the smell even longer. Just saying.

While I didn't find this shower gel to be as moisturising as Avocado Wash, it did leave my skin feeling really smooth and radiant. The lather was easy to massage across my skin, including my face, and I felt almost as if I was glowing afterwards - which was a lovely feeling.

For those who are still upset by the discontinuation of Blackberry Bath Bomb, this is the perfect way to rekindle your love for the scent in a different format. Although I still wish that this shower gel was the pastel purple colour that the bath bomb came as, I cannot fault how well Lush have replicated the scent in this format, and I hope many more products come out with the same fragrance at some point in the near future.

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Glycerine, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Apricot Infusion, Currant infusion, Cranberry Infusion, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Olibanum Oil, Bergamot Oil, Carrageenan Extract, Titanium Dioxide, Lactic Acid, Propylene Glycol, Butylphenyl Methylpropional, Hexyl Cinnamal, *Limonene, *Linalool.

Vegan?: Yes.

2018 Price: £11.95 for 275g.

Year Of Original Release: 2018.

Scent Family:
Bewitched Bubble Bar

Blackberry Bath Bomb
Sultana Body Lotion
Sultana Shower Gel

Sultana Of Skin Body Conditioner
Sultana Of Soap Soap

Saucy Snowcake Soap

Snowcake has a seasonal ticket that sees its return near on every Christmas time. While other products come and go, there is something about this soap that draws the crowds back each and every year. Yet bored of the design it has sported every year, Lush have spent the last two years releasing it in a new guise, unfortunately to little praise.

Renamed Saucy Snowcake for the 2017 range, this most recent rendition was cleverly crafted to look like a rather yummy dessert, with three distinct layers that being something different to the soap. A crunchy bottom layer is made from ground cashew nuts, to exfoliate your skin gently while you’re lathering it across your skin; a middle layer of creamy goodness is what creates the thick, fragrant foam that you use to clean yourself with; and a fruity top layer containing fresh cranberries to cleanse your pores and give your winter-kissed skin an all important burst of antioxidants.

It didn’t take me very long to recognise that this version does smell different from older renditions. Snowcake is known for its warm and very creamy almond aroma, laced with a sweet layer of benzoin resinoid to add extra richness and depth. While Saucy Snowcake has all of these traits as well, there is definitely an extra level of fruitiness that sets it apart from its older siblings. The cranberries give the soap a delicate, refreshing and slightly tart twist that sets it apart from the rest, and perhaps takes away a little of the thickness of the original scent. I can understand why avid fans of the soap may be a little disappointed with this change, as it is noticeable and does change the dynamics of the fragrance.

2017 also saw Lush update their soap formulas so that all of the seasonal range possessed their new gourmet bases. Saucy Snowcake had a combination of soya milk and a clove infusion as part of its base, so as expected it produced a much creamier and noticeably thicker lather in the shower. This new formula is also supposed to be more moisturising on the skin, and I did notice that my hands didn’t feel as dry after using this in the shower. While it is still not as nourishing as a Shower Gel or jelly, it did leave my skin feeling smooth and soft, and there was a radiance that I put down to the inclusion of the cranberries.

After using this in the shower, I found that the scent was potent enough to linger around for a while, and I could still smell it on my skin a couple of hours later, which was lovely. The inclusion of the cashew nuts for exfoliation was definitely an added bonus for me, and I could feel the difference this made to my skin as well.

Disappointingly, I found that the life span of this soap has definitely been shortened since the formula change. Normally I would expect a 100g piece to remain in my shower for a good couple of months, with daily use. However, I found that my piece didn’t last any longer than 6 weeks, which makes it more expensive then one of Lush’s naked shower gels.

Overall, I like this rendition quite a lot and I don’t think the added layer of cranberries took away from the exquisite fragrance that Snowcake lovers love and cherish. However, I wasn’t blown away enough to want to invest in another piece. I’m definitely interested in seeing how this soap is redesigned for the up-and-coming 2018 Christmas range.

Quantitative Ingredients: ?

Vegan?: Yes.

2017 Price: £4.50 for 100g.

Year Of Original Release: 2017.

Scent Family:

Lil' Pud Ballistic 
Lush Pud

Marzibain Bubble Bar
Melting Snowman Bath Melt

Perle De Sel Bath Bomb

Puddy Holly Bubbleroon

Saucy Snowcake Soap

Snow Angel Bath Melt
Snowcake Soap

Snowcake Liquid Perfume
Snowcake Shower Gel
Snow On Snow Dusting Powder

Smitten Hand Cream

Berry Berry Christmas Shower Gel

Despite my aversion to the colder weather,  there has always been something about Christmas that has excited me and drawn me in. The festive season, including all of the wonder smells that I associate with the month of December, are part of that magic, and probably play a bigger role in my celebrations than I even realise myself.

However, when I first gave Berry Berry Christmas Shower Gel a sniff, my immediate thought was that this was not a festive fragrance at all. In fact, this was a scent that I'd expect Lush to bring out during the hottest months of the year - not one I fancied cozying up with on a bitterly-cold winter morning, when I'm struggling to get myself ready for work.

It's safe to say that multiple showers later this limited edition has grown on me significantly, and I now recognise the shower gel for what it is: a scent that is designed to compliment the colder weather as opposed to banishing it altogether.

Packed full of fruity goodness, this seasonal delight boats a cranberry infusion as its base ingredient - a component that not only creates a dry and rather tart aroma, but also offers many wonderful antioxidants to cleanse your skin with - leaving it feeling wonderfully fresh for the rest of the day. A combination of both orange and bergamot oil brings out the citrus element of all three ingredients, while the latter oil also offers a note of green that wraps itself around the fruity fragrance.

While it appears to offer a unique smell, that is only replicated by the naked version of the shower gel, Berry Berry Christmas is very similar in scent to that of Ocean Salt. There is something very crisp about it that awakens and intensifies your senses in the shower. Yet there is also something quite simplistic about the aroma as well. It's one of those smells that leaves you feeling really clean because it's very light, but equally as invigorated.

Much like the naked edition, this bottle of seasonal goodness offers a wonderfully rich emerald-esque coat: one that shimmers in the bottle and produces a gorgeously rich and fluffy lather in the shower. This is perhaps one of Lush's thickest shower gels: it's one that when you squeeze it out, it appears almost like a rubber band, and it'll shoot straight back into the bottle if you don't transfer it onto a hand or a loofer. 

As I said above, you really don't need very much at all to create a thick, fluffy and very fragrant foam to wash yourself with, so this shower gel should see you far longer than some of the runnier ones on offer. In comparison to the naked version, I would expect a 250g bottle of this to be used up a little quicker than the solid edition. However, there are a few other differences between the two that should be noted, when making a choice on which one to go for.   

From experience, I felt as if this version had a stronger, more vibrant fruity aroma. While the naked edition does offer the same smell, I felt as if it was a little more reserved than the liquid edition. For this reason, I found that Berry Berry Christmas Shower Gel left less of an impression on skin - probably because the fragrance wasn't as compact as the naked edition, therefore it 'escaped' far quicker.

Secondly, I felt as if this version was not as moisturising as its naked sibling. While my skin felt soft, smooth and clean after my shower, it didn't appear to be as well-nourished as the solid version left me. Having said this, I did prefer using this liquid gel more because I felt as if I got a better experience of the aroma whilst I was in the shower. 

Overall, I think this is a lovely edition to the Christmas range, and definitely something very different to the usual scents that Lush offer at this time of the year. This is one that I would buy again in the future, and it would be good to see a bath bomb or bubble bar in this scent, in the near future.

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Cranberry Infusion, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Glycerine, Water (Aqua), Lauryl Betaine, Sweet Wild Orange Oil, Fresh Blueberry Juice, Bergamot Oil, Olive Leaf Absolute, Cornstarch, Lactic Acid, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Perfume, *Limonene, *Linalool, *Citral, Colour 42090.

Vegan?: Yes.

2017 Price: £11.95 for 250g, £19.95 for 500g.

Year Of Original Release: 2017.

Scent Family:
Berry Berry Christmas Naked Shower Gel
Berry Berry Christmas Shower Gel
Revelations Bath Oil

Berry Berry Christmas Naked Shower Gel

While Lush have created some questionable products over the years, the idea of a naked shower gel is perhaps one of the coolest and most innovative of the lot. Although they will always receive backlash from many consumers who dislike or even worry about their creativity, this is one of their designs that I just knew would be exceptional. And I wasn't wrong. 

Berry Berry Christmas Naked Shower Gel is a brand new product for 2017 - one of four being made available throughout the Christmas season as limited editions. Coming in at roughly 12cm in height, this solid variation looks rather minuscule next to its liquid sibling. However, from only a few uses, I can already determine that this will probably outlast a 250g bottle easily, as long as it is stored in the correct manner. 

Despite most consumers recognising the need to reduce wastage, many continue to purchase products packaged in plastic or other such materials. Lush have decided to up their game and show the world that you can create impeccable products, whilst making them ethically sound at the same time. 

Although on paper, these naked gels might sound like glorified soap, I can assure you that they do not work as such. For someone who's body is rather opposed to most soaps, this limited edition did not dry my skin out at all. In fact, I found Berry Berry Christmas to be really moisturising on my skin, and I was able to enjoy the benefits of silk-soft skin for hours after I had used it.

Despite its deep, lustre-speckled emerald coat, this shower gel smells very different to the forest-like fragrance that I was expecting. With a cranberry infusion as the base ingredient, this seasonal special combines sweet orange oil, fresh blueberry juice and bergamot oil in a light but super fruity collaboration.

My nose detects both the orange oil and the bergamot oils as the key ingredients. These two intertwine and produce a bright but rather tart citrus aroma - one with elements of green that help to give the gel an almost bitter edge to it. While the cranberry infusion has been included because of its incredible antioxidant properties, and not to add to the fragrance as such, you're still able to detect a subtle hint of dryness in the mix, which I associate with the smell of fresh cranberries.

To use Lush's naked shower gels, they simply need to come into contact with water. Holding them under water for a brief second, or massaging them between two wet hands, will immediately begin to produce a thick, fragrant lather to use all over your body. You can then choose to run the bottle itself across your skin in a circular motion, or produce the lather in your hands and then use these to distribute the foam.

Either way, I was really impressed to find that I didn't need to hold the product for long to produce the amount of lather that I needed to wash my whole body. I was worried at first that the bottle would shrink a lot quicker because of this constant exposure to water. However, I found that I only needed to use Berry Berry Christmas Naked Shower Gel for a few seconds before I was able to rest it out of the way of the running water, and allow it to dry. 

When it comes to storage, it is important that all of Lush's naked shower gels are allowed to dry in between uses. Although I wouldn't advocate leaving them somewhere too warm, they are different from soaps in the fact that they dry very quickly. You don't have to worry about colours running down your bath like a lot of soaps tend to do if they're left.

Having used both this and the liquid version side-to-side, I discovered that the naked format is slightly more rounded in scent, and I didn't detect as much of the orange in the overall smell. In as many words, it's a little more reserved and not as tart as the liquid gel. Having said that, I was able to detect its fragrance for up to two hours after I rinsed it away from my body - which is a little longer than the liquid version was able to do.

Overall, I really enjoyed using this naked product and I'm now even more excited than before to try the other variations. Despite being a massive advocate of Lush's shower gels, I thought that I might oppose to the solid editions as I assumed they would be far messier and less likely to 'keep' for as long as the bottled versions. However, I have faith that I could leave this on the shelf for a good year and it wouldn't lose its scent, or create a mess either.

Although not strictly a Christmas scent, Berry Berry Christmas Naked Shower Gel is a refreshing and equally upbeat fragrance: one that will compliment the colder weather while also banishing those winter blues. This simple, elegant shower gel will not only leave your skin feeling plump and well-moisturised, but its lack of packaging will help you to sleep easier alongside this.

Quantitative Ingredients: Cranberry Infusion, Propylene Glycol, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Sodium Stearate, Lauryl Betaine, Sweet Wild Orange Oil, Fresh Blueberry Juice, Bergamot Oil, Olive Leaf Absolute, Cornstarch, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Perfume, *Limonene, *Linalool, *Citral, Colour 42090, Black Wax (Specerit Black Z).

Vegan?: Yes.

2017 Price: £11.75 for 240g.

Year Of Original Release: 2017.

Scent Family:
Berry Berry Christmas Naked Shower Gel
Berry Berry Christmas Shower Gel
Revelations Bath Oil