Error 404 Ballistic

When Lush first released pictures of products that were to feature in their kitchen initiative, one of the first ones that grabbed my attention was a rather splendid looking golden egg. To begin with, I thought that it was the rather lovely Golden Egg Ballistic that featured in this year's Easter range. However, on closer inspection, I realised that this was a different product completely and I was rather excited to try it out.

A few weeks ago, somebody within the Lush community notified me of an unknown page on Lush's website that seemed to suggest that you could 'purchase' this egg ballistic for free. It's not featured in any of their product lists, hasn't been showcased as a new product and can only be found when searching for it by name. 

Known as the Error 404 Ballistic, this egg-shaped bath product is currently available to buy on their website, but only for those with prior knowledge that it's even there. After a little research from myself, it transpired that aside from the chocolate variation that everyone knows and loves, the term 'Easter egg' also means 'an intentional inside joke or hidden message'. Often, these Easter eggs are featured within computer games and software, where bonus levels or characters can be obtained through secret coding and gameplay. However, Lush have taken this idea on board and created a secret product that can only be purchased if you're in the 'know-how'. Very clever!

There were a lot of rumours circulating that this bath bomb shares it's scent with the Snowcake family, which is part of the reason why I became so excited to try it out. Unfortunately, when my first two arrived yesterday morning, it was obvious that this wasn't the case. However, that's not to say that this isn't a wonderful ballistic in it's own right.

Firstly, this golden egg is beautiful to behold. Roughly the same size as the Golden Egg Ballistic, this bath bomb is decorated with a thick layer of golden lustre - a feature that may immediately warrant some Lush fans to panic over the mess it'll cause. Despite the fact that this glitter does tend to make your hands dirty when you pick it up, and I did find a collection of the power in the bottom of my packet, once it's been fully dissolved in the water there is very little evidence that the lustre was even there to begin with, and it definitely doesn't leave your bath tub covered in the stuff. Protruding from the surface of the egg are the numbers '404' and the back features a strange design that could possibly be homage to the first known Easter Egg which featured in an early Atari game. 

Concocted from a mixture of geranium oil, rosewood oil and orange flower absolute, this ballistic is a potent combination that grabs your senses before you've even peeled back the wrapper. It's the former ingredient that takes the lead here, offering you a strong, dry floral fragrance, with the rosewood adding a slightly woody element that you'd normally expect the inclusion of sandalwood to do. There is a slight hint of the orange here, but it's not until the bath bomb has been dissolved, that this comes to the forefront more and balances out the overall scent. 

When placed in the water, Error 404 immediately begins to froth and fizz, dispelling a thick, creamy layer of golden foam before unleashing streams of green and blue colour across the surface of the water. It's a slow and fairly quiet bath bomb, so takes almost five minutes to fully dissolve. Once it's finished, you're left with a lovely turquoise-coloured bath with the subtle shimmer of the gold, bronze and blue lustre.

Something, which could be seen as a positive or negative aspect with this ballistic, is that once it's dissolved, it's scent is somewhat dampened. I found that this product lost it's dry floral scent quite a bit, and this was replaced with more of a sweet orange fragrance with elements of the geranium displaced ever so slightly. It was rather pleasant.

I cannot place the scent of Error 404, but my memory does allude me to the fact that I have smelt this fragrance before. It reminds me very loosely of the recent African Paradise Body Conditioner, in the fact that they both have strong floral combinations. However, their scents are not the same. I'm hoping that somebody else may be able to direct me to where I recognise this smell from. 

I'm unsure how long Lush plan on making this product available for, but it's definitely worth picking up, if only to make your postage costs seem slightly more justified. It doesn't have any moisturising properties, working much like every other Lush ballistic, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy the experience it gave me.

I shall definitely be picking up a few more of these while I still can and I'm interested to see whether Lush will continue with this Easter Egg initiative, albeit releasing different products over time. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Rosewood Oil, Geranium Oil, Orange Flower Absolute, Cream of Tartar, Gardenia Extract, Water (Aqua), Lilial, Citronellol, Coumarin, Geraniol, Linalool, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Antique Gold Lustre, Bronze Splendour Lustre, Glacier Blue Lustre, Colour 42053.

Vegan?: Yes.

2014 Price: Free 
2015 Price: £4.04 each.