Yuzu And Cocoa Shower Jelly

The shower jelly is a strong concept; a wibbly wobbly amalgamation of skin-softening ingredients that you smear all over your body, and fight to keep the damn thing in your hand the whole time. Yet there is something rather special about this potted phenomena that reminds me of why I fell in love with Lush to begin with.

Truth be told, I don't always get as excited about new releases as I did many years ago, especially when it's a product that has the scent of a million other items in the Lush back catalogue. Fans who have been around a long time will often hope for new fragrances as opposed to a familiar smell that they've ever tried.

For this reason, I cannot say I was all too excited about the new Yuzu And Cocoa Shower Jelly that came out during the last Lush Labs release. While I do really value and enjoy using that scent, I was also hoping that some brand new scents made themselves known during that time. However, my opinion on this shower jelly changed pretty quickly when I began using this in the shower.

Firstly, what I loved about this shower jelly was the gorgeous design of the jelly itself. Not only was it a beautiful shade of sunset orange, but within the jelly itself there were pretty swirls of white dancing around, which just helped to give the product a wonderful finish when compared to some of the other jellies released at the same time as this. 

Secondly, the fragrance that greeted me upon removing the lid of the jelly was simply delicious. Lush describe the scent of this family as being simply 'chocolate orange' but I feel as if this is under-selling the fragrance tenfold. There are so any delicious notes on offer here, all of which leave you salivating, that I feel needs a better description than the above.

To my nose, the yuzu infusion is the leading scent. A distinctive and rather difficult ingredient to describe, the yuzu is a Japanese fruit that has a scent not too far off of that of a grapefruit, albeit slightly more exotic and rounded smelling. Coupled with the grapefruit oil itself, these two add a wonderfully sweet, fruity smell unlike anything else that Lush have made.

Alongside this, the cocoa absolute then gives that 'chocolate-orange' element that Lush describe: thickening the overall fragrance and adding a rich, creamy depth to the scent. Underneath this is a dash of tonka absolute that pads out the creamy bass note, while the bergamot oil adds a sweetness that compliments the other ingredients and rounds the jelly off beautifully.

There is something about this variation that gives off a refreshing, slightly lighter version of the fragrance, which I love. The Yuzu And Cocoa aroma just seems far more delicious in the shower jelly format than it did the shower cream version; although the latter cream is still utterly incredible.

As if this wasn't enough, the shower jelly is super moisturising. Lush appear to have been super generous with the carrageenan extract here, because the jelly glides over your skin and leaves behind a creamy, slightly oily lather that instantly makes your body feel better, and appear more vibrant.

Although it can be a little fiddly, I found that either blending it up with a little water to create a shower gel; or cutting it up into smaller pieces to use individually, worked far better than trying to hold the whole thing in the shower at once. And when I say you need a minuscule amount, I mean that I was taking pieces that were the size of raisins in the shower and being able to wash my entire body from the foam created - meaning I've been using this beauty for the last three weeks and I have barely made a dent in the tub at all.

What I will say about Yuzu And Cocoa is that at first you may be a little disappointed that you don't experience a thick, creamy foam when you stimulate the jelly between your hands. However, once you've used it a couple of times, you'll understand that the jelly is still very much working on cleaning and moisturising your skin; it's just a little shy at producing lots of foam.

Overall, this is one of my favourite shower jellies of all time and I only hope that a shower gel will follow suit. Up there with the likes of Big Calm and Calacas, Yuzu And Cocoa is a shower jelly that you must invest in if you love this fragrance. This may even be my favourite product in the scent range, which speaks for itself. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Glycerine, Yuzu Peel Infusion, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Carrageenan Extract, Perfume, Cocoa Absolute, Bergamot Oil, Grapefruit Oil, Tonka Absolute, Titanium Dioxide, *Coumarin, *Limonene, *Linalool, Colour 19140:1.

Vegan?: Yes.

2019 Price: £10.95 for 240g.

Year Of Original Release: 2019.