Purple Bananas Toothpaste Jelly

There are times when a small part of my teenage personality comes through in my thinking process as an adult. Without necessarily making these decisions consciously  I still find myself gravitating towards the weird and wacky; the products and places and people and experiences that take me outside of that 'norm box.' When it comes to Lush's latest toothpaste jelly releases, the two oddest flavours have become my firm favourites, and this is one of them...  

Sporting a shade of pale purple, Purple Bananas is perhaps the most interesting of the toothpaste jellies, in my opinion. Containing marigold, chamomile and cardamom as the three most prominent ingredients, I can imagine many consumers finding themselves a little skeptical that this exclusive jelly is going to be anything but enjoyable. However, I was pleasantly surprised by both the taste and smell of this, and if I can convince at least one skeptic to give it a go and discover its merits, I'll be truly happy.

To my nose, Purple Bananas smells of one of two things, depending on what you notice first. As the name suggests, there is a strong note of banana featured here, which adds a rich, sultry and rather sweat creamy base for the other ingredients to rest on. However, due to the combination of the other components, this very same note could also be seen as replicating that of the milky element that you can smell in a cup of regular tea. Confusing I know, but once you get a tub for yourself, you'll understand what I mean by this. 

Alongside this note is a gentle combination of both chamomile and marigold, which at first I was worried would produce a very strong, almost green tea-like, aroma: one that was bitter and overpowering in the mouth. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that both of these components offer a gentle and naturally sweet floral aroma - one that replicates the very smell (and taste) of a gentle cup of herbal tea. In fact, when you smell Purple Bananas from the tub, you'll probably be blown away by just how much it smells like a cup of milky tea that has been left to sit and cool for a while.

Just like the fragrance, the taste of this toothpaste jelly is equally as subtle but by no means weak. It really is like brushing your teeth with a cup of milky tea, and I found it very delicious to my palette, even though I seldomly drink tea. There is something rather sweet, herbal and floral about this aroma, and it's the perfect balance in both fragrance and taste. 

As with all of Lush's new toothpaste jellies, the idea is that you simply scoop your toothbrush across the top of the surface of the product and a small amount (or however much you wish to use) will rub off onto the bristles, and this is what you use to brush your teeth with. With all ten of these new jellies, I found that it was very easy to apply only the smallest of amount to my brush: I barely dented the surface at all to begin with, so these little 60g pots will last you a very long time. In fact, I would even say that they may outlast that of a regular-sized 200g tube of toothpaste.

Once I began brushing, I found that it 'lathered up' exactly like a regular toothpaste and at no point did I feel or experience any jelly pieces still in my mouth. The product dissolved very quickly and then worked exactly as you would hope a tooth paste would do so. Furthermore, I was able to spit the paste out multiple times and never once ran out of foam on my toothbrush. These jellies are super generous when it comes to how much foam they produce in your mouth, despite how little product you need to use. Whereas I would normally use a pea-sized amount of toothpaste, I was able to use a piece the size of a grain of rice and yet heed the same results.

What I would say is that as the product is self preserving, it's important to keep your toothbrush fairly dry when you run it across the product. Adding moisture of any kind to these naked cosmetics could reduce the shelf life of the jelly and may open up the possibility of bacteria multiplying over time. For this reason, it's also essential that the lid is left on so as not to attract any unwanted germs. Given that I can imagine one of these pots lasting me a good 3-4 months as a minimum, I certainly wouldn't want the paste exposed to any bacteria, if I can help it.

Despite how much I really enjoyed the scent and taste of Purple Bananas Toothpaste Jelly, there was a part of me that expected my experience to be less than enjoyable after rinsing my mouth out. However, I discovered that this taste works really well as making your mouth feel clean, not to mention offering a delicate floral note that lingers on your breath. I was actually really impressed how refreshed my mouth felt afterwards and my teeth felt squeaky clean beneath my tongue.

Despite the delicate (and perhaps slightly odd) taste of Purple Bananas, this toothpaste jelly did exactly what I'd expect any toothpaste to do and left my mouth with a moderate taste that stayed around for a good hour after I had finished brushing.

As I will say in all of my toothpaste jelly reviews, it was nice not to have to worry about any annoying lumps that some of Lush's toothy tabs can leave in your mouth during brushing. This little gem simply dissolved as soon as I started brushing and there wasn't any wastage from bits getting stuck in my teeth or falling out when I spat into the sink.

As with most of Lush's new toothpaste jellies, this one contains many key ingredients to actually help this product to act like a toothpaste. Hydrated silica works well as a whitening and teeth cleaning agent: helping to remove the stains from the surface of your teeth without damaging the enamel. Then there is xylitol, which is a natural sweetener that doesn't contain any fructose, so will help to protect your teeth from damage, and will hopefully help to reduce your risk of cavities over time.

Ultimately, this is perhaps not the first toothpaste jelly that I would have initially gravitated towards had I read the ingredients list. However, I really enjoyed using this one and can see this making my oral care routine much more interesting to boot. Purple Bananas may be an odd sock but it does its job well and I would highly recommend it above most of the other toothpaste jellies.

Quantitative Ingredients: Marigold Petal Infusion (Calendula Officinalis), Sorbitol, Glycerine, Silica, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Xylitol, Roman Chamomile Oil (Anthemis nobilis), Cardamom Oil (Elettaria cardamomum), Sicilian Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum), Banana Extract (Musa acuminata), Stevia (Stevia Rebaudiana), Agar Agar (Gelidium cartilagineum), Carrageenan Extract (Chondrus crispus), Titanium Dioxide, Water (Aqua), *Eugenol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Flavour, Colour 17200, Colour 42090.

Vegan?: Yes. 

2019 Price: £ each.

Year Of Original Release: 2019.

Big Banana Massage Bar

What's not to love about a banana? Funnily enough, for years I opted out of eating bananas in favour of other fruits, only to fall back in love with the big yellow gem when I began training solidly at the gym. There is something so unique about the flavour and texture of this fruit, that I simply couldn't imagine not eating them to the extent that I now do.

When I first discovered that Lush were going to bring out a massage bar called Big Banana, I was really excited to find out how close in scent it was to the fruit itself. Brushing over the cheeky connotations that came up alongside this release, I was super excited to try something that I was told had a similar scent to the Sticky Banana Soap - a product that I'd previously been unable to try due to the inclusion of honey in the ingredients list.  

What I found when my massage bar arrived was that the smell was nothing like I was expecting it to be. As opposed to the sweet, natural banana fragrance I was expecting, I instead found something that almost smelt like a combination of banana and blue bubblegum ice cream. Don't get me wrong, the scent of this is in no way synthetic smelling, and there is no way I'd describe it as being at all playful or childlike. However, I think the inclusion of the clove bud oil was a little too domineering, which pushed the other components to the side and created an odd overall aroma. 

There is definitely a creaminess about this, hence my ice cream comparison, but there is also something rather prominent about the clove which takes away from the smooth, velvety smell that this massage bar could have offered the consumers. Luckily, the clove does tend to disperse a little when massaged across the skin, and there is something quite sultry about the fruity side of this massage bar that comes out more when in contact with the warmth of your body.

As with all of Lush's massage bars, the idea behind this is to use this in replacement of a bottle of massage oil: either gliding this directly across the skin, or massaging between your palms and then using your hands to direct the oils where you'd like them to go. If, like me, your partner doesn't particularly enjoy giving massages, you can also use this bar in replacement of a body lotion, and if will offer similar results when it comes to moisturising your skin.

As far as usability is concerned, Big Banana did melt with ease across my skin, and I found that I didn't need to hold it for long before I had enough oils to work with. These absorbed really quickly into the skin and I was able to put my clothes back on within ten minutes of application. This was especially great after my morning gym session, as I was able to nourish my skin for the whole day, and not have to wait around until I could head into work.

When using it like this, across my whole body, on a daily basis, I was able to stretch the use of this to a little over two months. This makes it great value for money when compared to a pot of body lotion that would probably last a similar amount of time. While not as intense as a body lotion, Big Banana was suffice at keeping my skin looking and feeling really smooth and replenished, and I barely had to reach for a lotion to intensify my experience. 

Having said that, I did find the shape of banana to be a little tricky when trying to apply the oils, and once the massage bar started to shrink in size, it did become a little more difficult to hold the product while it was in use. However, I really appreciated that I was able to use the tip of the banana to stimulate certain muscle areas that were aching after my workouts: something I wouldn't have been able to do with other shaped bars.

Overall, I enjoyed using Big Banana for the short time it graced the shelves of Lush, although I would have appreciated a fragrance that wasn't so heavily doused in clove. While it can be a little oily if too much of the bar is melted at once, it's very easy to apply and leaves your skin feeling lovely and soft afterwards. The only thing that I would say this limited edition is not so good at is penetrating the driest areas, such as the bottom of your feet and your hands, so you may wish to use something else to improve the condition of those parts.

Quantitative Ingredients: Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Fair Trade Shea Butter, Perfume, Fresh Organic Fair Trade Banana, Ylang Ylang Oil, Clove Bud Oil, Almond essential oil, Brazilian Orange Oil.

Vegan?: Yes.

2019 Price: £5.95 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2019.

Banana Skin Naked Facial Oil

Banana Skin is by far my favourite smelling facial cleanser out of all the ones released this month in the Lush labs. Not only this but it also happens to be one of the best, and here’s why...

Containing a generous amount of fresh banana as one of the main ingredients, this fruit is packed full of potassium to moisturise and replenish the skin. Not only this but bananas are known for their ability to soften the skin and give it a natural shine as well. 

Alongside this, the inclusion of the various oils and butters, in particular the mango butter, creates a facial oil that is very easy to melt, and very buttery on the skin. I only had to glide this over my face for a few seconds to stimulate enough product to moisturise my whole face. To finish off, Lush have used tapioca starch which helps to settle the oils on the skin, and leave a smooth finish.

What I will say about Banana Skin is that it is quite a heavy moisturiser. The consistency of the oils when they melt are quite thick and greasy on the skin, and they do take a long time to fully absorb. In addition, I found that it took a good twenty minutes for the slightly glossy feeling to leave the surface of my face, which some consumers would probably dislike. 

While my skin looked super radiant for the rest of the day, as well as feeling amazingly supple and plump from the very first use, I can imagine that this wouldn’t soon suit those with already quite oily/greasy complexions - especially not on a daily basis. With how heavy this product was when compared to others, 

For someone such as myself, who has rather dry skin, this was a godsend - giving my complexion so much life and radiance immediately. Especially as the weather is starting to cool down, I could really notice the difference in how much fresher and vibrant my face looked in the morning, as opposed to the dull shade it was beforehand. Given how dry my complexion is, I was able to use this daily without there being a build up of oils. Neither did I find that my pores became saturated enough to cause a breakout at all, with daily use.

To use, you simply glide the disc across your face, where the warmth of your skin will melt the butters and oils and leave behind a layer of product behind. You could also massage it between your fingers first and then apply, as your hands are usually warmer, and tend to stimulate the oils easier. However, I found that you tend to lose some of the product this way, as it absorbs into your hands before you’ve had a chance to apply it to your face. Having said this, if you want to remove some of Banana Skin’s heaviness, this process would probably help it to be a little less intense.

Smell wise, this little beauty smells of fresh banana custard to me, which a little sprinkle of icing sugar to add a vanillary note alongside this. It’s not a smell that’s overly strong, but there’s enough there to make it a pleasant experience, and the effects it has on the skin more than confirm how wonderful this facial oil is.

Despite its size, this little disc has barely shrunk since I began using it, and would easily last me over three months with daily usage. The price may seem a little much for how small it presents itself as. However, the strength it had to transform my skin in a single use, and the effects it showed me very quickly make it a keeper. I would definitely buy this again, if it ever became available to buy regularly.

Quantitative Ingredients: Murumuru Butter, Organic Illipe Butter, Fresh Banana,  Tapioca Starch, Organic Cold Pressed Grapeseed Oil, Cupuacu Butter, Mango Butter, Banana Peel Tincture, Apricot Kernel Oil, Organic Jojoba Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Labdanum Resinoid, Ambrette Seed Oil, Tonka Absolute, Gardenia Extract, Safflower Petal Extract, *Citral, *Coumarin, *Farnesol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume.

Vegan?: Yes.

2018 Price: £9.95 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2018.

Scrumptious Shower Smoothie

It's not very often that I don't recognise a product that appears on the Lush Kitchen menu. In fact, since the introduction of the Kitchen some three years ago, there have only ever been two items that have stumped me into having to carry out a little research. The first was Aqua Mirabilis Underwater Body Butter, of which I didn't even realise there were two variations of the same product, and the second was this recent release.

Scrumptious Shower Smoothie reads exactly as it means to go on. While the company are known for using witty puns to name their products, and using tongue-in-cheek taglines to entice their customers, this one is as literal as you can get. At first glance, it could even be accused of being a little presumptuous, and has a lot to live up to given the bold statement that is its name. Thankfully, Lush are fully aware of how to make something both smell and behave scrumptiously, and I cannot stress how amazing this product is.

First released over seventeen years ago, this shower smoothie has been described as being both like a 'blueberry parfait' and a fruit salad. Boasting a myriad of different fruity ingredients, it is no wonder that the outcome is a product that completely blew my mind upon first sniff, and one that I continue to use on an almost daily basis.

With a base made from a blueberry infusion, and a combination of fresh orange juice, mashed bananas, and lemon and lime oil making up the other key components, this shower smoothie smells like the world's greatest desert. From the tub I could immediately smell both the bananas and the blueberries - a pairing that produces a rich, creamy fruity smell, and reminds me a little of homemade ice cream. It's by no means an overly powerful smell, but it's strong enough that you'll be hard-pressed not to want to stick a spoon in the tub and shove a mountain of the smoothie into your mouth. Disclaimer: I should probably add that curiosity got the better of me and I did attempt to eat some, which only heeded disappointing results.

Both the lime and the lemon oils are also present in the aroma of this smoothie. However, there isn't any citrus notes to observe here; it's strictly a fruity smell, and one that is interestingly sweet without being what I would describe as uplifting or zesty in any way. Strangely, you almost get a note of raspberry bubblegum when you smell this in the pot - a factor that just made me fall in love with this product even more.

For those unsure what a shower smoothie is, Scrumptious is like a soap that has been pulverised into a liquid, and had extra oils and butters added to make it more moisturising for the skin. You use it in the same way you would a shower gel - lathering it across your body and then washing it away under running water. 

Impressively, I found that this particular smoothie foamed up a lot better than most of the other ones I have tried from Lush. Usually, I find that they coat the skin but don't work in the same way that both a soap or a shower gel would be expected to do. However, Scrumptious Shower Smoothie lathers up a treat and you need very little to clean your whole body with. For this reason, I would say that this is one of the better valued variations, and lasts a lot longer than most of its siblings. Judging by how much I have used so far, I would say that you could easily get a good 20+ full body washes out, and even more you're only using it on specific areas.     

As if the fragrance wasn't enough to make me fall in love with this product to begin with, I was amazed to find that I could smell it on my skin for a good couple of hours after I had towelled myself down. Moreover, I found that if I used this before I went to bed, the smell of fresh blueberries and banana would still be on my pillow the next morning, which was a welcoming reward first thing in the morning.

I should point out that I would refrain from using this on areas that have recently been shaved, or use this as an alternative to shaving foam, as I found that it irritated my pores and caused them to either sting a little, or come out in a rash for a short white after bathing. However, this rule applies to most of Lush's soap-based products, so I wouldn't expect anything different with this one.

Overall, this is by far my favourite shower smoothie for Lush, and its name really does describe how this product smells and works in the shower. While my skin didn't feel as moisturised as a shower gel would make it, it was definitely a step up from a normal piece of soap, and I feel a smoothness once I had towelled myself down.

Ultimately, I really hope that the Lush Kitchen choose to bring this back in the near future because I'm getting dangerously close to finishing my first tub, and the idea of not having this as a permanent fixture in my bathroom, is a little disheartening.

Quantitative Ingredients: Blueberry Infusion, Walnut Oil, Glycerine, Vegetable Soap, Fresh Orange Juice, Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, Fresh Banana, Lime Oil, Lemon Oil, Methyl Paraben, Propyl Paraben.

Vegan?: Yes.

2016 Price: £10.50 for 250g.

Year Of Original Release: 1998.

    

Never Mind The Ballistics Bath Bomb

Walking around the Lush factory, these were one of the last Christmas products I was given an exclusive sneak peak of, yet they were one of a handful of items that left the biggest lasting impression. If there is any theme going on with this year's seasonal releases, it's definitely that Lush have stepped away from the usual hum drum of wintery smells, and have offered a selection of versatile products, suitable for any and every season. This is no exception.

Modelled on the popular Roller Bath Bomb, Never Mind The Ballistics is a play on words of a famous Sex Pistols album, although I would interested to know what it is about the fruity new Christmas edition that has anything to do with the rebellious seventies album - aside from it being described as 'anarchic' in the water.

Shaped very much like your typical bath bomb, this Christmas beauty has then been dipped into a vat of oils and butters to give it a bath melt coating. This means that you get all of the benefits of a bath melt while still being able to enjoy the experience of using a bath bomb in the water.

As to be expected, these extra butters and oils offer a really moisturising bath. You can see the gleam of these oils across the surface of the water and after only a matter of minutes of getting into the bath, I could feel how creamy the water was and how smooth my skin had become. Don't be worried by these excess butters though - it's not at all greasy and definitely not on the same level as this year's Shoot For The Stars. For this reason, you should be able to wash your hair in the water without worrying about making it oily.

At the same time, Never Mind The Ballistics still works as a fully functioning bath bomb, and as soon as you place it in the water it begins to expel its beautiful array of colours across the surface of the tub. To begin with, the outer shell releases bubbly streams of sunflower-yellow into the water but as the ballistic dissolves, pinks and oranges begin to prize themselves from the centre and create beautiful swirls of colour, ending with a tub full of bright orange water with a gentle gleam across the surface.

This is quite a fast fizzer and although it also happens to be a quiet bath bomb for the most part, Never Mind The Ballistics dissolves in the space of a couple of minutes. Despite the heaviness of it, due to the cocoa butter coating, this bath bomb remained floating on the surface - something I was rather impressed with.

Scent wise, this bath bomb contains both orange and lime oils as well as an entire fresh banana, so the smell that it radiates is a very sweet, fruity one. However, both of the citrus fruits are rather mild in this mix (something we have the banana to thank for) so this is not zesty in the slightest. Instead the product offers a smell that reminds me a little of tropical juice, just without the inclusion of the coconut.

Impressively, although the bath bomb is not the strongest out of the packet, this ballistic kept a robust fragrance throughout the entire experience and I could still detect the wonderful, creamy fruity smell while I was using other Lush products. Furthermore, the bath bomb left a faint but long-lasting aroma on my skin afterwards and I was still able to detect it on my body and hair some four hours after I had exited the bath.

Thanks to both the bananas and the cocoa butter, my skin was left feeling really soft and well moisturised, and I found that I didn't have to use a body lotion afterwards. My skin remained in noticeably good condition for the entire day and into the next, and I even found that some of the paper cuts on my hands healed up a lot quicker than they usually do. 

Overall, this is a really wonderful addition to Lush's Christmas range this year and I am so glad that it's a regular item for all to enjoy. I won't be buying a surplus of these to last me through the year but I am very happy to have a large handful to keep me going into the warmer months. Whether you're feeling rebellious or not, Never Mind The Ballistics is definitely one to share a bath with this winter.  

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Lime Oil, Sweet Wild Orange Oil, Olibanum Resinoid, Fresh Banana, Cream of Tartar, Gardenia Extract, Titanium Dioxide, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Propylene Glycol,l PEG-6 Caprylic / Capric Glycerides & PEG-60 Almond Glycerides, *Limonene, Perfume, Colour 19140:1, Colour 19140, Colour 45410, Colour 15510, Colour 14700, Colour 17200.

Vegan?: Yes.

2016 Price: £4.25 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2016.

Scent Family:
Festive Friends FUN Bar
Fun For All The Family Bubble Spinner
Never Mind The Ballistics Bath Bomb
Tunnel Of Love Soap

Sunkissed Lip Tint

I'll start this review with a little rant - something that I don't do very often but feel that I need to get off of my chest before I start. While I recognise that it is up to me as a consumer to carefully check the products before I purchase them, there have still been times in the recent months when Lush's 'sloppiness' have led me to buy non-vegan products. Such is the case with this lip tint.

Whenever I pick up something in a shop, the first thing I do is check whether or not it's vegan. If it claims to be 'suitable for vegans', I normally only have a quick scan of the ingredients list for piece of mind and then I'll purchase the product. This is what I did with Sunkissed Lip Tint - only to discover a few weeks after using it that it actually contains beeswax high up in the ingredients list.

The problem I have with Lush is that the first two lines of the ingredients list was hidden under the sticker, and while I could have easily peeled it back to check, the fact that it stated that it was suitable for vegans next to others that only claimed to be vegetarian, meant that I trusted Lush to be right - a factor that I'm finding to be false quite a bit when it comes to their Oxford Street products. 

While I recognise that many of the products are still going through the process of being verified by the vegetarian/vegan societies, and this is the reason why most of the products weren't sold with the logos to begin with, there's no excuse for products being labelled as vegan when they're not. I've now purchased three non-vegan products - Sunny Day Anti-Static Hair Detangler, Softy Foot Lotion and this lip tint - all because they were labelled as vegan and I trusted Lush to know the suitability of their products and their ingredients. 

So as I've done before when I've accidentally used a non-vegan product, I'll still review it and get something positive out of a negative experience. And as it happens, I really loved using Sunkissed - my first ever experience with a lip tint of this kind. 

Containing fresh banana and argan oil, this lip tint is not only great at soothing and moisturising your lips, but it also has a gentle sweet aroma that's not unlike Rose Lollipop Lip Balm. With the inclusion of ground oatmeal and Tunisian neroli to help heal cracks and rid the lips of dryness, your lips are getting a full pamper when you apply this. 

What I'm slightly confused about, and this is due to my lack of experience with lip-orientated cosmetics, is that the depth of colour the lip tint creates when applied is very strong and no different to what I would expect from a lip stick. While I assumed a tint would only offer a gentle, subtle colour to compliment that of a lipstick, I was surprised to see that it outshines some of the lip sticks available in regular high-street shops and is strong enough to be used by itself. 

Resulting in a sheer petal-pink shimmer, Sunkissed adds a playful but equally sultry colour to the lips. The colour is strong enough to make an impression and would definitely suit a full face of make-up on a night out, yet it doesn't dominate the face to the point where you need heavy make up at all. In fact, I prefer to use this alongside minimal make up and find it's subtle enough to be used throughout the day.

To apply, I find it more effective to use after you've already lubricated your lips with a balm first - Buttered Brazils is my favourite to use in this instance. The tint glides over the skin and creates an even coverage which will then see you through a good many hours, depending on what it comes up against. 

On the negative side, it does take a while to settle on the lips, and I found that it was a good 30 minutes before I felt confident enough that it wouldn't wipe away if I was to run my finger along the surface. However, once it's had time to set, it does last a good few hours and the colour stays this vivid during this time. 

While I definitely sold on this product, I'll be honest when I say that I don't use lip products all that often. For those that do, I can see this being a very popular addition to their collection as it offers a wonderful colour and has the longevity to boot. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis), Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter (Theobroma cacao), Beeswax (Cera alba), Organic Castor Oil (Ricinus communis), Argan Oil (Argania spinosa), Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Titanium Dioxide, Tin Oxide, Sunflower Wax (Helianthus Annuus Seed Wax), Glycerine, Flavour, Cetearyl Alcohol, Fresh Banana (Musa paradisica), Fine Ground Oatmeal (Avena sativa), Cardamom Oil (Elettaria cardamomum), French Lavender Oil (Lavandula angustifolia), Neroli Oil (Citrus Aurantium amara), Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), Colour 73360, Colour 45410 Colour 77491 Colour 77947.

Vegan?: No. 

2015 Price: £4.95 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2015. 

Mr Dandy's Hair Candy Hair Dressing

As someone who likes to keep her hair as natural as possible, I was rather overwhelmed with the number of hair care products that Lush made available for the opening of their Oxford Street store. While I was excited to try out all of the new shampoos and conditioners, I was slightly less enthused by the many dressings, gels and waxes that warranted their own section in the shop. 

Mr Dandy's Hair Candy was one of the first in this range that I decided to try - for no other reason than because I was intrigued by the very name that it went by and because it seemed to be like no other Lush product that I have ever seen before. Described as a 'hair dressing', this exclusive product has the consistency somewhere between a gel and a wax. It looks and feels a little like a very thick body lotion that has had a helping of glue added to it - it sort of sticks to your fingers when you go to scoop some out and demonstrates a slight amount of elasticity when it's on your hands. 

While I was expecting this product to possess a sweet, sugary fragrance, given the name, I was surprised to find that it shares its scent with the Jungle Conditioner and the recently released Tropical Jungle Body Lotion. The dressing has an almost woody, wheatgrass smell - there's definitely remnants of damp grass and reeds in the mix. However, at the same time, you also get a very heady, bitter lime element that gives the product a bit of a kick. 

It's a very fresh and natural aroma - one that I would describe as being slightly unsettling but equally as gorgeous. What is great about Mr Dandy's Hair Candy is that the smell is very potent both in the tub and once it has been applied to the hair, so it's one that will stay with you throughout the entire day. 

How you use this dressing is up to you - there are multiple ways of applying it and it will depend on how you usually style your hair as to which method you choose. As I don't tend to blow-dry or straighten my hair, I opted to apply it once it was completely dry.  

Lush state that a 'little goes a long way' so I merely dipped my fingers into the surface of the dressing and came away with an amount that equalled the size of a small tablet. Then rather than smearing it onto my hair, I began to scrunch and 'mess up' my hair to give it some volume, starting at the bottom and working my way up. I found that I needed to apply another helping or two throughout this process because I have fairly long hair and one portion wasn't enough for my liking. 

In its favour, Mr Dandy's Hair Candy does exactly what it states it can do. Once I had finished playing with my hair, I did notice a certain amount of volume that I would never have been able to achieve without the use of the gel. What's even more impressive is that I found that I could continue to style and re-style my hair throughout the entire day and it would always allow me to do this - remaining in the new position until I was ready to change it up again. 

The only downside that I found with this product, and this may be because I am not used to applying any styling products to my hair normally, is that I could really feel the gel once it was in my hair. Not only was the consistency of my hair noticeably different, but I found that my locks felt rather sticky and slightly dry after application. 

On the tub it claims that the dressing is to help 'build structure into finer, flyaway hair', which it definitely does as I really noticed a difference in the volume of my mane once the product was set. However, as it made my hair slightly greasy, I found that it separated strands near the top of my head and made it look a little thin on top. 

Overall, there's no denying that this product works and it's impressive just how well it holds the hair and how long-lasting it is - especially when compared with other non-Lush alternatives. If you regularly use a gel or wax, this is definitely a product you'll want to try out because it's definitely far more natural than some of the bigger brands. My sister, who has medium-length hair, said that she found this product perfect for spiking up or 'punking-up' her locks, and she said that it was no more noticeable for her as her usual brand.  

However, I found that I wasn't very comfortable with how my hair felt after using this and it resulted in me having to wash my hair nearly every night to keep it in tip-top condition. While the inclusion of fresh banana and various essential oils tells me that this dressing is certainly not damaging my hair once it's on, I definitely didn't feel as if my hair was as clean as it normally is after a shower. 

I've given this dressing a high rating because as I said above, the problems that I encountered with Mr Dandy is to do with my personal preference, not a fault with the product itself. If you're looking for a natural dressing that'll give you volume and hold your style in place, this is definitely one you should try out for yourself. 

Quantitative Ingredients: will be updated soon.

Vegan?: Yes.

2015 Price: £12.95 for 100g. 

Year Of Original Release: 2015.

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Mr Dandy's Hair Candy Dressing