Recently

Showing posts with label Pomegranate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pomegranate. Show all posts

3 October 2016

Magic Wand Soap



This year has seen a lot of brand new or revamped soaps making appearances across the Halloween and Christmas collections. As someone who doesn't use soap very often, I was hoping to witter out the ones that didn't impress me that much and focus on those that well and truly blew my socks off. Unfortunately, Lush have made this incredibly difficult because nearly all of the ones that I have shared my showers with over the past two weeks have been near-on impeccable, and Magic Wand is no exception. 

While not technically a brand new product, this seasonal soap shares its scent with the now-discontinued Angels' Delight - a soap that was first featured a few years back and made enough of an impression that it has come back each and every year since - whether as part of the Christmas range or as a special guest in the Lush Kitchen. 

For those who read my blogs regularly or follow me on Instagram, you'll know that fruity smells are my Achilles heel. They are the ones I get the most excited about when new products are released, and ultimately they're the ones that feature the most in any of the top 10 lists I compile in my spare time. 

To put it simply, Magic Wand Soap ticks each and every single box when it comes to scent. I would even go as far as to say that it is on par with Ponche as my all-time favourite fruity smell from Lush. Unlike its older sibling, this soap features both tangerine oil and pomegranate molasses, and I think that both components have an impact on the overall fragrance.

Magic Wand has a strong, creamy, fruity aroma - one that smells like a good-quality fruit juice with a thick undercurrent of sweetness that would satisfy anybody with a sweet tooth. The citrus elements are quite mild upon first sniff but as you explore them further, especially when the soap is being used alongside hot water, the tangerine's natural zestiness comes out to play and adds a subtle fizziness to it that you get when it's lathered into the skin. Alongside this, the pomegranate molasses build a thick base of sweet, syrupy goodness.

Together, these two ingredients work on not only producing one of the greatest smelling soaps that Lush have ever released, but one that works on cleaning and brightening the skin with their natural oils. Both fruits are natural cleansers and work on clearing out your pores and adding a radiant shine after they have finished. Magic Wand definitely brightened my skin a little and both my arms and legs had shine to them after I had finished.

As my regular readers will know, soaps tend to dry my skin out quite a bit - a fault of my own body, not a reflection on Lush's products, and I was surprised to discover that while my hands did feel fairly taut after using this soap in the shower, the rest of my body felt smooth and not at all parched at all. Although I had to use a body lotion afterwards to soften my skin, I did not experience the rigidity that I would normally get after using a soap.

I feel as if the inclusion of both the charcoal and the coconut oil might have had something to do with this, as charcoal is known for absorbing excess oils while the coconut oil replenishes the skin while acting as an antioxidant to repair and rejuvenate the body.

What is also impressive about this product is that the smell is not only robust and gloriously juicy in the shower, but the scent resonates on your skin after you've towelled yourself down. In fact, when I didn't moisturise afterwards, I found that I could still detect the aroma on my skin for a good 4-5 hours afterwards, and this made me realise how much I would love either a perfume or a body lotion (or both) in the scent.

With a black finish, you will find that the lather will be a pale grey colour when you use it for yourself. Don't worry yourself with this as this will not taint your skin in any way and will simply wash away with the water. However, I should state that I found Magic Wand to be one of the slippery soaps I have used in a while - I sliced myself off a generous chunk to use in the shower and found that I was dropping it more times than I was able to wash myself with. This might be a factor you'll need to consider when cutting off a piece to use yourself.

Having said this, I am very happy that Lush have brought this fragrance back, even if this soap is not as attractive as its predecessor. This will be a product I use when it starts to get really cold and I need some radiance in life, not to mention a smell that's going to blast away those cobwebs and invigorate me out of my winter stupor.      


Quantitative Ingredients: Water, Glycerine, Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil, Tangerine Oil, Pomegranate molasses, Charcoal, Sodium Chloride, Titanium Dioxide, Citric Acid, Sodium Bicarbonate, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Potassium aluminium silicate, Iron Oxides, *Citral, *Limonene, Colour 45350, Colour 14700, Colour 17200, Colour 45410.


Vegan?: Yes.

2016 Price: £3.50 for 100g.

Year Of Original Release: 2016.

Scent Family:
Angel's Delight Soap
Magic Wand
Tennis Ball Bath Bomb

12 January 2016

Prince Charming Shower Cream


When I first heard that Lush were bringing back Prince Charming, I was thrilled. While I wouldn't say it was one of my top ten favourite shower gels from the company, it is still a really great product, and one that has such a wonderful and unique smell. However, when I realised that it would be a Prince Charming Shower Cream on sale, and not a gel, I was a little bit apprehensive. 

Although I have a lot of faith in Lush and the way they conduct themselves, up until this point I still firmly believed that shower gels were superior to creams - if only because of the fact that they've proven to be far better lathers when I compare the likes of Lord Of Misrule and The Comforter versions against most of the other gels that the company have ever released. 

Initial thoughts were very positive - the cream looked far more beautiful than the original gel - sporting a shade of bright flamingo pink, with a gorgeous shimmer that gave the product a sort of pearl effect when being used in the shower. I thought the colour was far more 'fitting' than the gel, and this sparked an interest to explore the shower cream further.
Looking at the ingredients list, there is not much that differs from the gel. Containing a marshmallow root and Fair Trade vanilla pod infusion, pomegranate juice, grapefruit, sandalwood and geranium oil, the 'base' ingredients are on par with the original release. So it is therefore unsurprising to discover that both versions smell near enough identical.

As I have previous made known, this is one of those odd products that I find fairly difficult to describe - not that the fragrance of the cream is complex at all, just that the few notes that are present offer their services all at once, which makes it quite tricky to really work out which is the stronger smell - a fact that means there are quite a lot of different descriptions for this scent. Everyone's nose is different, but I'll try to describe what I get upon opening the bottle.

My initial reaction is that I smell a sweet, slightly vanillary fruity smell. It's a little like if Rose Jam was to procreate with a marshmallow and then have lots of Happy Hippy children. You get the sweetness from the grapefruit oil, a smooth creamy edge of vanilla and then just the slightest kick of marshmallow that gives it a chocolatey edge. While the geranium oil is fairly low down on the ingredient list, it has enough kick here to make its presence known almost immediately, and I can definitely detect that very subtle floral tone that rounds it off beautifully. 
Out of the bottle, the cream is quite a thick, gloopy consistency - very similar to Yummy Mummy Shower Gel that was released last year. Surprisingly, it has quite a sticky consistency and you can really feel it coating your skin when you massage it across your body.

What I loved about the cream is that as soon as it came into contact with the hot water from my shower, the smell of cocoa butter came through and made itself more pronounced. While it didn't overpower the other elements, or change the original dynamics of the cream, it did add a lovely bonus to enjoy.

Unfortunately, I found that this wasn't the best latherer I have used from Lush, but that's not to say it was terrible. I found that it was better to stimulate the foam in your hands first and then smother it all over your body, as when it was rubbed across the skin, it wasn't so generous with the lather it created. At times, I even found that I could feel the product in my hand but I wasn't able to see it on my skin when cleaning myself.
Having said this, my skin still felt as soft and smooth as it would with any good Lush shower gel, and the scent it left on my skin afterwards was stunning. It definitely did its job of moisturising and cleaning at the same time, and I found myself sniffing my arms and hands afterwards to get a glimpse of the smell that was left
Overall, this shower cream is unique and wonderful - a product that I hope makes a reappearance year after year. Although it didn't foam up as easily as the gel version did, everything else about it was far superior to the gel. Lush have definitely improved this product and I am very happy that it is now produced in this format.
   
Quantitative Ingredients: Water,  Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Marshmallow Root and Fair Trade Vanilla Pod Infusion, Stearic Acid, Lauryl Betaine, Propylene, Glycol, Fresh Organic Pomegranate Juice, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Grapefruit Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Geranium Oil, Citronellol, Farnesol, Geraniol, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume, Snowflake Lustre, Colour 17200, Colour 45410, Methylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes.

2016 Price: £4.95 for 100g, £9.75 for 250g, £16.50 for 500g, £27.95 for 1kg.

Year Of Original Release: 2016.

Scent Family:


15 January 2014

Prince Charming Shower Gel



As I stated when I first started this blog, my biggest weakness with regards to Lush, is their shower gels. They could release a hundred different bath bombs in a single day, but my excitement wouldn't be anywhere near the level it would be if they were to release a new shower gel. So when I discovered that Lush were going to be selling an original, previously-unreleased gel as part of their Valentine's range, I was ecstatic. 

On paper, Prince Charming sounds incredible. With marshmallow root, Fair Trade vanilla and fresh pomegranate juice, Lush state that 'Prince Charming will sweep you off your feet and carry you off into the sunset, leaving your skin silky soft and smelling lovely'. It sounds perfect. 

Unfortunately, on first sniff, I couldn't detect either the marshmallow root or the vanilla fragrance, which was a shame as these were the two ingredients that excited me the most about this product. The description made me imagine a sweet yet sultry shower gel - a mixture of Rose Jam, Snow Fairy and Vanilla Dee-lite, three products it shares little resemblance with. 

In spite of this, I actually still really love the scent of Prince Charming. To me, the overwhelming scent here is the pomegranate juice, which although this may sound strange, smells rather thick - like the pulp at the bottom of a carton of fruit smoothie. The fragrance is also crafted using the beautiful scent of grapefruit oil, which gives this shower gel a beautiful warming fruit scent and helps it share a resemblance to Happy Hippy Shower gel.

A few months after I initially tried this, I went back to find that the scent had matured quite a bit in the bottle. Despite its lack of presence in the beginning, both the Fair Trade vanilla pod infusion and the marshmallow root made much more of an impression on me when left to sit for a while. Now when I use this shower gel, the smell is much sweeter and slightly more sophisticated - reminding me a little of Rose Jam with more fruit and more vanilla. 
This shower gel is a thick, smooth and incredibly creamy product that softens and moisturises your skin whilst in use. The fresh pomegranate juice and grapefruit oil not only dominate the scent here, but work on cleansing your skin and making it glow. Their bright, energetic scents help to wake you up on early mornings and would be a perfect accompaniment to Happy Hippy. The only downside I found is that the scent is very short-lived, meaning that this isn't a scent that'll stay with you outside the shower.

Prince Charming is a thick shower gel, very similar in consistency to Ponche, although this one does feel slightly denser in consistency. It doesn't lather up as easily as the aforementioned, however that's not to say it doesn't work fantastically well in the shower. It lathers up nicely on a loofa, sponge or shower puff, so very little needs to be used each time. This means that I can imagine a small 100g bottle lasting me well over a month. 

This shower gel smells absolutely gorgeous and it's definitely one I want to stock up on before the Valentine range is discontinued. I do think that Lush should alter their label a little as I think having the marshmallow root and vanilla as the key ingredients, is a little misleading. However, I was still pleasantly surprised with how lovely this scent is and I can imagine this working beautifully as a body lotion or massage bar in years to come. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Marshmallow and Vanilla Pod Decoction, Water, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Propylene Glycol, Lactic Acid, Lauryl Betaine, Grapefruit Oil, Fresh Pomegranate Juice, Sandalwood Oil, Geranium Oil, Almond Oil, Titanium Dioxide, *Citronellol, *Geraniol, *Linalool, *Limonene, Perfume, Colour 17200, Colour 45410, Colour 14700, Methylparaben, Propylparaben.

Vegan?: Yes

Year Of Original Release: 2015.

Scent Family:


UP