Golden Pear Mouthwash Tabs

Ever since Golden Pear appeared a few Christmases ago, the Lush community have become obsessed with anything and everything that shares the same scent. Bath bombs, shower jellies and body sprays are just three of the wonderful creations that have been brought about because of the popularity of this fragrance. So it was only natural that the company would incorporate this excitement into one of their latest mouthwash tabs.  

Perhaps the prettiest of the lot, Golden Pear Mouthwash Tabs present themselves as little golden diamonds dusted with golden lustre, a feature that I should probably mention doesn't leave your mouth or teeth in the slightest bit glittery. Apologies for any readers that may have wanted their mouths to mimic a handful of golden nuggets: you're going to have to take up that issue with Lush themselves! 

Lush's description reads: Pairing detoxifying cardamom with soothing sandalwood, these little sparkly gems offer a warm and comforting bite of freshness, perfect for your next encounter. The words 'warm' and comforting are the perfect adjectives to describe these little beauties because they offer exactly that...and more!  

From the bottle, the familiar scent of Golden Pear Shower Jelly can be recognised immediately. A blend of orange oil, cardamom and sandalwood, the fragrance is a rich and very wholesome fruity aroma with the sandalwood wrapping itself around the orange like a warming blanket. The inclusion of both cardamom powder and oil also makes a huge impression on the scent: you can smell that intoxifying and very unique spice alongside the other elements, which mimics the fragrance of other Golden Pear scented products perfectly.

While this may not be helpful, I want to state that these mouthwash tabs taste exactly as you would expect them to. Fans of Golden Pear have no doubt fantasied about an edible rendition of their favourite scent and these mouthwash tabs do the perfect job at making this possible.

Slightly fruity, slightly woody and with a twist of warming cardamom, these mouthwash tabs taste like adult candy. The sandalwood really pairs well with the orange here, grounding it a little and removing some of the 'tang' that it possesses, and instead offers a taste that is very wholesome and comforting. Furthermore, the different complexities of these tabs overload your tastebuds with a beautifully rich, multi-dimensional flavour that sticks around for a long time after you've swished.

While there is nothing in the ingredients list to suggest why, there is also something very slightly Turkish delight-tasting about these tabs, which I happened to really appreciate and didn't think took away from the Golden Pear smell/taste at all. Ultimately, they're both rich and exquisite when being used, and everything you would hope them to be if you're a fan of this scent family.

To use a solid mouth wash tab, you simply crunch the tab between your teeth, take a slurp of water and begin swishing. Once you've finished, you then spit the water into the sink and your whole mouth should feel super clean and refreshed: ready to brace the rest of the day without worrying about smelly breath or food from your lunch remaining stuck between your teeth. It's recommended that you keep the mouthwash in your mouth for a good minute. This allows the ingredients to get to work at cleaning the mouth and deodorising the tongue so you get the maximum results possible.  

As you would expect from Lush, the ingredients that have gone into making all three of the mouthwash varieties have also been carefully crafted and serve a purpose. Firstly, they all contain sodium bicarbonate, which is a natural softening ingredient that is also known for its ability to clean and deodorise at the same time. This is a key component that will help to clean your tongue, gums and teeth when you're swishing, and will help to rid your mouth of any strong odours that might be present at the time, freshening your breath in the process.

Each of the mouthwashes also contains xylitol - a natural substance that is found in certain fruits and vegetables and is used in foods and cosmetics as a refined sweetener. This ingredient has been proven to cause none of the harmful effects that sugar can have on the teeth, is perfect for diabetics as it doesn't effect blood sugar levels at all, yet offers the sweetness to help give these tabs their interesting but enjoyable flavours.

Golden Pear Mouthwash Tabs immediately cleared my palette when I began to swish it around my mouth, and my teeth, tongue and gums were left feeling really smooth and clean afterwards. Even though they have a lot to offer in the way of flavour, they're definitely not the strongest mouthwash tabs available on the market. Yet, after using one, I felt confident that the smells of the food I had just eaten had been fully removed and the taste of the tab remained with me for an impressive amount of time afterwards.

To really test how powerful Golden Pear Mouthwash Tabs were, I used one of them straight after eating a meal that was absolutely saturated in a garlic dressing. Not only did the garlic all but vanish from my mouth within the first minute of swishing but the odd grimy feeling that I had on my teeth beforehand disappeared as well.

These are definitely a mouthwash tab that I would buy again in the future; that's if I ever manage to get through my impressive stash of ten bottles that I currently own. Fans of Golden Pear will not be able to fault these at all, and those who like interesting tastes will no doubt appreciate how wonderfully rich and exquisite these little golden diamonds are. Well done Lush!

Quantitative Ingredients: Dicalcium Phosphate Anhydrous, Sodium Bicarbonate, Silica, Citric Acid, Sorbitol, Malic Acid, Gardenia Extract, Glycerine, Stevia, Xylitol, Flavour, Cardamom Oil, Brazilian Orange Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Cardamom Powder, Sandalwood Powder, Titanium Dioxide, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Citral, Citronellol, Eugenol, Farnesol, Limonene, Linalool, Colour 77491.

Vegan?: Yes.

2019 Price: £6.50 for 45g.

Year Of Original Release: 2019.

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.

Golden Pear Shower Jelly

2019 is officially the year of Golden Pear. Since the release of the original soap, back in 2017, very few other fragrances have caused such a passionate reaction as this particular product has. Such a popular scent family it is, that we have seen a bubble bar, body spray and bath bomb released in quick succession to meet the demands of the newly hungry fans.

Golden Pear Shower Jelly is simply another extension of this family, and to put it simply, is the greatest version of this fragrance that I have had the pleasure of experiencing. However, as I will explain below, the reasons why I think this shower jelly is near on perfect, are perhaps the very same arguments given for why it is the worst rendition to some consumers as well.

Straight from the tub, this limited edition is easily one of the strongest jellies that Lush have ever produced: a rich, sultry combination of juicy pear with a warming, spicy undertone of cardamom to boot. The pear is naturally super sweet and syrup-like, while the cardamom offers a blanket of warmth to finish. 

Strangely enough, some Lush fans have described the scent of this as like raspberry bubble gum, and I can understand why they would say this. While this description gives off the wrong impression, and may lead to consumers believing that there is something rather cheap and simplistic about this fragrance, the height in which the juiciness of the pear greets your nose from the tub does could very well be mistaken for this bubble gum aroma.

What is different about Golden Pear is that it's one of the less sturdy shower jellies that Lush have produced, which means that it tends to fall apart far easier than you would normally expect it to. I found that this jelly worked better when I chopped it up into pieces and used a single chunk for each shower. As using it whole may lead to breakage that gets washed down your plughole before you have time to save it. 

On the skin, this limited edition jelly produces a wonderfully thick, fragrant foam that coats the skin and leaves it smelling beautifully fruity. Fans who found it too overwhelming in the tub may be pleased to know that the scent does tend to dampen a little while in use, and the sandalwood and cardamom come through a little more under the running water.

Containing both golden linseed mucilage, which sounds rather disgusting but is apparently super hydrating for the skin; and Lush's favourite ingredient at the moment, carrageenan extract, which softens and soothes the skin, Golden Pear Shower Jelly leaves your body feeling like incredible. My skin was radiating warmth and vitality after using this in the shower, and I could smell the scent on my body for hours afterwards.

Compared to the other products in this scent family, I would say that it is closest to the recent Open Your Heart Bubble Bar, as it's fruitier and perhaps a little stronger in scent than the likes of the body spray or bath bomb. I happen to think that this is the best rendition of the fragrance so far, especially given that the smell is coupled with the gorgeous sparkly golden design of the jelly. To see the release of a shower gel with the same strength and colour would be a dream come true.  

Quantitative Ingredients: Glycerine, Golden Linseed Mucilage, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Propylene Glycol, Carrageenan Extract, Perfume, Fresh Pear Juice, Cardamom Oil, Brazilian Orange Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Aloe Vera Extract, Titanium Dioxide, Gardenia Extract, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Tin Oxide, Silica, Citronellol, Coumarin, *Limonene, Colour 77491.

Vegan?: Yes.

2019 Price: £10.95 for 240g.

Year Of Original Release: 2019.

Open Your Heart Bubble Bra

Every so often, Lush releases a scent that impacts on the community so much that you can almost feel the buzz of the chatter behind the screen of your phone. When Golden Pear Soap first made an appearance, you could tell within a matter of days that something big was about to go down for the avid consumers. 

Since the release of that seasonal soap a couple of years ago, Lush have continued to bring out more and more products with the same fragrance. Some great, some not so great, but I can honestly say that Open Your Heart Bubble Bra is what Golden Pear Bath Bomb should have been, but better.

Containing orange, sandalwood and cardamon oil, this limited edition bubble bra is succulently fruity yet equally grounded as well. My nose picks up the smell of sweet stewed pears which is both warming and refreshing. Alongside this, there is a delicate note of the cardamom and sandalwood that gives the bubble bar a gentle woodiness as well. 

Given its design, Open Your Heart is definitely one that will make a mess if you don't store it properly, and as I suggest only using half of this for each bath, so you're going to have to place it somewhere carefully if you do the same.

In its favour, this limited edition is super easy to crumble, and the thick centre of butters that stick the two ends together, really help to give the water a boost of extra nourishment which you skin will thank you for. I found that the water was beautifully sultry throughout, and the impact it had on my skin was instantaneous. 

Having said that, I was rather disappointed to discover that you don't get a lot of bubbles for your money. Whether this is because of the generous helping of both cocoa and murumuru butters, or a predict default, Open Your Heart didn't heed that many bubbles, even when I swished my hands throughout the tub. The bubbles that I did manage to create didn't stick around for too long afterwards either, which was a shame.

Despite this, I was really impressed by the strength of the fragrance during my bath. While it was never going to be a scent that engulfed the entire room, I was able to sweet the note of sweet pear throughout the whole bath, and the smell even lingered on the ends of my hair for a short time afterwards. Compared to Golden Pear Bath Bomb, this bubble bra offered so much more, and was much closer to the original scent than both the bath bomb and the body spray that was released a couple of months ago.

Overall, I think this is a lovely edition to the Valentine's Day this year. A little more scent and a little more bubble action and I think I might have rated it much higher than I did. However, I can recognise that this will be a popular purchase this season. This will definitely be one that I buy again before they disappear.      

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Murumuru Butter, Lauryl Betaine, Perfume, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Laureth 4, Cardamom Oil, Brazilian Orange Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Cornflour, Titanium Dioxide, Fair Trade Shea Butter, Gardenia Extract, Water (Aqua), Silica, Tin Oxide, Citronellol, Coumarin, *Limonene, Colour 77491, Colour 19140, Colour 15510.

Vegan?: Yes.

2019 Price: £4.95 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2019.

Scent Family:
Golden Pear Bath Bomb 
Golden Pear Body Spray

Golden Pear Soap

Open Your Heart Bubble Bar

Punkawalop Matte Hair Clay

Out of all of Lush's limited edition hair care products from the Showcase event, this was the one I was most nervous about using. After deciding to cut my hair super short, bleach it bright blonde and then style it with wax every day, I know the effects that products such as this can have on the health and condition of your hair over time. Let's just say that I didn't want to repeat the mistakes of my youth some twenty years later.

Punkawalop Matte Hair Clay has been described by Lush as being a product for the rebels, although I don't really see how using this was going to turn a vegan, primary school teacher into somebody that was at risk of receiving an asbo. Jokes aside, this Showcase exclusive was sounded like it meant business, and I was a little worried just how my hair would turn out after using this.

Firstly, I found the scent of this product to be rather strange, as there appeared to be very little to the smell at all. The rose, cardamom and ought oils definitely offer something in the way of the smell. However, it is a very gentle aroma overall: this clay is definitely more about how it works than what it can offer your nose.

The scent you do get is a dry, clay-like smelling rose aroma, with just the added warmth of a little note of cardamom. There smells as if there is a little squeeze of lemon in here as well, although there is nothing in the ingredients list to suggest so. Instead, the strongest smell that I can detect is by far the kaolin and the rose clay itself, which creates a dry and very nondescript fragrance.

The idea is that you take a small amount from the tub: I found that a raisin-sized piece was adequate, and massage this between your fingers to add some warmth. Then you apply this to the areas of your hair that you want to and style as you please. 

I tended to use this hair clay as a way of flattening the frizzy parts on top of my head, and I really appreciated how well Punkawalop worked at doing this. Not only that but the product also added a beautiful shine to my hair that brought out my natural highlights, and just made my hair look even healthier. I chose to wash this out in the evening of the day I first applied it, so I don't know how it would affect your hair the following day. However, my prediction is that it certainly wouldn't leave it the horrible, oily mess that other waxes and clays have left my hair in the past. 

What I will say is that the clay is great at leaving very little in the way of 'product' in your hair. Whereas a lot of waxes and clays can make your hair feel rigid and hard in places, and can also cause a grease build up over a couple of days, I found that this simply wasn't the case with Punkawalop.

However, if you're looking for a clay with serious hold, this wouldn't be one that I would recommend. When I attempted to spike up my hair, no matter how much clay I added, it simply wouldn't hold into place. This is definitely more for those who like to run a little wax through their locks and then just 'mess it up' a bit, as opposed to somebody who wants to really shape their hair.

Ultimately, this isn't a product that I would have any interest in using regularly - not because it isn't a good product, just because I don't feel the need to use this in my hair at all. However, I can recognise its merits in being able to control my hair a little better and keeping it in place after many windy and rainy days at work.

Quantitative Ingredients: Cardamom Seed Infusion (Elettaria cardamomum), Coffee Infusion (Coffea arabica), Japan Wax (Rhus succedanea), Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), Glyceryl Stearate & PEG-100 Stearate, Propylene Glycol, Carnauba Wax (Copernicia Cerifera), Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (Olea europaea), Cetearyl Alcohol, Polyquaternium-88, Rapeseed Wax (Brassica Napus), Hydroxystearic/Linolenic/Oleic Polyglycerides, Polyquaternium-81, Cardamom Oil (Elettaria cardamomum), Olive Leaf Absolute (Olea europaea), Rose Oil (Rosa damascena), Colombian Cocoa Absolute (Theobroma cacao), Oudh Oil (Aquilaria agallocha), Kaolin, Rose Clay (Kaolinite), Behentrimonium Chloride, *Anise Alcohol, *Benzyl Alcohol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Citral, *Citronellol, *Coumarin, *Farnesol, *Geraniol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Perfume.

Vegan?: Yes. 

2018 Price: unsure.
2019 Price: £9.95 for 45 g.

Year Of Original Release: 2018.

Golden Pear Bath Bomb

When the community bath bombs arrived on my doorstep, I couldn't wait to rip the box open and take a sniff. I was very surprised to find that nearly all of the products had a very strong smell, which is not something that Lush have been doing so well with as of late. Unfortunately, there was one that I could barely detect, and that was Golden Pear.

Designed, as its name suggests, to look very much like a Golden Pear, this limited edition shares its scent with the Christmas Soap and Body Spray of the same name. As a fairly new fragrance to come from the company, this has made a massive impression on the community in a very short space of time, and with good reason.

Containing a combination of orange, sandalwood and cardamon, this fragrance family offers a smell reminiscent of stewed pears and Christmas spices. On the surface you get a warming, fruity note of pear, which is sweet without being at all juicy. Alongside this, the sandalwood oil creates a thick, woody base - that not only grounds the overall fragrance, but dampens the pear slightly so it's not as strong as it could be. While this latter point may sound like a negative feature, I believe it actually enhances the beauty of this smell, and sets it apart from just being another fruity smell.

Finally, you have a little touch of cardamom. This works with the sandalwood to create a very thick, comforting blanket for the pear to lie on, whilst also offering a gentle spicy element that makes it a little more festive. Together, all three ingredients work really well at creating something perfect for the winter weather.

As I stated above, the fragrance of this was the weakest out of all of the other bath bombs released at the same time. Having said that, this bath bomb soon redeemed itself in the water, as the notes intensified a lot once it had come into contact with the heat, and Golden Pear was probably just as intense as the others were from the get-go.

In the water, the bath bomb fizzes away quietly but with full intensity. The wonderful, golden shade of orange that the limited edition is moulded from, throws itself out across the surface and produces a stunning display of orange foam, that fizzes pops away like a fresh class of bubbly. Once this has all dispersed, a gentle blanket of white remains for a short while afterwards, before that to is absorbed into the water.

What makes Golden Pear so special is the fact that in the centre of the bath bomb is a disc of butters. This continues to float on the surface after the bath bomb has disappeared, and induces the water with an extra dose of softness to moisturise your skin with. 

What I will say is that this bath bomb did leave my skin feeling amazing. I certainly didn't need to moisturise afterwards as my body felt silky-soft and replenished. The vibrant orange colour that the water remained also helped to elevate my mood quite a bit, and I left the tub feeling really great about life.

Having said that, the scent of Golden Pear was not as long-lived as the fragrances were for some of the other community bath bombs. Although I could still detect it throughout my experience, I sometimes struggled to notice the subtle smell of the bath bomb when I was using other cosmetics alongside it. Furthermore, I didn't really notice that the product left much of a smell on my skin afterwards either.

Fans of Golden Pear will definitely love the design and producibility of this exclusive bath bomb. I myself, really enjoyed watching it fizz away in the bath tub and the way it made my skin feel was truly magical. Despite these merits, this is perhaps my least favourite of the recent releases, as I just don't think it had as good an impact in the water as other products did.  

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, Titanium Dioxide, Laureth 4, Cardamom Oil, Brazilian Orange Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Cream of Tartar, Water (Aqua), Fair Trade Shea Butter, Sodium Coco Sulfate, Dipropylene Glycol, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Silica Tin Oxide, Coumarin, *Limonene, Perfume, Colour 14700, Colour 45350, Colour 77491.

Vegan?: Yes. 

2018 Price: £5.95 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2018.

Scent Family:
Golden Pear Bath Bomb 
Golden Pear Body Spray

Golden Pear Soap
Open Your Heart Bubble Bar

Golden Pear Body Spray

Why I've chosen to start reviewing this one, I don't know. But there's just something rather wonderful about a body spray called Golden Pear. A fairly new fragrance from Lush, this scent family only started last year - when Lush introduced a beautiful little soap of the same name, as part of their 2017 Christmas range.

What started out as a few whispers, quickly transpired into a full movement of Lush fans gushing over the scent of this limited edition soap. It wasn't at all surprising then when Lush brought out the soap again this year, followed by the Golden Pear Bath Bomb during the community release last month. It makes sense then that this fragrance is featured as part of their exclusive body spray release.

What I should start out by saying is that I was personally a little disappointed with the initial smell of the bath bomb. Whereas the soap offered multiple layers and complexity that made me fall in love with it, the bath bomb wasn't quite as pronounced. It was a relief then when I discovered that the body spray is more in-keeping with the soap than it is the bomb. That's not to say that there isn't a few mild differences.

At the risk of paraphrasing myself, to describe this fragrance is like trying to explain what it must smell like to walk through Wonka's chocolate factory. For such a gentle fragrance, there are so many elements that tantalise the senses at every turn. Don't expect this body spray to be 'in your face' as some of the others have demonstrated. Instead, you'll get gentle waves of fruity goodness but in a much more grounded manner.

I should probably warn you that the immediate smell I got from this body spray was one of alcohol, so don't be alarmed if this is the case with you. Sometimes body sprays need a few days/weeks to settle in their format before this element goes away: it's perfectly natural. With this in mind, you might also experience the body spray maturing over time, so the aroma is deepened in the bottle, and therefore on your skin. This is the great thing about Lush's perfumes and sprays: they get better with age.

Within a matter of seconds, a warming fruity smell comes forward and engulfs your senses. My nose tells me that the initial spray offers a note that reminds me a little of raspberry bubblegum, but this element is shortly lived. Once it settles on the skin, you realise that component is actually coming from the pears.

If I'm honest, I was a little worried that the scent of this wouldn't replicate the soap well, only because the soap features a tonne of pear puree that gives it its fruity base. Yet somehow Lush have managed to produce the same fragrance but in a body spray. I say this because on the skin, you then get a wonderfully rich smell of pears, which reminds me slightly of what they smell like when they've been stewed and very delicately caramelised. 

Alongside this, the sandalwood begins to seep through - adding a richness to the fruitiness at first, and then grounding the pear smell so that it stays on your skin for longer. Over time, the sandalwood projects itself from the heat of your skin, and I found that it was slightly stronger than the pear itself - although that's not to say that the pear wasn't still there until the very end.

As well as this, let's not forget that there is also a layer of cardamom. This works alongside the sandalwood to ground the fragrance, whilst also offering something very subtle spicy and warming. You can smell that the cardamom is there, but it's not so strong that it overpowers the other elements.

Much like the soap, the scent is what I would call 'subtle', so once it's settled, it's not the strongest fragrance that Lush have ever produced. However, this is something that replicates what both the bath bomb and the soap do as well: fans love the scent of this because it's subtle yet complex. This is what helps it to stay in-keeping with the original soap.

As it's in a body spray format, Golden Pear lasts quite long on the skin. I was still able to smell it nearly three hours after I had sprayed it on myself, and the life of this would have probably been prolonged even further had the fragrance itself not been as subtle as it was originally designed to be.

What differs to my nose is the level of sandalwood featured in the fragrance. I felt as if it damped slightly the level of fruitiness that perhaps some fans would expect. However, I actually want to celebrate this because what you get is a perfume that is even richer and more mature than the soap itself. Fans of the soap will not doubt love this rendition of their favourite scent, and I think Lush have done well to replicate this so that it's strong enough to enjoy as a body spray, yet subtle enough to say true to the original scent.  

Quantitative Ingredients: DRF Alcohol, Perfume, Cardamom Oil, Brazilian Orange Oil, Sandalwood Oil, *Benzyl Cinnamate, *Cinnamal, *Cinnamyl Alcohol, *Citral Citronellol, Coumarin, Eugenol, *Farnesol, *Limonene, *Linalool.

Vegan?: Yes.

2018 Price: £20 for 200ml.

Year Of Original Release: 2018.

Scent Family:
Golden Pear Bath Bomb 
Golden Pear Body Spray

Golden Pear Soap
Open Your Heart Bubble Bar

Psychodelic Bubble Bar

For many years, I used to own most of Lush's old 'Lush Times' magazines, which was the perfect gateway to find out about releases across almost a decade of the company being in business. I would often sit for hours trawling through the pages, circling the 'must haves' and sometimes feeling a little jealous at some of the wonderful products that had escaped me, and would probably never be back again. 

Yet when Psychodelic first made an appearance in the Lush Kitchen, it didn't immediately jump out at me as being one of the bubble bars that had excited me all that much. I certainly didn't remember circling it in any of the magazines, and when I went back and checked for myself, I saw that it had featured in multiple editions, across multiple years, and not once had I added it to my list of 'must haves.' Yet the ingredients list and descriptions read like poetry to me, and I couldn't wait to try one out.

Containing cinnamon, cardamom, sandalwood and orange oils, this bubble bar is definitely one for the coldest months of the year. A perfect blend of sweet and spicy, it was the orange oil that surprisingly stood out for me above any other. This ingredient adds a warm, rounded note of fruitiness, that dances around the cinnamon and creates an element of sweet spice to seal the deal. While not the same scent, this bubble bar does remind me a little of both Phoenix Rising Bath Bomb and Jilted Elf: they'd make a great pairing in the bath together.

Amidst these two, warm sultry notes of cardamon pad out the scent, while a gentle but very sensual woodiness from the sandalwood lingers underneath: just enough to ground the scent without taking away from the orange and cinnamon at all.

Strangely, the design of the bubble bar didn't really fit the description of the scent, despite the interesting and very psychodelic vibes that I got from the blue, white and yellow splodges that made up the surface pattern on the bubble bar. However, I was interested to see how the scent and the choice of colours worked together in the bath tub.

Unfortunately, I ended up being a little disappointed with the colour that my bath water turned. When I pictured psychodelic colours, I was hoping for something super vibrant and vivid: something in my face at the very least. Yet, the bath water ended up being, what I can only describe as, a light, murky shade of turquoise.

On the positive side, this bubble bar was super moisturising. I could quite literally see a gentle glaze of oils on the surface of the water, and it didn't take me more than a minute or two to feel the effect it was having on my skin. Furthermore, the bubbles that were created were of an abundance, and they offered a delicate fragrance as they cocooned around your body.

After the bath, I could feel how silky smooth my skin felt and I could detect a select hint of the orange and the cinnamon as well. This didn't stay for all that long but I'm sure that's more because my nose just became accustomed to the fragrance.

Given that Psychodelic Bubble Bar was of a good size, you could easily get 2-3 separate baths out of a single slice. In addition, the bar itself, although slightly rigid, was fairly easy to crumble under the water. After storing one for a good couple of months, I found that it didn't seem to have aged all that much, and I could still smell the wonderful combination of orange and cinnamon during this time. 

Yet despite the wonderful positives that the bubble bar offers the consumer, this would definitely be more of a bubble bar that I combine with something else to get a little more 'life' into my tub. Phoenix Rising, Cinders or maybe even something like Metamorphosis would work well in this combination, and I do hope that it makes a reappearance so that I can test these theories out. 

Quantitative Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Sweet Orange Oil, Cinnamon Leaf Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Cardamom Oil, Litsea Cubeba Oil, *Cinnamal, *Citral, *Eugenol, *Benzyl Benzoate, *Limonene, *Linalool, Gardenia Extract, Colour 14700, Colour 42090.

Vegan?: Yes.

2017 Price: £3.95 each.

Year Of Original Release: 1999.