Easter treats: Valentine Hearts: Lush pamper products

Spring has most definitely sprung. With that in mind a couple of trips to Lush were in order. There are no Lush shops in North Devon. The closest are Exeter and Plymouth, so when I visit those cities I have to stop by their Lush stores. 

I picked up Golden Egg, Granny Takes A Dip, Bubblegum lip scrub, Therapy massage bar, Dragon's Egg, Big Blue, Bubblegrub and Lonely Heart.

Ah, so many beautiful products.

Dragon's Egg bathbomb £3.35 and Granny Takes A Dip bathbomb £3.35.

On the outside Dragon's Egg looks plain and unexciting, however, this bomb sure packs a punch. It fizzles away and turns the bath water a yellowish-gold colour and smells of lemon and jasmine. Quite refreshing. Similar to the Cinders bathbomb, Dragon's Egg contains popping candy, though I couldn't really detect any snap, crackle and pops. 

Granny Takes A Dip bathbomb never fails to catch my eye in the shop. Likewise, in the bathtub, this product turns your bath water multicolours. Definitely a fun bath with lemon and ginger scents wafting through. Refreshing and warming at the same time. 

Big Blue bathbomb £3.35 and Bubblegrub bubble bar £2.95.

I hadn't tried Big Blue before but the deep colour caught my attention. It is a calming and relaxing bomb which leaves the bathwater soft and silky. According to Lush's website Big Blue contains sea salt which helps soften the skin to buff away dead skin cells. Anything which helps smooth the skin is all good in my books.

How adorable is the Bubblegrub bubble bar? I like the price on this chap, at £2.95 it is one of the cheaper bath time treats at Lush. 

Not only does this product create lots of bubbles when crumbled under the tap, it also helps make the water silky soft - due to the shea butter - lovely stuff.

Therapy massage bar £6.50 Bubblegum Lip Scrub £5.50

This bar is a fairly hefty size and has little knobs (is that the right word) on top to give your skin a good massage while the product starts to melt on the skin. The bar smells sweet as it contains cocoa and shea butters which help leave the skin silky soft. I am going to take this with me to hospital when I go into labour. It also contains lavender oil, so hopefully hubby can use it on my back in a bid to calm me down. 

I have written posts about Bubblegum lip scrub many times, so I won't waffle on too much. I feel this is a love it or hate it product as it is super sweet, very similar to Snow Fairy shower gel. It helps buff away dry skin on your lips. I tend to use this at night before applying lip balm. 

Lonely heart bubblebar £3.50 and Golden Egg bathbomb melt £3.75

The Lonely Heart bubblebar was part of the Valentine collection for 2015 so is not available in shops now. This was quite a small bubblebar but I still manage to divide it up into three baths. It turned the bathwater a deep red colour which was laced with golden shimmer. There was a strong scent of citrus which I found light and refreshing. 

Ah, Golden Egg bathbomb melt, you look gorgeous, but you make cleaning the tub afterwards a pain! This is a recurring product, I remember Lush bringing it out last Easter and there weren't many left when I visited the shop, so it seems a popular choice with customers. 

The product happily fizzes away like a bomb but then mellows out to melt and turn the water soft and smooth. 

The product contains orange oils so is a welcome change from all the lemon scented products I picked up. According to Lush's website the product also contains cocoa which helps release the toffee scent - I couldn't detect a strong sweet/toffee smell but nonetheless I loved this product. It is nice to have a limited edition product under the £4 mark as well. 

When I buy a Lush bath product I like to make them last as long as possible. I take them out of their paper bags and put them into plastic freezer bags for storage, I find they retain their colour and scent longer this way. I will always divide the products up so I get more than one use out of them. Lush is quite expensive and some goodies cost around £6 so it is wise to make your purchases go that extra mile. 

Stocking up on Lush

We do not have a Lush shop in North Devon. There are stores in Exeter and Plymouth which are at least a two hour drive from where I live. So when I do come across a Lush shop I tend to go a bit crazy and stock up. 

We have: Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds, Sunnyside bubblebar, Karma bubble bar, Ice Blue soap, Honey I Washed The Kids soap, Dream Time bath melt, Space Girl bath bomb.

Honey I Washed The Kids soap and Ice Blue soap.

I have tried Honey I Washed The Kids before, I love the smell, sweet caramel but not too sickly or overpowering. I love the top of the soap, it is like the top of a creme brulee pudding. I hadn't tried the Ice Blue soap before but it is gorgeous. 

If you ever need a soap to wake you up during a cold winter's morning then this is it. The scent is peppermint and it leaves your skin squeaky clean, where the water beads up on your skin. Also a good soap for the man in your life. 

Bubble bars Karma and Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds. I have used both of these before and love them. Both produce lots of bubbles and a little goes a long way. You only need to crumble a tiny amount. I never understand when people use whole products in one bath. 

I like to get my moneys worth!

Here we have Space Girl bath bomb, Sunnyside bubble bar and Dream Time bath melt.

The Space Girl bath bomb and Dream Time bath melt were two new products for me. Again I like to break these products into lots of pieces to use in several baths. You only need a small section of the bath melt, I used too much for my first bath and it made the bottom of the tube super slippery and was a pain the backside to clean afterwards, it left a bit of an oily film. 

Then finally an old fav of mine, the Sunnyside bubble bar, amazing glittery goodness. 

What are your fav Lush products?

Christmas 2014 Lush goodies

In my opinion no other bath and body company does seasonal holidays quite like Lush. I adore Lush's Christmas goodies and this year is no exception. I didn't buy any Snowfairy shower gel because I still have a bottle left over from last year. 

However I did pick up this little selection of treats.

Here we have Christmas Hedgehog Bubble Bar, Snow Angel Bath Melt, Luxury Lush Pud Bath Bomb, Star Light Star Bright Bath Melt, Golden Wonder Bath Bomb, Holly Go Lightly Bath Bomb and Christmas Eve Bubble Bar. (Also, a sneaky bottle of American Cream hair conditioner, I know it isn't a Christmas product.)

Here we have Snow Angel Bath Melt, Luxury, Lush Pud Bath Bomb and Christmas Eve Bubble Bar. 

Snow Angel turns the bath water soft and silky, whenever I use a bath melt I don't need a body lotion afterwards. Once dissolved the bath melt leaves a ribbon of silver shimmer throughout the water. 

Luxury Lush Pud is a product which was brought out last Christmas. I didn't buy it last year so needed to give it a whirl this time round. This sweetly scented bath bomb turns the bath water an array of colours. The scent of this bath bomb is divine and relaxing. 

Christmas Eve Bubble Bar is another re-release from last year. I went though quite a few of these bad boys last Christmas. The product creates lots of bubbles as well as leaving the water silky, similar to a bath melt but with the added bubbles.

Next up is Star Light Star Bright Bath Melt, Golden Wonder Bath Bomb and Holly Go Lightly Bubble Bar. The glittery silver star smells of citrus mixed with something more warming. It has shea butter to leave skin soft and smooth. This was also in shops last Christmas. 

Golden Wonder was also brought back from last year. This bath bomb is a whopper! It can easily last four baths. Give it a shake and it sounds like there is a gift hidden inside. It is infact lots of glittery bits and bobs.

Holly Go Lightly is another fun bubble bar which is scented heavily of wintery spices. Amazing for those dark and blustery nights. This is a chunky bubble bar so it tends to last me about four baths.

Finally a bottle of American Cream hair conditioner and a Christmas Hedgehog Bubble Bar.

Do you remember the Flosty Gritter Bubble Bar? It was in Lush's core line and was a bright pink glittery bubble bar? It was my all time fav product. Then Lush went and discontinued it. However, this hair conditioner is the same scent as the bubble bar. The smell is amazing, I can't get enough and what's more the scent lingers in your hair the next day.

Christmas Hedgehog Bubble Bar is a rather suspect looking creature, Doesn't look like a hedgehog to me... Anyways, I haven't tried this product yet but according to Lush it contains yland yland and shea and cocoa butters. I am looking forward to giving this a go.

Have you tried any of the new Christmas 2014 treats from Lush? 

If so, what are you enjoying at the moment? 

Lush Treats

I love nothing more than relaxing in a hot bubblebath with a magazine and a cup of tea. It helps me relax and unwind before bed. I went to Exeter recently and bought a few goodies from Lush. 

I picked up a fresh face mask - Love Lettuce and four bubble bars. I much prefer bubble bars to bath bombs, while I find the bombs smell nice and turn the bath water nice colours I don't find they actually do much. However, I find the bubble bars infuse the water with a softening quality and of course, they produce a ton of bubbles.

This is the Mumkin bubblebar which was a special release for mother's day. When I saw this on the stand I couldn't resist. This is what Lush had to say: "Renowned for her uplifting fruity fragrance and turning bath water a deep and delicious pink colour. Mumkin has a unique fragrance that smells like a punnet of fresh raspberries - the perfect scent to make you feel fresh, uplifted and full of the joys of spring."

This bubble bar costs £2.95 and with all the bubble bars, I always break them up to get several uses out of them.

Another two limited edition bubble bath products here. On the left is the Golden Egg, which is a bath bomb and bath melt rolled into one product. This costs £3.50 and is a limited edition treat in time for Easter. This is what Lush had to say: "A glistening golden bath melt and bath bomb rolled into one. Because of its luxurious bath melt outer layer, when you first drop this into the bath it will sink down, the bob back to the tip as the bath bomb centre begins to fizz away, filling your bath water with its sumptuous honey-toffee fragrance.

The item on the right is called Wonder Woohoo and costs £3.95. I love the golden glitter on this bubblebar, but it does tend to get everywhere. This is what Lush had to say: "Inspired by Wonder Woman ad created for wonder women everywhere. With mimosa absolute, sandalwood oil and Brazilian orange oil - Wonder Woohoo is like a big, cheerful hug of fragrance. The lustre in the center of this bear will create a beautiful silvery trail amid the bubbles.

This brightly coloured bubble bar is aptly named Brightside and is a bit more expensive and costs £4.50 but it is a hefty product. This is what Lush had to say: "When you're chewing on life's gristle don't grumble, give it a whistle. Hop in the bath with one of these uplifting bubble bars, Sicilian mandarin, bergamot and tangerine essential oils to help you look on the right side of life. Its jazzy bright colours will create magnificent orange bath water and the sunny citrus fragrance is sure to leave you jolly and refreshed.

This product is the same size and the Comforter bubble bar and I find those easily last six baths.

Love Lettuce is a fresh face mask which needs to be kept in the fridge. This is one of my fav fresh face masks because of the crushed almond shells the mask is great for exfoliating. This is what Lush had to say: "Brighten your complex with nutrient-rich agar seaweed gel, soothing and moisturising honey and almond oil and gently exfoliating almond shells. This mask is simple fragranced with French lavender which has a calming effect on the mind and helps to balance the skin's sebum production. 

I apply a generous layer of this on a freshly cleansed face and let the mask do its magic while I soak in the bubble bath and wrinkle up like a prune. 

What are your fav Lush products at the moment? 

Vivienne Westwood - Celebrate Body Lotion - Lush

I am not a massive body lotion or body butter girl. Lazy of forgetful, or perhaps a bit of both, I just don't use it as much as I probably should. However, I don't think I am the only one. How often do you use lotion - truthfully.

Anyways, something I have been using is the Celebrate body lotion from Lush. I was sent this to try and review through work and got to keep it afterwards, one of the perks of being a reporter. The product came wrapped in this pretty pink and white scarf designed by Vivienne Westward.

Celebrate is a limited edition body lotion which is part of their Christmas range and it smells very spicy and festive. It contains orange, almond oil and lime as well as some cognac. Cognac is a type of brandy which, if I am honest, I can't detect. However, it does smell divine, fresh but also spicy - it shares the same fragrance as the Golden Wonder bath bomb.

The product itself isn't greasy which is great, I hate that feeling some thicker lotions can leave, I grimace trying to put clothes on when my skin is feeling greasy from an overloaded lotion.

This 225g pot costs £12.95.

I love Lush for their Christmas products, I am still working my way through bits and bobs I picked up after the South West Bloggers Meet a few weeks ago. Do you shop in Lush? If so, what are your most loved products?

Christmas at Lush

North Devon does not have a Lush shop so my bubble bar and bath bomb purchases are few and far between.

I dropped in the Exeter branch after the South West Bloggers Meet on Saturday. 

All the Christmas goodies were proudly on display, I couldn't resist picking up a few pieces.

I picked up Christmas Eve bubble bar, Love Lettuce fresh facemask, Golden Wonder bath bomb, Shoot For the Stars bath bomb, Comforter bubble bar and Magic Wand bubble bar.

I know the facemask and Comforter bubble bar are not Christmas items but they are goodies I have used before and fancied a little treat.

First up we have the Magic Wand and Christmas Eve bubble bars. Swirl the Magic Wand bubble bar around in the bath water for a Snow Fairy scented bath. The good thing with this item is that you can get multiple uses out of it. Once you have used it keep it away from water and condensation and leave to dry for the next use. Magic Wand costs £4.95.

I used Christmas Eve bubble bar last year, my mum bought it for me and I loved the scent it gave off. Unlike the sweet scents like Snow Fairy, Christmas Eve is a far more calming scent. This costs £2.95.

Don't get me wrong, I love Lush products, I enjoy nothing more than a relaxing bubble bath with a cup of tea and reading a magazine. However, Lush goodies are pricey, so I never use a whole bubble bar or bath bomb in one go. Stingy perhaps, but I will ALWAYS cut the goodies up so I can get as many uses out of them as possible.

Next up is Love Lettuce fresh face mask, I can't remember how much this cost exactly but it was around the £5 mark.

This is my most repurchased fresh face mask. The reason I love it so much is because of the ground up pieces of almond in there - a face mask and exfoliant in one. I notice a huge difference in my skin after just one use. Straight away it is smoother and brighter. It is also a fantastic product if you suffer from pesky zits.

The next item I picked up is the Shoot For the Stars bath bomb, £3.25.

I grabbed this one after seeing some fantastic reviews on other people's blogs and Youtube videos. Easily persuaded I know.

I have not used this item before, but from what I have seen it turns your bath water different shades of purple and blue while silver glitter disperses around you.

Golden Wonder bath bomb £3.50..

I used this last year and to be honest loved the novelty of it! Shaped like a Christmas present, it also rattles when you give it a shake. The only downside with this is the amount of gold/orange staining it left in the bath tube. It smells delicious though. Definitely worth a try if you haven't used it before, it turns your bath water different colours. 

Last up is the Comforter bubble bar, £4.50.

This is one of the more expensive bubble bars, but it is huge - the picture doesn't do it justice. I can get at least six uses out of this. This one produces masses of of bubbles and smells divine, a warming scent, ideal for winter.

Blogger's Event in Lush, Exeter

Yesterday I attended my first blogger meetup. This one was organised by Jess over at  Mismatched Knitwear and was held at Lush in Exeter, Devon. So many blogger events in the south seem to be held in Bristol, so it was great to have an event which is relatively close to home.

The final picture is the goodie bag the Lush team gave to each of us.

I drove to the event and went with the lovely Liza from Glambeautys and Zoe from ZoeGeorgina Beauty and Fashion.

There was a small group of bloggers at the event which was nice, everyone was able to chat to each other. The staff welcomed us with drinks and we were able to browse all the products on offer.

We watched demonstrations and got to try as many things as we wanted. We also got a sneak peak of some of the products Lush are bringing out for Christmas.

This was my first bloggers event and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The girls I met were friendly and welcoming, the staff at Lush were brilliant with us  which made the event even more memorable.

Lush makeup - Emotional Brilliance

I went into Exeter's branch of Lush to pick up a fresh face mask when I got cornered by one of the overly happy sales assistants.

He told me all about Emotional Brilliance, Lush's new makeup line.

I got this badge for completing the challange...

The SA showed me a turn table of coloured dots, he asked me to pick the three colours I was drawn towards. I picked a baby blue, bright orange and purple, which according to the chart meant my emotions for the day were Calm, Vibrance and Feeling Secure.

The products they have are liquid eyeliner/shadows and liquid lip colour (which cost £14.50)

The SA said this range was two years in the making, even though I didn't buy anything I do quite like the concept behind it. Some of the eye liners had fantastic shimmer to them.

Has anyone bought anything from this range? On their website you can have a colour reading, follow the steps. Click here

Hello Gorgeous - A Lush Box

In a previous post I uploaded some pictures from my other half's sister's wedding. During the speeches at the breakfast the groom wanted to thank some guests. I was given this Lush Hello Gorgeous gift set.

In this box: Vanilla Dee-Lite Body Moisturiser, Comforter Bubble Bar, Think Pink Bath Ballistic, Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub and a trial size of Gorgeous facial moisturiser.

I wasn't expecting a thank you gift, so that was really nice, I never buy box sets from Lush for myself so it was a lovely treat.

Coffee, cake and a bit of shopping

Mum and I took a trip down to Exeter recently. The reason for our trip to start with was to go to the Apple store because my laptop has died. To cut a long story short, they basically said the laptop is too old to bother fixing (est around £300, the laptop is 4 years old) and that I may as well sell it on ebay for parts. On that note, I have decided to buy a new laptop (not another Mac, quite simply, I can't afford it)

At the moment I am using my other half's laptop and I can't figure out how to crop photos! there is a crop icon but it won't let me select it.

Feeling a bit upset about my laptop, mum and I decided to have a Costa coffee and cake and carry on shopping. This is what I picked up.

Mask of Magnaminty from Lush (just under £5 for the small tube, even though this is the small size it is bigger than the usual fresh face masks) I am slowly making my way through trying all their face masks out, the lady said I didn't need to keep this one in the fridge.

Melting marshmallow moment bath melt

I had a latte and a lemon and poppy seed muffin

A few other goodies

Estee Lauder Perfectly Clean foaming cleanser (Boots £20)

Collection 2000 Glam Crystals in Hustle (Boots, £2.99) Maybelline Falsies mascara (again, from Boots but mum bought me this so I'm not sure how much it cost)

 Love all that glittery goodness!

Tisty Tosty and Northern Lights

Mum popped a couple of Lush products in my stocking for Christmas, I love it when other people pick out soap and bath treats because it means I try products I may not have picked out myself. The first item is Tisty Tosty, a heart shaped bath bomb.

I broke this in half (like I do with most Lush bubble bars/bombs etc to make them last longer) and popped into the bath. It fizzed around whist making the water turn cloudy and milky and the dried rose heads floated around on the surface. The smell wasn't that strong for me, it was a subtle rose scent. I don't really find bath bombs do much for me in the way of moisturizing properties, I prefer bubble bars or bath melts. 

As always with so many items from Lush, you spend time relaxing in the bath, then once the water has drained you then have to spend time fishing all the bits from the bottom. So if you don't mind picking soggy bits of rose petals from the plughole this is a good product if you like to have subtle scented bath water.

The next item is a generous sized chunk of Northern Lights soap. I tried this a month or so ago when I got a sample of it when I was buying Snow Fairy and my fresh face masks.

I loved the sample of this soap, the smell for me is very fresh and sharp, think citrus almost. I will definitely be cutting this bar up into chunks to leave in the bathroom. I tend to alternate my soaps and I don't want to go through this big piece all in one go, I want to get a few different bars out of it. For this chunk the main colours are yellow and orange, but I have seen other people post about their NL soap and theirs has neon green too. Such a pretty looking soap whist having a wonderful fresh scent. Happy bunny.