Review: LUSH Intergalactic Bath Bomb

Everyone loves Intergalactic bath bomb. There’s no denying that it’s one of LUSH’s best-selling ballistics, being a solid fan favourite all year round. Apparently, 800,000 Intergalatics were sold in the UK last year, with 3.5 million of them sold worldwide. Which makes it really weird that I, a self-confessed LUSH addict, had never tried Intergalactic bath bomb before now.

I can explain myself a little bit. I’m usually too engrossed in Kitchen, LUSH Labs and seasonal releases to pay much attention to the mainline bath products, neglecting them in favour of shinier exclusives. I did however learn my lesson with this when The Comforter shower cream was discontinued, having only tried it for the first time on the day of its demise.

I probably would have never picked up an Intergalactic bath bomb for myself had it not come inside the Dreamscape Christmas gift set that I got for my birthday last month. In fact, I hadn’t even planned to review until, hence why I don’t have a proper photo of the bomb before hitting the water – How wild is that?

Luckily, I’m pretty sure that this is a bath bomb that everyone will have seen before, either online or in person. One of the largest mainline bath bombs, Intergalactic is bright blue in colour, with threads of yellow and pink running through the centre of the ballistic.

Intergalactic bath bomb looks exactly as you’d expect a ‘classic’ LUSH bath bomb to look – Bright colours, speckled with glitter, and with a definite handmade aspect that ensures no two bombs look the same.

As far as the scent of Intergalactic goes, it’s not the most complex blend. Despite the ingredients list also featuring grapefruit, vetivert oil and cedarwood oil, peppermint is really the only ‘true’ scent that comes through. To me, Intergalactic smells a lot like a mixture between the classic ‘Dirty’ range, and Roots scalp treatment. A pure, sharp mint with a little edge of sweetness.

Luckily, the incredible bath art from Intergalactic more than makes up for the overly bland scent. Intergalactic bath bomb is one that just keeps on surprising you, exploding with colour, right until the very end.

For a moderately fast fizzer, I was genuinely surprised at how long the bath bomb’s ‘show’ lasted for. Checking the time stamps of my photos, the release of colours lasted a full seven minutes, which is pretty good going!

At the start of the immersion, Intergalactic looks like it’s just going to be a regular blue bath bomb. Vibrant blue froth spreads over the surfaces of the water, with only a few veins of purple hinting at what’s to come. Around three minutes in, the pink colouring begins to cascade from the middle of the bombs, swirling into the water and creating glorious pools of fuchsia amongst the blue foam.

Finally, the yellow starts to gently seep out of the bomb, tainting the water a delicious teal colour, along with swirls of golden lustre that creates glittering rings on the surface of the water. 

Intergalactic bath bomb had so many different twists and turns that my camera roll looks like I’d used two completely different bath bombs. I’m truly stunned at the fabulous pinks and purples that came from an unassuming blue bomb, alongside the sheer amount of silver and gold lustre.

This is all without even mentioning the popping candy that Intergalactic includes. Just a little edge of fun to further improve a truly magical and out of this world bathing experience. I wish I hadn’t used any bubbles in my bath, just to see the true extent of the bath art spread across the whole tub.

I have been completely converted to trying mainline bath bombs after my incredible first experience with Intergalactic, and I will absolutely be stocking up on it’s minty goodness to last me throughout the Winter season.

Which mainline bath bomb did you instantly love?

LUSH Gossip: New Kitchen Perfumes

Fresh LUSH gossip is the best LUSH gossip, especially when it revolves around a topic we all feel so passionately about - perfumes!

Update - 22/11/18
The perfumes are set to be released on the 1st of December! This information comes straight from LUSH themselves, in the newsletter reveal of the Exclusive bath bombs. See below.

Update - 19/11/18
Everyon'es favourite meme queen @LushDolly has been in cahoots with a sneaky lushie down in LUSH manufacturing, who has provided her with the below list of confirmed perfumes.
- Lord of Misrule
- Yog Nog
- Big
- Sex Bomb
- Golden Pear

It's been a while since we've has any major hype within the LUSH community, so it's nice to finally have something to get excited about. What's even more special about the upcoming rumoured release it that the OG perfume man himself, Simon Constantine, is getting into the swing of things and sharing some teasers on his Instagram to give a little credibility to the gossip mill.

Working in the perfume lab
Old perfume labels images
Perfume bottle sneak peeks

Following on from his Instagram posts, Simon also shared an Instagram story where one of the LUSH digital portrait artists was designing him a new sticker, so that's a pretty huge confirmation of his input with the launch.

Since then, the big man himself Marky C has updated his Facebook cover photo to the full version of Simon's Instagram image. How juicy!

Why perfumes? 

The reason why we are expecting perfumes is an easy one. They are one of the most requested Kitchen items since the big perfume release in 2015, which saw the likes of American Cream, Yuzu & Cocoa and The Comforter hit the Kitchen, never to be seen again once they were sold out.

LUSH Labs also recently released quite a disappointing batch of perfumes, many of which were returned and stayed online for a long time past their monthly quota, as the scents proved to be quite unpopular. So it seems LUSH have a bit of making-up to do on the perfume front!

What scents to expect?

Based on the above photo from Mark, the labels I can make out are as follows;

- Yog Nog
- Butterball
- Grass - ? (Third from left, bottom row, ending in 'ss')
- Lord Of Misrule
- American Cream
- Golden Pear

I've also done a little digging about for clues in the comments section of @LushKitchen and @Sigorilla's perfume posts on Instagram, and from the sheer amounts of comments and 'likes', I think it would be pretty likely that we can also expect the below perfumes to make an appearance;

- Big
- Sex Bomb
- Calacas
- Sultana
- Yummy Mummy

If the previous Kitchen lotions are gels are anything to go by, I would definitely be expecting Avocado Wash and HIWTK style scents too.

When are they coming?

Based on the random release dates of the Kitchen gels and lotions, I feel we have good reason to believe that the perfumes will not be a part of a LUSH Labs release, and will have their own unique release day.

The Kitchen body lotions were released a week after LUSH Labs, on the 6th September, so I would expect a perfume release to be either a week before or a week after the 29th of this month, which put them on track for release between November 22nd (fitting in perfectly for Black Friday) and December 6th.

As always, I'll be updating this post with fresh gossip as it drips in!

Review: LUSH Goddess Bath Bomb

There has been no avoiding the release of Goddess bath bomb this Autumn. First teased prior to the 2018 LUSH Showcase (where it was available in a limited number) this lilac and silver bath bomb was created to celebrate Ariana Grande’s beautiful music video for her single ‘God is a Woman.’

Initially only sold at the LUSH Showcase, Goddess was then made available online and from the Oxford Street store, and is intended to make it’s way to UK stores on the 22nd November.

There’s no disagreeing with the fact that Goddess is absolutely gorgeous in its bath bomb form. The usual spherical ballistic mould has been altered with a strange concave dome on the top of the bomb, and one flat side, apparently intended to help the Goddess bath bomb float on the surface of the bath water better.

The ballistic is royal purple in colour and is decorated with threads of lilac and silver. The entire effect is designed to mimic the paint-filled waters of the ‘God is a Woman’ video and a lot of effort was put into perfecting the aesthetics of this bomb over several weeks (I stalked Jack Constantine’s Instagram stories for a long time during the inventing process.)

The aspect that everyone at the Showcase was most excited to find out about was the scent of Goddess bath bomb, which is apparently the same as the online exclusive Zen soap. I find it quite difficult to describe, as being completely honest I discovered that the scent annoyed me slightly!

The main ingredients in Goddess consist of Jasmine, Sandalwood and Oudh oil, the latter being the reason for the bomb’s £5.95 price tag. Apparently, Oudh is one of the most expensive oils in the world (costing more than gold by weight) as the Agarwood tree it comes from is classed an as endangered species. This means that Oudh is regarded as quite a rare and precious ingredient. There’s quite an interesting video on how LUSH buys Oudh in regard to the ethics on the LUSH Player.

I have a hunch that it may be the Jasmine in Goddess bath bomb that annoyed my nose, as it’s a scent that I have a strong love/hate relationship with. To me, Goddess smells a mixture of sweet, woody and powdery scents that some people may absolutely adore.

One thing that surprised me with this bath bomb was how fast it fizzed once hitting the water. I barely had time to take a drop-shot as I first lowered it into the bath. Seeing as Goddess bath bomb contains such expensive ingredients, I would have thought it would make sense for it to have a slower fizz, to make it longer-lasting and give it a calmer, more luxurious vibe than an energetic fast-fizzer has.

Unfortunately, that's the last of the nice things to say about Goddess bath bomb, as what happened once the ballistic starting to fizz was quite non-descript. 

I had such high-hopes for the bath art from Goddess, however it just wasn't there. The bland lilac colouring did not live up to the promise of the 'God is a Woman' music video, and the silver lustre just coloured the water a murky grey. It barely filled a quarter of the bath tub before disintegrating into nothing - a big disappointment really.

Overall, I think I'd rather have a Star Light, Star Bright bath melt. The colours are almost identical, and it has a lot more lustre and 'spark' to it.

I currently have one Goddess bath bomb remaining in my stash, but once I use that up, I won't be buying any more. This bomb just didn't do it for me, and it absolutely did not live up to the ridiculous amount of social media hype and prestige it has gained online.

Have you tried Goddess bath bomb yet?

Do you believe God is a woman?

Review: LUSH Big Shampoo

One of LUSH’s most popular potted hair products, Big is a volumising shampoo designed to give you divine, mermaid hair whilst adding body and shine.

The main ingredients in Big consist of Coarse Sea Salt, Lime Juice, Lemon Infusion and Toothed Wrack Seaweed. Big is usually referred to as the ‘sea salt shampoo’ as it makes up the vast majority of the product, with sea salt increasing volume in the hair, whilst deeply cleansing and exfoliating the scalp. Toothed wrack seaweed contains large amounts of vitamins and minerals which strengthen the hair, whilst the citrus infusions and juices boost shine.

Big also contains hints of Neroli oil, Orange Flower absolute and vanilla absolute, which combine together to create quite a light, perfumed Neroli scent. It is nowhere near as heavy as Orange Blossom or Happy Happy Joy Joy, but has a pleasant floral lift to it which makes it one of my favourite ever LUSH scents.

I was pleasantly surprised by how well Big lathers, even when using such a small amount of product. I mistakenly used a whole small sample pot at once the first time I tried Big, which resulted in a LOT of excess suds.

I now find I can get three uses out of a small sample pot as the amount you really need to use is minimal, taking me two whole months to use up a 100g tub. I have newly ordered a 330g tub, which I am expecting to get around six months use out of.

After my first few uses I was absolutely smitten with Big. My hair smelled incredible, with the delicate scent clinging to it for hours, and the beachy waves it created perfectly mimicked the effects of going for a swim in the sea.

I loved how it lifted my roots and gave them fabulous volume, whilst treating my scalp to a good scrub with the chunky salt crystals.

However, a problem I found the longer I used Big shampoo is that it leaves my hair almost too clean. Every wash seems to strip my hair completely of its natural oils, and whilst this gives my hair great volume and beachy waves, it dries it out like crazy! This isn’t exactly ideal as I have such thick hair anyway that tends to lean towards the drier side.

I have also noticed that I can only go one day between hair washes when I use Big, as the intense cleansing results in my scalp over-producing natural oils to replenish my hair, leaving me with oily roots only the next day.

Finally, AVOID THIS SHAMPOO IF YOU HAVE COLOURED HAIR. I cannot stress that enough. The combination of sea salt and lemon juice in Big actually managed to strip my hair of Caca Rouge Henna, which is almost impossible to remove. I dread to think of the effect it would have on other types of dye.

To conclude, I think my hair might be a little too thick for regular use with Big. I think the ideal hair type for Big shampoo would be fine to normal hair which leans on the oily side. I think the sea salt would be perfect for neutralising excess oils, whilst the volumising effect is perfect for thickening and adding lift to fine hair.

Have you tried this volumising, sea salt shampoo yet?

Review: LUSH Angel Hair Shampoo Bar

Angel Hair is one of six solid shampoo bars invented for the October 2018 Lush Labs release. Described as being 'angelically gentle', I was intrigued to try this one out on my newly-bleached locks, and popped one in for myself when I placed a group order for my work.

I’ve always been interested in using the solid haircare products, however after accidentally melting my Jason and The Argan Oil, falling in love with Wash Behind Your Ears only to see it never return again, and having a disastrous experience with Big conditioner, I’d pretty much decided that bottled was the way forwards.

Flash forwards to last month’s Lush Labs release, where we were all surprised with the decision to release solid shampoo bars (instead of the perfumes we’d been hoping for, or the hair marshmallows we’d been expecting.) Each of the shampoo bars had been meticulously designed to cater for six different hair types, including bald or super short hair, and included a huge range of different ingredients.

The main ingredients in the Angel Hair shampoo bar consist of Rose Water, Ylang Ylang oil, Witch Hazel, Aquafaba. Despite not sharing many of the same ingredients except for Ylang Ylang oil and ‘Synthetic Musk’ (whatever that is), I am absolutely convinced that Angel Hair is Butterball scented. Even though it doesn’t actually contain any Cocoa Butter, the dusty chocolate scent of this shampoo bar completely hides any traces of Rose Water or Witch Hazel.

An interesting development in the October Lush Labs batch of solid shampoo bars is that they contain Sodium Coco Sulphate (SCS) as the foaming agent, as opposed to Sodium Laurel Sulphate (SLS). A lot of people are choosing to avoid SLS and have been questioning LUSH’s continued use of it in their products, so I love that LUSH has listened to our concerns and made the decision to trial alternatives instead.

Despite not using SLS, the Angel Hair shampoo bar foams up beautifully, resulting in a soft lather that gently cleanses the hair. This is not a shampoo bar that leaves hair squeaky clean, but rather a gentle removal of built up dirt and oils on the hair.

This kind of cleansing effect is exactly what I was looking for when choosing a new shampoo. As much as I adore the scent of Big and the weightless feeling it gives my thick hair, it does strip my hair of colour incredibly fast and leaves it feeling dry on the ends (which is often over—corrected with really greasy roots.)

After using Angel Hair a few times, I'm very pleased to report that my hair looks and feels absolutely fabulous. It's very soft and lightweight, without being static or flyaway. The gentle cleansing has worked wonders for my oily roots, as my scalp is no longer needing to over-compensate for dryness by producing excess oils. The ends of my hair feel conditioned and hydrated, no longer brittle and dry.

I've been teaming Angel Hair shampoo bar with my main babe American Cream conditioner and they are literally a match made in heaven. My hair smells and feels incredible, very silky and soft to the touch, even after being bleached and chemically coloured for the first time in just under 12 months.

I genuinely can’t think of many negatives when it comes to Angel Hair shampoo bar, with my only minor irritants being purely cosmetic. Firstly, the sprig of… lavender? or whatever it is either gets crushed and falls off during shipping, or gets stuck in my hair if I use it the wrong-side down. Secondly, this shampoo bar is bright pink, and when wet can slightly stain the edges of sinks and bath tubs.

I think Angel Hair shampoo bar would work amazingly on almost every hair type, but especially so if your hair is in need of a little extra love and gentle treatment. If this shampoo bar could speak, it would whisper.

Did you try any of the Lush Labs shampoo bars?

Review: LUSH The Comforter? Spa Treatment

This post has taken a while to materialise as I struggled for a long while to accurately document all the thoughts and feeling I had whilst experiencing The Comforter? spa treatment for the first time.

However, after taking part in a spa-focused training session at my LUSH Meadowhall job, all the beautiful memories came flooding back to me, and I felt inspired to starting writing this full review the very same night.

I've split this review up into three parts in order to accurately express my feelings and emotions during every step of the experience. Warning - contains spoilers!

Before

My spa treatment was on the 5th October at LUSH Spa Leeds and the beautiful Head Therapist Jody performed my treatment, all of which my boyfriend was informed of beforehand when he first booked my treatment.

You're advised to arrive at the spa about 10 minutes before your allocated time, however I showed up about half an hour early because I'm an anxious little bean when it comes to these kind of things. It wasn't a problem at all, as the store assistants at Lush Leeds were incredibly accommodating, sitting me down for a mini pampering session with a hand and arm massage before I was taken into the spa for the 'main event'.

Once I entered the spa itself, it was an absolutely surreal experience. As soon as the door closed behind me, all the hustle and bustle of Leeds city centre is silenced, and I was transported into the most gorgeous Devonshire farmhouse kitchen, complete with quirky shelving, books and vintage mugs lining the walls.

I was then invited to sit at the beautiful wooden table and have a chat with Jody all about what I could expect in the treatment along with filling out a health and safety document and discussing any queries I had. She even showed me the solid products she was using before they were melted down and described the main ingredients to me.


Whilst Jody finished setting up the treatment room, I used the bathroom (which was helpfully stocked with cotton pads, toner waters, mascara and hair bobbles alongside loads of other LUSH goodies) and made sure to take lots of photos of the Kitchen area.

It was then time to enter my treatment room...

Stepping into the treatment room for the first time was absolutely magical. The room was softly lit with pink spotlights with ceiling stars, and the 'Aquarium' track from the accompanying CD acted as a beguiling welcome into such an enchanting setting. A heated bed with a 'marshmallow mattress' took up the centre of the room, and I was dying to peel back the covers and jump right in.

I was told to undress at my leisure, and ring the little bell on the bedside table when I was ready for Jody to come back in. I spent such a long time wandering around the room taking photos that Jody actually popped her head back round the door to check if I was ok (and that I hadn't died from excitement or something) just as I was snuggling down into the bed and taking a sneaky selfie.

During

The treatment started with Jody tucking me into the deliciously toasty heated bed and placing a lavender scented sleep pillow over my eyes, checking that I was ok with the temperature of the room and the bed and if I would like anything adjusting. She then spent ages brushing my hair and fringe back with her fingers, which was the most luxurious feeling even before the pampering began. I knew from that moment onward that I was in for a real treat.

First up was the chocolate body scrub. This is a vegan solid scrub which is melted down into a pool of hot chocolate. It's a very intense scrub with quite a shock as the hot mixture is first applied, and there was moments where I started to wonder 'does this hurt?' but I was so chilled that it didn't bother me much and I'd forgotten about it by the time she moved onto the next body part. That was the bit that I liked the most about The Comforter? - Even though it's a level 3 nakedness treatment (just down to my My Little Pony pants, no bra but a soft towel over the chest and tummy) you're kept cosy and snuggled up at all times as the therapist gently removes one limb at a time to work on, before tucking the duvet back.

Working clockwise around my body, starting with my chest and neck before circling round to my right arm, Jody carefully yet thoroughly worked the scrub all over my skin. Once I was all covered, she began the 'endless massage' through the top sheet of the bed, which essentially involves massaging with the palms and forearms, leaning close in like a hug. The smell in the room from the melted chocolate was absolutely incredible and the feeling of dozing off while being cuddled and gently stretched made me feel so safe and looked after.

The scrub was removed using hot mitts, which was the strangest feeling. I didn't open my eyes, so I could tell if they were wet or just hot. Either way, they did the job of removing the scrub whilst feeling incredibly indulgent.

It was at this point that Jody gently whispered "would you like to open your eyes?" and as I did, I saw that the room was filled with bubbles as 'Bubble Bach' played from the soundtrack. I then turned onto my front as she held the duvet up for me, and the entire scrub and endless massage process was repeated. This time, once the scrub was removed with the hot mitts, she proceeded to apply a warm rose serum all over my body, taking time to really rub the serum in and ensure I has a proper massage.

I had a little bit of a giggle as she did my legs, because she tucked the sheet under my pants and wiggled my feet in the air whilst applying serum to my calves, which I found hilarious at the time. There was no point during the treatment where I felt self-conscious (aside from briefly worrying when I'd last shaved my legs) especially as I'd never had a massage before, but I was kept so cosy and covered the entire time that it didn't bother me in the slightest.

After

Just as I was falling back to sleep again, I heard Jody whisper my name and tell me that it was the end of my The Comforter? treatment. I absolutely did not want to get out of that beautiful bed and had another 5 minutes just dozing and stretching myself out, trying to take in everything that had happened over the past hour.

Once I had dressed myself, I (begrudgingly) left my treatment room and was once again met by Jody in the beautiful kitchen area. This time I sat down in a squashy armchair and was treated to the most elegant drink of rose syrup and sparkling water, which was presented alongside a cocktail glass filled with candyfloss. Mixing the two resulting in a super sweet, fizzing drink perfectly suited to the likes of fairies and unicorns. The sugariness of it definitely helped me ground myself a little after having such a daydream-like experience during my treatment.

My skin felt incredible, like the softest velvet, and I can only describe the glorious scent to the likes of Fentiman's Rose Lemonade. It was absolutely divine and I came out of the spa almost floating, which my boyfriend found hilarious when he met me outside the store. I was genuinely drunk on chocolate, fantasy and music and that delicious feeling stayed with me all throughout the rest of the day. I didn't even notice that it was raining heavily as we wandered through Leeds, that's how high I felt.

After experiencing The Comforter? treatment for myself, I am absolutely besotted with the LUSH Spa and cannot wait to book another treatment for myself after Christmas. I also think I might be a little bit in love with Jody too and will definitely make sure that I have her perform any future treatments as I cannot imagine anyone else doing them so perfectly.

Have you ever been to a LUSH Spa?

Would you want to try The Comforter? for yourself?