Greetings From........ Gift Set



This flowery, earthy gift set is a ton of fun!  The paper and string remind me of hippies and art studios on a fall day.  It is also a steal for a cheap gift that everyone will love.  If you are down to it, and haven't gotten a gift for any event, this would be the perfect touch.  Also, buy one and keep it around for emergencies.......or if you can't contain yourself, treat yourself to a gift "just because".  It is only $19.95 USD and you get three unique and fun products.  You get a hunk of Honey I Washed the Kids soap, Sugar Scrub sugar scrub and a Vanilla Fountain bath bomb.

The gift set might have been packaged in too small of a box, because my Vanilla Fountain bath bomb was damaged.  Luckily, it wasn't beyond repair.  The best product in this set is BY FAR, the Honey I Washed the Kids soap.  It is one of my favorite products and makes this gift set what it is.  The only thing that disappointed me about that was the actual aesthetic of the hunk of soap.  In the store and online, it has a beautiful honeycomb top and my chunk had no sign of honeycomb.  I felt that having that little touch on a sample hunk of this soap in a gift set would certainly entice the receiver to head into a LUSH store and shop around more.  Assuming they hadn't heard of LUSH before (WHAT?!?!?!).  The tag on the gift set also shows the honeycomb top, so the receiver might be confused and think that they got the wrong thing or the unlucky dud set (I guess that's me? LOL).

You can read my reviews of all of the separate products here:

Vanilla Fountain

Sugar Scrub

Honey I Washed the Kids

Check out the gift set here:

Greetings From.......

Vanilla Fountain Bath Bomb

Wha wha whaaaaaaaaaaaa.  I'm sad :(  I was disappointed by Vanilla Fountain.  As with all of the other products I am beyond excited about, it seems to fall very short of what I expected.  I've decided, it might be best to refrain from placing expectations on poor, innocent bath bombs.  So....I will do my best to review in a way that explains why I was less than pleased.

To start, this bomb is a simple, beautiful creation.  On LUSH's website, the description says it is inspired by fancy desserts.  That is very accurate!  It is adorned with a simple statement piece.....a tonka/vanilla sprig.  LOVELY.  The scent isn't pure vanilla, it's vanilla and tonka.  A sweet mixture of pure simplicity with complex candy-like sugar.  It promises to be moisturizing and a scent explosion.  It has to be the whole package.

Well, I received mine in the Greetings From......... gift set.  It goes well with the vibe of the set.  However, mine was damaged :(  The sprig was loose and the top and side were cracked.  Whaa!!!!  Oh well, I'll shove the sprig back in, and call it a bath.  When I dropped it in the water, it fizzed out very quickly and the sprig looked pathetic hitting the bottom like an anchor then lying dead in the water.  I fished it out and frowned, but got in to enjoy my bath.  I wasn't taken by the aroma, it was nice, but too subtle.  I think I could smell my Fresh Farmacy facial cleanser next to the sink more.  The water was a weird, lime color.  I was perplexed.  Shouldn't it be a milky, yellow color?  Shouldn't it be softening my skin or filling my sinuses with vanilla goodness? My skin wasn't any more soft or scented than before.  Maybe I got a dud?

I think the problems here were my high expectations and imaginations of this bomb.  I'm not going to blame it.  I plan on purchasing a non-gift version and giving it another shot. 

Did any of you have a different experience with Vanilla Fountain?  Please comment and let me know. 

Check it out on LUSH's site:

Vanilla Fountain

Strawberry Picnic Gift Set

 

This gift set is adorable.  The strawberry paper and green, grass-like string are fresh and summery.  It is also a great deal, just $29.95 USD, you get four products.  You get a Grass shower gel, Sugar Babe sugar scrub, Summer Pudding soap and Strawberry Feels Forever massage bar.   

The best product, in my opinion, in this set is the summer pudding soap.  All of these products work very well together though, to bring you the best of a summery picnic on a beautiful day.  I would say that it is a great gift to give a friend or family member.  It has enough range of LUSH products and enough scents to pique interest in LUSH and perhaps make another lifetime customer.  The only thing I wish were different is that the massage bar was just a tad bigger.  I'm not a huge fan of the Strawberry Feels Forever massage bar, but it might be nice to have a bigger sample to intice a person to invest in a standard size.

Check out all of my seperate reviews on the products inside this gift set here:

Grass

Sugar Babe

Summer Pudding

Strawberry Feels Forever

Check it out here:

Strawberry Picnic

Sugar Babe Sugar Scrub



This scrub reminds me of Shirley Temples on a hot summer night.  Although, its notes are ylang flower and mimosa blossom.  Not the lime and cherry concoction I thought it should be.  It is a very calming scrub with the coconut oil and beeswax.  I very different vibe than its in-your-face energizing cousin Sugar Scrub sugar scrub. I followed the online instructions this time and avoided being wounded by the rough texture.  For the most part, the scrub remained intact the next day too!  I loved how frothy and gentle the scrub was and how it scented my skin an oh so sweet scent for hours afterward.  Bonus - the middle of the bomb is a pretty pinkish red and is soft and sweet.  Check it out:



This scrub is the cherry lemonade to the Strawberry Picnic gift set and will keep you refreshed and smelling yummy.  Head over to the LUSH website and check it out:

Sugar Babe

Summer Pudding Soap



This soap came in my Strawberry Picnic gift set.  It is a true slice of summery goodness.  It smells a little like bubblegum outside of the shower and nutty bubblegum inside.  It lathered nicely and the almonds in the bar exfoliated without ripping my skin to shreds.  It made my skin very soft and scented sweet like cherries.  It has lasted a long time.  My gift set sized bar is still kickin and has a lot left to give. When I snapped the photo above, I missed out on showing you all the pink cherry scented chunk (the big bars have acutal cherries....this one didn't):

This is the bar after one shower.  Notice the rough almondy texture.  This came out after one shower.

The thing I love about this bar in the store is how hearty and pretty it is.  It has true showmanship and that is what I love in the LUSH soaps.

Check it out on the LUSH website!
Summer Pudding

Happy Easter Gift Set

For any LUSH or bath and beauty lover, this is the ULTIMATE in Easter gift giving.  It has everything you need to have Easter in your bath.  The Candy Fluff Egg half bath bomb is the epitome of the candy in the basket.  It smells like a candy store and as sweet as a towering clump of pink cotton candy.  Candy Fluff pairs up with Avobath, the grass in the basket.  It is a lemongrass bomb that will wake you up after you crash from eating too much sugar.  It spreads glitter into your tub.  Be honest.....Easter is nothing without glitter!  Then, inside is a baby Easter chick.  The Hippy Chick bath bomb.  A grapefruit scented haven for your body.  This egg births a seriously scentalicious baby chick.  Not to mention you have a BEAUTIFUL knot wrap at the end.  An ORANGE wrap by the way (the best).

One of these, in an Easter basket surrounded by a Donkey Oaty bath bomb and Bunny Knot wrap (maybe some Reeses Eggs.....those are king) = the best Easter basket EVER.

Check it out!

Happy Easter 

Avobath Bath Bomb

This is an egg half in my Happy Easter gift set.  It holds a Hippy Chick bath bomb along with a Candy Fluff egg half and sits waiting patiently for me to use it.  I chose to use this last the the set because it is a bomb that is part of LUSH's normal lineup.  It is perfect for this set.  It is the grass in the Easter basket. 

It smells fresh and grassy.  Hence, the lemongrass ingredients!  It was more dense then Candy Fluff (harder to break) but fizzed out quickly.  The scent was very strong while it fizzed but left quickly.  It didn't stick around on my skin, to my disappointment.  However, toward the end of my bath I noticed.....IT'S SPARKLY!!!  The water had a bijillion (yes, that's a word) sparkles in it that didn't cling to my skin but made that water fun.  My skin felt softer than usual, although not as soft as Candy Fluff.  I would definitely buy this bomb outside of Easter products.

Check out the normal bomb on LUSH's site:

Avobath

Grass Shower Gel

This had its place in the Strawberry Picnic gift set.  What would a picnic be without grass?  You want it?  You will get it here.

The scent is a freshly cut football field before a big game.  It's a spring day in the park with your love laying in the grass, soaking up the sun.  It is undeniably authentic.  When I use it in the shower, only a dime sized amount provides a dense sudsy foam which will work on my entire body.  It fills the air of the bathroom and surrounding areas with fresh-cut grass scent.  It also stays on your skin for a long time and wakes you up!  It didn't make my skin particularly soft but it did feel cleansed.  My fiance is loving this and uses it almost every day.  The bottle is almost gone! 

I love this as part of this gift set.  It is a fresh and fun product.  A must-have for anyone dying for a piece of nature.  Head over to Lush's website and check it out:

Grass

Honey I Washed The Kids Soap

The scent of this soap is intoxicating.  It smells sweet and simple, like honey.  With larger pieces, it has an adorable honeycomb top on it.  In the shower it lathers up a little less than normal soap.  I can only believe that this is because it has more natural ingredients (not all natural).  A little tip - try rubbing it between your hands then all over your skin to lather, instead of rubbing the bar on your skin.  I makes your skin feel very clean and undescribably soft.  I've never had softer skin.  This little sample chunk has lasted me 6 showers and I still have way more than half left!

Here is my negative, not of the soap but of it's presentation in the gift set I bought.  I got my piece of Honey I Washed the Kids in the Greetings From... wrapped gift set.  I had seen this soap on other hauls by TiffanyD and Elle Fowler and it was always so aesthetically pleasing!  It has this super cute honeycomb top on it.  However, the peice I got in my giftset was the plain, bottom part of this soap.  My only concern on this is for the folks who haven't seen this soap in all of it's glory, the effect will be lost.  For someone who isn't familiar with Lush soaps and this one in particular, they might not be inspired to buy it again.   Sure, the scent is appealing and it makes your skin soft but, other soaps do that as well.  It's the aethetic aspect of it that takes it over the top and will make the gift receiever want to come into the store to purchase more.  In my opinion, it would be best to include some honeycomb on the soap.  Now, I don't work for Lush so I have no clue the effort that goes into these boxes.  I just think it makes some sense.

Check out the Honey I Washed the Kids soap on Lush's website:
Honey I Washed the Kids

Here is the Greetings From... gift set I got:
Greetings From...

Easter Products!

Well, my most FAVORITE holiday is right around the corner....EASTER!  So, as you can imagine, I'm very excited to see what Lush has to offer for Easter products.  I've been doing some searching online at all of the past years Easter offerings and also saw a few upcoming products in the Lush Times. 

Lush Times shows the Easter products for 2011 (I wish it were just a preview....I want more more MORE).  There is Hippy Chick, a "zesty grapefruit" bath bomb, Fluffy egg, a "bath fluff", Donkey Oaty - The Easter Donkey, which is a "donkey shaped pinata to bring the summer sunshine in", Bunny Knot Wrap, which is a wrap for all of your messy bath bombs or even a scarf and Happy Easter, a giftset which includes a few different products (I hope I get this!).  You can check these out in the current edition of Lush Times (48) on page 3.

I'd love to see a bath bomb that smells like peeps or jelly beans and explodes carrot shaped confetti everywhere.  Maybe a bubble bar that makes the tub as fluffy as a bunny!  Maybe a hot cross bun bubble bar?  That's maybe too much.....BUT I LOVE EASTER!

If I can even get my hands on one of these soon I will be so happy.  Which products do you wish Lush would make for Easter?  What are your favorite holidays?

Haul 2 - 3/12/2011

List of products:

Twilight bath bomb
Tisty Tosty bath bomb
Mry Whippy bath bomb
Dorothy bubble bar
Each Peach massage bar
You've Been Mangoed bath melt
Strawberry Picnic gift set: Summer Pudding soap, Sugar Babe sugar scrub, Grass shower gel and Strawberry Feels Forever massage bar
Greetings From....gift set:  Vanilla Fountain bath bomb, Sugar Scrub sugar scrub and Honey I Washed the Kids soap
  
Samples: Rehab shampoo, American Cream conditioner, R&B hair treatment, Angels on Bare Skin facial cleanser and Fresh Farmacy facial cleanser.

Stick around and check out all of the reviews of these products!  Follow me for a chance to win my first giveaway.