Frozen Bath Bomb - Lush Oxford Street

As soon as anyone, anywhere says the words; snowman, let it go, ice, or princess only one thing comes to mind – Disney’s Frozen, of course. It’s hard enough to go through day to day life without getting a Frozen song stuck in your head, but now Lush have made it just that little bit harder by naming a new Lush Oxford Street Exclusive bath bomb Frozen. 

Do you want to have a bath bomb?
Do you want to come and play?

Inventor Jack Constantine has many small children so his life was no doubt invaded by singing snowmen and reindeer when Frozen graced screens across the world, so of course he pulled inspiration from where he could, and created a bath bomb. 

 

Belonging to the same scent family that we all know and love, featuring Happy Happy Joy Joy Conditioning Hair Perfume and Sea Spray, Tunisian Neroli and Grapefruit give this pale, yet iridescent blue orb a crisp lightness that fits its name perfectly. Of course, it wouldn’t be Disney without some glitter and it’s quite fair to say that this bath bomb is lustre heavy. Normally, lustre from the bath doesn’t stay on my skin but the sparkles from Frozen certainly lingered – not always a bad thing. 

One of the wonderful things about this bomb is that it’s a slow fizzer, lasting probably ten minutes of solid fizzing. Although some of the faster fizzers are beautiful, I do prefer a slightly longer lasting bath bomb. It’s hypnotic to watch them dissolve and see all the colours creep out. 

Initially, I was unsure about how the Happy Happy Joy Joy scent would come across in a bath bomb but it was beautiful; it’s crisp and fresh whilst being uplifting and clean at the same time. It’s happy! It’s a very happy feeling bath bomb.  I did half expect, knowing Lush, for there to be a paper insert similar to the Fizzbanger, Blackberry Bath Bomb or May Day – “Let It Go!” 

 I sat in the bath and watched the blue spin out, Do You Want To Build A Snowman stuck in my head for the duration. Frozen, the movie? It’s good, but predictable. Frozen, the bath bomb? Yes all around. Neroli has been said to be a natural mood enhancer and the grapefruit oils compliment it with uplifting happy notes, what about that doesn’t sound good?

Frozen Bath Bomb
Lush Oxford Street Exclusive - £3.75
“Do you want to have a bath bomb? Do you want to splash and play? Take this magical blend of uplifting grapefruit and Tunisian Neroli into the bath to thaw even the iciest of moods!”

Gypsy at The Savoy Theatre, London.

The character I know Imelda Staunton best for is that of Dolores Umbridge; the pastel pink and privileged witch that takes over Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry for a short time.
Her character was vindictive, manipulative and just down right mean. 

Her character in the musical Gypsy, which is currently running in London’s Savoy Theatre, couldn’t be more different. Spoiler Alert (so for those who like to be surprised skip down to the fifth paragraph) Staunton plays Rose, mother of two, who wont stop and can’t stop until her daughter Baby June is the star that Rose never was. When Baby June runs away from her Mother’s overbearing control, Rose turns to her other daughter Louise who has, all of her life, played second fiddle to Baby June’s limelight.

Time passes and eventually Louise finds something she loves to do that makes her happy and her mother, because it is not what she wants for Louise, isn’t happy. Rose realises that she has pushed her daughters away by forcing them to live their lives the way she would have if she could have - she lets Louise go. 

Louise, who now goes by the stage name Gypsy Rose-Lee, lives a successful life and is happy. Rose learns to be happy with her daughters success and also learns to focus on improving her own life.

Imelda Staunton leads an amazing cast in the revival of Gypsy, supported by Lara Pulver as Louise. I’m ashamed to say that I’m not caught on Imelda Staunton’s repertoire, but as I walked out  of the theatre after Saturday’s matinee, I made a mental note to IMDB Staunton’s career and sit through most if not all of them. She can act, I knew that - we all knew that. But, hell… she can sing. 

Imelda Staunton is phenomenal in Gypsy; her maniacal yet lovable Rose captures audiences attention from curtain-up. Obviously, Staunton is the star; the celebrity casting and she’s drawing audiences in. The theatre was full. However, as the show runs audiences learn it’s not just Imelda Staunton with some serious acting chops. 

Previously mentioned, Lara Pulver plays Louise and brings her from meek, badly coordinated, naive and easily mistaken for no more than seven or eight years old to the sexiest, sassiest, most grown up picture of elegance and class reminiscent of 50’s screen sirens meeting Dita Von Teese. 

Lara’s voice is perfect for the role and changes with Louise’s character in the most idyllic way, I couldn’t have cast Louise better. Although not in the spotlight until the very end, Lara’s Louise is magnetic and your eyes are simply drawn to her, wherever she is on the stage. Because I was so into Pulver as Louise, I didn’t realise until the interval where I recognised her from. Skimming the programme, I realised and it dawned on me like a penny dropping. Lara Pulver played Irene Adler/The Woman in the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes series starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. At the start of Gypsy, Louise’s character is at the other end of any spectrum that Irene Adler is on, by the end of the show - it’s easier to make the connection. 

The Savoy is a beautiful theatre, although unfortunately the front of house areas are very small - fill it with theatre goers and all their bags and it’s smaller still. This makes popping to the bathroom, the bar or for some air at the interval damn near impossible. The older gentleman who sat next to me in the theatre was lovely though, and he didn’t mind that I had many bags; he even asked about my purchases and praised me on my choices. 

For those who need more convincing, check out Imelda Staunton's rendition of Rose's Turn from the 2015 Gypsy Official Cast Recording. 

If you have a Saturday free, or any day of the week and you have the chance to go to the theatre   - see Gypsy. It’s a wonderful, toe-tapping, warming day out. Fun for all the family.
(Pictures Credited to Original Source - LoveTheatre.com)

Prince of Darkness Fresh Face Mask - Lush Oxford Street

Who’s the Prince of Darkness? Ozzy Osbourne, No. I am; the princess, in fact. Any friend of mine will tell you I have an affinity for the morbid, a terrifically dark sense of humour and a penchant for pretty little skulls. Who doesn’t?

On my visit to Lush Mecca/Lush Oxford Street I was determined to check out the new face masks; I’d heard there were three, and I couldn’t wait to see, feel and most importantly smell them all. The truly lovely girl, whose name I think is Lucy but I can’t be sure, was so sweet and so helpful; she told me all about her own skin care regime and how the new masks fit in with what she was using. Personal interaction with staff is one of my favourite things about Lush because you get to hear real opinions, from real people that are (mostly) helpful! 

Lucy (I think) had such great skin, I couldn’t help but ask and that’s when she introduced me to The Prince of Darkness. A shiny black mask with a consistency more similar to The Sacred Truth rather than Cupcake, full of glorious Fuller’s Earth , charcoal and sea salt. Perfect for slightly oilier skins, this mask works well and as you rinse it off, it gives your face a light scrub. 

Tentative towards anything that seems a little harsh, I let Lucy demo PoD on the back of my hand whilst we chatted; it went on beautifully smoothly and remained sticky. I can’t help but think that The Oxford Street Fresh Face Mask station is a little in-the-way of shoppers, it is in front of the tills and directly next to the new Emotional Brilliance Make Up additions which is always going to be an ever-popular station. As Lucy rinsed my hand off, Prince of Darkness scrubbed off well and left my hand cool, calm and exfoliated without a hint of irritation.
Straight in my basket it went. 

I wouldn’t go too far as to say that Prince of Darkness is a wonder-product, nor is it the Holy Grail of face masks, but it has helped me out and I would repurchase; my skin is clearer and ready for summer and I feel comfortable wearing less make up, so alls well that ends well! 

I’m not such a fan of the soapiness of Coal Face and I find Dark Angels works but is just too damn messy. The Prince of Darkness, however is not without its draw backs. It has a similar ingredients list to Dark Angels so the first and second time I used the mask I had to triple rinse and double cleanse after to remove all of the black – the most recent time was much easier, on the other hand. A little warm water and a flannel, I think is the ultimate combination – with a splash of cold water before a quick swipe with your toner of choice! 

It can be a little daunting, pasting your face with black and hoping for the best, but Prince of Darkness cleared what I can only describe as little pimples and brightened my skin. I feel much more comfortable in my skin now – it’s nice now it’s a little warmer too, no one wants to be caked in make up under that sun! 

Prince Of Darkness Fresh Face Mask
Lush Oxford Street Exclusive - £6.95
“We’re on a crazy train, heading for scrubbed up skin with the charcoal and sea salt packed into this mask!”

The Rough With The Smooth Solid Body Scrub - Lush Oxford Street

I started working for Lush in October of 2014, which means I was just in time for Halloween holiday products; all kinds of magical wands and sparkly pumpkins and it was in this season of trick-or-treating, I found one of my favourite Lush products to date; Lord Of Misrule Bath Bomb. 

Named after a pagan festival ‘The Feast of Fools’,  in which the town would name a peasant king for the day and allow all sorts of feasts and frivolities, this patchouli and black pepper scented bath bomb is the ultimate blend of sweet and spicy.  Who wouldn’t want a speckled green bath bomb that looked to be wearing a crown? I was sold. 

Of course, with my love of the bath bomb I was also quickly introduced to the perfume, the FUN bar, the shower cream and eventually...the scrub. 

When deciding what to pair with my (currently) Oxford Street exclusive Rough With The Smooth solid body scrub, I thought why not make it a complete Lord of Misrule bath? I fished out my penultimate Lord of Misrule bath bomb (the problem with loving a seasonal product!) and threw it in the bath with a splash of Lord of Misrule Moisturising Shower Cream for some bubbles. 

The shower cream is a little creamier (shocker) than the shower gels I’ve used from Lush before but in actuality it’s just thicker and glossier as well as being a little more moisturising so it gives great bubbles too. The lovely Lucy at LulabelleMUA picked me up a mini bottle of Shower Cream from Lush Oxford Street; they sell them in four sizes 100g, 250g, 500g and 1kg. 

Now, this past week we’ve been having a typical English summer – torrential rain followed by a day and a half of blistering heat and then back again. But of course, this means that I too followed natures course and behaved like a true Brit – I threw on a strapless summer dress and stayed out all day, playing in the sunshine. By 6pm the following evening I was uncomfortably pink, being the English Rose that I am I had forgone the sunscreen and burned like a bitch. 

Give it an extra four days and although I’m no longer sore from the sun, I’m peeling.
Sexy as hell, right?
For someone who usually takes pride in being soft-and-smooth, any kind of peeling freaks me out. Luckily, The Rough With The Smooth seemed perfect; murumuru butters and castor oils are said to be healing and supporting in the recovery of general skin complaints (including burns - score!) and hydrating for the skin.  Pairing that with the perfect creamy-come-crisp scents of Lord of Misrule and this product was just what I needed. 

Aesthetically, when you first use Rough With The Smooth it looks great; a warm, reddish brown with smooth on one side and (you guessed it) almost corrugated/rough effect on the other. Once used, the red fades a little and you are left with a brownish sugary square which melts away pretty quickly if left near the spray of the shower.
Obviously, the aesthetics should come second to what the product actually provides and it does – mine lasted a good amount of time as I remembered to put it away after each use, as opposed to leaving it out on the shower rack as I have done before (sorry, Sugar Scrub.) The Rough With Smooth is a really great scrub, I much prefer it to Sugar Scrub because it’s not too harsh but my skin feels buffed and soft – gentle enough for my whole body, but harsh enough for those tough spots.

After my bath which included all of the facets of Lord of Misrule which I currently own, I feel great – most importantly, I smell great. Lord of Misrule is one of those scents that lingers forever keeping you comforted and happy throughout your day. 

Lord of Misrule, as a scent, will always remind me of my first Christmas at Lush – making new friends, crazy days attempting to squeeze £15k+ worth of stock into a truly tiny stock room and laughing at the hysterics of serving, what felt like, fifteen customers at the same time, consistently, for eight hours a day. 

If you wanted to layer your scents even more, like I’ve mentioned, you could also introduce the perfume (solid or liquid) and the FUN bar. And why you wouldn’t want to, I just don’t know...

Rough With The Smooth Solid Body Scrub
Lush Oxford Street Exclusive – £4.95
“All of us have dead skin - some of just better at scrubbing it. If you like it rough take this sugar-packed scrub into the shower and scrub all over to reveal softer skin underneath, nourished with murumuru butter and castor oil.”

Rub Rub Rub Solid Body Scrub - Lush Oxford Street

One of my favourite products that Lush sells at the moment is Rub Rub Rub. It’s around £7 for a big black pot and it’s truly glorious. Which is why, when the time came for me to make my pilgrimage to Lush Mecca (aka, Lush Oxford Street) I, of course, picked up the new SOLID formulation of the Mimosa and Orange flower beauty .

Around the same size of current Lush product You Snap The Whip (which I happen to love), Ox St Rub Rub Rub is a pale blue colour and feels a little powdery to touch; each block has a delicate cherry blossom dried and pressed into the top which just makes the aesthetics of this product near enough perfect to me. 

The solid block is far easier handle than the original black pot version of Rub Rub Rub and there’s no chance of losing a blob of this to the sinkhole. With the same perfect scent as the black pot version, the new formulation remains true to its predecessor and comes up as a worthy opponent.

Some people like to use original Rub Rub Rub straight onto dry skin for a rougher scrub, and if you like it rough maybe the naked/solid version isn’t for you. Whilst the ingredients are mostly the same, the liquid content is obviously far less so to scrub yourself, dry, with the solid block would hurt. However, you could wet the block and then scrub onto dry skin if you are craving a harsher exfoliation. 

Whilst the product is aesthetically beautiful, it didn’t seem to be too popular when I visited Lush Oxford Street at the end of May, however I urge you all to go out and buy it. It may not be a brand spanking new product with all kind of newness to discover, but it’s a winner in my book. 

I had doubts that due to the solid nature of the reformulation that the super-silky feeling I have after using original Rub Rub Rub wouldn’t be the same with the block; I was wrong. That silky feeling is still there and the scent lingers just the right amount of time. 

Rub Rub Rub Solid Body Scrub.
Oxford Street Exclusive - £4.75
“A final cherry blossom flourish tops this sea salt scrub blended with Illipe and Cupuacu butters. Scrub your body in the shower or the bath to exfoliate dead skin leaving you smoothed and florally fragrant.”