Christina Alyce Beauty

Tomatoes are by far one of my favorite foods, and I find myself craving them on an almost daily basis. So when I found out the Lush Kitchen would be hosting the beautiful Cream of Tomato soap, I jumped on the chance to extend m love of the food into my cosmetics collection. I know many people probably think a tomato and basil scented soap sounds a bit strange, but after the first use I was convinced this is one of the best soaps Lush has ever released.

I will admit that a dry sniff of this isn’t the most mouthwatering aroma Lush offers, there are many prettier scents out there. But what I do love about the still-on-the-vine scent is a unique savoriness that not many other soaps offer. Cream of Tomato boasts a very green, fresh, and tangy scent, very much like how a live tomato plant smells, mixed with lemon. Once the soap hits the water, it does take on a slightly more sweet and creamy scent, and I thoroughly enjoy it. I think this soap is very unisex, and would be a fantastic first Lush product for any guy in your life.

Lush recently updated their soap base, and this is one of the few soaps that uses this new recipe, and it proves that the reformulation is a winner. Cream of Tomato has one of the most velvety lathers I’ve ever experienced, and only takes a moment to produce a luxurious foam. This soap contains coconut oil and rapeseed oil, making it relatively moisturizing, while the grapefruit oil, lemon oil, and fresh tomato keep it toning and cleansing. This soap left my skin feeling clean and soft, but a little taut and I did need lotion after my shower

I think this is a very unique soap, that fells very high quality during use, and I really hope this becomes available in all stores because I would love to repurchase it.

Rating: 5/5

Price: £2.95 /100g

Status: Oxford Street and Kitchen Exclusive

Vegan?: Yes

Would I repurchase? Yes

Ingredients: Aqua (Water), Glycerine, Rapeseed Oil: Coconut Oil (Brassica napus: Cocoa nucifera), Sorbitol, Talc, Perfume, Passata, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Sodium Stearate, Grapefruit Oil Citrus paradisi), Sicilian Lemon Oil (Citrus limonum), Violet Leaf Infusion (Viola odorata), Basil Oil (Ocimum basilicum), Titanium Dioxide, Irish Moss (Chondrus crispus), Fresh Tomato (Lycopersician), Sodium Chloride, EDTA, Tetrasodium Etidronate, Sodium Hydroxide, Eugenol, Geraniol, Hydroxycitronellal, Limonene, Colour 14700.

Items featured in this video:

Granny Takes A Dip (Kitchen Exclusive)
The Enchanter (Kitchen Exclusive)
Still Life (Kitchen Exclusive)
Golden Slumbers (Oxford Street & in The Spa Gift Set)
Guardian of the Forest (Available Everywhere)
Cyanide Pill (Oxford Street Exclusive)

Products featured in this video:

Cherry Blossom Reusable Bubble Bar (Oxford Street Exclusive)
Flowering Tea Reusable Bubble Bar (Oxford Street Exclusive)
Little Dragon Reusable Bubble Bar (Oxford Street Exclusive)
Divination Reusable Bubble Bar (Oxford Street Exclusive)
Mind Cleanser Bubble Stone (Lush Spa "Synesthesia" Treatment Exclusive)
Energiser Bubble Stone (Lush Spa "Synesthesia" Treatment & Spa Gift Set)

Big Blue is one of Lush’s more popular bath bombs, often mixed with Sunnyside to create a shimmery turquoise cocktail known as “Mermaid Water”. I skipped the bubble bar and tried this strikingly blue bomb all by itself, and enjoyed every moment.

This ocean inspired bomb is packed full with wonderful treats from the sea. Nourishing Arame seaweed is used to detoxify, soothe, soften, and protect the skin against moisture loss. Unrefined coarse and fine sea salt are added for their astringent and cleansing effects, as well as beneficial minerals like sodium and magnesium. Sea salts are also thought to promote healing and contain anti-inflammatory and muscle soothing properties, which will be of benefit post-workout, to relieve menstrual cramps, and to reduce the pain of arthritis. I suffer from severe cramps as well as arthritis in most of my joints, so this bath bomb is truly a miracle for me!

This bomb also contains lovely ingredients that hail from dry land, such as lemon oil and lavender. Lemon oil brightens and cleanses skin, while lavender acts as an aromatic to promote relaxation as well as soothe joint pain. The combination of the two create a light, clean scent. The lemon oil is uplifting, while the lavender is calming, and the salt and seaweed give a hint of the sea.

I found this bath bomb very softening, and I felt refreshed, relaxed, and clean once I got out of the tum. My skin was lightly fragranced for a while afterward. I really enjoyed the relief this bomb brought my joints, and I will surely be repurchasing it as a staple in my stash. I know some people have concerns about the seaweed because it leaves behind quite a lot of it, and while this is not an issue for me, I can understand how it would be worrisome. An easy solution would be to drop the bomb into the oe of an old pair of tights and cut it off at the ankle, (or wrap it up in cheesecloth), secure the top, and drop it in the bath. this way, the bomb is free to dissolve in the water and release its nutrients, but the messy stuff stays inside the little sachet. It’s also a great way to recycle a pair of ruined tights!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Price: £3.50/$6.50

Status: Permanent

Vegan?: Yes

Would I repurchase?: Yes

Ingredients:  Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Coarse Sea Salt, Fine Sea Salt, Perfume, Arame Seaweed, Lemon Oil, Lavender Oil, Seaweed Absolute, *Eugenol, *Geraniol, *Limonene, *Linalool, Colour 42090, Colour 19140.

Yoga Bomb was the perfect bath bomb to set the mood for a lazy sunday morning. This slow fizzer has a chalky orange exterior, that takes quite a while to fizzle away to reveal the pastel turquoise and purple hidden within. If you like a bomb that’s pretty and colorful, but not over the top, this is perfect for you. After it has fizzed out, I noticed the vibrant orange waters had lots gold lustre glinting in the morning sunlight.

The mixture of sandalwood, ho wood, and olibanum (frankincense) oils was very relaxing and let off a woody and very slightly sweet floral fragrance. This reminds me of incense without the smoky element. I found that this scent paired beautifully with Karma soap, which I used to wash with. 

Aside from a beautiful aroma, the aforementioned oils lend their cleansing, emollient, and toning properties, leaving you with fresh, softened skin. I also left the bath with lightly fragranced skin and just a touch of luster, which wore off throughout the morning and reminded me of my magically relaxing bath.

I would say this bath bomb is aptly named, and leaves you with the relaxed feeling you may have after doing a light session of yoga. I also thought it would make for a lovely meditative bath, as many of the oils found in this bath bomb are also common scents used to meditate to,

I really enjoyed this beautiful and relaxing bath bomb, and I look forward to using it again!

Rating: 5 out of 5

Price:

Status: Permanent

Vegan?: Yes

Would I repurchase? Yes

I took a risk ordering this from the Kitchen, and after using it multiple  times, I’m not really sure where I stand with it in regards to scent. It’s hard to bring up Supertramp without someone comparing it to Tramp and Smaragadine. Tramp was a well loved shower gel that was discontinued a few years ago, and is highly sought after. I am not sure why i was discontinued, I heard that it was because it contained oakmoss, and there were new regulations involving the ingredient, but Lush Still carries a handful of other products with oakmoss, so I’m not really sure. Either way, Tramp was removed, the oakmoss was taken out, a plethora of new ingredients were added, and it was renamed and reissued as Supertramp. Many people say that with the addition of the new ingredients, it’s a Tramp and Smaragadine hybrid, that falls short of both of the originals.

I never had the chance to smell Tramp or Smaragadine, but the scent of Supertramp is complex, and I really cannot decide if I like it or hate it. The scent that I find to me the most noticeable in the bottle is a woody, spicy scent that I imagine comes from the patchouli, sandalwood, ginger and allspice . Under this earthy spice, the peppermint is very noticeable. Though this product contains rose and lavender, I really can’t detect any floral notes whatsoever. The fruity, citrus notes of petitgrain are also hard to detect. In the shower, the scent is almost completely taken over by a smokiness from the patchouli. This is a very masculine scent, if you’re looking for something sweet, floral, or fruity, you certainly won’t find it here. While I like a more earthy, musky, and spicy scent, I cannot decide if this is just a little too over the top for me,

As a shower gel, this thick, emerald green liquid performs well. It lathers beautifully in a netted sponge and cleanses the skin thoroughly without drying you out. The white horehound and peppermint leaf infusion is wonderful for stimulating circulation, and helps to give skin a healthy glow.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Price: £11.95

Status: Kitchen Exclusive, Last released Oct 9th, 2015

Scent Family: Supertramp Bubble Bar

Vegan?:  Yes

Would I repurchase? Probably not

Ingredients: White Horehound and Peppermint Leaf, Herb, Rose Petal and Lavender Flower Infusion, Water (Aqua), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Lauryl Betaine, Propylene Glycol, Fine Sea Salt, Organic Orange Peel Decoction, Patchouli Oil, Petitgrain Oil,  Pimento Berry Oil, Sandalwood Oil, Ginger Oil, Plantain Vinegar Gel, Perfume, Methyl Ionone, Eugenol, Limonene, Linalool, Chlorophyllin, Methylparaben.

I ordered this bubble bar while it was still  a UK exclusive, so I didn’t have a chance to smell it before purchase. When it arrived, I was pretty surprised at the scent. On the website, it lists orange oil and patchouli oil as the main fragrances, so I was expecting something citrus and earthy, perhaps softened by the skimmed milk. When I took this out of the box however, all I could smell was a very clean floral smell reminiscent of laundry detergent or baby wipes. I am not a fan of floral, soapy smells in the bath - I much prefer something sweet and fruity, or earthy and spicy. Despite this, the bubble bar contained skin softening ingredients like skimmed milk and cocoa butter so I decided to give it a try.

I popped he bar in my strainer and stuck it under the tap.When trying a new bubble bar I usually use the entire thing, just to see how many bubbles it can produce. While this bar produced a good amount of bubbles for this bath, it probably would not be worth it to spread the bar across two baths, as it wasn’t an impressive amount of bubbles by any means, and about ¼ of them dissipated within the first 5 minutes before leveling off to a standard amount of bubbles for the remainder of the bath.

I did notice the scent of the bar amplified upon meeting the water. I really couldn’t help but imagine myself soaking in a bath fragranced with nothing more than laundry detergent. While this would make a lovely scent for clean clothes, I don’t exactly want to bathe in it. I feel like lush missed an opportunity here. Perhaps it is the patchouli that gives this soapy scent, though I would find it surprising. If so, I feel like almond absolute or almond oil would’ve done an excellent job in it’s place, creating a sweet, soft scent as well as contributing wonderful skin nourishing properties, and mingling beautifully with the orange oil. Out of the bath, this left a light, clean fragrance on the skin that lasted for hours, and was much more pleasant than the overpowering scent in the bath.

This bar did soften the bath water, and I feel like it did a decent job at softening the skin, though once I removed myself from the tub I felt incredibly soapy, so I had to give myself a good rinse under the showerhead to make sure my skin didn’t get dried out. I don’t usually feel the need to have a super thorough rinse after other bubble bars like The Comforter or the old formulation of Karma, so I feel like that is a good indication of just how soapy this bubble bar is.

Overall, I feel like this bubble bar was not suited to my tastes, but those who enjoy a fresh and lightly floral scent will adore this. It doesn’t make for the most exciting looking bath because the water stays clear, but it produces a good amount of bubbles when you use the entire bar and smells very clean.

Rating: 3, Ok, but not my taste.

Price:  £3.75/ $7.95 ($2.15 more in the US, wtf!!!)

Status: Permanent Item, worldwide.

Vegan?: No, contains skimmed milk

Would I repurchase? No

Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Cream of Tartar (Potassium bitartrate), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Lauryl Betaine, Skimmed Milk, Corn Starch (Zea Mays), Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter (Theobroma Cacao), Glycerine, Fragrance, Orange Oil (Citrus Sinensis), Patchouli Oil (Pogostemon cablin), Fair Trade Olive Oil (Olea europaea), Laureth 4, Silver Lustre and Silver Glimmer (Potassium Aluminium Silicate, Titanium Dioxide, Iron Oxides, Corn Starch, Maltodextrin, Synthetic Mica), Amyl Cinnamal, Benzyl Salicylate, Lilial, Citronellol, Geraniol, Hexyl Cinnamal, Hydroxycitronellal, *Limonene, *Linalool . *Occurs naturally in essential oils