1 December 2013

Luscious Euphoria

Regular readers of my ramblings will be well aware this is not a "beauty blog". My morning routine consists of a shower, cleaning my teeth, and moisturing any parts of my face which look like they're about to fall off. 

That said, I recently promised myself that I would start making sure all the products I used were animal-cruelty free. Given that alternative testing options exist, I can't fathom why animals still suffer unnecessarily for the sake of human vanity. Serendipity obviously decided to intervene as, shortly after pinky-swearing with myself, Lyndsay kindly invited me to a bloggers' Lock-In at the Brighton branch of uber-conscientious Lush



It was certainly beginning to feel a lot like Christmas, as we were greeted by the lovely Lush ladies (Mags, Hels and Emily) proffering Bucks Fizz, old fashioned sodas, a mountain of mince pies, and beautiful cupcake push-pops by Cake-Cetera (with the best buttercream:cake ratio I've ever found in a cupcake).  



We watched, enthralled, as Hels demonstrated the witchcraft Godlike powers scientific genius of the Golden Wonder bath bomb. Which we learnt are due to an endothermic reaction; making my evening both deliciously-scented and educational. We watched, slack-jawed (OK, maybe that was just me) as the bath bomb entered the water and immediately began to release a trail of golden bubbles filled with tiny golden stars (made from totally fish-friendly biodegradable seaweed, don't you know!) whilst simultaneously turning the water a phosphorescent teal. It then started propelling itself around in circles, like a wind-up frog, using the power of its own awesomeness. I was beginning to think I'd accidentally stumbled into Hogwarts, when it got EVEN MORE AMAZING. As the outside dissolved, the Golden Wonder released hidden, miniature purple and green bath bombs into the water too. MIND. BLOWN. 



I am now really regretting getting rid of our bath because I reckon dissolving Golden Wonders at home would provide me with sufficient entertainment that I could've kept the bath and thrown out the TV.

Emily then showed us how to use the massage bars to give each other hand and arm massages. Sophie and I opted for Each Peach, which contains mango kernal butter, because we wanted to smell like the tropics. I can now confirm that, two days on, my forearms still feel softer than normal!

The Each Peach massage bar. Look how pretty!!

Hels talked us through the Greatest Hits and Volume 2 releases of Lush's Gorilla perfumes; the latter of which contains scents that sound like Death Metal albums (Hellstone, Furze, and Lord of Goathorn, to name a few) but are in fact landmarks in Dorset! Hels encouraged our group to all try on the same perfume so we could smell the staggering differences in how it reacted on our bodies due to the perfumes' molecular structure, which bonds with your own genetic make-up. For a second spritz I opted for The Voice of Reason (from Volume 2), because it's inspired by beatnik poets of the 1940s, with the scents of coffee, whisky and French Gitane cigarettes, and I wanted to feel sophisticated. Which I totally did, until I over-enthusiastically sniffed a bath bomb later on and got it all over my nose.



Mags helped us make our very own The Comforter bubble bars, and it was astounding to see just how few ingredients go into making the very same bars you can buy in store; the majority of which can be found in the average kitchen!



Being given free reign to explore the shop my eyes didn't know what to look at first. Everything was just so beautiful. Not to mention the incredible scents radiating from every product due, which combined into what I imagine unicorn sneezes smell like. 



These adorable robot bath bombs, formulated specially to help little ones relax before bedtime, went straight to the top of my Reasons To Have A Baby list ((baby-)bumping "A legitimate reason to eat for two!" to second place). 



I was very, VERY tempted to buy myself a magical Princess wand to carry home on the train and wave at people (which certainly wouldn't be the weirdest thing I've carried on the train). Instead, I think I will ask Santa for one.



If the products themselves weren't enough of a feast for my eyeballs, the shelves were also covered in the most beautifully designed packaging I've ever seen. Lots of the other girls told me they'd saved the boxes of gift sets past and kept them out on display all year round; unsurprisingly, given just how gorgeous they all are. I fell in love with each and every package but my personal favourites were Spa Gift, Uplifted, and Hello Gorgeous. Drool.




Then I saw this hanging on the wall, and time stood still:



The AWESOMENESS above is the Euphoria perfume version of Lush's Knot-wrap Gift Wrap; an innovative, eco-friendly alternative to wrapping paper which can be reused again and again. (I also have it on good authority from Steph that the wraps make excellent headscarves). The wraps are made from two recycled plastic bottles a piece and measure an impressive 70 x 70cm, yet only cost a measly £4.25(!!). I was very tempted to buy six. Here's what's happened to mine (obviously).


I LOVE it.

Thank you so much Lyndsay and Lush, I had so much fun!


Fun range from Lush
Katie xxx

13 comments:

  1. Your scarf looks gorgeous framed!!! Great to meet u, and what a "lush" night! Harhar.x

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    1. Teehee. It was so nice meeting you too! Hope to see you again soon :) xxx

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  2. ooh this sounds like a lot of fun, I really love Lush products, but I don't have a local store and sadly can't afford to buy all by bath products from there anyway, especially at the moment!

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    1. They are a bit pricier than my regular products, but I'm thinking perhaps I can ease myself in replacing one at a time. And there's always Christmas and birthday wishlists! :) xxx

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  3. It was such a lovely evening, and I love what you've done with your scarf!
    Carrie xxx

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    1. It was so much fun wasn't it? I smelt like a Lush shop until last night, despite having a shower. Yummy! xxx

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  4. Oooh, I love Lush! What an amazingly fun thing to do. The Golden wonder?!?!?! HOW?????????????? Love the Euphoria. My brother in law bought some lovely white starry material from a material shop 4 years ago and has wrapped all our Christmas presents in them (with gold cord) every year and then takes them back to use next year! Genius idea!x

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    1. That was exactly my thought as I was watching it. Your brother in law sounds like a planet-friendly genius :) It does make me a bit sad seeing just how much wrapping paper gets ripped up and binned each Christmas; but presents definitely need to have some way of being unwrapped! xxx

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    2. Makes me sad too. Hence I unwrap carefully and then wrap other presents in the paper x

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  5. I think I shan't bother to write up my lush experience as you have worded it so well. Also your bubble bar is SO much better than mine. Harrumph. You and steph nabbed the best scarves too, I shall have to return!

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    1. We were told to pretend we were making crumble topping when making the bubble bar mix; I've made a lot of crumbles in my time! :) Feel free to copy and paste mine on your blog and put your name at the bottom instead- I won't tell :p I want to go back and have another look at the hair products and hand soaps. And maybe get another scarf :) xxx

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  6. I love Lush! I had a shampoo from them a couple of years ago that smelled like bubble gum. I wanted to eat it from the bottle (clearly not a good idea). And the massage bars are lovely!

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    1. I have a raspberry body butter from the Body Shop smells almost good enough to eat; Tom says it makes me smell like jam (jelly) on toast :p xxx

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