Lush Gentle Lentil solid shampoo.

I didn't become a Lush fan until around 2010, and when I read back on some of the products that used to be available and have been discontinued before I started to buy from the company, I get jealous when I see something that I think would be perfect for me. While reading tons of (mostly very positive) reviews of this particular product, I was even more eager to try it, and after waiting about a year, it was released in the Lush kitchen- Lush's weekly range of special-edition products released in limited batches. I knew I had to buy it.

This product is the Gentle Lentil solid shampoo bar. Those who have read my reviews of solid haircare, such as Jason and the Argan oil shampoo bar, will know that it doesn't often agree with my dry, easily tangled hair type. But as Gentle lentil is specifically created to be (as the name suggests), a gentle wash for easily tangled hair. It is more geared towards children, but being a child at heart and being a fan of the fragrance of the bar, I was still eager to use it and report back on my results.

Gentle Lentil is a little boring-looking, cream-coloured block dotted with brown lentils. Compared to Lush's brightly coloured shampoo bars, this isn't one you'd notice right away. This is probably part of the reason the bar was discontinued, as unless people knew what it was, they would likely walk past it without giving it a second glance, in favour of the more colourful bars and bottles of shampoo. However, sometimes it's the boring-looking products that offer a lot, so I try not to bother too much about what the products look like on the outside.

The bar shares the scent with the Butterball fragrance family from Lush, a cocoa butter and ylang-ylang dominated fragrance. While the butterball bath bomb is mostly dominated by the cocoa butter scent, giving it an almost chocolatey fragrance, the Gentle lentil shampoo bar has the ylang-ylang at the forefront, giving a more floral version of the Butterball scent. Personally, I prefer the bath bomb's fragrance, but they aren't too different, so fans of the bath bomb will appreciate the scent of it's haircare sibling. The Butterball scent is one of my top fragrances from lush, I wish they would bring out a perfume version.

To use a shampoo bar is very simple, but it does take some getting used to if you regularly tend to use a liquid shampoo. All you have to do is wet the bar, and either lather it up in your hair (as I do) or lather it in your hands and then apply the lather to your hair that way. I found that Gentle lentil didn't lather up as well as I am used to with shampoo bars, instead providing a slightly oily foam, which slightly worried me, as I wondered if it would leave my hair greasy instead of cleaned. But after I had conditioned and dried my hair off, I found my hair was very tangled, almost as if I had over-shampooed. This really disappointed me, as I had been hoping for a long time that this particular shampoo bar would work for me.


I gave it another chance, using less than I had before, but again, it made my hair feel dried out and was impossible to brush, even when using an abundance of conditioner after shampooing. The bar of shampoo itself also was reluctant to dry, and you lose a lot of product when it just sits on your bathroom shelf melting. I have honestly come to the conclusion that Lush shampoos, particularly their solid haircare range, just don't work for me, and I am very reluctant to spend money on their expensive haircare again.

So despite looking forward to using Gentle lentil and appreciating the scent (Lush, make it  a perfume!) I won't be repurchasing and I don't recommend it.

Price £5 for 100g

LUSH Sympathy for the Skin hand and body lotion

I find that often I am bad for remembering to moisturise properly. I buy tons of body butters and thick creams because I like the texture, only to find out that they are just too heavy for my skin, especially on my face, and take too long to sink in properly. This causes greasiness. I wanted to try something that was lighter, but would still provide me with enough moisture to combat dry patches.

I had a look on Lush's website and decided to treat myself to something slightly more expensive than I would originally have gone for, but something that I knew would have natural ingredients. After browsing, I chose a pot of Sympathy for the Skin lotion. I vaguely remember having this years ago, but didn't use it enough to build up a proper opinion. All I could remember was the texture was thinner than I tend to buy.

When it arrived, it comes in the traditional lush screw-top black jar packaging. Like all of Lush's other black pots, it's 100% recyclable, and if you take 5 of them back to Lush, they will reward you with a free fresh face mask or fresh hair mask. It's a nice little incentive and generous of lush- a pretty unique offer.

I know many people don't like jars and tubs, who may wish to decant the lotion into a bottle. I don't mind the tub, as it mainly sits on my bathroom counter or on my bedside table, but as the lotion is of a fairly runny consistency, I would probably choose to put it into another container if I was going on holiday. It's also quite a chubby 240g tub, so decanting it would sometimes be a better option, especially if you wanted to use it as your regular hand cream when out and about.

On first sniff, this cream smells like banana. Not fake banana, like the foam sweets- but real, natural, slightly under-ripe banana. It isn't my favourite scent, purely because it still has that slighly soured element when the fruit isn't quite ripe. The vanillary note helps it a little bit, offering a natural but sweet dosage of it. And layered under this you can smell sandalwood notes, which makes it a bit different to any generic vanilla lotion.

The lotion looks just like a fresh, luxury banana custard, an off-white shade, speckled with flecks of vanilla seed and banana seed. Unfortunately these seeds can work to the products disadvantage, as you can find yourself speckled with them on some occasions, which can be annoying if you have your skin on show or opt to use this as a face cream as I do.

When you rub in the lotion, the scent changes from the banana being the strongest scent, to the vanilla taking over and being at the forefront. The warmth of your skin brings out an almost white-chocolate note, and this is when I really started to appreciate the scent that bit more.

Consistency wise, it is fairly thin, and absorbs easily. It still leaves a light glisten on your skin, and you definitely feel moisturised, which I think is better than a cream absorbing too quickly and feeling like you have not even applied it in the first place. My skin felt soothed, and in a couple of days, the dry patches on my skin had almost all cleared up. My facial skin is combination/sensitive, and it didn't break me out in the slightest either. I would probably have to wait a bit before I applied makeup over this, but I still haven't trialled that out yet, as I don't tend to moisturise under my makeup.


Overall, I have enjoyed using this cream and would definitely recommend it to people who want a light face and body moisturiser, that does it's job wonderfully. If you want to have soft skin and smell like banana cream custard, give this a try!


8/10


Julia xx

Palmers Cocoa Butter Formula Swivel Stick

Even though the new year has begun, we are still in the middle of winter which, for our skin, is one of the worst times for dryness. My lips are often dried out, which is due to a combination of the weather, and the fact I tend to wear a lot of lipstick and gloss throughout the year as part of my regular makeup routine. I have tried a LOT of lip balms over the years, ranging from very cheap drugstore brands to more luxury expensive ones which claim to banish wrinkles as well as soothe dry skin. This one I am going to write about today, however, is part of a cult-classic range of moisturising products that don't cost the earth.

Palmers cocoa butter formula is a popular brand which specialize in body lotions and moisturisers. They have also branched out to different products, including pregnancy (stretch mark) creams, tanning creams, hair care and lip balms. Some of their products are harder to find than others in stores, but all are readily available online.

Palmers swivel stick is a multitasking product, which makes it ideal for travelling. It is a heavy-duty moisturising balm stick, large enough to use on areas such as elbows and knees, but still a convienent size for popping in your handbag. It's also a good alternative to taking a bottle of lotion on holiday, as it won't spill. Although, I would be careful what temperature of the place you keep this product in, as the buttery, waxy consistency I feel would melt easily if exposed to too high a heat.


To use, although not the most flattering description, you wind it up as if a glue stick (The name of the product itself suggests this), and apply wherever needed. The formula itself smells delicious- a really chocolatey, buttery scent with a hint of nuttiness that reminds me of freshly made chocolate truffles. Be careful when applying it on your lips especially that you don't start eating it- it really does smell that good. However, if you aren't keen on chocolate or 'flavoured', heavily-scented balms, you will probably not like this- it has the kind of heavy scent which really does hang around a while. I adore the scent, so I was really glad it stuck around.

This is an extremely moisturising product, which means you do have to wait a while for it to settle into your skin and lips, so it's maybe more ideal as a night treatment. Be careful about how much you apply too, as too much can cause an unwanted greasiness. Start off with a minimal amount and build up as you go along to get the best out of your Palmers swivel stick. I tend to use this only on patches of very dry skin (which I get frequently), and my lips, which are often really chapped.

You do get a lot of product for your money here, and it lasts a long time. So for the price, I think it's a great product to test out and if you have dry skin- give it a go. I was really pleased with it and I'm sure you will be, too.

Thanks for reading

Overall: A good little multitasking product at an excellent price

Rating: 8.5/10

2016 Price: £2.50

Stockists, Ebay, Amazon, Tesco, Superdrug, Boots

Apologies for the delay...

...new reviews are coming very soon. Thank you for your patience.

Julia x