Rose Jam shower gel

There are always some products that you think you aren't going to like, and then when you try them out, you realise that they are one of your favourites, and regret not trying them sooner. Rose Jam shower gel is definitely one of those products. I picked up a small bottle in the Lush sale, knowing that if I didn't like it, it wouldn't be too much money wasted and I could pass it onto someone else.

Rose Jam is a limited edition shower gel only released around the Christmas period, much like Snow fairy- which tends to over-shadow it a little.

The packaging is Lush's regular design, a clear bottle with a black-and-white label, although it reads 'limited edition!' in a small corner of the label. I quite like the classic labelling, although I feel that maybe Rose Jam would pick up more attention if it was sold with a different label, like Snow Fairy.

It is a dark pink in colour, and smells like roses, but it is quite different to your regular rose-scented cosmetics you may pick up in shops. This is because it has a lemon undertone to it, which I feel gives it a sharp edge without making the overall scent seem sour. The scent reminds me a little of turkish delight- it is sweet without being cloying and overbearing.

I am not normally a fan of floral scents, and usually prefer gourmand ones that smell of sweets and vanilla. However, rose jam is an exception to that. The minute I got this home and used it, I regretted not investing in one of the large 500ml bottles that were in the boxing day sale.

The shower gel is dark pink in colour, medium-thick in texture, and lathers up well, especially with a shower puff. It leaves your skin feeling cleansed and fresh, without being dry. I would still recommend you use a mosituriser over this if you have very dry skin, or perhaps follow up your shower gel with Ro's argan body conditioner, which carries the same scent.


The only criticism I can make is that the scent doesn't really linger very long on your skin, which is a pity. If you can manage to pick up the limited-edition Rose Jam perfume on ebay, that would be an ideal follow-up to keep the beautiful scent on your skin throughout the day.


If you enjoy the shower gel, I would also recommend trying out year-round bath product Rose Jam bubbleroon, which also carries the same scent and is incredibly moisturising.

Overall, this is one of my unexpected favourites from Lush, and I will be picking up lots more of it at Christmas this year, if they decide to bring it back again...fingers crossed!

8.5/10

Honey, I washed my hair Solid Shampoo bar

As I have previously mentioned in blog posts, I am in the process of trying to convert all my cosmetic products I use besides makeup to Lush ones. So far, the converting has been pretty easy, apart from a few certain products, Shampoo being one of them.


Lush invented solid shampoo bars as an ideal alternative to liquid shampoos for people who travel, as they weigh less, and provide up to 80 washes in a single bar. This also makes them great value for money, as a shampoo bar only costs £5.75.

There are many shampoo bars available in lush, ranging from ones which are designed specifically for dandruff and problem scalps, to those which claim to boost volume and soften hair. There is all sorts available for different hair types, so if you want to try one, I would recommend visiting a Lush store and having a look.


HIWMH, is named after the popular toffee-scented Lush soap, Honey I washed the kids. It also shares the same scent as the soap, which is great, as I'm a huge fan. 

It is designed to leave your hair soft and shiny, with a delicious scent. Granted, HIWMH  shampoo bar isn't the most appealing or brightest one in the collection- a plain white exterior with very little else going on. However, I hoped it would live up to what it claimed to do. I have blue-dyed, easily tangled hair, so I was all too aware I would probably need a conditioner with this.

Using this in my hair was very easy. You can either rub it in your hands to create a lather, or rub the bar straight on your head. The latter is what I decided to do, and it foamed up instantly, creating a thick lather. Unfortunately, my hair felt extremely tangled, and loads of my dye started coming out. Although this shampoo doesn't claim to be safe for coloured hair, I have used plenty of regular shampoos which weren't designed for coloured hair in the past that didn't strip my colour this much.

I topped up with a lot of conditioner, way more than I would usually use, and even then when I rinsed my hair, it felt rough to touch and didn't brush easily as it was so tangled.

I gave this shampoo a long chance to see if my hair would get used to it, but my colour was just coming out too much and I had to give it up eventually. Once I swapped back to my regular shampoo and conditioner routine, my hair was back to normal within a couple of days.



I feel this shampoo bar would be more suited to normal, natural hair types rather than dry or coloured hair. I think it may be a little rich for greasy hair, however as I don't have greasy hair, I obviously can't confirm that. As solid shampoo is not a multiuse product, I am unsure what to do with the rest of my bar, so it is a little sad that it was a waste of money. If y

Unfortunately, HIWMH solid shampoo bar has not won me over, however I would be willing to try out another from Lush before giving up completely on the solid bars. Perhaps you could recommend another? Let me know in the comments!


3.5/10

Original Source lime shower gel

Today I am going to be taking a break away from reviewing my usual LUSH products, and writing my thoughts about Original Source's lime shower gel. This particular type of shower gel was recommended to me by a friend, and it is a low-priced widely available brand, so I decided to give it a go.

Original Source shower gels have particularly distinctive packaging, which helps differentiate their products from other ones. The bottles have their caps on the bottom, and are designed to be stood this way up, which avoids any product wastage. I am a big fan of this type of bottle, and I wish upper-end companies would take note.



Flicking open the cap, the lime scent is immediately apparant, and I am a big fan of it, despite not normally appreciating citrus smells. This scent has a slight sourness, but is balanced with the natural sweetness of lime too, so isn't overpowering.

The fragrance is actually very similar to the lime-flavour Starburst chew, and would probably be ideal for using in the hot weather, or in early mornings when you need something invigorating to wake you up . I really enjoyed the fragrance and feel it would work well as a body butter or lotion.

The texture of this gel is medium thickness, which I think is ideal. It's not so watery you will drop half of it down the drain, but it's not so thick it will seem cloying on your skin.  Original source lime shower gel lathers up averagely- it doesn't provide the best lather I have tried, but I suspect it would lather up better using a shower puff.

After using this shower gel, I did feel clean, but unfortunately, despite claiming to contain essential oils, it made my skin feel quite tight and overly cleansed, with my hands in particular feeling quite 'squeaky' and dry. I don't expect this with a shower gel, so I was a little disappointed.

I have heard of people using this shower gel in their hair, however as my hair is heavily dyed and dry and needs shampoo for colour treated and problematic hair, I decided to avoid trying this so can't report on it's results.

I may try using this shower gel as bubble bath, and see if I get any positive results, but for now, it's definitely not one of my favourites. Although I loved the scent, the performance of the product was just too drying for my skin type. I think people with normal, or oily skin would certainly enjoy this.
However, I have not been put off the Original Source brand, so I will certainly be trying out and reviewing a few of their different scented shower gels and body butters to see which one works best for me.

Keep your eyes peeled for more Original Source reviews :)



5.5/10

So White shower gel

     


Often, in Lush's seasonal range, they release a number of products with pretty non-traditional Christmas scents, and this is one of them. So White shower gel was first released in the 2014 range of products, and based on the Bath Bomb of the same name.

It isn't a very exciting shower gel, compared to the other seasonal releases which are bursting with colour and quite unusual scents that you would be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. So White is, like the name suggests, a pure white shower gel with a little white lustre running through it. But don't worry, as the lustre is not the sort to stick to your skin or hair when washing with the shower gel.

The scent of this shower gel is pure apple. It is quite a sour, but natural scent- think freshly peeled granny smith apples. It is a very invigorating scent and one which I think would pick you up on a particularly warm day. Although obviously all Lush products are unisex and can be used by anyone, this one strikes me as one guys might be a particular fan of, due to it not being too sugary sweet or perfume-y. Personally, I quite liked the smell- it makes a change to the usual gourmand-scented shower gels I generally use.

So white shower gel has a very thin texture- it is almost as runny as water. So make sure you are careful about how much comes out at once, as you really don't need tons to get a lather going, especially if you are using a shower puff.

It lathered up well enough, cleansed my skin and left me feeling squeaky clean and my skin smelling faintly of apples. Unfortunately, this smell isn't very strong, and I did have to moisturise after using this. Any lotion I used overpowered the scent of So White shower gel left on my skin, which was a bit of a shame.

Overall, this product isn't particularly one of my favourites, as it seems pretty similar to a lot of run-of-the-mill cheaper shower gels I have tried in the past. I also wasn't keen on the watery texture.  I would probably not buy it again, however I know there is plenty of people who really enjoy this, so if you want to give it a go, I am sure Lush will bring this back in Christmas 2015. Keep your eyes peeled!

5/10

Mini Victoria sponge

This is an old recipe I have been using since I first started baking when I was younger. I have customised it a bit (it used to be a fairy cake recipe), but the end result is delicious- soft mini cakes you can layer together and make into little mini victoria sponges. I have used a combination of jam and buttercream in the filling, however if you prefer fresh cream, you could use that instead.

Halve or double the quantities as needed to make the amount of cakes you require.


This recipe makes 24 mini cakes, but you are going to be putting 2 cakes together to form your mini victoria sponge, so it will make 12.


You will need:

• 300g unsalted butter, softened
• 300g caster sugar
• 300g Self Raising Flour
• 6 medium eggs

For the filling, you will need

Strawberry jam (approximately 6 tablespoons)
50g soft unsalted butter
100g icing sugar
A little extra icing sugar, for decoration.


Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Line 2 x 12-hole muffin tins with paper muffin cases. (Bake in batches if you have only 1 muffin tin.)

Place the butter, sugar, flour and eggs in a bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until pale and creamy. Divide the mixture evenly between the paper cases and level the tops. Bake for 20 minutes until pale golden and just firm. Remove from the oven. When cool enough to handle, transfer the cakes to a wire rack to cool completely.


As the cakes are cooling, mix together your unsalted butter and icing sugar carefully. It may look as if there is too much icing sugar, but don't worry, the buttercream WILL come together.

After you are satisfied with the buttercream, and your cakes have cooled, trim the tops off half of them so they have a flat surface. Don't throw the trimmed tops away! You could freeze them and use them as sponge fingers in a trifle, or just store them away as little snacks.

Spread the flat surface cakes with half a tablespoon of buttercream and half a tablespoon of jam.

Top them with the other cakes that you have not trimmed.

Push icing sugar through a sieve and dust it on top of the finished mini victoria sponges.

Enjoy.

Logo and header Designer wanted :)

Just a quick post

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It is unpaid, however your work will be credited and I will link your blog or website on the homepage.

If you are interested in designing a website logo and header, comment your email on the guestbook and I will be in touch.

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Julia. xx

D'fluff shaving cream

There are certain products by LUSH, that I really look forward to trying, but once I finally give them a go, I am left disappointed. Unfortunately, this is one of those times.

D'fluff shaving soap is a fairly new product by Lush, that I read about online. I am in the process of trying to convert all my cosmetics I use besides makeup to Lush ones, but there are a few I haven't managed to find alternatives for yet, and shaving cream was one of them.

I hesitated trying prince or dirty shaving creams, as I am not that fond of the dirty scent and I felt these products were more geared towards men rather than women. I know LOADS fans of lush would disagree with me and say these products were unisex, and I probably would have eventually tried Prince, had I not seen D'fluff online first.

D'fluff is a whipped-style shaving soap, named after the famous sweet spread, marshmallow fluff. I can see how it looks a little like the popular treat, but the texture does not have any of the (sometimes) annoying stickyness you would get with marshmallow fluff. Scooping some out of the black tub, it feels quite thick and moussy, and not really like any 'traditional' shaving creams I've tried.



The scent of this product is also quite nice, sharing it's fruity aroma with Strawberry feels forever massage bar. I can't say I can smell the strawberries very strongly, but the scent reminds me of a strawberry milkshake- a subtle, creamy scent with a slightly fruity undertone. It is miles away from the overpowering, artificial scent of Strawberry marshmallow fluff.



D'fluff doesn't lather up like any shaving cream I have ever tried, so don't expect the usual foamy lather you would get from a shaving gel or cream, whether low end like Gilette, or high end like Elemis, D'fluff provides you with more a oily, creamy lather that feels like it's doing some good to your skin, as well as softening any hair and providing an ideal surface for shaving.

The main problem I find with this shaving soap, is that it tends to clog up any razor that is being used, whether a cheap disposable or a more expensive one. I have never used D'fluff with an electric razor so I am unable to comment on how it would work.

As for it's performance, the D'fluff helps your razor to remove unwanted hair quickly and easily without cutting yourself, and leaves the skin behind feeling supple and soft once the excess cream is rinsed off and the skin has been dried.

Although this shaving soap works well at it's intended purpose, I do find the razor-clogging problem unforgivable with this product. Razor blades are expensive to buy, and I imagine using this shaving cream with a normal razor would wear the blades down extremely quickly, meaning purchasing new ones more often. No matter how little or much product I used, I seemed to come across this problem constantly.

One advantage is that D'fluff is a multipurpose product, and can also be used as a shower smoothie. So if you buy it and decide that using it as a shaving cream isn't for you, it can be used as a moisturising addition to your showering routine. Just scoop a little bit out, rub it on your skin and rinse away. The oils in the product will soften and moisturise your skin.





As you can probably tell, I am not the biggest fan of D'fluff, and rather found it a disappointing product for it's high price. I will be sticking to my regular Nivea shaving gel, which is cheaper and I think provides a better performance. That said, if you are interested in trying D'fluff shaving soap out, go to Lush and ask for a sample- you may enjoy it.

3/10