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

Treacle Moon hand and body lotion - The Honeycomb Secret

Sometimes products I haven't heard much about before can really surprise me, and when I saw Treacle Moon cosmetics in one of my local supermarkets, I decided to have a further look, as a lot of their unusual scents in their range appeal to me. I tried out a Treacle moon shower gel earlier on in the year, and got on quite well with it, so I decided to try one of their many hand and body lotions,  as with the cold weather approaching, my skin is getting dryer and I wanted a lotion that didn't take ages to sink in.

As I have mentioned, I have tried out Treacle Moon products before, and I have always wondered if their packaging was a dupe of high-end brand Philosophy. However, I am not really bothered about whether something is a dupe or not- if a product is good quality, a good price and works well for me, I will buy it, regardless of whether it was inspired by a higher end, more expensive product. This has been proven in reviews on products such as the Revolution redemption eye palette, which is a dupe of Urban Decay's Naked1 palette.

Treacle Moon hand and body lotion comes in a 350ml pump dispenser bottle, which isn't particularly ideal for travelling, but makes a nice product to keep on your bathroom shelf. Although I generally prefer jars and tubes over pump dispensers, this provides the ideal amount of product to use at the one time without over-doing it, and is also a more hygienic way of dispensing the product inside.

The lotion is a smooth, silky, non-greasy consistency, and seems to strike the ideal balance between thin and thick. It feels luxurious and moisturising, but absorbs easily and within a couple of minutes you are just left with beautifully-scented  and soft skin. 

The Honeycomb scent of this lotion is amazing- I am starting to wish Treacle Moon did perfumes as I would buy up hundreds of bottles if it were available in this scent!  I was expecting a generic honey scent, but this is so sugary and sweet- it reminds me of the gloriously rich and sugary inside of a Crunchie bar, and transports me to an autumnal night at a fairground with the scent of caramel-apples, doughnuts and bags of fresh cinder toffee from the stalls. It really is a beautifully sweet and sumptuous scent, and lasts for ages on your skin. So much so that I think this could be worn as a stand-alone fragrance and would receive lots of compliments. It is a strong smell, so if you aren't a fan of foodie scents, you may not like this- but I am definitely a huge fan. 

The scent is available in a lotion (£2.99), a shower gel (£2.99) and a body butter (£3.99) , so for those who are fans, you can collect the whole scent collection for around £10. I will definitely be doing this and stocking up incase the company decide to discontinue the scent (which they have done with some of their other scents in the past) as it seems quite an autumnal scent, and I'm unsure if it's a limited edition.

Overall, I am a fan of this product and would recommend it to those who want a beautifully moisturising product, with a cozy, mouthwatering scent to boot.

8/10

Soft Coeur Massage Bar

Out of all the products sold by Lush, the massage bar is probably my favourite. Whenever I go to a store or place a Lush order online, I tend to always add a massage bar into my basket. Usually I go for a Wiccy Magic Muscle bar, but after reading other people's reviews of Soft Coeur massage bar, I decided to try it out as the scent sounded like something I would really enjoy.

Massage bars are a block of solidified oils and butters, designed for body massage or alternatively for use as a heavy-duty moisturiser- which is what I use them for. They're much more portable than a bottle of massage oil, but you have to be careful keeping them in warm places, as they do have a tendency to melt easily. To use them, all you have to do is swipe the bar a few times over warm skin, then rub the melted oils in.

Soft Coeur is a little different from the other massage bars Lush offer, as it's presented as a small heart shape, and has a centre of honey and cocoa powder, which is also designed to melt on your skin. I'm not sure whether Lush released this as part of a Valentines day range and decided to keep it as part of the permanent range, but as it's also known as The Honeymooner massage bar, its obvious that this bar has been designed for couples.

The scent of Soft Coeur is a rich, honey-toffee one, very similar to the popular Honey, I washed the kids soap. But the slightly bitter-sweet cocoa powder core of the bar slightly tones down the sweet and sickly scent of the bar and helps to add a chocolatey undertone. I quite like the scent, it's definitely one for fans of foodie and sweet smells. It's quite strong and I also find it lasts a long time on the skin, so I think if you wanted to use it as a scent, you could apply a bit of the bar to your wrists as an alternative to a solid perfume.


When you are applying Soft Coeur, although it's not the most easily-melting massage bar from Lush that I have used, it does leave a fair amount of oil on your skin that is massaged in easily. I found that the first 3 or 4 uses of the bar were chocolate-core free, then after that the centre also began to melt, leaving streaks that could also be rubbed in with a bit more effort. I've heard a lot of complaints from people about the streaks from cocoa centre, however I didn't find it was too bad and it wouldn't stop me from enjoying the bar.

I found that although the bar didn't release oils as easily as the others, it didn't last as many uses and was halved in size by the 6th use. It is one of Lush's cheaper and smaller bars, but if I bought it again it would probably be reserved for the occasional use rather than a regular used product, as it proves quite an expensive alternative to a moisturiser.

For me, this wasn't the most hydrating of Lush's massage bars, but I did enjoy it. I have other favourites that I would generally pick over Soft Coeur massage bar, but I am glad I've tried it out and would probably buy it again if I was in the mood for a very sweet smelling massage bar.


6/10

Skinny Dip Buttercream

I had been waiting to try a Lush Buttercream since I had first read a review on their limited-edition Heavenly Bodies Buttercream. After having a look on Ebay, and realising how much Lush's limited edition products tend to sell for, I opted to wait until a Buttercream popped up onto the Lush Kitchen menu, so I could try out a fresh one for a more reasonable price.

Around a year ago, Lush Cosmetics decided to start up the Lush Kitchen to replace the 'retro' section of their old website. The Lush Kitchen is a project run by Lush to unearth long-ago products, and make fresh, limited-edition batches of them to offer customers who may not have shopped at Lush long enough to remember their old, discontinued products.

Personally, I think there is good and bad points to the Lush kitchen, but overall it is a nice way to have a chance to try something out that you may not have been able to buy before. The products are also at their peak of freshness- which is the best condition to use them in.

The problem that is caused by releasing limited amounts of products, is that there often isn't enough for everyone to buy-leading to lots of disappointed customers. As well as this, customers who do manage to buy something such as a limited-edition shampoo, might want to use it as part of their regular routine- which they can't do unless the Lush Kitchen decide to bring it back.

It is generally a total lottery what Lush decide to stock in the Kitchen range, so it is worth checking back every week when the new menu of products is put out.

Skinny Dip buttercream is a soft body soap that has been designed particularly for dry skin, as it's very hydrating and packed with tons of oils and butters to nourish and repair your skin while gently cleansing it. As the name suggests, this soap has a creamy and thick texture, which does replicate the popular cake frosting. Reading back on the history of this soap, it used to be sold in solid bar form, but Lush have changed the formula since then, and now the softer version is sold in 240g tubs.


The scent of Skinny Dip is not one I would usually go for, and if I had smelled it in the shop, I probably would have put it back on the shelf. It's packed with cloves, violet and vetivert oil, and these combined result in a very earthy, musky,  almost savoury fragrance. It's not too strong in the tub, but once used under the stream of water it becomes heady and possibly overwhelming for those who aren't fond of the scent. Personally, I didnt particularly like it, but I think fans of products such as Tramp shower gel might like this. It's also quite a manly scent, so I think it might be more popular among guys.

To use Lush's buttercreams, simply scoop a tablespoon-sized amount out and use it as you would a shower gel. Due to buttercream soap being packed with so many oils, it won't lather up like regular soap or shower gel. Some people might be ok with this, but I didn't feel completely clean using it by itself, so I topped up with some of Lush's Happy Hippy shower gel afterwards. However, after using this, I still found the strong clove smell of Skinny Dip lingered on my skin for a while. If you are a fan of the smell of Skinny Dip Buttercream, the longevity of the scent could be seen as a positive, but as I didn't like it, it was personally a negative for me.

Saying this, my skin did feel softer, though not as baby-soft had I just used my regular shower gel and topped my skin with a massage bar afterwards, which is what I do regularly. I feel that the buttercream would be a good option if you are pressed for time and is an ideal in-shower body moisturiser. But if you do have the time, using a proper lotion or massage bar afterwards is what I would prefer to do.

Although I personally wouldn't buy this variety of Lush Buttercream again, I am still eager to try their Heavenly bodies version, and am keeping my eyes peeled in the kitchen for them to make a reappearance. For those who enjoy earthy and woody scents, I would recommend Skinny dip buttercream, but for me, I won't be trying it again.

4/10

Sultana of Soap

I have been meaning to try this Lush soap for a while, but due to the fact it's one of the more boring-looking varieties on offer, I have often pushed it to the bottom of my 'to-buy' list in favour of shower gels or bubble bars. But last week, I decided to buy an 100g slab of Sultana of Soap to test out and see what I thought.

Sultana of Soap is presented as a white slab topped and laced with berries and sultanas, which make the slab of soap almost look like a bar of nougat. These are used as a decoration but also act as a mild exfoliator. Although this soap is plainer than some of Lush's other offerings, it has a really fresh and mild scent, with the slight sour note of the berries lingering in the background. This, for me, is a scent I would associate with the spring and summer months, as it's light enough and not cloying in the slightest. It's not the type of scent I would usually go for, but makes an interesting change from the gourmand scents I like best.

The texture of Sultana of Soap is a really creamy, moisturising one. It's so soft and squidgy that when you press down on the bar lightly, you leave a dent. When I washed with it, it didn't create a thick lather, but instead a light cream that felt nourishing as well as gently cleansing on my skin. The fruits studding the top of the bar of soap exfoliated gently, but they soon began to fall off and fishing them out the water so that they wouldn't clog the drain was slightly annoying. But once I had rinsed the soap off, my skin felt fresh and clean, and I noticed the scent lingered for a while afterwards which was pleasant.

Due to this soap being a rich and creamy variety, Sultana of Soap does tend to melt and dissolve easily when left around water, so the best thing to do is to pat it dry after every use, and cut your bar into thirds or quarters so you aren't using the whole piece under running water at once.

Overall, although this soap isn't perfect and isn't one of my absolute favourites scent-wise, it did make a nice change from my regular soaps and is one I will turn to if I need something soothing and moisturising for particularly dry skin- in fact, I would go as far to say it's the most moisturising soap from Lush I have ever tried. Recommended.

7/10

Twilight Bath Bomb

When I visit Lush, I usually tend to lean towards buying their bubble bars, soaps or skincare products. I rarely pick up a bath bomb- in fact, I think the last time I bought one for myself was in the Christmas 2014 sale. But when I visited earlier this week I decided to try one that I hadn't used since 2012- Twilight bath ballistic.

Twilight is a pretty, lavender-scented bath bomb that is relaxing and ideal for bedtime, or anytime you want to wind down, really. It's not your typical floral lavender scent- it's more creamy and sweet, and has been described as being a malty, softer alternative. It's quite a girly scent, and I would imagine it being popular with all age groups,

The design of this Twilight is again, quite girly- being a large pale pink sphere with moon and star shapes moulded into the top. The design also encourages you to think that this is a ideal bath bomb for night time use, when you are trying to relax. It's one of Lush's biggest bath bombs, and I've seen people split it into half so they get more than one use, but for the purposes of the review I decided to use the whole bath bomb at once.

To use a bath bomb, just run your bath, and when it's ready, get in and drop your chosen bath ballistic in- then watch it fizz and release colours and nourishing essential oils. 

When you drop Twilight into the bath, it is quite a slow fizzer, first releasing a dusky pink foam to reveal the pale blue inner core of the bath bomb. When the blue fizzes, it releases a blue foam, which mixes with the pink to create a pretty bath mix of blue, pink and soft purple. There is also a little bit of glitter in this bath bomb, but it's not the sort to stick to your skin or the bath. As well as this, little nibs of what I assume is shea butter are released into the water, which helps it feel soft, though not as silky as I was hoping.

 Lush say that the colours of the bath are meant to remind you of the sky becoming darker, and that this will help you to feel soothed and relaxed. The bath from Twilight will not be as brightly coloured as results from some other bath bombs available, and doesn't contain tons of added extras such as paper (dragons egg bath bomb, sex bomb bath bomb) or seaweed (Big blue bath bomb), but for me this is ideal, as I am not keen on the products which leave the bath in a mess afterwards.

Afterwards, although the water had felt reasonably soft, I still had dry skin and had to top up with moisturiser from a massage bar.

Overall, for £3.35, although this bath bomb left me feeling relaxed and I enjoyed it, it's not up there with my favourites so it wouldn't be a regular purchase for me. However, I would recommend it to anyone who is stressed and wants to chill out, as it does work well for that and is a real classic from Lush that is popular among lots of people. A reasonable bath bomb from Lush.

6/10