(Review) Grass: Don't Fear the Reefer

If you look really closely, you can see my face in the bottle!

I have to say, that on this Earth Day, Mother Nature is one big tease.  While us in the Midwest have been practically buried in snow, limbs frozen in ice cold agony, and have dealt with many a bad driver on the icy roads, I think I speak for all of us when the sun finally arrived and we could do nothing but cry tears of joy...that didn't immediately freeze upon our pallid winter cheeks.  Oh yes...this past week has been nothing short of glorious!  Gone were the days of dirty slushy snow, of cloudy winter morns, and snow flying down your shirt because you forgot your scarf at home!  Now begin the days of clear blue skies, air conditioning, and all that other stuff you see on those white girl motivational posters on Facebook.  Hashtag something about being the best summer EVER!  So today, on this day where we celebrate Mother Earth (which should be every day in my opinion) do you think she graced her midwestern children with some comfortable temperatures and a healthy dose of vitamin D??  That would be one big fat NOPE!

Waking up this morning had me promptly pulling my covers right back over my bare arms.  Given the chill in my room, I had figured the past few sunny days to be nothing but a fever dream.  But the date was indeed in April and that was indeed snow falling outside my window.  Not nuclear fallout, not smoke ash leftover from 4/20, but snow.  Well...crap.  Might as well take a nice hot shower to warm up these chilly bones!

Enter Grass shower gel.  Because if I couldn't get my earthy spring fix outside, I was damn sure gonna get it in the shower.  Released on the auspicious date April 20th (or 4/20 or Laganja Estranja Day, whichever you prefer) Grass shower gel is one of the most unique products I've come across at Lush.  Of course it's a shower gel, what could be so revolutionary about that?  Does it glow in the dark?  Does it give you mutant powers?  Are the suds sentient and let out little screams of pain when they pop?!  Why of course not...remember Lush is cruelty free!  What makes this product so unique is its scent.  A combination of nourishing wheatgrass, earthy neroli, and moodlifting bergamot, Grass shower gel is unlike any beauty product I've ever sniffed before.  This was actually gifted to me by Bossman for doing a good job during one of my shifts!  Seeing as I probably wouldn't have bought this on my own, I was grateful for the chance to try it out!

When I first cracked open this little guy, I sniffed and immediately recoiled.  For years I'd associate the smell of grass and trees with crippling allergies.  Being someone who suffers from allergies so bad you have to get shots for them, I feel like this was a normal reaction for me.  But as I cautiously took a second sniff, I happily realized that my nose wasn't running, nor was I sneezing or coughing with a headache.  I could get the full effect of the outdoors without the mucusy side effects!  Yahoo!

When I squeezed some of the dark green gel onto my shower poof, I was immediately reminded of summers at home with my family, most of which I would spend inside brooding (I was a moody teen...oh the angst).  Papa Bear, being the medical professional he likes to think he is, opened up all of the windows in the house ("being outside will get rid of your outdoor allergies!" he would exclaim while trying and failing to shoo my brooding butt outside.  Yes Papa Bear, and peanut butter sandwiches cure nut allergies...) and mow the lawn.  I remember the scent of the fresh cut grass wafting in through the window, along with the grating sound of the lawnmower and Papa Bear's loud and boisterous sneezes being heard over the motor (I inherited my allergies from him...thanks Papa Bear).  However, many (but not that many) years later, I captured the same scent in the peace and serenity that is my shower.

Overall, I did enjoy Grass shower gel quite a bit more than I thought I would.  The scent was beautiful and unique and made me feel like I was in a grassy meadow when it was actually snowing outside.  It gently cleansed my skin and left it lightly fragranced and smooth.  One thing I did notice was that the color did darken a bit over time, and the grassy scent actually strengthened a bit since I came across this bottle.  But overall I really enjoyed this shower gel.  It's a perfect shower gel to use when it's cold and dreary out and you need a reminder that the cold weather won't be around forever!

...well, unless you're in Antarctica...

**Grass shower gel is certified Vegan

(Review) Rose Bombshell: Bombs are the New Bouquets

There's nothing I love more than a pamper day.  Just a simple day off in your pajamas sipping tea, reading a book, and polishing and primping yourself from head to toe.  Back during the holidays and the "Bath Bomb Rush of 'Aught 14" (aka the "galaxy bomb" going viral on Twitter, which REALLY bumped up sales) a pamper day was all I could dream about.  I would sit my sleep deprived self in the back room on my lunch break, hunched up with my microwaved soup squished between mounds of boxes dreaming of my tub, warm and colorful and filled with bubbles, a mask on my face and a treatment in my hair.  I would have an ice cold drink, a snack, and a good book at my side, and oh it would be bliss!  Then one of my coworkers would fling open the back door, hitting either my knee or my back, frantically looking for a box of bath bombs that we most likely didn't have.  And my dream would be squashed and I would be rudely thrown back into my bathless reality.  Oh well, at least I had my soup!

Now that the holidays and the retail rush has passed, and people in the midwest are stumbling out of their houses after a long winter, business has slowed down.  My guess is they're too busy figuring out what the warm yellow ball in the sky is (spoiler alert: it's the sun).  And because business has slowed down, it means I get some down time to focus on me and relax!  So a few days ago, I planned the biggest, most luxurious pamper day in all of pamper-dome!  I'm talking hair treatments, painfully plucking my brows into a sassy arch, manis and pedis to make my hands sparkle and my feet look less atrocious, and of course, a bath.  Because duh...baths.

 

Rose Bombshell is a limited edition bath bomb released just for Mother's Day!  Seeing as Mama Llama doesn't favor baths, I'm keeping this guy all to myself!  The perfume included is a beautiful blend of rosewood, rose oil, and orange flower absolute.  The rose petals included in the middle are hand picked from fresh roses and dried in house, which is something I find pretty cool!  Normally I dislike "stuff" in my bath bombs, but hearing the raves about this bath bomb from my coworkers, I thought I'd give this one a shot.  The soy milk among the floral bouquet gives Rose Bombshell a soothing element while the scoop of sea salt gives it a nice cleansing element.

 

I have to admit that this bath bomb proved to me that opposites can, and will attract.  I'm not one for floral scents, my skin is sensitive to sea salt, I don't like "stuff" in my bath, and soy milk makes my stomach hurt (obviously I wouldn't be drinking it...but I just needed one more thing to add to my grudge list).  However, when I first gave this bomb a sniff, I was intrigued.  It wasn't overly floral and it definitely wasn't a strong scent.  It obviously had a touch of floral to it, but to me it smelled powdery...slightly woodsy too.  I feel like the orange flower absolute gave it more of an earthy tone and took away any strong floral scent.  When I popped this into my tub, it fizzed into a creamy white foam, until a raspberry colored froth appeared followed by a smart line of rose petals marching their way out.  The last time I used a bath bomb with flowers in it, it was one of the most skin crawling, uncomfortable experiences I've had as a bath taker (that's a review for another day though).  So in order to see if the texture was different, I picked up a petal and to my surprise, it was like velvet!  Turns out that the technique they use to dry these petals is meant to have them rehydrate once they hit the water.  It was like literal fresh rose petals were sprinkled in my bath!  I was relieved and now excited to start my bath, which I will say left me super soft and smelling woodsy and powder light.

Overall Rose Bombshell was a pleasant surprise in my bathtub.  From hesitantly opening my staff box and staring at it with unease, to soaking in a pink lemonade colored bath of rose petals with glee, my opinion on this bomb took a total 180 when my toe first hit the steaming hot water.  I'm glad I enjoyed my sprinkled petal soak, because I always tell my customers and anyone interested in Lush to come in with an open mind.  My hatred for jasmine scented products is scathing, but I still will sniff things with jasmine in it on the off chance that I might like it.  I mean most of the time I don't, but it's the principle of the matter.  Keep an open mind and an open sniffer, and you might find something you love that you never thought you'd even like!

***Rose Bombshell is certified Vegan

(Review) Fluffy Egg: Sweet Sugary Goodness

And so another Easter has come and gone.  Between violently competitive Easter egg hunts with my sister (even though we're both twenty somethings), baskets full of chocolate, a snappy pair of Simon Pegg earrings, and a stand still traffic jam in which you put your car in park and devour the plate of cupcakes Mama Llama packed for you on your way home, this years Easter was eventful and slightly exhausting.  Upon coming home from my nearly 4 hour commute to my parents' house, I unpacked everything I needed for the next day and went straight to bed, face full of makeup and all, snoring the night away until my alarm blasted me awake at 6 in the morning for inventory.  

Easter's never been a big holiday for my family, but it's always been fun.  Memories of shiny black buckled shoes, white tights, floral dresses and straw hats always come to mind when I think of Easter as a kid.  Papa Bear would always hide the Easter eggs we colored the night before while Mama Llama filled our Easter baskets with sidewalk chalk and bubbles.  Dark chocolate for my sister and milk chocolate for me.  But after a few days of gorging on the stuff, you kind of get sick of it after a while.  Therefore I decided to indulge my infamous sweet tooth in a different way.  With a sweet pink bath!

 

 

If you're still heartbroken over the fact that Christmas has come and gone, along with every Snow Fairy scented product on the planet, have no fear!  Fluffy Egg has the same fragrance!  Invented in the days of Cosmetics to Go, Fluffy Egg was originally created because customers were requesting an Easter egg shaped bath bomb.  Mo Constantine, one of Lush's cofounders, refused to do it, but as the requests kept pouring in, she caved and created Fluffy Egg.  It was a huge hit and has been an Easter classic ever since, coming back year after year!  Despite getting many a box of Fluffy Egg, my store was barely able to hold onto it, selling out of the sweet pink bomb within days of receiving it and facing the wrath (well not wrath...more like minor annoyance) of customers wanting one of their own but coming in to find them gone.  Lucky me, I happened to snag two before they were cleaned off the shelves!

 

Fluffy Egg is quite a decent fizzer.  Not too fast, but not painfully slow to the point where your water is cold when you finally dip your tootsies in.  The Snow Fairy scent to me is one I've had a turbulent relationship with.  While the scent is similar from product to product, I find some variations to be more sweet and others to be more tart.  Fluffy Egg is one of those tart variations.  Anything too sweet and I start to get a headache. 

 

Bathing in Fluffy Egg is a nice and sweet experience.  With the vibrant pink color, I reveled in my girly side and the bright color and fragrance overall boosted my mood.  The fragrance, aptly named Candy Fluff, sat nicely on my skin and didn't smell like a box full of marshmallow peeps, which are the one Easter candy I truly despise.  And when I got out of my bath I felt refreshed, revitalized, soft as a fresh spring flower petal and as sweet as a freshly frosted cupcake (with rainbow sprinkles...otherwise it's not a true cupcake).  And if you didn't manage to snag a Fluffy Egg bath bomb, dry your tears!  MMM Melting Marshmallow Moment bath melt and Godmother bar soap have the same exact scent AND are sold year round! 

Overall, Fluffy Egg was a nice, simple and sweet smelling bath bomb.  It's a good one to crack out when I'm feeling extra girly and in the mood for something bright and sweet to soak in.  It's one of those scents I have to be in a certain mood to enjoy, but when I'm in that mood, I make sure to bask in its sugary sweet glory.  Though the turnout is a gorgeously vibrant spring pink, it's an easy bath bomb to cocktail with, and one I will definitely pick up again if it comes out for Easter next year!

***Fluffy Egg is certified Vegan