(Review) Hoppity Poppity: Keeps Going and Going and Going

We're so close guys.  So close I can feel the pollen stuffing up my sinuses, the grass between my toes, and the sun streaming through my window at seven o'clock in the evening.  Yes my dears...spring is almost here!  And after a winter filled with drafty windows, obscene amounts of snow, and the wind hurting my face and turning my nose into a maraschino cherry, the tepid and sunny weather of spring is most welcome.  And of course, with the return of spring brings one of my favorite times of the year at Lush...and that would be Easter!

My store wasn't open for Easter last year, but we still got generous staff boxes full of Easter goodies.  And I remember being impatient and cracking the lid off of my staff box in my car, the fresh, citrusy aromas filling my car (and nose) with the reminder of spring.  Easter collections are always my favorite from Lush and when we previewed this year's collection on arguably one of the coldest nights of the year in our warm, cozy shop, I knew this year would be no exception.  Instead of citrusy scents like last year's collection, Lush seems to favor the grassy, earthy scents this year.  Very fresh, yet a bit heavy for spring and herbal, which surprised me and honestly worried me a bit.  But once we demoed this little guy during our training session, my worries fizzed away much like the bath bomb in the bowl!

 

Hoppity Poppity bath bomb was the first freshly picked Lush product I used out of my staff box.  This little guy is perfumed with a fresh new fragrance that cofounder Mark Constantine made for his sister Jo.  Which I find sweet, since my sister never makes me perfumes.  Anyways, the fragrant scent of lavender, lime oil, and violet leaf absolutes will soon be a part of the Volume 3 collection of Gorilla Perfumes!  Hoppity Poppity is also filled with popping candy, so you can watch this little guy hop, pop, and fizz around in the water!

 

Some of you may recall me saying around Christmas that I was skeptical of melting my Butterbear bath bomb, since he was just so cute and I couldn't bear (get it? BEAR?  I'll go now...sorry...) to watch him fizz away.  With Hoppity Poppity I didn't have that problem.  With memories of summer camp many eons ago involving a camp counselor, her new untrained pet rabbit, and said pet rabbit pooping everywhere, running around, and deciding that biting, scratching, and peeing on my legs was a fun rabbity thing to do, I tossed this bomb into the tub cackling maniacally with vengeance.  And my vengeance was as short lived as this bath bomb, since it was gone in the blink of an eye!  Hoppity Poppity is one fast fizzer, starting off as a barrage of white foam followed by loud pops and snaps from the popping candy, finally ending in a lightly lavender tinted fragrant bath.  Make no mistake, this bunny is small, but the scent is BIG.  It fragranced my entire apartment with a beautiful grassy scent with a slight undertone of citrus as to not smell too terribly heavy.  The scent of violets, lavender, and lime clung to the air like a perfumed wind as I sank into my hot bath.  If I'm being honest, this was one of the most grounding baths in a while.  The scent turned my limbs to jelly and my brain to mush.  After a week of training for my new floor leading position, leaving my other job, and overall being busier than rush hour traffic, that was something I most definitely needed.

Overall Hoppity Poppity was an extremely pleasant surprise that quite literally hopped out of my staff box.  The scent was beautiful and unique...something I've never really smelled before!  It's a super fast fizzer for those who don't want to wait for a bath bomb to fully dissolve, and is great for those who like an intense but calming scent.  My skin felt powder soft and smooth after emerging from my tub, and the only fault I could find with this bath bomb was that the color was a bit too light for my liking.  But overall, a great and relaxing bath bombs for those who are looking for new, unique scents and something to help them wind down and welcome the incoming spring weather!

What spring 2015 product are you loving from LUSH so far?  Leave your answer in the comments below!

**Hoppity Poppity is certified Vegan        

(Review) Lonely Hearts: They All Beat the Same

Valentine's Day.  Single Awareness Day.  Or my personal favorite, Robyntine's Day (because self love is important children!).  Whatever you decide to call today, whether you look forward to flowers, chocolates, possibly a little nookie from your sweetheart, or spend a night curled up on the couch with your dog, Netflix, and a bowl of cereal as a companion, it's hard to ignore that today is the one day of the year where a sickening amount of romance fills the air.  Now me?  I worked a 9 hour shift today.

I've always been indifferent towards Valentine's Day, mainly because my love life has been dead in the water since my last relationship ended in 2009 and I've never kept a relationship around long enough for Valentine's Day anyways.  But this year I've been strangely reflective, especially with all of the pink and red products donning the refurnished wooden tables at my Lush shop.  As I stood behind the register, ringing up customers buying last minute gifts for their sweeties, hunger gnawing at my belly (I treated myself to a romantic breakfast of potato chips from yesterday's Panera Bread lunch), I noticed a lot of couples in line, smiling, kissing, snuggling each other close on what was arguably one of the coldest days of the year, and instead of wrinkling my nose and being the bitter pill that I am, it got me thinking about my own dead love life...and my own loneliness.

 

 

I don't really consider myself a lonely person by any means.  I have a loving family, great friends and coworkers, and am a very social, talkative person.  If you watch my Youtube videos, you know I never shut up.  But I guess sometimes, when I come home after working an 8 hour shift, my apartment complex is quiet, and it's dark and still outside, that I feel some loneliness stealthily gnawing away at my consciousness. 

There have only been two times in my life where I've felt crippling, depressing loneliness.  Once when I was a stupid teenager, hormonal and angry and taking it out on the person I cared about the most, driving him and most of my friends away, and when I first moved away from home.  I remember during that time thinking that if someone hugged me, I would probably burst into tears.  Talking to your friends and family on the phone isn't the same as seeing them in person, and being able to hug them.  I remember my limbs feeling heavy, and just wanting someone, anyone to look at me and pay attention to me.  Now, a few years later and a few years wiser (and a lot more gray hair and student loan debt), I've sworn to never let myself feel that horrible again.  Because I don't deserve that.  So one night, when I felt myself inching closer to that edge and feeling like I was in a crowded room screaming bloody murder without nary a glance, I decided to take a nice, soothing soak.

I almost had to laugh at the irony of Lonely Heart bubble bar being my favorite product in the Valentine's Day range.  It was inspired by the song "Lonely Hearts Still Beat the Same" by a band called The Research, which I think is an absolutely beautiful song title.  The fragrance is from the B-Side rarities of the Gorilla Perfume range, scented with the Love perfume.  Its notes are composed of Bergamot, Lemongrass, Jasmine, and Rose, which made for a refreshing and slightly floral scent.  It's a scent I immediately fell for!  So after a contemplative day about a side of my life I like to ignore, a 60 hour work week (oye!) and a roommate who is out of town for the weekend, I filled up my tub and crumbled this baby in.  It took a lot of work (this bubble bar is surprisingly sturdy!) to crumble it under the tepid tap water.

...wait...tepid?  That's not right...baths are supposed to be hot!  So to my annoyance, my apartment's water heater was crapping out, so back and forth from the kitchen to the bathroom I scuttled with a boiling kettle of water to further heat my lukewarm soak.  After four kettlefuls, my water was nice and pleasantly warm without being scalding hot, and I sank into my fruit punch colored, gold flecked bath, and forgot all of my troubles with a box of truffles and a good book.  The scent was HEAVENLY.  The combination is something I would've never thought of, and I can only hope that Lush releases the Love perfume one day again (well, one can only hope!).

 

Overall, Lonely Heart bubble bar was fantastic.  My only gripe lies with my building's water heater, which crapped out and left me working hard for a relaxing bath.  But taking that moment to myself was nice, and it helped me relax and remember that I have many loving people in my life, and that I should be thankful for them, and maybe talk to them a little more.  But I guess we can all get a little lonely now and again, even surrounded by those we love.  I like to think loneliness like that is a journey to discovering what and who we have in our lives.  If you're lonely right now, that's okay!  We've all been there, and most likely we'll all be there again!  But there's one thing I like to keep in mind, especially with this bubble bar's name.

When he left me heartbroken and crying in the driveway of that house almost ten years ago, my heart beat the same.  When I moved away from home for the first time and cried on the elevator ride all the way up to my first apartment, my heart beat the same.  In moments of doubt, sadness, and stress, my heart beat the same.  And now, surrounded by loved ones, friends, coworkers, and over 2500 blog followers, my heart beat the same as it did all those years ago.  Even in rare moments of loneliness and insecurity, it beats the same.  Every heart, lonely or lovestricken beats the same.  It's what keeps us connected, it's what makes us human, and it's what makes us wonder if we're ever truly alone in the way we feel in the first place.  And that, my darlings, is a very reassuring thought.

**Lonely Hearts bubble bar is certified Vegan

(Review) Buche de Noel: Have Your Cake and Wash Your Face With it Too

Ever since I can remember, my mother has been nuts about skincare.  I remember I would sit in her bathroom on the edge of her tub, watching her apply her washes and creams, massaging them gently into her skin.  Every so often if I were home sick or feeling mischievous, I'd root through her cosmetics, opening jars and flinging powders, and the only telltale sign that I had been there would be tiny terra cotta handprints on the lavender-gray countertop.  Of course she would tell me not to go into her things again...and of course I never listened.  I was a precocious little scamp ;)

As I grew older, my mom taught my younger sister and I all about good hygiene, skincare being one of her main focuses.  When I was nine she bought me a gentle, drugstore face wash and a light, mild moisturizer and explained to me the benefits of good skincare.  At first I fought her.  Washing my face in the morning cut WAY too far into my pre-school cartoon time, and my bangs always got wet.  But again, with age, experience, and the discovery of headbands, I grew to love washing my face.  Not only skincare, but showering and bathing in general are like a morning meditation for me.  It helps me wake up and prepare for the big bad world outside.  And a nice hot bath at the end of my day helps me re-center, wind down, and have my stresses melt away.  Skincare does the same for me as well, and ever since I started working at Lush, I've fallen head over heels for their skincare.  While bath bombs and bubble bars from Lush are all well and good, I feel like the hair and skincare products don't get the recognition they deserve

Buche de Noel is a limited edition cleansing roll that only comes out for Christmas.  Described as a more moisturizing form of Angels on Bare Skin, Buche de Noel was inspired by and named after the holiday cake of the same name, and is meant to look like a yule log.  Buche packs in dried cranberries, ground almonds, and brandy, which sounds good enough to eat!  But there's also kaolin for deep cleansing, cocoa butter and soy glycerine for supreme hydration!  Like all cleansing rolls, these can also be used on the body.  Most cleansing rolls have ground almonds included for a nice scrub!  These babies come to the store wrapped in recycled cardboard and recyclable wrappings.  When unrolled from their packaging, they look like uncut swiss rolls, one big log of face cleansing goodness.  Then we as Lush employees weigh, cut, and pot these babies so everyone can enjoy them!

When my Let the Good Times Roll ran out, I quickly snagged a pot of this stuff, curious about it since Bossman hates it with a passion ("it just doesn't make sense!" he says, emphasizing his point with a dramatic wave of arms.  "Why bring out a cleanser JUST for Christmas?!").  I can definitely see his point of view, but that's one thing I love about Lush.  I'm a very non-commitable person when it comes to anything and everything (my romantic history is a travesty and clear example of such).  I like to switch things up lest I get bored, and I found a great opportunity with Buche! 

To me, Buche de Noel smells like the delicious almond bread my mom will sometimes bake (which she hasn't done in a while...I should ask her to bake me a loaf the next time I'm home!) with a slight seaweed scent that doesn't spoil the overall scent.  The texture and even appearance are very similar to Angels on Bare Skin, and the ability to mix it into a paste was similar as well.  Since Buche has a very crumbly consistency, one needs to pack the cleansing roll quite tightly as to not have chunks fly everywhere when you mix it into a paste.  I enjoy it though.  I'm one of those people that savors a shower, staying in as long as time and hot water will allow, and this only adds to my experience.  So I took a chunk the size of a chickpea, added water, vigorously mixed it into a face, and washed my face.  The ground almonds were soft, but still scrubby enough to leave me feeling invigorated, and the smell was intoxicating and made me hungry.  When I rinsed my skin felt very soft and supple, but not like there was a layer of something making it feeling that way.  My skin looked bright and fresh and felt pillowy soft. 

With time and continued use, I found Buche de Noel made my skin soft, bright, even, and lessened the impact of my monthly hormonal breakouts (I enjoy being a girl).  While I am bummed this only comes out once a year, it gives me another reason to look forward to Christmas at Lush!  I highly recommend anyone who needs a bit of extra moisture and care in the dry winter months pick up a pot of this.  It's very much worth it!

**Buche de Noel is certified Vegan

**BONUS COMMENT QUESTION!!  If you could make any Christmas product year round, which would it be?  Remember to comment and subscribe!**

(Review) Melting Snowman: No I Don't Wanna Build a Snowman, Stop Asking Me

I have no idea what my deal has been lately.  Every part of my body has been so itchy lately I feel like I should be a human sized cat scratching post.  While lounging around on one of my rare days off, playing a video game on my newly purchased Playstation 4 (money well spent I might add), I had to pause the game multiple times in order to satisfy the scratchy irritation that was mainly on my legs.  I actually scratched myself to the point of bleeding.  Well what's a little blood if I get some kind of momentary relief from this hell?!  My skin dries out in the winter, but it's NEVER been this bad.  The recent polar vortex that's whipped through my town in a flurry of snow and ice might have something to do with it, or the fact that I've been wearing thick, knee high stockings underneath my work leggings.  Or maybe life just hates me and doesn't want me to have nice things, I have no idea.  But amidst killing a hoard of renegade mages, I put down my controller and sighed.  Time for a bath with a much needed bath melt.

 

Melting Snowman was a fleeting bath melt that my store had for quite a short time.  Not only was it a huge seller, but it sold extremely fast and was like we never had it after our supply was gone.  I was lucky enough to receive one in my staff box, and I was in love at first whiff.  The cinnamon and clove scent is something I love very much, very spicy and not too sweet, so it didn't remind me of bathing in a big, sticky cinnamon bun (which I have no problem eating.  Bathing in...totally different story).  It's actually the scent of Swedish mulled wine, but to me it just smells like chocolate and cinnamon. 

It also surprised me to learn that this little guy contains patchouli, which I couldn't smell at all!  I didn't even know that until I dipped into my training manual and found it listed underneath the ingredients!  I know patchouli is one of those love it or hate it smells (that I love a lot) but don't let that scare you off if you don't like it.  You can't smell it at all!  And of course, what would a bath melt be without lots of nourishing butters and oils like cocoa, shea, and almond to make you nice and soft.

 

Melting Snowman has a bit of baking soda included so when you pop it in your bath it sinks right to the bottom and fizzes.  Meanwhile I flitted around my tub with my camera, snapping pictures for this blog entry and pausing every so often to scratch my legs like a cricket singing his mating song.  When I pulled Melting Snowman from the depths of the tub, I couldn't help but laugh at his eyes and buttons melting everywhere.  His eyes and buttons if you didn't know are vegan chocolate chips, which actually taste quite nice!  The remnants left little brown flecks floating on top of the creamy white water which I prefer to see as freckles and not as something else (you guys are gross).  After he was all gone ("and he waved goodbye saying "don't you cry, I'll be back again someday!") I popped a Fizzbanger bath bomb into the water to give a bit of color and amp up the spiciness of the cinnamon.  This is a cocktail I like to call "The Nostril Stinger" and Holly Golightly bubble bar can be added for more intensity and bubbles!

KILL MEEEEEEEEEEEE

 Once I sat in my tub I was immediately given a massive amount of relief when the softening butters coated my legs in a layer of warm, cozy, and slightly spicy moisture.  The scent was to DIE for (I LOVE cinnamon) and my bath was nice and hot.  I cracked open my book and enjoyed my spicy soak.

When I got out my legs felt so much softer and I didn't even need any body lotion.  My legs, being currently the driest part of my body soaked everything up immediately while my arms and torso needed a bit of massaging since some of the oils were still sitting on my skin.  It left me feeling soft and not greasy and the scent really stuck!

Overall I was very pleased with this product.  It has to be one of my favorites from the holiday range and something I really really hope they bring back next year!  Next time I'm prying out one of those vegan chocolate chips and eating it...just so you know ;)

(Review) The Christmas Hedgehog: Snooping As Usual I See

I think I have a love/hate relationship with snow.  Growing up in the midwest, it was a given that we had at least one terrible, horrible, no good very bad snowstorm at least once per season.  One where you'd look outside to see fat fluffy flakes gently pillowing on the frozen ground, and depending on your age, would either whoop with joy or groan with annoyance.  Some days I love the snow.  I can just wrap myself in the fluffiest of blankets, park it on my couch with a cup of tea or hot chocolate, and relax with a movie, book, or video game.  Because there's a certain stillness about snowfall.  It's like all the sound outside is muted and it's so still and quiet.  It's peaceful and it's quiet.  Unless you have to drive somewhere.

I consider myself a very down to earth, laid back individual.  Very few things can spike my anxiety to critical mass.  One of those things is driving in the snow.  Back when I was a youth of 19 (get off my lawn) I was in my final year of community college, before I moved out to the city I currently reside in.  One snowy December night, my literature teacher dismissed us early, citing worrying weather as a reason.  "I don't want you getting into any car accidents!" he warned with a chuckle.  Oh the damn irony of that statement.  Twenty minutes later I was in a gas station parking lot with a busted right bumper, standing next to the girl I hit and the two of us glaring at the douche waffle (to be polite) who cut her off, causing her to slam on her breaks and me to skid into her through a patch of black ice.  Though the gas station attendant was nice enough to bring us paper cups of hot chocolate, I was still peeved...and scared.

Though I walked away with a slightly damaged bumper, a bruised sternum, and a doubled insurance rate, it was enough to put the fear of god in me when it came to driving in the snow.  Even years later (not that many, I'm not THAT old) it still scares me a lot.  So after one particularly rough morning where I white knuckled my steering wheel all the way to work, I knew I needed something to soothe my rattled nerves.  Enter this little guy!

 

 

The Christmas Hedgehog is a bubble bar I received in my staff box.  A new product to this year's Christmas range at Lush, Christmas Hedgehog has the same scent as last year's Noriko soap, which was composed of lavender and ylang ylang.  His little body has a thick layer of shea and cocoa butter "frosting" (from the Luxury bath melt) for supreme amounts of hydration for thirsty winter skin.  And when it comes to relaxation, nothing says it better than a hydrating, soothing bath with lavender and ylang ylang.

I'm quite fond of the two scents together, and when I came home I hastily took off my snow soaked boots, threw my coat off, and grabbed this guy out of my ceramic dish of Lush goodies, intent on sacrificing him to the bath gods (for good instead of evil of course).

 

So as some of you guys know, I usually only crumble half a bubble bar into my tub, because my tub is small and it seems to be enough for me.  Well, when I crumbled half of this little guy into my tub, I was met with a disappointing lack of bubbles.  I was actually quite shocked to find there were little to no bubbles at all!  So I did something I never do, and that was to use the entire bubble bar.  Even after the entire thing was dissolved, even after swishing my arms around vigorously to agitate the bubble mix, and even after the tub was filled all the way, there were still way less bubbles than I was used to.  Other small bubble bars that I used half of (like Dorothy) had given me plenty more bubbles than this guy.

The water was nothing too spectacular.  A cloudy snow color with a light dusting of bubbles.  I was disappointed with the bubble turnout, but I can't deny that the scent and the softness it left on my skin were spectacular.  Also it did calm down my anxiety from speeding home at a vicious 25mph in the middle of a damn blizzard, so I can attest to the relaxing properties!

Overall I have to say I was quite disappointed with this bubble bar.  While it worked great as a bath melt and stress reliever, it didn't live up to the notion of a bubble bar, having produced barely any bubbles.  But at my shop we've been selling out of The Christmas Hedgehog quite quickly, so it works for some people!  The hedgehog I got in my staff box was also quite a bit smaller than the ones available to the public, so that could've also been a deciding factor in my less than stellar experience.  Plenty more bubble bars where that came from though!

**The Christmas Hedgehog is certified Vegan
***Purchase The Christmas Hedgehog at your local LUSH store or online here      

(Review) Luxury Lush Pud: Effective for Grinchiness

There's something magical about the holiday season at the mall.  Kids excitedly lining up to see Santa Claus, the smells of cinnamon, peppermint, and pine in the air, Christmas carols blasting from the loudspeakers...battling through a crowd of sweaty mall-goers with your Starbeetus praying to any god that will hear you that you aren't late for work so Bossman won't follow you around calling you "Felicia" for the rest of your 8 hour shift.  Oh yes...there is something so very very magical about being a retail worker during the holiday season.  Bumped up hours and fantastic paychecks are definitely a plus, but when you're on your feet for most of the day nonstop talking and dealing with grouchy customers, the holiday grinchiness can sneak up on you pretty fast.  Go into any retail store right now and you'll see behind that smile is a human being who is desperate for a homecooked meal, a clean apartment, and a nap.  At least that's what you'll see when you look at me.  That and caffeine withdrawal.

I don't want you all to get the wrong impression.  I love my job.  LOVE it.  My coworkers, Bossman, my customers, the products I sell, I love all of it.  And as we approach the end of the year, I can't help but reflect and be so thankful that a place like Lush chose me to work for them.  I couldn't be happier.  But oh my goodness my feet hurt and I'm tired!  You might have noticed the lack of posts here lately, and that's mainly because I've been so tired I've gone right to bed after eating, and I might just drown if I take a bath right now.  Caffeine and the will to live are what's been keeping me vertical since Thanksgiving, and so far it's working quite well. But after one painfully long and draggy shift, all I wanted was a nice hot bath.

 

I chose Luxury Lush Pud for my nice, soothing bath since it shared its scent with Twilight bath bomb, one of my favorites and one of Lush's top five bestsellers.  The soothing lavender and tonka scent was practically beckoning me to my tub, and I immediately obliged, kicking off my work shoes and outfit and filled the tub with steaming hot water.  It had been a long day at work, the first busy Saturday in a while, the store filled to the point where I was walled in more than once between customers and could barely move.  My feet hurt, I was covered in dried sweat (because it gets hot in a small store and sometimes human bodies are gross) and I just wanted a bath and my bed.

So I sat on the toilet, watching my Luxury Lush Pud (sidenote: anyone actually know what a Pud is?  Because I have no clue) dissolve into a mellow, sweet smelling hot pink bath, and my mouth practically watered at the sight.  I was thankful for the color change from last year, since Luxury Lush Pud was originally lavender in color with the same polka dots.  I found the pink to be more eyecatching, and the bright color made me forget that it was a grey and dull winter outside. 

Once fully dissolved I sank right into the tub...and promptly popped back out.  The hot water had shut off halfway through and the water was that gross lukewarm temperature it becomes 3 hours after you fill the tub.  I drained the tub, toweled off, and stomped my naked butt back to my bedroom, going to bed in a well deserved huff and wishing I could have nice things.

 

 

So the next day at work I picked up another Lush Pud and decided to try it out all over again.  By some Christmas miracle, I had gotten two days off (in a row!) and decided to use it then.  So all weekend I worked (I like to call it "soap hustlin' ", looking forward to the wonderful day where I could take a nice hot bath and not worry about having to go to work or giving up the bathroom so my roommate could use it (she was out of town).  So the next time I used it was much more enjoyable, the water so hot the steam was wafting up from my damp arms when I lifted them out of the water.  The smell was very potent, but not in a cloying way, in a very relaxing put you to sleep sort of way.  I caught up on my reading, shaved my hairy neglected legs, washed my dirty hair, and smoothed on my Pearl massage bar.  By the end I felt like a sleepy pampered princess...a sleeping...beauty...if you will (shut up my jokes are funny). 

 

 

I have to say Luxury Lush Pud is probably my favorite holiday bath bomb.  It has one of my favorite scents included and the result was a simple, but effective turnout.  No glitter or pop rocks or anything, just a nice hot pink bath that will soothe even the grinchiest of souls and have their hearts grow three sizes that day.

Until you go back to work after your weekend off and have a customer harass you about shower jelly.  But oh well, you take the good with the bad ;)

**Luxury Lush Pud is certified Vegan
***Purchase Luxury Lush Pud at your local LUSH store or online HERE

(Review) Pearl: No Strings Attached

Brace yourselves readers.  The holidays are upon us.  And for retail workers like me, that means little to no sleep and a diet strictly composed of caffeine and the sheer will to live.  I'm more well rested now than I was last week and the week before, which chalked up to a whopping 60 hour work week for yours truly.  Why so many hours you ask?  Two words for you: Black Friday.

For my non-American readers (greetings from the land of McBeetus and baseball by the way) Black Friday is the equivalent of Boxing Day.  It takes place the day after Thanksgiving, sometimes even starting Thanksgiving night.  Was that the case for me?  Absolutely.  I've never much cared for Thanksgiving as a holiday.  There's just something unsettling about the dull brown and vomit orange decorations everywhere, and those pilgrim hats made out of cardboard paper are a total fashion faux pas.  So when I elected not to go home for Thanksgiving and visit my family, Bossman asked if I wanted to help work Thanksgiving night, to which I quickly agreed.  Thanksgiving/Black Friday are fun nights to work.  Seeing people go nuts for $5 off an iPad is always an entertaining thing to see.  I remember once the police were called at my local Walmart due to a four person brawl over tupperware.  TUPPERWARE.  I find more people come out to people watch rather than shop.  

So at a quarter to seven, I arrived in full Lush garb, a plate cookies in hand for my coworkers and I to snack on, braced for the inevitable chaos that was Black Friday.  Once I got into the store, I was startled by a loud banging behind me.  I saw people...customers, were banging on the gates asking why we weren't open!  BANGING!  Like zoo animals!  We explained that we were opening within a few minutes, and sure enough, the floodgates literally and figuratively opened when we drew back the gate at seven o'clock sharp.

That night was absolute chaos.  Loud techno music thumping (courtesy of yours truly and her phone), wall to wall people, laughing, smiling, having a great time and wishing each other a happy Thanksgiving.  It was the most beautiful type of chaos and I loved every second of it.  But by midnight, I was yawning and my shift was up, and knew a bath and a good massage were calling my name (because I'm rambling and need to get to the damn product okay?).

Enter Pearl, the much anticipated massage bar from the new range.  From what I'm told, it's the best seller in the U.K and, I can definitely see why!  I snagged this bar from the Kitchen a few months ago, back when I wasn't too sure what the Kitchen was until Bossman bought 8 (yes 8) pots of American Cream body lotion from them...just to smell...oh Bossman, we love you so.  I remember anxiously awaiting my parcel in the mail, worried that I would receive a puddle of cocoa butter and tapioca pearls, but both massage bars (I ordered Percup as well) showed up intact and not melty in the slightest.  Pearl is scented with the beautiful Rose Jam fragrance that everyone and their grandmother adores, and was inspired by bubble tea (a treat I've yet to try myself).  The fair trade organic cocoa butter (sidenote: ALL the cocoa butter used in Lush products is now fair trade and organic!  Yay!) is super moisturizing while the sago tapioca pearls massage and stimulate your skin, much like the adzuki beans in Wiccy Magic Muscles.

Being exhausted and craving a nice warm bath before I went off to dreamland, I filled the tub up with (what I thought was) nice hot water, dropped a bomb in, and soaked...for five minutes.  The hot water turned off halfway through and I was left with a hot pink, lukewarm bath.  I toweled off and stomped to my room, shivering, naked, and in desperate need of some sort of pampering.  Too tired to do a mask, foot treatment, or mani/pedi...hmmm...how about a massage?!  That's when I busted out Pearl and gave myself a nice, sweet scented rubdown.  

Because I'm tragically single (emphasis on the word tragically) my massage bars are used for the sole purpose of moisturizer.  Once in a while I apply a little extra and rub the stubborn knot in my left shoulder that always comes back no matter what, but that's about it.  Pearl is an intensive moisture treatment for the body, the oil slipping and sliding easily without being overly greasy.  My tired skin drank it in and was left with a beautiful sheen and that rose jam scent everyone knows and loves.  

Overall, Pearl is a fantastic massage bar that smells beautiful and works beautifully as well.  My only complaint is that the sago pearls can be scratchy when melted down a bit too much, and they don't taste nice (I popped one into my mouth one day and my roommate watched/cringed as I bit down and nearly cracked the permanent retainer off of my teeth).  This is definitely a massage bar I will be repurchasing and will continue to repurchase!

**Pearl is ceritified Vegan

***Pearl will be coming to a local LUSH North America store soon!

**Questions for the People:  The massage bars have been out for not too long now.  Which one are you positively LOVING?!  Let me know in the comments below!!**