(Review) Dorothy: In the Merry Old Land of My Bathroom

A miracle happened this week.  I had to check my email multiple times to make sure it was accurate.  When checking my work schedule for the week, I found that I not only had one, not two, but THREE days off.  Three in a row!  In retail, that's pretty much unheard of.  Much more rare than no work on the day called Saturday, which is whispered about in myth and legend in the retail world (also like the mythical word "weekend."  I know not what it means anymore).  Needless to say my heart swelled with a happy song fit for a doe eyed Disney princess, the world seemed a little brighter, and everyone had a smile on their face.

...well not really.  I love my job very much, but I was looking forward to three days of not wearing pants.  Because pants are for squares.  And I celebrated this fact by drawing myself a nice, soothing bubble bath!

Enter Dorothy, whom I'm now deeming one of LUSH's most underrated bubble bars.  Dorothy initially had me worried, being a beautiful cerulean blue with a fiery rainbow atop it.  Being an art major, I knew right away these colors would not match up very well, as blue and orange are opposites and tend to "brown out" (aka turn brown when mixed...duh) so I was expecting kind of cruddy looking bath water.  But despite the color combo, this had me at first whiff. 

 

If you like LUSH's Figs and Leaves soap, you'll love this bubble bar, as they share the same scent.  It's full of orange blossom absolute, a very thick oil that ironically smells highly floral rather than citrusy as the name "orange" would suggest.  Gardenia and ylang ylang oils also help to balance out the scent.  To me it smells beautiful and powdery, very very light and perfect for someone who's sensitive to perfumes or scents in general.

So when I first bought this, it was a deep, ocean blue.  I love deep blue colors (think heart of the ocean-esque blue, tucked safely away in my bathroom and not thrown into the ocean by an old Kate Winslet).  After having for about a week or so, it started to gradually fade into a light, pastel powder blue.  I was kind of disappointed that the blue faded so quickly so that kind of stunk, but life goes on and I used it anyways.

 

When I use bubble bars, I always use half.  So I cracked this baby in half and crumbled it under my running tap water.  I strangely love the feeling of crumbling bubble bars.  It just feels so nice and melty, like a cake or sweet melting in the palm of your hand.  Immediately the bubbles began to form and I swished my hands around in the water to give the water more bubble fluff.  The bubbles I felt were light and silky, literally feeling creamy smooth in the palms of my hands.  The bubbles didn't look like a bunch of tiny bubbles wedged together like a lot of bubble baths do, but more of a creamy froth you get on top of a cappuccino.  I let the tub fill and parted the bubble sea to see what color the water was underneath.  To my surprise, it was a beautiful stormcloud gray that smelled like powder with an ever so slightly floral note.

I sank into the tub and immediately my limbs turned to jelly.  I was so unbelievably relaxed I just melted in, finding it hard to concentrate on my book and music and just lay there in my bubbly heaven.  The smell was amplified a lot in the bath, but not cloyingly so.  It was just a nice light fragrance perfect for a late, summer night bath.  When I got out of the tub, the fragrance lingered on my skin quite nicely and I felt super soft and moisturized.

Beautiful, stormy gray bathwater

Dorothy has to be one of my favorite bubble bars, taking second place behind my beloved Brightside.  I was pleasantly surprised by this bubble bar.  I bought it thinking I wouldn't like it because of the opposite colors and the fact that I wasn't the biggest Wizard of Oz fan (but I LOVE Wicked!) but I'm so glad I was mistaken!  Dorothy is a fantastic bubble bar with a light scent, great moisturizing properties, and will relax you to the point of zombification (seriously I got out of the bath not too long ago and I'm struggling to stay awake as I type this).  Highly recommended, fantastic product, verified by the Lollipop Guild, ruby slippers not included.

**This bubble bar is certified Vegan
***Purchase Dorothy at your local LUSH store or buy it online HERE

(Review) Inhale Exhale: A Guide on Breathing

"Keep your head above water, but don't forget to breathe" - Alexi Murdoch

 

There's nothing I love more than a Sunday.  Waking up without an alarm clock blasting you deaf, the promise of a new week ahead, it's the perfect day to just sit back, relax, and decompress.  There's something sacred about a Sunday.  With society's whole "I needed this done yesterday, rush rush, busy busy busy" attitude, a day off is something that's become a foreign concept to us.  However, there are those of us that keep the traditional alive.  Some find solace in Sunday mass, some choose the meditative monotony of cleaning relaxing.  But for me?  It's my weekly Sunday soak.  I can't start my week without a nice, long, 3 hour soak in my tub.  Complete with a bath bomb from Lush of course!

I can never get flash to work properly...

Enter Inhale Exhale.  A dual colored reminder to take time for ourselves now and then.  Limited edition for Mother's Day, Inhale Exhale is not only dual colored, but dual scented as well.  The pink side is scented with Inhale, a bright, fresh melon scented perfume, while the blue side is scented with sandalwood and amber, giving off a peppery, incense vibe.  These two perfumes combined make up the Breath of God fragrance Lush currently sells.  For me this was love at first sniff.  I'm an avid incense burner, never going a day without lighting at least one smokey stick of Dragon's Blood, so this was right up my alley as far as scents were concerned.  This was inspired by Tibetan incense after all, so the heady, smokey notes make sense.  So let's test this baby out, shall we?

Poor little guy is camera shy...

Upon dropping this into the tub, I noticed the pink side fizzed away within seconds, filling the bathroom with this fresh and slightly floral aroma, while the more heady, spicy blue side took its sweet time.

The pink had fully dissolved within literally a minute, leaving in its wake a warm lavender color and a creamy, bubbly coating that felt soft and fluffy when touched.

Braaaaaains.  Fizzy, sweet smelling BRAAAAAAAAINS

 

 Inhale Exhale not only contains sandalwood (which, in my opinion, is the sexiest scent on a man) but neroli as well.  What do these two oils have in common?  They're both soothing!  Neroli and Sandalwood oils help sooth and calm any inflamed, red, and sore skin.  I chose this one specifically because I had an allergic reaction a week before to a product I had used (a blog entry soon to come about that) which caused a rash to spread across my chest and down my ribcage.  Inhale Exhale also contains cade oil, which is that smoky smelling oil used in the Soak & Float shampoo bar.  Cade oil works as a stimulant to help improve circulation in the body and remove any debris in the body.  I hate the word "detoxify" because it's a hot button word tossed around like a rodeo clown, but that's precisely what it does.  Upon getting out of the tub, I did notice that my chest felt better.  The redness was toned down and it wasn't tight or itchy.  Which was nice, since scratching your boob in public isn't the classiest of moves.

Wait...what's that?  In the top right corner...do you see that?

It's a note!

A little affirmation pops out of the bomb when it's dissolved enough.  A nice little reminder that we all need to take five minutes and just breathe once in a while

Once the bomb had fully dissolved, the water turned a beautiful cool lilac color, reminding me of my great-grandma's favorite flower.  And when I sunk into the nice, warm water, I felt like I had wrapped myself in a fluffy down comforter in a warm, incense filled room.  I laid back, stared at the remnants of Essie's Aruba Blue on my toenails and contemplated the meaning of life for a good 30 minutes.  And by the meaning of life, I mean how the hell I was gonna get the rest of that polish off of my toes (seriously, it won't budge!).  I breathed in the spicy smokey aroma and marinated for about 2 hours before I dried off, slapped on a face mask, and started this entry.

Overall, this was a fantastic bath bomb.  A not too strong heady, herbal smell with water the color of sugared violets.  My skin was soft, the rash on my chest looked worlds better, and it inspired me to just stop and breathe, and take in everything around me, whether I have 5 minutes or 5 hours.  In this hustle bustle world, filled with caffeine and deadlines and unnecessary stress, whenever you feel overloaded and on the verge of exploding, just keep one word in mind.

BREATHE