(Review) Avobath: Do Re Mi Fa So La Si Fruit

I will readily admit I've been a bit of a grump this week.  Just one of those moods where every little thing annoys you.  That coupled with bad allergies made for a rather pissy week.  Also as of this blog entry, season 2 of Orange is the New Black isn't out yet, and my patience is wearing thin (what will become of our beloved blonde WASP?!).  Nonetheless, my fiery temper was cooled when Sunday approached, and the promise of a new week filled with new opportunities, antihistamines, and my favorite jailhouse dark comedy had me hopeful.  So why not treat yourself with a bath while at it?

This week, I chose to take a walk down memory lane (which actually wasn't too long ago) with my very first bath bomb, Avobath.  Not only is it one of the first ones I used, but it's one of my favorites.  It's citrusy and fruity smelling AND green just so happens to be my favorite color.  So on a bad day, where my normal cheerful demeanor just isn't there and my brain's all fogged over with allergies and bad thoughts, I like to chuck this in my tub and bathe in the clean green goodness.

So let's get this show on the road!

Avobath was inspired by fruit (derr).  Its scent is described as "fruit upon fruit upon fruit," like a big ol' fruit salad in bath bomb form.  It's quite simple in form...a nice pale green ball that smells strangely like fruit loops.  That's one of the ways I get younger kids intrigued by Avobath...I tell them it smells like fruit loops and their eyes light up when they realize it's true.  It's a very cute thing to see. 

So when you drop Avobath in, it sinks right to the bottom and foams up like a geyser about to explode.  Thankfully that doesn't happen (my recently cleaned top to bottom bathroom thanks you for that) and your bath water immediately turns a pale shade of green that grows deeper and brighter the more it dissolves.

Avobath is one of Lush's most moisture intensive bath bombs.  The mashed avocado give Avobath its green color (and name) and avocado is known for its moisturizing properties and ability to make fantastic guacamole.  The inclusion of extra virgin olive oil also adds to the moisture list, most likely adding to the green color a bit since EVOO tends to be greener in color.  Among the scents are lemongrass, bergamot, and rosewood oils.  All three of these oils smell fantastic, and all three are known mood lifters.  Seeing as I've been having a bad case of the summer cranks lately, I was in desperate need of a pick me up.  Plus lemongrass and bergamot are two of my favorite scents in all of Scent-dom, so a bath bomb with my favorite scents AND color was bound to give me a pick me up!

Kinda looks like a booger...but look at how great my nails look!

I would say Avobath is a pretty fast fizzer.  Not as fast as Big Blue (which made like Nicholas Cage and was gone in 60 seconds) but not as slow as Dragon's Egg or Twilight.  It was nice to sit there and watch it fizz up like an emerald green geyser, the scent of lemongrass and citrus wafting through my closet of a bathroom and clearing the air (and my sinuses).

The last remnants of Avobath slowly bubbling away

When Avobath was done dissolving, my cranky butt slid into the warm, fruity green water, grumbling about these darn kids and their rock 'n roll 8 track tapes.  But as I sat and soaked, my mind was soothed, my sinuses cleared, and my bath water the color of the Chicago river at St. Patty's day.  It was a clear as glass green and it smelled just heavenly.  I felt like I was bathing in Sprite!  I noticed there were small speckles of glitter so fine I could barely see them, but they were there and they gave my bath water a very subtle, but noticeable shine.  So not only is Avobath simple in appearance, but also in execution.  No huge fancy frills, no popping candy, no little notes, just a simple green bath to soothe a cloudy mind.  Don't get me wrong, I love the frills, but sometimes simplicity is nice.  I laid back, cracked open my copy of Dangerous Liaisons (one of my favorite pieces of classical literature) and soaked for a good 2 hours.  My skin was so well moisturized that I didn't even need lotion afterwards!

Overall, Avobath was a great bath experience, and the first bath bomb I ever used.  I snagged it during training (this has been hinted at, but I will now confirm that I'm a Lush employee, and have been a devoted customer of Lush years before I was hired) and consider it my "gateway drug" into the world of bath bombs.  It's great for clearing a cloudy mind and soothing a tempered soul.  So calm down and...avo...bath!

...again, ending with an awful joke.  I'm so not sorry!  But I also want to point out that I started a tumblr blog for quick snapshots into my life as a Lushie and a Lush employee.  I urge you to check it out here, and remember to follow me on both sites!  I thank you for your support and for reading my humble little Lush blog!

So tell me readers...what was YOUR first Lush bath bomb?  And how did you like it?  Let me know in the comments!!

**This bath bomb is certified Vegan

**Purchase Avobath at your local LUSH store, or buy it online here

(Review) Always Look on the (Brightside) of Bubble Baths!

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!  A nice relaxing 3 day weekend where we barbeque, go out on our boats, and of course, remember the fallen soldiers that gave their lives so we could be free.  Amongst the ribs and tubing out on the lakes, let's not forget what this day is truly about!

Meanwhile, I'm holed up in my apartment, huffing Flonase like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction and spooning a box of kleenex.  It's one of those days where you feel like you've been hit by a truck full of pollen and cats.  Lovely, right?  Well if I can't go outside and join the festivities on this gorgeous Memorial day weekend, I'm going to bring the festivities to me...in the form of a bubble bath!

Enter Brightside, Lush's newest bubble bar to the permanent collection.  Prior to being made a permanent item, Brightside was only released with the Easter collection, a tye-dye fiery swirl amongst the egg and bunny shaped items Lush usually cranks out every year.  It smells like fruit punch and gives you luscious, creamy bubbles!

Now, if you've never heard of a bubble bar, what it is is solid bubble bath.  You crumble the bar underneath the running tap of your bath, and the pressure from the water creates these big, fluffy, movie starlet bubbles that epitomize luxury.  You can use it whole, or you can use as much as you want.  I used half of Brightside since my tub is extremely small, but if I had a huge, jacuzzi tub, I'd use the entire thing and craft a bubble beard that even Gandalf the Grey would be jealous of!

Crumbling pieces of Brightside underneath the tap

 

It can be a little hard to crumble at first, so what I like to do is hold it under the tap for a little while until it softens, then I begin to crumble.  Also I crumbled the entire thing one handed and photographed blindly with the other.  Because I care.  You're welcome.

You can see mainly in the second picture how the bubbles are already forming.  And that was just the smaller chunk I was crumbling!  I had yet to get to the bigger piece!  Brightside also tints your water a groovy Nickelodeon orange color.

Swooshing dem bubbles

  

When the bubble bar was all crumbled, I like to dunk my arms in and give the bath water a few good swishes, since my water pressure isn't all that great.  It's a great upper arm workout and gives you bigger, longer lasting bubbles.  If you have jacuzzi jets in your tub, you could just turn those on and watch the bubbles form!

Halfway full and already so many bubbles!

As I said earlier, Brightside used to be an Easter only item.  It was first introduced last spring in 2013, selling over 65,000 globally, making it the second best selling bubble bar in March of last year.  Needless to say, it was so well loved that it was added to the permanent collection!  Brightside was the first bubble bar I ever bought, catching my attention while on a shopping trip with my sister.  I was so taken by the bright colors and intoxicating citrus scent that I didn't even notice her sneaking more items into our basket (love her dearly but I'm not made of money!).  

Brightside was named after the catchy song "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" from the hit Monty Python movie "Life of Brian," and its appearance was inspired by the Comforter bubble bar.  The scent is bright and fresh, containing mandarin, tangerine, and bergamot (my personal favorite scent) oils straight from Sicily.  These three oils are fresh and zesty, and are mood lifters.  One sniff of this stuff and your mood will just perk right up!  

So in I sank into my sunset colored, fluffy bath.  As a sucker for anything neon and bright, I loved the color of the tub, and the bubbles felt nice and soft, not soapy and staticy like a lot of cheaper bubble baths feel.  The sinus headache I had been nursing began to dull away, and I snuggled right into my fluffy bubble blanket with my book, my cool, crisp granny smith apple, and relaxed, my mood only occasionally being interrupted by my roommate laughing hysterically at what I assume is the latest Marble Hornets entry.

When I popped out of the tub, my mood was worlds better.  Not that I was in a down and out mood to begin with, but allergies suck.  I wish the scent lingered a little more on my skin, but I followed that up with a citrusy smelling massage bar and I was a walking orange grove for the rest of the night.

So if you're having a bad day, or just need a sunny smelling pick me up, get yourself this awesometastic bubble bar and have a crisp, zingy smelling "treat yo'self" night at home!  And remember to always look on the Brightside!

...I'm sorry...that was a terrible joke to end a blog with.  Just trust me and get yourself this bubble bar!

 

*This bubble bar is certified Vegan

*Stop by your local Lush store, or buy it from the website here

(Review) Twilight: A Soothing End to a Grumpy Sunday

So to start this blog entry off, I'm going to share with you a riddle.  What does a time of day and a bored Mormon housewife have in common?  Hint: the answer's in the picture above.  And if that's too hard of a hint for you to figure out, it's Twilight!  Advertised as Lush's most relaxing bath bomb, Twilight has a whopping 93% repurchase rating on famed cosmetics site Makeupalley, one of Lush's highest and most reviewed products!  Also whenever I walked by the bath bomb display, my nose would always pick up the floral and sweet aroma, so when the chance to purchase this came, I snatched it right up!

I specifically chose this bath bomb for my bath last night because I've been a busy little Lushie.  Working lots of hours at my shop, loving every second of it, but as I am human, my feet get sore and I get tired.  So when I saw I was scheduled to close on Sunday with a 2 hour meeting right after, I knew this bath bomb would do just the trick to help wind me down after a busy week! 

So into my apartment I trudged, clutching the bag of free bagels the people at Starbucks were so generous to give me, lamenting my sore feet and the fact that I was a walking human shaped ice cube.  I waved a tired hello to my roommate, and slumped my way to the bathtub, the sound of the running tap enough to relax me at this point.  I dug out the pinky lavender bath bomb and once my tub was filled, chucked it in and watched the moon and stars melt into a creamy, cotton candy pink marshmallow fluff.

Bubble bubble toil and trouble...

So while Twilight was dissolving, I spent much of that time fighting with and cursing at my camera, who has been acting up a bit these past few days.  So I do apologize for the lackluster photography.  I need to break out my old photography textbook and study up on my shutter speeds!

I specifically chose Twilight because it's loaded with one of my most favorite scents in all of Scent-dom.  Lavender!  Lavender is nature's glass of warm milk before bedtime.  Its soothing scent is not only great for relaxation, but for sore, achy muscles, as well as skin conditions like sunburns and bug bites.  It's antibacterial, antiseptic, and a sebum balancer, so if you have very oily skin, check for lavender in the ingredients list, and it'll tell those overactive sebum glands to chill the heck out!

Twilight also contains Tonka Absolute, which I like to refer to as vanilla's dirty cousin, as the scent is similar to vanilla but a bit more deep and musky, and Ylang Ylang, which is not only a relaxing scent that helps you de-stress, but a mood lifter as well.  The latter two scents mix with the lavender very well, creating something that isn't overly floral, but not overly sweet as well.   

 
As Twilight continued to dissolve, I noticed the water becoming a gradually deeper shade of purple, and saw that a beautiful pastel blue had begun to foam out of the bath bomb, spinning it in hypnotizing circles.  The pastel pink and blue together reminded me of the cotton candy I would get at the local fair every year, something I would meticulously chew as I contemplated going on the big kid rides like the roller coaster and the rocking pirate ship (which I actually almost flew out of one year and was forbidden from going on ever since).  Twilight also has a creamy frothy coating that I like to trace patterns into as it covers the bath in bubbly, cappuccino-like froth.  Underneath, the water became a darker and darker shade of purple, like the sunset slowly becoming night.

I like to trace patterns in the froth and pretend I'm a misunderstood cappuccino artist yearning for their big break at Starbucks

Twilight soon split in two, and each part dissolved slowly.  It's a slow "burn" so it took a while to fully dissolve, but once it did, I lowered myself in and let out a sigh of relief as my popsicle toes were soon warmed by the silky sweet deep purple water.  It was like laying on a warm fluffy cloud of cotton candy and lavender sprigs.  It was fantastic!  When the froth dissolved, I noticed two things.  1. that the water was almost the exact same color as Inhale Exhale (the bath bomb I used last week, check out the review here, and 2. there were tiny silver sparkles shimmering through the water.  I can see where Twilight gets its name...not from the shimmery vampires in that god awful piece of "literature," but because the bath water looks like a beautiful clear night sky with the stars shining down, like a blanket someone poked tiny holes into.  They didn't photograph well and I apologize for that, but take my word for it, they were there!

I soaked for about two hours, getting out only when the water was turning cold and my fingertips resembled peachy pink raisins.  About a half hour later I was in my pajamas in bed with my laptop in my lap, all set and motivated to write this review and...I promptly fell asleep.  Twilight just conked me right out!  When I say this is nature's glass of warm milk, this IS nature's glass of warm milk!  So I woke this morning refreshed, smelling floral and sweet with bits of silver glitter shimmering against my skin, and pumped for a new week full of possibility and awesomeness.

Overall Twilight has a high repurchase rate for me.  I can see why Makeupalley users rated it so highly, and it's something I'd recommend if you have insomnia, or are stressed or tired or in need of some me time.  It's relaxing, beautifully scented, and it's like bathing in a field of stars.  Because seriously...bathing in a starry night sky?  How freaking cool is that?!

   

(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