(Review) Amandopondo: Player One Defeated

There are many things I picture when I hear the word "luxury."  Most of the time it's over-exuberant things like solid gold toilets and diamond encrusted napkin rings.  You know, absolutely useless things that probably cost more than half a years rent that the upper crust of society deems something they absolutely need.  Luxury these days (to me at least) has gotten pretty obnoxious, bordering on delusional.  While I'm not a champagne sucking, yacht toting, more tiny dogs than I can count la dee dah member of the rich and famous (yet), I like to keep my luxuries simple.  Hell, even keeping a roof over my head that I pay for out of my own pocket is a luxury in itself.  At this point in my life, luxury is having the time and ingredients to make a home cooked meal, keeping my apartment clean, and actually going out and socializing with people where my mouth does the talking and not my fingers flying across a keyboard.  My luxuries are simple, but at the end leave you feeling like a million bucks.  Cue segue into bubble bar review.

Ironically being a Lush employee, I'm not too big on bubble baths.  I wasn't big on baths in general before I started working at Lush either.  But once in a while, I'll get this mad hankering for a movie starlet-esque bath, overflowing with bubbles and candles in every corner of my bathroom.  So when one of these cravings set in, I found it a good time to bust out the soon to be discontinued Amandopondo.
 

Amandopondo has an interesting backstory, and is arguably one of the favorite product stories of my staff at my shop.  Meaning "forgiveness" or "defeat" in a language I believe is spoken in Africa (I'm not sure what exact language it is though), Amandopondo was inspired after a lawsuit against Lush accusing them of plagiarism by a rival company.  Well that rival company lost, and when asked what Lush wanted in return, co-founder Mark Constantine (ever a total BAMF in my eyes) requested a dozen of the finest red roses money could buy, and a simple apology, or admission of defeat.  The company obliged, and Amandopondo was born. 

Described as floral yet citrusy, Amandopondo packs lemon, orange, and rose oils into a tiny ivory bar.  A tiny pink rosebud is all that decorates this simple but effective bar!

I'll admit, due to its simple appearance, I wasn't necessarily drawn to Amandopondo.  As someone who loves color and dramatics, I felt like Amandopondo didn't really jive with my "bath personality."  But when I heard it was on the discontinued list, I decided to give it a shot. 

The floral yet citrusy scent is super subtle, but pleasant.  I'm not one for floral scents, but this one was light enough to where I didn't mind it, and I do enjoy citrus so the pair went together nicely!  And I have to say, for a bubble bar with a simple appearance, it' a prime example of why you should never judge a book by its covered.  When I held this baby under the running tap, the bubbles produced were huge!  Instead of being clear, the bath water underneath all that foam turned a milky white, and the scent was slightly amplified.  I sank into my bubble bath feeling like a Hollywood starlet, except replace the red lipstick with a face mask and the champagne with an ice cold water and an iPhone.

I'm both happy and sad to say that Amandopondo exceeded all of my expectations in the bubble bar department, and I'm quite sad to see it go.  The bubbles it produced was voluminous and over the top, while the scent was subtle and as soft as my skin felt after I was done soaking.  It's perfect for those moments where you want to indulge in a little luxury, and forget that the dinner you're about to eat afterwards is a bowl of ramen.

 **Amandopondo is certified Vegan

(Review) Ice Blue: What's Cooler Than Being Cool?

I thought I'd gotten out safe.  This summer has been nothing short of delightful...warm, but not too hot.  Nothing a cracked window and an iced tea couldn't cure.  Without air conditioning in my apartment, I found I could snuggle into my covers like it was the dead of winter and fall asleep with a body temperature like baby bear's porridge...juuuuuuuuuust right.  I bathed in the sunshine, often taking my work lunches outside with my book and without a care.  Somehow I knew it was all too good to be true.  And it was.

Just a few days ago I woke in what I thought was a greenhouse jungle, but in actuality was my apartment.  Everything was sticky and warm, the air so thick I could barely breathe.  My old fashioned wooden doors were swollen and required a rightly timed body slam to shut them, and my poor fan did little to cool me down.  For once I was thankful Bossman cranks the AC to arctic temperatures.  I would go into work in my black and white uniform and bask in the cold like a penguin with a Lush apron on.  But after my shift ends, when I'd go home for the day back to the environment where my hair would swell three times its size in water weight, how would I stay cool?

When I heard Ice Blue was being discontinued, the first thing that popped into my mind was "my roommate's gonna be piiiiiiiissed!"  I for one was indifferent, as the last time I tried it I wasn't too impressed.  While she ran out and bought a hefty chunk of the blue stuff, I was contemplating whether I should repurchase or not.  But being that I have a love for all things minty and bright, neon colors, I eventually relented and bought a nicely sized chunk to try out before it was gone for good. 

Ice Blue is a sturdy soap.  So much so that Bossman actually broke a knife cutting into a full sized round of it (no one was harmed in the process besides the knife!).  With a sea salt rind and an intense, pepperminty scent, Ice Blue is perfect for warm summer days where you feel like you're boiling alive in your skin.  It's essentially a solid version of the dearly departed Freeze shower gel, which got me through summer a few years ago (one of the hottest I've ever experienced I might add).  Ice Blue is also not its full name.  Ice Blue's full name is (as told to me, and pardon the french) "Ice Blue F*ck You," and was aptly named after a business relationship went sour.  Ironic how such a beautifully fragranced and eye catching soap was conceived out of bad blood.

I feel like with Lush soaps, they need a use or two to "get going."  And by get going, I mean until they form a good lather.  Usually it takes me 1-2 tries, but with this one it took me quite a bit to work up a sizable lather.  It was a bit frustrating at first but I eventually got the hang of it, and soon my body was cool and tingly with puffy mint suds.  The soap rinsed clean and left my skin smelling musky, minty, and fresh.  I emerged anew from my shower and back into the humidity ridden hellhole from whence I came.  This time though, I felt fresh and clean! 

I'm so glad I gave Ice Blue a second chance, as the first time I used it a few years back, it didn't sit well with me.  I found the scent stuck surprisingly well to my skin and left me feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.  The lather was decent, but still rinsed clean.  I'm a bit sad to see this one go, even though it's nothing I'd go batty over.  Mint has always been a comforting scent to me...something about the freshness and cleanliness of it is just so refreshing.  I'd often pick up a hunk of this soap when I was feeling tired or my allergies were flaring, give it a good huff, and be on my way.  Dirty, while a great smelling soap, just doesn't have the same effect.

But if I get too nostalgic, I could always slice a bit off of the $40 chunk my roommate bought, right?  She totally won't notice ;) 

(Review) The Godmother: Bibbity Bobbity Suds

I've often talked about how the bar soaps at Lush were my "gateway drug" into the store.  I honestly have no idea how it happened either, as I was never an avid bar soap user to begin with!  The only memories I've had of bar soap are when my mother once shoved a bar of Dove in my mouth for using a few colorful choice words when I didn't want to come inside after a long day of playing.  It literally and figuratively left a bad taste in mouth after that.  But passing by my hometown's newly crafted Lush store and seeing all the colorful and sweet smelling bricks of soap...I'll admit my curiosity was piqued.  I didn't buy anything that day, but a few days later my mom came home with a few sample slivers of soap (specifically Northern Lights and Alkmaar, two favorites to this day) and after using it once in the shower, I knew it was all downhill from the moment the suds touched my skin.

I've also talked about how prior to working at Lush, some scents from the store just didn't gel with me, but I grew to like them later on.  Godmother happened to be one of those scents.  I'm not a fan of many sugary sweet scents, but I feel like there was something different with Godmother.  Scented with Lush's renowned Snow Fairy fragrance, Godmother has a sweet, but slightly tart scent about it.  Many of my customers describe it as smelling like Swedish Fish; a candy I detest, but I could see the similarities between the scents.  I think the tartness of Godmother is what makes me like it.  If it was just super sweet I don't think I would've gravitated towards it at all.  So one night I picked up a chunk, eager to try it out!

Many people find their luxury in long, bubbly baths with a glass of wine on the side, or a mani/pedi session at their favorite nail salon.  While I have many things I consider luxurious, sudsing up with a big bar of soap is definitely one of them.  It allows me to take my time in the shower, and to me it feels slightly rustic in that respect as well.  I was delighted to see that Godmother made a bunch of pink, sudsy bubbles when I lathered it all over my body.  I just thought it was cool to see pink bubbles all over my body (you could say I was...tickled pink...sorry I'll go now).  One thing I hate is having to lather and work at a bar of soap to get a good lather, but Godmother thankfully didn't have this problem.  I found the scent stuck to my skin quite well and cleaned quite well too, even though it was slightly drying (most glycerin based soaps can have that effect, but it was nothing so severe that a good coat of body lotion couldn't fix!).  I think the only downside to Godmother is that for a glycerin based soap, it melts quite quickly.  I don't think my bar of soap lasted more than 2 months before it dissolved altogether, so that surprised me since Lush has some pretty sturdy soaps.

Despite the quick melting time, I did enjoy The Godmother.  The sweet scent changed a bit in the shower, where the tartness was lost and I was left with just sweetness, but it wasn't drastic enough for me to dislike it.  I can see why this is being discontinued, as a vast majority prefer their Snow Fairy scents in bottled forms rather than a solid bar of soap, but I found this was a decent product to have around.  I didn't love it enough to buy bricks of it, but I did enjoy it!

*Questions for the People* What discontinued products will YOU be missing the most?  Let me know in the comments!!

**The Godmother is certified Vegan

(Review) Space Girl: Stardate - The Year of the Tiger

"I want it to look like I'm bathing in a GALAXY!"

Oh readers...if I had a dollar for every time I heard a teenage girl come into my store and say that, I could probably buy every single Lush product; discontinued, current, and new thrice over and store them all in my mansion with my pool boy and private gaming theater.  That was the very beginning of the "galaxy bomb" craze that happened right after the madness of Christmas.  I actually remember the first time someone asked me for a galaxy bomb.  A young teen girl, bright eyed and bushy tailed, came up to myself and my coworkers and meekly asked if we had "the galaxy bomb."  My coworkers and I looked at each other and asked her what she meant.  She then vividly described a tweet she saw where a bath bomb was described as a galaxy and the picture was one of the most beautiful things she saw!  Before we could link her to Twilight (the actual "galaxy bomb"), she grabbed a Space Girl, gave it a deep inhale, and skipped her way to the counter while my coworkers and I all stood confused, dumbfounded, and a sense of dread that our post-Christmas chill was about to be interrupted by a tweet gone a-twitter.

From that moment on our tiny shop was flooded with an influx of high school and college aged girls, all clamoring for the beautiful bath bomb that looked like a field of stars.  It turns out (and we all found this out at a staff meeting a few months later) that the "galaxy bomb" tweet was retweeted around 10 million times and that the Kitchen compounders were working 24 hour shifts because of the seemingly overnight demand of bath bombs.  At one point we only had Blackberry and Pink bath bombs in stock, and customers went frantic thinking we were going out of business.  But even though the galaxy bomb was actually Twilight, many mistook it for Space Girl, and ever since, it's been a high demand bath bomb that's hard to keep in stock.

Space Girl is a bath bomb that never really gripped me in the beginning.  I will admit the black currant scent was intoxicating, and smelled like a juicy, fruity hard candy I could pop in my mouth and suck on all day.  Grapefruit, almond oil, and bergamot also make up this scent.  Shaped like Saturn with a splash of burgundy and glitter on the side, I could see why many young girls were being drawn to this particular bath bomb.  So when I heard it was being discontinued, I decided to pick one up and see what all the fuss was about.

I'll also admit that while the scent and presentation didn't initially draw me to Space Girl, the pictures I saw on social media did.  Many pictures of big bathtubs with a maroon center with a red wine splash in the middle graced both my Tumblr and Instagram feeds.  Maybe this bath bomb would surprise me and be fantastic!  So on one unseasonably cold July night, I plopped this guy into the tub and...was sorely underwhelmed.  Unlike the gas giant she's modeled after, Space Girl sank right to the bottom of my tub and halfheartedly fizzed, a trail of bubbles breaking the surface the only sign that she was even in the tub to begin with.  I brought her up to try and pop her on the surface, but she sank like a stone once again (note: is it weird that I'm referring to a bath bomb as "she?").  My bath slowly turned an earthy maroon-dusty plum color and the sweet scent was mouthwatering.  

A little disappointed that the fizzing time was so fast, I plunked into my tub where the black currant scent washed over me like a cleansing steam.  It felt very sweet and cozy, and I could only imagine what using this bath bomb would feel like in winter as opposed to summer.  It was still light though, and didn't bog me down like heavier scented bath bombs like Fizzbanger.  It smelled like sweet summer berries and looked like shimmery wine.

Overall, Space Girl was kind of a meh bath bomb for me.  While it was one of the more fragrant bath bombs I've used, the presentation left a lot to be desired.  Nonetheless, I was still quite surprised that this was being discontinued.  If you had told me Space Girl was leaving six months ago I wouldn't have batted an eye, but since the "galaxy bomb" craze, this has grown quite a lot in popularity.  I've heard rumors of black currant becoming more difficult to source, and while I can't confirm that (haven't heard anything from Bossman or any other Lush employee about that) it's entirely possible.  I know many will be sad to see this go, but rest assured that when a product is discontinued, a new product is usually waiting in the wings, ready to take its place.  I guess you'll just have to stay tuned to find out what new things are in store!

**Space Girl is certified Vegan