Lush, the bath and body care company, has many organic and creative products. A Lush innovation is the "bath bomb." This reviewer enjoyed researching several of them.
Lush, the hand-made organic bath and body products shop, is really taking the world by storm. While Lush has been around for years, heightened consumer awareness may be due to its constant innovation. One of the company's more creative and original ideas is called the "bath bomb." Bath bombs are larger than similarly-shaped bath oil capsules that you may be more familiar with, and Lush takes pride in having as many ingredients be organic as possible.
Made to fit comfortably in a cupped hand, bath bombs typically start with a busy bubbling that eventually calm down to a soothing fizz, as the bomb slowly dissolves in your bath. All ballistics have bath oils, some have bath salts. Some also contain non-water soluble ingredients, the most common being very fine glitter. It is difficult to judge a bath bomb by in-store scent alone, as often the layers within bath bombs contain different potencies of different scents. Because of the organic nature of the ingredients, Lush suggests freshness or "use by" dates. It's hard to imagine a bath bomb sitting in a medicine cabinet for long, however! Take it from an addict: Once hooked, it's hard to resist using bath bombs within a week of purchase.
Here is a list of bath bombs sampled by this eager reviewer:
Butterball bath bomb: This was the first bath bomb I tried, and it took perhaps 5 minutes to completely dissolve in a warm bath. Little bits of softening cocoa butter within the bomb take their time dissolving after the bulk of the bomb has dissipated. The subtle scent lingers on skin for hours after the bath.
Waving Not Drowning: This lavender-scented bath bomb smelled too strong in the store, but the Lush salesclerk assured me that the potency would be reduced upon use. She was right; the lavender was more subtle than not, and I almost fell asleep in the bath.
Karma bath bomb: The salesclerk told me that Lush is discontinuing this bath bomb, but it should be available online for a while. It consists of Lush's signature Karma scent, which I love as soap in my morning shower, but since I only take baths to relax in the evening, the orangey, citrus odor is counterproductive. However, anyone who partakes of wake-up baths may appreciate this orange-slice shaped bath bomb.
Big Blue: This is one of the ballistics that contain permanent solids. Big Blue has little bits of seaweed in it, which can be annoying to clean up. The company recommends that bath bombs of this type be dropped into a nylon wrap, to assure ease of clean-up. Big Blue turned my water a gorgeous, deep blue color which drained clean, fortunately, and I've used it twice. The sea salts and seaweed combine to truly lend a vicarious beach-going experience to the user.
Black Pearl: Unabashedly named for the Pirates of the Caribbean ship, this ballistic turns bath water grey, with a small amount of fine silver glitter. The glitter rinsed easily from my bathtub, yet stayed on my skin. I recommend the Black Pearl for morning baths, or before a night out on the town. Why waste all that glitter on your sheets? The smell is both floral and salty, not too feminine at all...and there is a "treasure" at the center of each of these bath bombs! Two points for whoever can identify the secret in the center of the Black Pearl first.
Tisty Tosty: Okay, I have to admit I was disappointed in this heart-shaped bath bomb. There are a bunch of dried rosebuds embedded within it, and watching them fall apart in the water didn't really add to my bath experience. I still am unclear as to why - with so many natural ingredients - the rose scent seemed artificial and fleeting.
Sex Bomb: This big ballistic is my current favorite, the salts and oils really have great skin-softening capabilities, and the scent - wow! Musky, sagey, and floral, the Sex Bomb smells great and turned my bath water opaque hot pink. There is a little rice paper flower in this bomb that went right down the drain. No fuss, no muss, and it's a good thing too; after a soak in a Sex Bomb bath, you want to enjoy the scent of your skin in ways that don't involve cleaning out your bathtub.
Avobath: This ballistic turned my bath avocado-green, and has glitter. Fresh avocado is a main ingredient of this ballistic, along with lemongrass and olive oils. My skin felt very soft afterwards, and the scent did not linger. I wasn't too crazy about this one, franky.
And there you have it! There are many other bath bombs made by Lush, some of which are seasonal. Obviously, I haven't tried them all - but we all need goals, don't we? If you have a bath bomb experience you'd like to add to this list, please feel free to join in the related discussion.
Copyright 2006 Jennifer Miner and Suite 101. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use will constitute an infringement of copyright.
The copyright of the article Lush - Bath Bombs in Luxury Vacations is owned by Jennifer W. Miner. Permission to republish Lush - Bath Bombs must be granted by the author in writing.
Comments
Jun 5, 2006 10:09 PM
Jill Florio
:
Okay - I used the Black Pearl ballistic. It was incredible! All mysterious, murky, sparkling depths. I couldn't stop playing with the water. Since my husband and I shared the bath, we both agree it was a really unique and luxurious experience.
HE was the one who picked out that bomb ffrom the store, BTW. And bought it with no prompting from me. Coolness. BTW - the message said, "The Healthy Soul is in the Healthy Body." We really liked the fizzy stuff. Dan held the bomb in his hand til it fizzed right out into nothingness.
Jun 6, 2006 10:01 AM
Jennifer W. Miner
:
I'm glad to hear you two had fun with the Black Pearl bath bomb! It's one of the less overtly feminine Lush products, scent-wise, and I've noticed a strong correlation between use of this bath bomb and my husband not being able to stop sniffing me. :) My Black Pearl message was, "7 steps back, 8 steps forward." Maybe I need to go onto a "Lost" website to decifer the meaning of those particular numbers! http://luxuryresorttravel.suite101.com
Jun 6, 2006 10:27 AM
Jill Florio
:
Maybe you should growl when your husband sniffs you. Before our bath, Dan and I washed Frodo (the Chihuaua) with Honey I Washed the Kids. He smelled delicious after that for days.
Well, it turns out he doesn't mind geting a bath but he HATES being sniffed. He actually growls gently at me when I do it, to let me know he really doesn't enjoy that. It's weird. I love being sniffed. What's with that?
Jun 8, 2006 2:01 PM
Dan Florio
:
I liked the Black Pearl. We got a ring around the tub but it cleaned off okay. Tonite we have a date to try the Sakura bomb. Have not tried the Sex Bomb but I hear that one is next. I'm not super into baths but it is nice to spend time together and then I just take a shower after.
Dan
Jun 8, 2006 10:41 PM
Jill Florio
:
Hi everyone. Dan and I tried the Sakura Ballistic tonight. It's a really really BIG ball, very pretty to look at with a subtle unisex scent. It takes a while to dissolve (we like to hold and play with them as they go off) and changes colors while it does. it also released salts that we caught as they burst off and scrubbed our arms with. It was fun and made the water very silken-like.
I prefered the Black Pearl because turned it the water very mysterious and sparkly. Sakura only made things dirty-gray colored, no fun there. And no "treat" inside. On the other hand, unlike Black Pearl, there's no bathtub ring either.
Anyway, Dan prefered the Sakura for the silky soft feeling water and nice scent. I liked the Black Pearl for the novelty of having a mysterious bath experience.
We've now decided to have Thursdays be bath day and will try different ballistics each week. Any ideas for next week? :)
Jun 9, 2006 9:27 AM
Jill Florio
:
Oh, I wanted to add that Sakura also left the water so moisturized that I didn't have to run and apply lotion right after, as per my usual routine. And that was really rather nice - that I could just go about my business and not have the usual dry hands to tend to.
Jun 14, 2006 7:59 PM
Jill Florio
:
Hey! Tonite we are going to try Softy, which is being discontinued, but was supposeldy created in homage to the film American Beauty...full of rose petals.
Jun 15, 2006 8:36 AM
Jennifer W. Miner
:
I didn't know you wre a fan of the rose petal bath concept. I hope you liked the Softy; you may also like Tisty Tosty, which comes with rosebuds. Seven of them, to be precise! :)
Jun 15, 2006 9:16 AM
Jill Florio
:
Well, I like my bombs to do something, besides fizz, that is. I don't mind floaties. :)
Okay, so my review of last night's ballistic: Softy was the first Lush product I thought was a waste of money. No colored water, no scent at all, no real softening effect. Plus the petals were brown, slimey and limp...not what I had in mind for a romantic bath. This bomb is being discontinued and I can see why. Oh well. I will try Chelsea Gardens for the flowers next. I don't think I will try Tisty Tosty. You said it didn't have much scent and there is no color. The girls in the Bellevue Lush agreed with your review when I asked them about it.
Jun 18, 2006 2:04 AM
Joy Butler
:
Wow, I've never heard of all this! I'll have to look for them and give it a try. The Big Blue and also the glittery one sounds like fun...how long does the glitter stay on?