Holiday LUSH Haul

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I went into LUSH recently intending to get a block of the "Figs and Leaves" soap, as I mentioned in my previous haul/review. When I got to their soap display, however, I realized that they already had all of their special holiday items in, and ended up getting distracted by those. I figured "Figs and Leaves" could wait while I explored the holiday soaps.

I had noticed from browsing their website that a large proportion of their holiday soaps don't contain SLS, which I was really pleased about. I'm hoping that means they might be willing to make more year-round soaps that are also SLS-free. If not, at least I get to try a lot of their yummy-smelling holiday ones.

I ended up walking out with bits of "Baked Alaska," "Yog Nog," and "Icing on the Cake." I spotted two other soaps there that I didn't end up getting because they do contain SLS - "Reindeer Rock" and "Snowcake." I was actually quite sad about "Snowcake" because it looks so very pretty with gold glitter on white, and it smells lightly of vanilla/white cake batter.

I'm still finishing up my Sultana soap, so I probably won't be getting to any of these too soon, but here are my first visual and scent impressions for those who might not be able to get to a store but are curious.

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Baked Alaska

This one is extremely eye-catching on display. The whole shape from the outside is supposed to be a snowball, hence the white outer rind. Much like the eponymous dessert! Then the inside is like an explosion of greens, blues, yellows, and oranges. It reminds me of what an aurora might look like contained inside a ball. The piece I got is mostly green and blue, but there were definitely bits with bright orange and yellow in them on display.

Scent-wise, it's exactly as advertised. It smells like a generic citrus scent. To me it leans more towards lemon, and less orange, if that is a distinction you make in your citrus scents. It smells quite strong if you hold it up to your nose, but the scent doesn't linger long or have a wide radius of dispersion, so it probably won't make your entire bathroom smell like citrus.

I think this one will be a really refreshing soap to use, because it doesn't seem overly creamy or melty, and the citrus gives it a wake-up type of scent.


Yog Nog

This soap was the one I really wanted to try when I saw it go up online. The giant block looks like a caramel flan with light brown powder dusting on top. It's molded with little stars and other holiday-ish shapes on the top, but that's not really apparent in individual pieces unless you get really lucky and/or get a really large chunk. The powder does sort of go everywhere when you unwrap it, so I wonder how it will look after dousing in the shower for the first time.

The smell is exactly like spiced eggnog. It's got a primarily vanilla flavor, with hint of cinnamon or clove. It's quite a strong scent, and this one definitely does linger and expand to fill the room. It's sitting on my bathroom shelf and about a 1.5-foot spherical radius around it smells like eggnog.

The texture of the soap feels a bit more creamy in the hands than "Baked Alaska," so I think this one is perfect for something a bit more luxurious and getting in the Christmas spirit.


Icing on the Cake

This one was designed to trap me. It is pink, glittery, and just beautiful. The large-form shape of it is like a big pink roll cake or Buch de Noel, with a dusting of gold glitter across the top. Inside, you can see the spiral of pinks and golds. So so pretty, I almost don't want to use it!

This one actually has quite a light scent. I have to hold it up against my nose and really inhale deeply (coating my lungs with glitter, of course), to actually smell it. I can't really identify what it smells like beyond a generic "sweet" scent. Because it's so light, it doesn't have a sickly or cloying feel to it, but based on the name I guess they wanted it to be a cakey sort of sweetness. To me, it just smells slightly sweet, a bit powdery, and almost a floral type of sweetness. Maybe it will be more clear once it comes into contact with water, but I actually quite appreciate that it's a light scent.

The soap itself feels extremely melty, just holding onto it with my hands. It is advertised as being softening, so that does make sense. I think this one will be really lovely on days when my skin is super dry and irritated. And anyone who likes pretty pink things will probably get a kick out of it too!


In addition to the two soaps I decided not to try, they also have special holiday bath bombs and bubble bar things, but because I'm not a big bath person, I didn't get any of those. There are some shower jellies and body washes as well, but all of those are high in SLS, so no go for me either. But many people love those, so definitely give them a try if you're interested!

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Mini LUSH Haul and Review

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LUSH opened a store in Madison fairly recently (just this past summer), and I was pretty excited to take a wander through it, because I've always enjoyed shopping there. I've enjoyed some of their solid  shampoo and conditioner bars, and especially their massage bars for travel, because of the liquid restrictions for carry-on luggage.

I had found the remnants of an old massage bar, but I think it was so old that the fragrance had completely degraded. Unfortunately it smelled exactly like varnish, so I decided it was time to get something new.

I ended up walking out with a bar of the "Organic Therapy" massage bar, a small block of "Honey I Washed the Kids" soap, and a "Ceridwen's Cauldron" bath melt.

I've written up some thoughts regarding these items (and another soap) below, for those who haven't tried them and may be curious. I tend to have sensitive dry skin, so a lot of my focus in choosing body products is geared towards making sure they won't cause too much irritation or excessive dryness.

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Organic Therapy Massage Bar  == Excellent!

"Organic Therapy" has a nice scent that's slightly spicy, slightly herbal, and not too sickly sweet. I usually enjoy sweet and floral scents, but in the form of massage bars, most of them make me feel a bit ill because they're too cloying. This one is nice because it smells good but isn't overly strong. The moisturizing power of the bar is just as I expected from their previous bars. It melts nicely after a few seconds of rubbing either between the hands or directly wherever you're trying to put it, and at least for me, the moisturizing effect lasts much longer than most regular lotions. I do prefer to use it before bed, so that it can sit overnight, because it does initially leave a film of old on the skin. If you're not a fan of that feeling, then these probably won't be the thing for you.

Honey I Washed the Kids Soap == Okay

I bought this soap because people mentioned that they liked how it worked on their sensitive skin. I often have issues (especially in colder, dryer seasons) with my skin getting extremely dry and irritated. The smell of this soap is delicious, it's like inhaling a caramel flan. I do appreciate that it has a sweet caramel smell, but it is not artificial and cloying like some "candy" scents can be. As for the soap itself, it is quite nice and worked fine for middle of summer, but I think it's still too stripping for my skin in autumn and winter. I hadn't read the ingredients carefully enough the first time, because I was just going off recommendations, but this soap *does* contain SLS, which is the main stripping ingredient. While it is lower on the list than some of LUSH's other soaps, it is still pretty prominent. As much as I love the scent, I probably wouldn't buy this soap again for regular bathing use.

Ceridwen's Cauldron == TBD

I also bought "Ceridwen's Cauldron" because it was mentioned as being really good for moisturizing and soothing sensitive skin. I'm not generally a big bath person, as I don't generally have time and just never really grew up with that sort of habit. However, I thought this one might be a nice one to try this winter if I want a bath to warm up or something. The ingredients in this look promising, particularly the oatmeal, which I have found to be a good skin soother, so I look forward to trying this out.

Sultana of Soap == Very Good

After I finished "Honey I Washed the Kids," I returned to LUSH to try another of their soaps. I did pay more attention to my research this time, and concluded that the only two of their regular soaps that do *NOT* contain SLS are "Sultana of Soap" and "Figs and Leaves." After sniffing both soaps, I went with "Sultana" because I liked the scent a little more. It's supposed to look like a fruit nougat, which it sort of does. The scent to me smells like sweetened baby powder, which can be good or bad depending on your preferences. I don't mind it, and the soap really is very moisturizing and cleansing without leaving my skin with that squeaky stripped feeling like most other soaps do. I forgot to take a photo of the raw block, but it basically looks like the way it does now but with sharp edges.

The one thing I'm not liking so much about "Sultana" as I'm nearing the end of the block is that the little fruit and nut bits in it are actually fruits and nuts embedded in the soap. So now I end up leaving some soap detritus in the bathtub that I need to clean up after I shower. I think when I finally run out, I'll give the "Figs and Leaves" soap a try.

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Weekly Favorites #10

(via Lush)

So, I decided to visit my local Lush store before going home for Christmas, because I needed to replenish my supply of non-liquid toiletries for air travel. I wanted to get as many of my toiletries in some solid, powder, or otherwise non-liquid form as possible just to cut down on how tightly I have to stuff that quart-sized Ziploc bag.

One of the things I decided to venture into was solid lotion bars, and I smelled all of the ones in the Lush store and decided that the Strawberry Feels Forever massage bar was my favorite. How could it not be - it's a lovely shade of pink, and it's strawberry-shaped!

I like to use it right after a shower, when my skin is still warm and a bit damp, because that makes the bar melt better. If I'm just trying to use it any old time of day, it takes quite a bit of holding the bar and rubbing it to get any significant amount to melt off. Maybe I just have really cold hands.

The bar has lasted me quite a good while now with regular use (about every other day is sufficient to keep my skin hydrated). It does an excellent job as a moisturizer, and I absolutely love the smell. I'm terrible at describing scents, but it smells to me something like strawberries and cream ice cream, or milkshake, or something involving strawberries and a bit of milk. I've noticed that it does leave a bit of a shimmer on my skin, but there's no obvious pink tint, if you're the type to worry about that.

Something to note is that this massage bar doesn't actually fit in any of the tins they sell. Goodness knows the lovely salesgirl tried, but nope, it's just a bit too big. Luckily I have a large collection of random boxes so I had something I could store it in. Otherwise, packaging and storing it, especially for traveling, might have gotten messy.

I'm really pleased with my venture into solid lotion, and I'll definitely be trying out various other massage bars from Lush in the future!

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I hope you have a delightful week, and if you live anywhere with weather like Chicago, stay warm!

Christmas Redux Pt. 2 ~ Friends (aka Family No. 2)

In addition to my family, I also got presents for K- and Miss M. It's a running joke that they might as well be married, since they are such close friends and are together all the time, so I decide to get them matching travel mugs (they are also both addicted to coffee).

I was inspired by a travel mug I saw in CVS, but the mug itself was really really ugly, so I decided to just have my own custom printed. I found Tervis through a quick Google search, and they seemed to be reasonably priced and have no minimum order (I had no need for 100 coffee mugs...).

The design I put on them was text-only, so I can't say how nicely actual images print, but what I got was nice and crisp, and the mugs themselves were really sturdy.

To top off their presents, I filled K-'s with gummy bears, since he loves those, and I filled Miss M's with foldover elastic hair ties that I made myself. And then I drew them some bird-tastic cards so I could include a little note for each of them ^_^

I'm really happy that they liked the mugs, and hopefully it'll be something useful for both of them! I know at least the gummy bears and hair ties will be well used :-P

Christmas Redux Pt. 1 ~ Family

Now that Christmas has come and gone, and all my presents were safely kept secret until they were to be opened, I can make my posts showing off the things I designed!

For my family (mother, father, and sister), I decided this year to draw them all little graphics representing things that they enjoy and do. I then had those graphics printed on various things ordered through Zazzle.

For my father:

Printed on a mousepad and a mug.

For my mother:

Printed on a wall clock.

For my sister:

Printed on a notebook and a tote bag.

Everyone was really pleased with their presents, yay!! Overall I was really pleased with the printing quality, as well as the general quality of the actual items! The only really disappointing one was the tote bag. The graphic came out really fuzzy and with really bleedy edges, and I didn't realize how yellow the "natural" color option was, so it distorted the colors pretty badly. All the other items were great, and the printing was nice and clean!

Weekly Favorites #5

As the weather started turning cooler this fall, I got really into scented candles. I'm not generally a huge fan of fragrances and such, as a lot of them induce super terrible headaches in me. However, I decided to put up with walking through fragrance bombardment to find the few nice candle scents and try them out. There's just something very heart-warming about a little candle flame.

My favorite one so far has been this one from Pure-Clean-Soy in the Pink Magnolia scent. I found it in the home section of Target. This is the first time I've used a soy candle, so I'm not sure if the lightness of the scent is this particular fragrance or because it's a soy candle. Either way, this candle gives my room a nice hint of sweetness and floralness when it's burning, but isn't overpowering. This is great if you like subtle scents or have a sensitive nose, but perhaps less good if something more in-your-face is desired for your room fragrance.

I definitely enjoyed this candle, and will be buying some in their other scents to try out. When I was test-smelling them in the store, all of the candles from this brand had a nice light scent, so I'm hoping I'll be pleased with more of them.

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Hope your coming week is full of warmth and cheer! Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and good luck with all the preparations! ^_^

[Outfit Post] Fancy Legs

I really wanted an excuse to wear my awesome new tights from Holley Tea Time, so I decided to build an outfit around them. They're really comfortable and actually quite thick! I was pleasantly surprised at how opaque the print remained even when stretched out, and the tights themselves are really soft and pliable. I appreciate the waistband being soft woven so it doesn't dig into my belly.


Dress/Belt/Boots: Taobao
Cardigan: Target
Tights: Holley Tea Time
Necklace: KumaCrafts

New Hair Color! (Palty Sakura Creamy)

So for ACEN, I've been working on a cosplay of Hachi from NANA to match my friend who is cosplaying Nana!  Rather than scrambling to find the perfect wig last minute, I decided Hachi had normal enough hair for me to actually use my own hair.  However, in the manga and specifically the artbook (which is the outfit I'm doing), she has brown-red hair, so... HAIR DYE!!

Basically, I used cosplay as an excuse to do something I've been kind of wanting to do but also too scared to just dive into.  I got 2 boxes of Palty Sakura Creamy from Mitsuwa, and finally dyed my hair on Sunday ^_^

I'll just say... there's actually a not-insignificant amount of bleach in their formulation... it stung, and my hair lightened significantly (granted, I left it in for an entire hour, not the 20~30 minutes they recommend).  Anyways, I rather like the result ^_^  Less of the dark pinky-red pictured on the box than I might've preferred, but still nice overall.  And apparently under certain lighting, it looks very red XD

Pictures!!

Before and After:

And here's what all the dye and stuff looked like before I put it on my head:

Yaay!!  I think the fact that I left it in so long is what made it lighter and more orange (since my hair tends to bleach orange).  ^_^

It did change the texture of my hair pretty significantly, although it's only noticeable when wet.  So, I notice it when I'm washing my hair, but otherwise it actually feels about the same.  I did however take care to not wash my hair for 3 days before dyeing, and since then I have not washed my hair using shampoo (not even immediately after dyeing).  I've been using just water and the deep conditioner treatment from Burt's Bees.

I've incidentally discovered that you really can "wash" your hair using only conditioner!!! I think I'm going to try this for awhile, although I'll probably switch to something less expensive than Burt's Bees after I finish this tube.

In any case... hair adventure success!!