Random bath and body um... amalgamation

I know amalgamation is the wrong word okay?  Let me just get that off my chest before ya'll start thesaurusising on me.  I just like the way it looks and I'm too lazy to think of the word that means "review-and-sort-of-gathering-of-all-recent-bath-and-body-products-in-one-post".

Lately though, I have been trying all sorts of new things and I wanted to do a sort of review in case anyone out there in the wild, wide world is wanting to buy them and wondering how they work.  SO, hey, ho, let's go!

What:  The oddest Lush product I've ever used.  Lush's Glorious Mud.  It's supposed to be a skin exfoliator cum mask of sorts with Rhassoul Mud in it which is supposed to be very good for you. 

How it works:  You break/ crumble off a piece and it promptly goes to hell, crumbling like sand, which is why I used a bowl.  You bring it into the shower, wet your skin, rub the product all over and like it sit for a while before showering it off.

Let me tell you what did not work about this product at all.  The fact that it looks like mud.  Seriously, muddy smears were left all over the bathtub, shower curtain and white walls.  It looked like a hippo from the Mekong River (according to Wikipedia there are no hippos in the Mekong River.  I know there are catfish, but I'm terrified of catfish.  Come to think of it, I'm terrified of hippos too.) big, friendly dog from the Mekong River had come into the tub and shook itself, splattering mud all over the place.  Everything I touched got smeared.  I was really panicked about what to tell Afua, in case she thought I had come in from without and rolled all over the place.  The smell is also something I can do without.

But.  Let me tell you what worked.  IT worked.  My skin felt gloriously soft afterwards, so much so that I was forced to wonder if the inconvenience of slathering it on was worth it after all.

Will I come back for more?  Not until I get a bathroom all to myself and can use it without worrying that the bath looks like Norman Bates came in and did a number.

What:  Soap and Glory's The Righteous Butter body butter

How it works:  Pretty darn well.  I've always been curious about Soap and Glory and I enjoy their old timey packaging, so I picked this up from Boots.  For this massive tub, it was about £6, which is cheaper both than The Body Shop's body butter and Boots' own body butter.  It smells like grapefruit which is a scent I love and it spreads quite easily, without a texture that's too oily.  In fact, this is one of the least oily body butters I've used.

I worried that that meant that it wouldn't work as well, but I've been using it for about three weeks now, and my skin feels great.

Will I come back for more:  Yes!  It's good value for money.

What:  Lush's Rock Star soap.  I previously blogged about the scent in the form of the Creamy Candy Bubble Bar here, and how I didn't like the way the bubble bar worked, but that I loved the scent.  Well I finally got it in soap form.

How it works:  Dry, this feels very creamy and so I didn't think it would lather up too well.  Well, it does.  It lathers beautifully, doesn't melt too fast and you get that lovely pink scent that grew on me so insidiously.  I have been using half the slice for about three weeks and the other half I leave on the table next to my laptop so that I keep getting whiffs.

The only thing about this soap is that it does make your skin feel squeaky clean so if you want a more moisturising soap, it'll have to be something else.  For me, however, I like the clean feeling and seeing as I whack on body butter after every single shower, it doesn't matter.

Will I come back for more? Yes!!  I'll probably bring a whole chunk back to (election torn) Singapore.

What:  The Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Treatment.  I have heard people on youtube raving about this and how shiny and smooth and silky it made their hair.  I wanted to try it but it was get this, £27.  Let's all hold our hats for a moment.

It has macadamia and argan oil in it.  I asked Shriya and Anjuly if they would pay that price for a hair product and they said if, and only if it worked miracles, they would.  So I bit the bullet.

How it works:  I'm torn about this.  On the one hand, in some ways it's working well.  For one, it's not greasy.  Shriya says my ends definitely look more cared for and they do look shinier (and it's very possible she's right because she's objective and sees me very often), but to be honest, I feel that my ends have actually always been relatively healthy and so this wasn't a miraculous difference.  They have gotten better, but only a little. (Unscientific comparison between the second and third photo [after] and the fourth photo [before].  Difference?) 

One thing that is true is that my comb and fingers are whooshing through my hair a lot more smoothly, so it must be smoother and it does feel softer, though how much smoother and softer, I don't know.  A lot of people love the scent, but I personally don't like it - I think it smells a bit like when I spray a cockroach with Baygon at home.  The scent doesn't really linger though, so that's fine.  But then again, I'm one exception out of many many people who are absolutely raving about it, so I might be crazy.

Bottom line:  It's not bad, but the price really confuses me.  If it was like £5 or £7 I would be like wa-hey!!  Do it!  It's great!

Will I come back for more:  Well, it's good to use an oil to seal the ends of your hair to prevent damage and split ends, and this is non-greasy and very comfortable to apply (for example, olive oil is a lot more obviously greasy).  I just don't know if it's worth it.  I'll use the whole bottle and wait for a miracle to happen (maybe it just needs time!) but I'll need to think about it. 

It is possible though that it will work wonders for people with very dry and damaged ends and make a huge difference, so if you can afford it, go ahead and try it!

That's it for today folks, I hope someone out there on this little blue planet found that useful! 

Do you have any bath and body products or suggestions to share?  Feel free to leave a comment!