Hands up if you love 'Gavin and Stacey'.
Tidy. And if it's not tidy, it's Lush.
And Lush (no Smiffy in sight) have just launched their new collection for Summer 2014, with six products that wouldn't seem out of place in your local fruit 'n' veg shop. Lemon, strawberry, mango, parsley and shea butter are all used in these whiffy concoctions that we've trialled so that you know exactly what you are spending your shekels on.
First up is one of their iconic bath bombs. This one is called 'Granny Takes a Dip' (€3.95), with its name being inspired by the '60s song 'Granny Takes a Trip'. And it lives up to its hippy name - the colours of the bomb match the colours of the jackets worn by the Beatles on the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band album and it dissolves into psychedelic swirls of colour.
It contains lemon oil to soften the skin and has a spicy side, with ginger and pepper boosting circulation.
Clockwise from left: Zest Hair Gelly, Granny Takes a Dip, Mangnificent soapTheir Zest Har Gelly (€14.75) is a funny little product. It's for all the world like Granny's Chivers jelly of yore and smells gorgeous - sweet wild orange oil that is the perfect zesty wake-me-up scent in the morning. To use, you take out the globby ball (it feels like something a child would just love to smack you in the face with), roll it lightly in your hands and pop it back into the pot. Then using the residue on your palms, smooth your hands through your hair to create the style you want.
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Except, well, it doesn't hold very well. In our clinical(ish) beaut.ie trials, we found that despite its medium-to-strong hold claims, it had actually very little hold. It was more for texture than heavy duty scaffolding. On the plus side, it did rinse out easily and left the hair smooth and soft, thanks to the carrageenan (extract from Irish moss seaweed).
And their Mangnificent (€5.25/100g) is one of two soaps in this release. It contains a blend of fresh and dried mango (and they didn't skimp on the mango, you can see the chunks in the soap). It's the perfect soap to wake you up on a Monday morning.
Clockwise from left: African Paradise body conditioner, Parsley Porridge soap, D-Fluff shaving creamThe second character in this soap opera is their Parsley Porridge soap (€5.25/100g), a herbal little fella with antibacterial tea tree and milky oatmeal. The tiny porridge oats lift dry and dead skin, while the aloe gel cools and soothes. It's suitable for both face and body, and perfect for oily or acne prone skin.
Next up is our pick of the bunch, the African Paradise body conditioner (€24.95/245g). This is an in-shower body-conditioner, packed full of shea butter, moringa oil, aloe vera and ylang ylang. Apply it to damp skin in the shower and then lightly rinse. It leaves your skin feeling like it has had some silk grafted on to it, and smells like nutty, shea gorgeousness.
The final product in this collect is the D-Fluff shaving cream (€6.70/100g or €12.15/250g), a fluffy lotion made with fresh strawberries, coconut oil, maple and corn syrups and egg whites. It sounds like something you should bake and serve at afternoon tea. It has a marshmallow-y consistency that actually spreads quite thinly so it isn't as luxurious as a thick foam. But it smells delicious and can also be used as a body wash, and that's what we'll be doing with ours.
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So tell us, are you liking the sound of anything in this new collection? Or are you getting a headache just reading it?
