As many of you already noticed, I wasn't around for awhile. I've been very ill and have had to lie low since Thanksgiving. Emails and
competition prizes need to be sent out, and the lounge was in desperate need of Christmas decorations!
But now I'm back on my feet, in the Christmas spirit, and I've got the place all gussied up for the occasion, ready to serve seasonal
bevvies (on the house!) each day to all of you lovely Lush Loungers!
For the next month, we'll be serving Lush and B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful limited edition Christmas treats each day, reviewing
over 50 limited edition items spanning the years. So for all you folks who are new to Lush, you'll get to have a look at Christmases
past as well!
To start the holidays off just right, we've got our first 2 seasonal product reviews:
Enjoy!
Christmas Bath Ballistics: Christmas Carol
Christmas Gifts: White Christmas
Yesterday, we started the holidays off with our first 2 Christmas product reviews.
Today, we bring you a product review for a rare 2001 Christmas gift:
Christmas Gifts: Donner & Blitzen
For your optical pleasure, here's a larger picture of this gift item, along with the product description as taken from the Yuletide 2001
Lush Times:
Today we sing the praises of the deliciously divine....
Christmas Bubble Bar Slices: Christmas Kisses
Today's specials include a frothy hunk o' rock candy and a gorgeous champagne cocktail!
LUSH:
Christmas Bubble Bar Slices: Candy Cane
B NEVER TOO BUSY TO BE BEAUTIFUL:
Cocktail: Christmas Soap
Today's specials contain orange juice, cinnamon, cloves, and black pepper!
(And I've created a special room...for all of Lush's Christmas products! Click HERE to break in the sofas!)
Christmas Ballistics: Letters To Santa (with candy letters; North American version)
Christmas Ballistics: Letters To Santa (with foam letters; UK version)
There are two very different Letters To Santa Bath Ballistics currently being sold by Lush.
with foam letters
aka
The UK Version
with candy letters
aka
The North America Version
The UK version has big foam letters sticking out of it, & it's a slightly lighter shade of yellowish-green.
As you will see in my reviews, these variations make quite a difference.
Today's special is a 2004 Christmas concoction of orange musk and cinnamon.
(And I've created a special room...for all of Lush's Christmas products! Click HERE to break in the sofas!)
Christmas Ballistics: Kissletoes
Enjoy today's specials with honey, orange, and a toffee flavour!
(And I've created a special room...for all of Lush's Christmas products! Click HERE to break in the sofas!)
Christmas Ballistics: Teddy Bears Christmas
Christmas Soaps: Teddy Bears Christmas (available only in gifts)
pictures as I went.
So click HERE to check out our new feature: The Wine Journal!
Enjoy today's rare Christmas 2001 special, a rejuvenating blend of cinnamon, ginger, and frankincense!
Christmas Soaps: Reddy For Christmas
product pictures as I went. So click HERE to check out our new feature: The Wine Journal!
And I reformatted THE LUMINARY LUSHIE page, as I got a chance to view it with the screen resolution used by the majority of visitors,
and you lot had been scrolling side to side all this time! Why did no one tell me of this inconvenience?!? Aw, well. I've fixed it for you,
anyway.
Today's special is a honey toffee scented cocktail, served with a super big Christmas hug from me to you!
Christmas Bath Ballistics: Teddy Bears Christmas (edit)
Christmas Gifts: Christmas Hugs
I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday! Today we're serving up a load o' sweet tastin' goodies, including licorice liquor, cinnamon
and clove spiced wine, hot chocolate and orange (for those who are a bit more nice than naughty), with all of the above being topped
off with a rich almond cream froth!
Christmas Gifts: Merry Christmas
Christmas Bath Ballistics: Christmas Party (white version from 2003 and 2004) & Jingle Spells
scented Christmas Party has made appearances ever since 2003. While in development, Christmas Party was originally intended to
be orange, but it was instead sold as a white Bath Ballistic in 2003 and 2004, and it is this white version that I've reviewed today. (Note
that for 2005, Lush went back to plan A, dressing this bath in an orange hue....a review of which will be coming shortly.)
Today's Yuletide special is inspired by a rare 2003 recipe, with a Siberian pine, cedarwood, lime, and fennel blend:
Christmas Soaps: Merry Christmas (Here It Is)
Today's specials are bold little numbers: a sparkling disco glitterball of a pastel pink plum champagne cocktail and a potently
blended lavender and blackcurrant liquor, neither are for the timid!
Christmas Bath Ballistics: Sugar Plum
Christmas Soaps: Twas The Night Before Christmas
Christmas Bubble Bar Slices: Tam O'Santa
Christmas Gifts: Christmas Soap Stacks (for 2003, 2004, and 2005)
Christmas Massage Bars: The Christmas Massage
Tam O'Santa is a flawlessly unique Christmas spice Bubble Bar from Christmas 2002. Note that in 2001, Tam O'Santa was a red
bubble bar slice with a Santa face on top; the Tam O'Santa I've reviewed is the white sqaure version with a dusting of gold -- it looks
identical to 2003's Santa Baby Bubble Bar Slice, which shared the same exact fragrant recipe as Sex Bomb Bath Ballistic. Tam
O'Santa, on the other hand, has a delicious Christmas-specific frankincense and allspice aroma.
The Christmas Soap Stacks change year after year; I've written one review for all of them. The picture with my review is of 2005's
Christmas Soap Stack, which contains Twas The Night Before Christmas, Snowcake, and Angel's Delight Soaps. The picture below
shows 2004's version of this gift: (from back to front) Spice Mountain Soap, Snowcake Soap, and Angel's Delight Soap.
I've been trying to squeeze in a few gift reviews for you, as Lush currently has a special offer: if you buy $45 worth of goodies in the
shop, you can get a free Christmas gift! (Or, more accurately, any Christmas item that was made in 2005...though you'd be mad not to
go for broke and grab a multi-item gift!)
So here's yet another gift for your freebie frenzied consideration!
Christmas Gifts: Chirpy Christmas
And so we have our last reviews for 2005! But don't expect the seasonal specials to stop there! Nonono...our Lush holiday party shall
keep on goin' right into January!
Besides, I think we deserve it since we got a late start on Christmas reviews, don't you?
Today I've posted additional gift reviews, being that two of this year's reviewed gifts were also sold last year in 2004. Same names,
different wrap, different contents.
Christmas Gifts: Chirpy Christmas (2004 and 2005)
Christmas Gifts: Merry Christmas (2004 and 2005)
I must say that one of the things that disappointed me about Lush's 2005's gift collection was the general lack of Christmas-themed
wrapping paper. Many of 2005's gifts -- even the repeats from last year -- were changed to look more like year-round gifts.
Now, these disappointed feelings of mine have nothing to do with the so-called "War On Christmas" thing going on in the US. In fact, I
could actually understand the lack of Christmas-themed wrap had Lush decided to take an all-inclusive "Happy Holidays" approach,
rather than a "Merry Christmas" one. But that's not the case here at all. Calling a gift "So Christmas" or "Merry Christmas", filling it with
seasonal (and often unisex spice scented) products, and then wrapping it in pink and turquoise all-occasion paper just doesn't seem
all that thoughtful to me, is all. I'd like to feel that I'm buying an actual seasonal gift, as opposed to something that appears to simply
be an extension of their year-round offerings. (And if you're like me, already giving Lush gifts to everybody as "thanks for being you"
gestures throughout the year....)
Take, for example, the light blue-green wrap of this year's Chirpy Christmas: last year the wrap had the same design on it, but at least
the background was a festive bright green, set against a red ribbon. You can look at my Chirpy Christmas 2004 and 2005 reviews to
see the difference for yourself.
And then for what I believe is one of the most glaring of so many available examples, there's the Merry Christmas Gift, which, last year,
was decorated in smiling, Santa-capped gingerbread men and tied with a shiny red bow. This year, however, the wrap was a pastel
coloured, abstract geometical design wrap that had little or nothing to do with the holiday season. You can see a side-by-side
comparison below. Maybe I'm in the minority on this one, who knows. But 'til next Christmas, I shall hope that 2006 sees Lush putting
a little more thought into their Christmas gift designs, allowing them to look as deliciously festive as their contents!
