Ickle Baby Bot Bath Bomb by Lush

I’m not a child, well not in body but I make up for this by having the mental age of an eight year old and constantly mess around. I’m also a bit of a fidget, especially when it comes to settling down and sleeping at night. If it isn’t my chest making me cough, the voices in my head making me laugh or just general unease, in the words of the band Faithless - “I can’t get no sleep”.

Enter various products containing menthol to clear my chest and lavender to try and knock me out. The first of the products used to try and help ease me to sleep was the Ickle Baby Bot Bath Bomb by Lush.

This is what Lush have to say about their Ickle Baby Bot Bath Bomb:

‘A gentle lavender bath bomb to relax children before bedtime. This is a bath bomb designed to look after young children’s delicate skin, and is so gentle it’s suitable for babies over six months. Its aromatherapy oils also work to soothe irritable cherubs before bedtime. Lavender is a calming aromatherapy oil, used in traditional medicine to treat skin irritations, sunburn and insect bites.’ 

Unlike most bath bombs that look like and are the same size as a softball the Ickle Baby Bot actually is moulded to look like a robot. The child inside my head screams, that is soooo cool.

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At this point I would add photographs of it fizzing away in the bath but *cough* someone in their infinite wisdom decided to re-format the laptop and all of my images have been wiped. You’ll have to trust me on this one people. 

After being lobbed into the bath there is in my opinion a distinct lack of aroma - with other bath bombs its like a fragrance haze wafting from the water but Ickle Baby Bot is far more subtle. It doesn’t belt you in the face thankfully but you can pick up hints of lavender. My first thoughts were that this didn’t stand a chance of relaxing me and on further inspection of the water I couldn’t see any of the oils floating on the surface. Had I just lobbed the proverbial lemon into my bath?!?

Well yes and no. While the fragrance is subtle the longer you soak into the water the more you recognise it. Normally after exposure to a smell for a prolonged period I become used to it, but as this continuously alters you can tell its there but it is no way overpowering.

I soaked for an hour and again didn’t feel any of the oils in the water. After washing again my skin wasn’t that soft or smooth to the touch. It took about another hour after bathing for the full effects to come to the fore. Even though only mid afternoon I started to feel very relaxed and drowsy even after having a good nights sleep the night before. The following day my skin was very soft to the touch, so much more than usual.

Designed for small children and big adults with small brains (me) this ticks all of the boxes bar one. At £1.95 per bath I just think it’s a little too much when you can hardly ask a toddler for their feedback on the relaxing properties of the product.

I would recommend this for occasional use (if I had kids) but personally will veer away from this in future opting for the Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb. It has a stronger, more full bodied fragrance, can be broken in two to increase the value for money element and leaves my skin super silky soft.  

RECOMMENDED for kids....

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Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb by Lush

Bath bombs are not my thing; in fact until a couple of months ago I would have openly laughed in your face if you had said I would be sharing my thoughts on one here on the Internet.

The Lord of Misrule Bath Bomb by Lush however looked too good to turn down and will aching bones and joints I decided to give one a whirl and see if there were any benefits to be gained by literally launching £3.50 into the bath.

This is what Lush have to say about the Lord of Misrule:

‘Revel in your bath with this mischievous bomb that features a spicy herbal blend of patchouli and black pepper oil. Inspired by the ruler of the pagan Feast of Fools, Lord Of Misrule has a deep green exterior that slowly froths away to reveal a rich wine-coloured centre. Just like at the Feast of Fools, when the wine starts to flow, the popping candy crackles and the festivities begin…’

You can watch a cool video of the bomb fizzing away in the bath and read more about the product here.

Needless to say I wanted to toss this into the bath like a hand grenade but was stopped seconds before doing so. My childish giggling being pushed to one side as I was shown how to use it properly.

A little hot water drawn the bomb was placed into the water and the taps turned to hot. The fizzing and popping was instantaneous - the water changing to a lovely emerald green in a way not too dissimilar to an oil slick spreading. As I remain transfixed by the changing colour I noticed an oily film on the surface of the water and then blam, the beautiful fragrance of patchouli hit me and started to fill the bathroom.

After a few minutes the bomb had halved in size and the water started to become a deep red, and just as claimed, it looked like I was about to dip a toe into a massive bath of red wine (all my dreams come true).

Once completed dissolved the fragrance of patchouli and pepper was so clear it was almost hypnotic. The oily film remained and I was a little concerned that this would leave my skin oily after finishing, but alas this was not to be.

After soaking happily for 30 minutes yes my skin felt softer and much smoother, but would it feel the same after drying off? Well, yes, and what is even better is that the lovely fragrance had been absorbed by my skin leaving the faintest hints of patchouli, not too masculine but far from being feminine.

Is £3.50 too much for one? Well I’m inclined to say yes yet again, I think £3.50 for every bath is too much but the beauty of this bomb is that it is easy to break into two and at that price, effectively £1.75 I think its good value for money and would buy and use again.

To a bloke this has a fascinating wow factor watching it bubble and fizz away, smells lovely and leaves skin so much softer and smoother. You can’t say fairer than that in my opinion.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Thank you for taking the time to sneak a peek at my musings, why not tell me your favourite bath products in the comments below?

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Himalayan Detox Bath Salts from Therapie

Confession time, we have a very small bathroom and the space issue isn’t helped in the slightest by rafts of beauty products stacked like a game of Jenga gone wrong!

I like a soak in the bath, and for a long time was in love with Calvin Klein Eternity Bath Salts. They left my skin smooth and the fragrance was amazing. However I’ve become a little tight in my old age and spending in excess of £20 on bath salts is not something I do.

It had been a while since using bath salts but boom, amongst the hundreds of products that block my way to the sink on a daily basis was Himalayan Detox Bath Salts from Therapie.

To be blunt I’ve become instantly hooked on them.

Created by aromatherapist Michelle Roques Oneil the salts contain over 84 minerals and are infused with essential oils such as Lemongrass, Lavender, Juniper and Geranium.

It's at this point that I have to confess that every time I pick up the packet I giggle - if the salts were blue they would look just like a batch of blue Crystal Meth from Breaking Bad! 

As soon as the salts come into contact with the water there is a scent explosion. It’s awesome and the Lavender and Geranium are really evident but not overpowering and as you lay back into the warm water the stress eases away.

Personally, after a long day in the office the bath salts had a massively therapeutic effect – my eyes always feel heavy, my head clears and I feel totally at ease. This is valium in bath salt form.

The marketing blurb says: 

"A blissful cocktail of therapeutic Himalayan mineral salts, powdered Amethyst & essential oils of Lemongrass, Juniper & Geranium; these pink crystals work to balance pH levels & positive/negative ions, to help the body establish equilibrium. The Amethyst has a high mineral content, to heal & clarify problematic skin whilst counteracting the electro-magnetic energy we absorb from modern day gizmos. Add to this blood purifying & anti-inflammatory properties & discover that heaven is a bath soak".

Having used them a few times now, they never fail to send me off to a blissful sleep. My skin is smooth and soft to the touch. Combine the results on my skin with the beautiful aroma and therapeutic effects and you have a product that falls into the bath heaven category.

At £10 for a 100g pouch it is cheaper than Calvin Klein and has more benefits.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

What do you add to your baths?

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Lush I Should Coco

I had been mildly successful in avoiding Lush stores – while being able to smell them a mile away I've never really managed to get over the general sense of revulsion I experience when walking near one. I bit the bullet and actually decided to venture into their Manchester store a couple of years go (looking back, sadly for me it was actually close to a decade ago) – yes the hype I’d read about Lush overcame the rational (well I think I’m rational) thoughts bouncing around my noggin (that’s head for you non-Northern readers).

"I Should Coco" soap bar. I’d read about the "I Should Coco" soap bar online and saw it as too girlie to actually use. I bought a 100g bar and from the first time I used it I was hooked.

The pictures show the bar in all its glory and I won't be going into any amazing description of it. The only thing that you tend to miss nowadays when buying it online like some sort of subversive is the coconut on the top as shown below from my latest eBay purchase. For £1.95 for a bar weighing 100g it was never cheap soap by any stretch of the imagination. 

Layered into three shades of pink the topside of the bar was coated in flakes of coconut making it very easy to grip, even when wet. Basically the soap looked and oozed a very feminine vibe. It’s not something you’d be rushing to take into the showers at the gym.

The bar itself contains creamed coconut along with Orange and Coriander oil which smells almost sickly sweet. I wasn't never sure whether I should be washing with it, or indeed taking a sizeable bite from it. The mild coconut aroma is striking and blends fantastically well with the Orange oils.

After it is immersed in warm water, the aroma from the bar increases but never becomes overpowering on the senses. I'm now down to my last nub of the soap and actually worried about the day it is no more, deceased like a certain Norwegian Blue (if you don't get it reference 'Dead Parrot' by Monty Python).

The beauty of this soap is that that it lathers up superbly, with a little going a very long way. The coconut flakes act as a mild abrasive, exfoliating dead skin as you wash meaning that not only did you not need to use half a bar in the shower, but you also didn't need to use a different product to moisturise after washing.

The final results were and continue to be amazing, my skin felt clean, fresh and above all moisturised. Any traces of body odour after travelling on a packed tube train were removed and the soap left a very subtle but noticeable coconut fragrance that lingered for a few hours. What more could you ask from a soap?

I now regularly use this in the shower and haven't noticed any adverse effects at all. I'm actually quite tight with the use now though! The only problems apart from the actual price is that when used in the bath the soap does fall to pieces rather quickly. It turns the water pink, there is an oily residue around the bath and floating pieces of coconut seem to take an absolute age to remove when getting dried!

Overall I love this product and will not be returning to 90% of the major high street brands.

Using this encouraged me to try more from the Lush range. I’ve been converted – I’m no longer a Lush-o-sceptic!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

BeautykingUK needs you! 

I'm so in love with this soap that I think we should let Lush know how we feel. 

Show your support for the reintroduction of "I Should Coco" by clicking on the poll on the right hand side of this page - two seconds of your time could sway opinion.

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