Wednesday, August 24, 2016

My first huge Lush haul, Why I ordered from the UK, and preview of what's to come!

Hello! How's everyone? Today is just the beginning of me finally bringing something different to the blog! Every time I try to start a new segment or series I either get busy or lose interest, haha! But I feel a serious obsession coming on with Lush, combined with a new attitude of trying to take time for myself more lately. There's several other things I'm into enough to warrant reviewing and posting, partly because I really do love reviewing things, and partly because I LOVE to read reviews! I promise I have bought nothing at Ulta, Sephora, or Lush without reading a hundred reviews. Mostly when I can't sleep at night! As with anything that's a little pricey, I always do my research to find the best deal! Hopefully you guys will like the different approach I'm taking on the upcoming product reviews--there's no shortage of Lush reviews on line so I've come up with a original take, I think! :)




This is a wordy post with a lot of pictures so get a snack and get comfy! Be sure to read all the way to the end :)

Lush boxes smell good :)

Ok first these boxes are NOT as big as they look in the pic! Haha!! I wish. They are about the size of smaller amazon boxes. 

The first box contained most of the bath bombs and one bubble bar I bought. I placed my order on the Lush UK website, after doing a lot of research, because the bombs are at least $2 US dollars cheaper when you do the conversion from pounds! The basic shipping is only a couple dollars more than the Lush USA shipping, and from what I've read takes the same amount of time. About 5-7 business days for a standard order. You can choose a more pricey option with tracking, but I decided to risk it this time. Talk about nerve wracking! But it did show up right at 7 business days after I ordered. SO ANYWAY, if you order enough things to balance out the savings and the shipping, you can really save a lot! I saved about $20 on this order! Like I do with my Picture Polish orders, I prefer to save up and make a sizeable order instead of picking up a little bit here and there, it saves a lot of money in the long run, if you can stand to wait for international shipping!
 
In case you're wondering, I do have a Lush store here, there's only one in my state and its not super close to me. I've only been there once-and from what I've heard it's a small store. I do like to go occasionally to sniff the items and be sure I like what I like before I order online! I'll do that with candles as well. Gotta smell them first, haha!

view of no-packaging packaging

Another thing I've noticed is the UK orders do not shrink wrap the items. I believe the USA orders do. It's in line with their no-packaging mantra. However, I'm not sure if these peanuts are recyclable!

This is what was in the first box under all the peanuts. Happy to say, everything was snug as a bug in there, nothing was broken! WHAT A RELIEF! From what I remember seeing the French Kiss bubble bars have a little piece of dried lavender sticking up out the top, this one either didn't have that or it fell off. No matter to me.

A bit more history on my Lush experience-all within the past year: I've only used the following bath bombs: Ickle Baby Bot, Avobath, Tisty Tosty, Sex Bomb, and Twilight. I've never used ANY other Lush products other than trying them in the store! No shower gels, bubbles, nothing. 

Twilight- I held on to my Twilight so long because I was expecting to love it the most and it got a bit dried out and didn't do much. Won't let that happen again! 

Ickle Baby Bot-it was allright, smelled good but disappears too fast for me! I think it's "meant" for kids, hence the small size.

Tisty Tosty-was allright also, didn't last long but smelled nice. This would not have been a repurchase for me. (That's my favorite way to classify all things: "Repurchase". That goes for food, restaurants, clothes, polish, etc! I think it speaks volumes.)

Sex Bomb-was the first one I ever used, it smelled like rose but in a grandma kind of way. Husband was not a fan of the scent it left behind. I will probably try it again though!

 Avobath.....oh Avobath. This is the one that did me in-who would have thought! It turned the bath a beautiful Caribbean turquoise and smelled strongly of lemongrass, which apparently I am a huge fan of!!! That bath was seriously life changing. 

So here is my selections, I'm not too big into citrus or bombs with a ton of glitter in them so I may not be getting some of the super popular ones. These are all bath bombs except the A French Kiss, which is a bubble bar.

Seriously. This box smelled so good. 


Here is the second, smaller box. 


It contained my invoices and a little information sheet about the items I bought. 


You can see the Comforter bubble bar peeking through...


In this box was the Comforter bubble bar, samples (you have to request them in the delivery notes box! Not sure if you get them if you don't. I also think it depends on how much they have laying around. Thanks again, research!)


Being a newb I asked for some samples of some other bath bombs I think, as well as anything rose or lavender. I am still in the process of figuring out which are "Kitchen" products and which are not!


Holy smokes! Mother load! I was NOT expecting all this! 


A look at what they included....these are tiny little pots a little bigger than a quarter. 


Here is a look at the amounts I got. I'm sure it varies depending on who packed it! Some of these things I have never heard of so I'm looking into that!


ahhhh the Rosie box. Heart. Eyes. 

I ordered this because a) it's cheaper than the one in the US stores and b) it's the only way you can get your mitts on some Rose Jam shower gel NOT during the holidays-so I was informed the last time I was in a store. I just couldn't pull the trigger in that store, and I'm glad I didn't! And c) the contents are a little different in the UK version. 

Look. At. This. Packaging. It comes like this, wrapped in beautiful a paper ready to give as a gift. Hint hint! 

Rosie Box

Inside the tag is a description of the contents. 
 

This is the bottom of the box 


after you begrudgingly take the paper off...another box. A good smelling box. 


there was also a little catalog in there. Which also smells good, haha. 


here is the contents of the Rosie box (UK)

I already had the Rose Jam bubble roon in my cart when i decided to see if they carried this box. I deleted it and decided to get this box. 
Like I said before, Tisty Tosty would not have been a repurchase, but I guess I'll give it another shot! 
Ro's Argan body conditioner-again, not familiar, newb! It smells divine but just using my sample I wish it was a little thicker. 
Also my first shampoo bar! I have been asking friends how to use these, I have no experience! 
And then the Rose Jam shower gel. I did cheat and use it a little before typing up this blog-and it's everything I dreamed it would be and more. I used the Ro's Argan lotion after on a night time shower and I smelled it on myself all night. Amazing! I can't wait to get a big bottle of it if it comes out again during the holidays. 

Rosie box UK version

A few quick notes...The Rosie box (UK) is £24.95, which is $32.63 according to my conversion (and prob not 100% correct) app. The USA  box is $39.95 and comes with Ultra Balm instead of shampoo bar. I'm  quite happy with this version!

Sooooo there you go! I am planning on doing individual reviews on these items as I use them so look for those to come! And I would LOVE LOVE LOVE any input from fellow Lushies out there, what are your favorite scents and products, what would you like to see featured here, and HOW do you use those dang shower jellies!?!

Here's a little peek at how I'm storing them for the moment...subject to change :) The jar of soaps is just a collection of soaps from various places! I really like the way it looks. I also have a larger jar of boring Epsom salts for soaking.

ALSOOOO (see, I told you to read to the end) with in the last few days I have actually discovered what the Lush Kitchen is, and what they do, and boy oh boy am I in trouble! I may or may not have some items coming from there soon! ;) Would hard to find or LE small batch Lush goodies might be a good addition to a giveaway? Yes? No?
 
Thanks for reading to the end, hopefully it all made sense, see yall soon!

2 comments:

  1. Mmmmm...that is a delicious looking box-o-goodies. I hope you love the shampoo bars as much as I do!

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    Replies
    1. I used the one I have yesterday on myself and my 4 year old! I am really impressed with how much it lathered up...but I still needed a little conditioner and so did he (long hair) so I guess I will have to get a conditioner bar now :)

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