Perfume Vaults: The Olive Branch

Today, I thought I'd do a little bit of shameless gloating! LOOK WHAT I OWN!


The Olive Branch is a shower gel that I truly love, and so I feel pratically honoured to own it in perfume for. Originally made for the Lush forum, I found this on eBay (Although a member of the forum, this was before my Lush time) This is exactly the scent of the shower gel, bang on!

For those of you who haven't smelt The Olive Branch yet, it's an eclectic mix of calm, and citrus. It's main notes are mandarin and bergamot, meaning that although it is fruity with a citrus punch, it is subtle in nature due to the inclusion of Vine Leaf. The perfumes lasting strength is also fantastic, it's one of those that goes for hours and hours and hours! Almost as if it won't give up! Lol! I'd say you'd get about 8-10 hours of wear out of this perfume. It's almost mouthwatering, this truly is the perfect perfume!

I cannot recommend this enough. If you can ever get your hands on a bottle, no matter the price, I say LEAP FOR IT! The only reason for me not giving this an ALL STARS Lush product title is the fact that it can't be bought anymore in stores or online, otherwise it would be in there in a heartbeat. Seriously, guys, hunt this down! You won't be dissapointed.

February Lush Favourites 2016

So, March has been going for a little while, so I thought.. Why not do a February favourites post? This will be short and sweet, with not much of a review for each product, but if they're on here, know that recently, I've been loving them!!


1) 25:43 perfume (shamless double picture use) - This is so sweet, and citrusy that it has been perfect for summoning the spiritual spring that we are all well and truly ready for! I smell lime, and white chocolate, so it's lovely and sweet. I think I've worn this every day since I had it delivered.

2) Whoosh Shower Jelly - I used to HATE shower jellies, like really super hate them, but recently I've been totally digging them. I've found the best way to use them is like a bar of soap, as opposed to breaking pieces off. It works better with the smaller ones because they seem firmer and easier to grasp, but the bigger ones last SO much longer! Whoosh is my favourite because of the smell, it's zesty with a bit of seaweed, it's a quintessential Lush smell to me. It's also perfect to wake you up in a morning!

3) Sunny Day - I've really been loving this recently! It's perfect to absolutely soak your hair in after you've washed it, and then blow dry out! Fly aways be gone, and say hello to sleek, soft hair! It's super easy to use and you get loads of product for your money. PLUS, it's got Lemon Juice in there which makes hair shiny and glossy! 

So those are my 3 Feb favourites! These aren't quite ALL STARS products yet, but I've been using and adoring these throughout February, and probably will do into March!

Lush ALL STARS: Sympathy For The Skin

So, my blog is doing well and better than I'd expected which I love! Thank you to everyone whos' been reading thus far! I've made some big steps, one being the addition of a twitter account linked to the blog (@freshmadelush) where I tweet funny things, and remind people every time I post, and then there's also this new series I'm going to be starting. I'm going to be calling it, Lush ALL STARS (fans of the drag race can unite here!) This series will collate the best of the best Lush products into one smooth category for your viewing pleasure. I don't yet have a frequency at which I plan to post this series, but for now it will be as and when I find a product worthy. So, without further ado, let's begin!

As you can tell by this title, the first product making it's way into this list is, Sympathy For The Skin Hand and Body Lotion.

This cream packs a hella good punch of moisture! I use this all over my body in a morning, and I'm good to go for the whole day. It's predominant ingredient is Fair Trade Vanilla Pod Infusion. Besides this smelling absolutely fantastic, it has a beautifully softening effect on the skin. This, partnered with the Almond Oil, and Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter, means this lotion can really deeply moisturise, without feeling at all greasy.

For me, the best part of this lotion is the inclusion of Bananas. Bananas, in the context of cosmetics, are an emollient (Meaning it helps to keep moisture in the skin) and are also highly moisturising and softening, meaning skin is flexible, and getting rid of that tight, dry feeling!

The scent of this is a mix of Lemon, Rose, Sandalwood, Labdanum, and Vanilla, but honestly, all I can smell is cookie dough. The perfume of this is so absurdly delicious. It's strong enough to wear on it's own, but partnered with Vanillary perfume, and you are literally a walking bakery.

Members of the Lush ALL STARS will not receive a rating out of 5. They are an ALL STARS product because they score a 6.

Review: D'fluff Strawberry Shaving Soap

Shaving is perhaps the most ignored part of the Lush store, and for good reason really, is there anything 'exciting' about a shaving cream? Perhaps not. The answer Lush are giving to this is D'fluff, a strawberry milkshake scented shaving soap.

So, how do you use it? Wet the area you wish the shave, scoop some D'fluff up in your hand, lather it up on the area you wish to shave, and then use that as your shaving cream. Simple enough. This is a product that I really didn't want to like, simply because 'it's boring' but alas, I've fallen in love.

First of all, this contains SO many ingredients to soften and hydrate the skin, which for anyone with dry skin like me, is a MUST when shaving! We have; Coconut Oil, Rapeseed Oil, Glycerine, Cocoa Butter, Strawberries, and Fresh Organic Free Range Eggs Whites, to name to just a few.

This helps to combat after shave fluffy-ness and dryness, by hydrating and smoothing.

This also contains Rose Absolute, which is perfect for avoiding post-shave irritation due to it's soothing nature.

Personal experience of the product? I find it easy to use in the shower, I use it to shave my underarms and belly (I can't stand body hair!) and not my face, I think it might be a little bit too rich for my sensitive skin, but go ahead and try it for yourself. I do notice a notable difference between D'fluff and any drugstore bought shaving cream. It's thick, creamy and luxurious. My only downside is that recently, Lush seem to have added chunks of Strawberries inside of there. This makes it a little bit messy to use at times, especially if in a rush, but apart from that I cannot fault it. I've not had an ingrown hair since using it, and oddly, I find I don't need to shave as often (once every week, as opposed to once every three days) 

I would rate this product a 4.5 out of 5. The only reason it's not a 5 is because of the recent addition of strawberries. Fucking god damn strawberries.

My Current Hair Routine For Thick Unruly Hair

Today I'm going to take you through a really simple routine for hair like mine. Thick and unruly, my hair has a mind of it's own. I have a lot of fly-aways and flicks in my hair where it does not go the way I want it to, and sometimes struggle with grease and oil. This routine would also work really well on thin hair with the same troubles, but don't go as heavy with the conditioner would be my advice!

Step 1 is Big Shampoo. Big is an ultra clarifying and volumising shampoo due to it's high content of Sea Salt. Massaging this into the scalp will add bounce to hair that often falls flat, I love to really work this one in!
Big also contains Lemon and Lime, which will help to add shine to the hair, making it look vibrant and luscious (Pun!)
It also contains Coconut Oil, which will soften the hair, making it more sleek, and taming fly-aways.

Big has almost a jelly-like consistency, with the chunks of Sea Salt floating throughout. It's super easy to use, all you do is scoop out a small amount in your hand, and rub it in to your hair/scalp! It has a really beautiful, yet neutral sea-side fragrance to it, which lingers in the hair too. This is one of the best-sellers, and I have no reason to ask why! If you have thick or even fine hair, that often falls flat and flumps, you need this!

Step 2 is Happy Happy Joy Joy Conditioner (HHJJ) This one is perfect if, like me, you find Veganese too light, and American Cream too strong! This has a luxurious base of Almond Milk, Rose Oil, and Orange Blossom Water, all helping to smooth, add shine, and to protect the hair.
Perhaps the best thing about HHJJ is the scent! It's a mélange of Orange Blossom, Neroli, and Grapefruit. Fans of Orange Blossom Perfume, Sakura Bath Bomb, or Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub will love this! This conditioner is perfumed, and so the scent really does last in the hair. Sometimes after using this, I find I don't feel I need to wear perfume that day, which for me, is a big deal.
The high content of oil in this conditioner, means it lightly coats the hair. Adding gloss and shine, without weighing the hair down, and making it look over-conditioned, or greasy.

Step 3 is really simple. After you've washed everything out, spray Sunny Day generously throughout the hair before blow-drying. This is going to tame those damn fly-aways and stop hair from getting so tangled. Out, damned knot!
It contains Honey to soften the hair, and moisturise it. The number one cause of fly-aways is dry hair, so this really helps as an active ingredient, there's also Lemon Juice to add shine, and Rosewood Oil to tame hair down and make it behave! Sunny Day can also be used on dry hair, though I find it does work best on wet hair.

I'm quite into breaking the cost down for you readers recently, so the subtotal for this routine is:
Big Shampoo: 330g/£12.75
Happy Happy Joy Joy: £9.75/100g (This one IS worth it, I promise!)
Sunny Day (Not Vegan) £9.95/100g

Lets Talk... Temple Balms

For those of you who don't know, Lush has a spa! *Angels sing* There are 10 treatments available over 8 locations in the UK. I've had three of them, The Validation Facial, The Tailor Made, and The Synaesthesia. All of them leaving me feeling fantastic and grounded. I will talk more about the spa in another post, today I'm going to talk about the Temple Balm products used in some of the treatments, that are actually available to buy, only in the stores with a Spa inside.

There are two available, and if I remember rightly (My store is not a spa store) they retail for about £5.75. I own both of them, Whoosh, and Dream Time, both scented with the corresponding products in the store.
So, how do you use them? You warm them up with your finger, and apply them to your temples (I do wrists and sides just below forehead) to provide relief or stimulation. They both contain different essential oils, designed to soak into your skin and 'do a thing'. Do I find they do a thing? No.

Whoosh is designed to wake you up and get you going on your day, which scent-wise I agree, however I don't think the concept of the balm works. This works very well as aromatherapy (smelling it straight from the tin) in a morning, or even in an exam, but I don't think as a balm, it works for the intended purpose. I use this mainly as a solid perfume actually, as Whoosh is a lovely, zesty scent, which is very clean and classy. I don't think this one is worth the money.

Dream Time, however, I do think works. This one is naturally calming and is scented with the Dream Cream scent, or the Dream Time bath oil, if you're lucky enough to have Oxford Street as your local Lush store. This one I apply to my head and within minutes I'll be calm and ready for bed. I find this one amazing for nerves and anxiety in daily life, as a little bit of this on the wrists of the forehead does wonders to soothe and rationalise my thinking and my nervousness. I actually really do love Dream Time. This one is available in the Lush Spa gift set that is sold in all stores for £33.95.

All in all, I'm not entirely sure a Temple Balm is a real thing, I think it's a clever marketing strategy and is a good money maker, and although I do love the Dream Time Temple Balm, I'm not sure I'd pay for it again, as I just don't think they're up to par with the rest of the amazing products Lush has to offer.

Tallow From The Other Side

I am a massive supporter of cruelty-free cosmetics, and will only allow myself to use brands that are cruelty free. Animal testing in particular is not a thing that I understand. In my head, if a consultation with a customer went like this;
Shop Assistant: So that's our best selling cream
Customer: Oh, okay, will I get a reaction from it?
Shop Assistant: Well, I rubbed a bit on a bunny, and it worked out fine, so you're good!

I would be incredibly worried. I don't find rubbing things on animals comforting. I believe in human tested cosmetics, it's more reliable, more ethical, and a darn sight more fair. For years, The Body Shop has been known to support animal rights and campaign against animal testing. It was a brilliant and highly ethical brand. That was, until it was bought by a parent company, L'Oreal, who do infact test on animals, and contribute to animal testing. Up to this point, The Body Shop still did not test, it was just owned by a company that did. Slightly forgivable to some, until recently...

Photo credit to: Alessandro Commisso.

In Brazil, The Body Shop have recently taken over a small cosmetics brand called, Empório Body Store. Meaning they are no selling this soap, containing Sodium Tallowate - Animal Fat.

Turns out this lucky four leaf clover soap is only lucky if you're a human. Sorry animals, you don't get luck from The Body Shop.

If you really want to be cruelty free, then do your research, there's lots of resources available to find out what brands do and don't test. This is not vegans or vegetarians 'shoving their lifestyle down your throat' before you start, because I'm neither. I simply believe in animal rights.

The following video is fantastic, as Emma talks about a list of non-cruelty free brands that you maybe thought where: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoCdwrPUu2I

Perfect Lush Pamper Night For Dry/Very Dry Skin

First order of business, my skin is very dry. Sometimes of a morning I could literally chip my skin off, it's dry and flaky and horrible. I'm on tablets for my acne called Isotretinoin (Also known as Accutane or Roaccutane) and although they work incredibly well, it really really dries your skin out to the point where I feel like submerging my face in water for three hours. I remind myself I would most likely die if I did that, however my skin is so dry I've considered it. Anyway, I am digressing slightly, so I'll continue on with the point of the post. I have found a holy grail pamper routine for dry to very dry skin. I say the world pamper routine loosely, because you could do this everyday if you had the time, but I kind of have stuff to do a lot so I can't.

1) Apply Ultrabland - Apply Ultrabland all around the face, rub it in for about a minute or so, maybe longer depending on how much of a deep cleanse you feel you need. Don't wash ultrabland off at this stage. Ultrabland is a 'back to basics' type cleanser, it contains 7 active ingredients; Almond Oil, Rose Water, Beeswax, Honey, Glycerine, Rose Absolute and Fresh Iris Extract. There are a couple of base ingredients that will not have an effect on the skin, and are used to preserve. All of the ingredients are designed to soften and soothe, Honey is going to help lock moisture into the skin, and so is especially good for this routine

2) Cleanse Ultrabland off with Let The Good Times Roll, face & body cleanser (LTGTR) - LTGTR is going to give you a good scrub to get rid of any flaky bits of skin, with an Italian biscuit named, Polenta, which is packed with vitamins and minerals! Simply mix a piece of this with water to form a paste, and then clean your face with that. This has Cinnamon powder to stimulate the skin, and Corn oil to gently soften, which is what we're after with this routine, we're going to be seriously hydrated and superbly soft!

The best thing about LTGTR is hands down the smell. This literally smells like cake. Fans of Yog Nog would love this cleanser!

3) After cleansing face, pat dry, and apply Full of Grace facial serum (FOG) - 

FOG is a little but mighty bar packed full of ingredients to hydrate, soothe and firm the skin, like Rose Petal Infusion, Almond Oil, and Cupuacu Butter. This even has Portobello Mushrooms inside, which are packed full of vitamins to care for dry skin.

This works like a massage bar, warm this up between your fingers and it will create an oil/butter to apply to the face. Use this liberally, but don't yet rub in, leave a fine oil over the face, to allow your skin to drink it in naturally.

4) Apply Oatifix Fresh Face Mask - We're going to apply this over the layer of FOG that we've just put on our skin. This will not take away from the effect of the facemask, but instead will just help to boost the moisture, meaning we can take full benefit from this pamper routine.

Oatifix contains bananas, which are a natural emollient, meaning they're fantastic for keeping moisture in the skin, and soothing any itchiness which may occur. It's formulated with Oat Milk, meaning it's soothing as can be, and contains really porridge oats for gentle exfoliation. 

The smell of this is on par with LTGTR, it's so delicious smelling. It smells almost exactly like a continental breakfast, two parts bakery to one part fabulous!

5) After about ten minutes, wash Oatifix off with warm (NOT HOT) water, and you're done! It's really important that you don't use hot water, as this can strip the skin of natural oil and moisture!

Subtotal for pamper night: £29.45

LTGTR £6.95/100g

Ultrabland £7.50/45g £11.95/100g

FOG £8.25 

Oatifix: £6.75

You're going to get so many uses out of these products too, it really is worth the price. In some high end brands, you'd pay the subtotal for just the cleanser! I'd definately recommend this routine as it's so easy to do, and doesn't require much effort either.

Review: Grease Lightning Spot Treatment

Digging into the holy bucket of Lush products for todays post. Grease Lightning is a strong contender for best spot treatment to work for me. Reducing red unsightly spots down to smaller, flesh-coloured minor bumps in a matter of minutes, this has quickly become part of my daily routine!

So, what's in it? A whole lot of Tea Tree, Aloe Vera, and Witch Hazel. All natural anti-bacterials and soothers. A study was done on facial care and it was found in terms of acne, products containing 5% of tea tree or more worked exactly the same as products with 5% of Benzyl Peroxide (A leading spot buster found in most strong drugstore treatments) So with Grease Lightning, you're taking the need for chemicals right away, leading to a more natural, and better for you, skin routine.

Aloe Vera is also fantastic for soothing for when spots are especially red and puffy! Aloe really helps to reduce redness, and get skin back to it's normal condition, it's for this reason that Grease Lightning has a great second use as an after-sun!

It's a jelly like consistency, and so is really easy to use, and especially easy to dispense, as you can truly get only as much as you need, which is never a lot. The small amount on my hand would do your face twice over, so you really do get a lot of bang for your buck with this one. It comes in a nifty small little pump too, meaning you can easily take it with you and pop one in your bag for during the day if emergency strikes!

I see no reason to not rate this product a 5 out of 5, it does exactly what you'd expect and more! Plus it contains my favourite ingredient, Lavender, which helps to even out skin-tone and combination skin in general (patches of dry/oily skin), which I desperately need!

Gorilla Perfume: The President's Hat

Okay, so if by now, you do not know my love of Lush Perfume, then please imagine how excitable a dog gets when it sees food, now replace the dog with me, and the food with Lush Perfume.
President's Hat is an online exclusive perfume (available in Islington Gorilla Perfume branch, and the Oxford Street store) released as part of Volume 3.

This perfume contains Patchouli, however couldn't be more different from Karma, the signature scent of Lush, a mix of Orange flower and Patchouli herb. The President's Hat is a cocktail of Vanilla, Myrrh, and Patchouli.

Myrrh gives off a homely incense-like smell, giving it a powdery yet full note, whilst Patchouli offers depth to the fragrance making it almost seem 3D in scent, giving it depth and maturity.

The Vanilla note provides a sherbert feel to the perfume, delicate yet mild is a good way to describe the perfume. It's sweet and foody with an earthy kick. The perfume lasts about 3-4 hours on the skin, and 4-5 hours on clothing or hair. I always find perfume lasts longer when sprayed onto clothes or the back or hair, so this may be why.

The product that I find has the closest scent would be Ladyboy perfume, a now discontinued fragrance which I truly loved. The banana note in that has been replaced with patchouli in The President's Hat in my opinion.

For all the above reasons, I would rate this product a 4 out of 5, again due to the lasting time. I wish it lasted longer, however I love the scent, no matter how short its duration.

Lush Kitchen: Slammer Shower Gel

As well as producing exclusive original products like The Comforter Body Lotion, the Lush Kitchen is also responsible for bringing back old favourites that have been given the axe over the years, as is the case with Slammer Shower Gel.

Slammer was given the axe many moons back, but often makes an appearance on the Kitchen, and every time it does, I do like to take advantage! Slammer is a pure 'wake-up' scent, it is heavy on lime and salt in fragrance and so often gets compared with a margarita. If Happy Hippy is too mellow for you, I'd recommend trying this bad boy! Due to it's zesty and uplifting scent, it is perfect for nursing a hangover in the shower in the morning, to get you up and feeling like a human again.

This is one of the more watery shower gels, however I can forgive this as it lathers up really well, and you don't need a lot. I never feel like I'm wasting product when I'm using it, so that can only be a good thing! The colour itself is just fun too, all in all it's a funky shower gel with a fantastic scent. Lime is also really brightening for the skin, so it's perfect for those summer months when you want to give your skin a bit more of a radiant glow.

I'd rate this product a 4.5 out of 5, solely due to it's consistency. Although not really an inconvenience, I do love a thicker gel. Can't fault at all with the smell, it's strong, and certainly lasts on skin!