Sonic Death Monkey review: "The hype is real"

Sonic Death Monkey (£11.95/250g) is a cult classic by Lush and when the Lush Kitchen made it a couple of weeks ago, Lushies went mad.  It's a product loads rave about or simply talk about and was surely a sell out product - which it was FYI!  I've been eager to try this shower gel since missing out on it almost a year ago when the Kitchen just started up.  Naturally, when the Kitchen announced this on their weekly menu, I jumped for it and got two bottles.

Mysterious in appearance and a mind-boggling fragrance, Sonic Death Monkey is a delight.  Just like Hot Toddy this is like a layered cake and maybe more so.  From the bottle the first thing I smell is the citrusy notes of Tangerine Oil and Sweet Orange Oil.  And both of these are rounded off by the addition of Fresh Lime Juice too.  It is lovely and refreshing but becomes so bewitching when the chocolate fragrance shines through.  Together they create a really unique smell and you're either going to love or hate it.  And I love it!  I very faintly smell the thread of coffee in the bottle too - I smell a depth to the sweet and citrus notes presented by the addition of the coffee.

In the shower this shower gel is a totally different story.  The most prominent smell in the shower, for me, was the ground coffee.  I genuinely felt as though I was showering with a cup of coffee.  And somewhere in between the chocolate mixed with the coffee to create a beautiful cocktail.  It's sweet and sour - the chocolate makes a delicious sweet smell that makes you swoon whilst coffee centres you and brings you back from cloud nine.  And in all of that goodness there are citrus products that are nowhere to be detected.  Maybe slightly but not much.

The benefits of Sonic Death Monkey provide an uplifting fragrance through the tangerine oil and sweet orange oil, both of which tone the skin too.  You should step into your shower with a grey cloud over your head but step out feeling on top of world.  Or at least your mood.  The best part of SDM though is the black horse of the product - hemp oil.  Hemp Oil is known to be a medicinal oil used in traditional Chinese medicine and is thought to help conditions like varicose veins.  It is also believed to be a natural pain reliever and anti-inflammatory which we are all in need of from time to time.  So, albeit there are incredible oils that present good moods and delicious smelling ingredients - the best thing about Sonic Death Monkey, in my opinion, is this little hidden product within.

Attractive by name, attractive by reputation and attractive at first glance.  The colour of Sonic Death Monkey is peculiar enough to spark interest.  As you can see! The milky top hat to the shower gel adds a good quality to the overall opinion of the shower gel.  Because as much as we may not like to admit it, packaging and presentation are very, very important. It makes you more curious and drives your want to test it out.

I wouldn't say it's very skin conditioning or softening but rather refreshing and cleansing.  The likes of Snow Fairy shower gel is a good example of making skin soft from the Carrageenan Extract.  Whereas with this, the outcome wasn't really like that.    It gives a really clean feeling which can be a must have in the morning.  This will definitely be one of my top used summer shower gels.  That doesn't mean it isn't suitable for winter or the harsher months - granted I do prefer hydrating gels during these months though.  The squeaky clean feeling this gives you will make the clammy and hot air during summer more durable. 

Sonic Death Monkey is one of the best shower gels I've purchased from the Lush Kitchen.  I didn't expect to love it like I do but I do and I think others will too.  I am of the opinion that this shower gel is more in the aromatherapy bracket than skin benefiting but do remember this does have its merit.  I find this a really comforting fragrance and go as far to say its actually my "comforter" fragrance opposed to the real thing.  As I've also got Heavenly Bodies and do not take such comfort from it as I do Sonic Death Monkey, I believe my attachment to SDM is largely based on the blend of chocolate and coffee.  These two smells coming together as one is a magical experience for your nose.  Hogwarts has nothing on this!  I do recommend Sonic Death Monkey for its uplifting citrus oils and juice, it's comforting chocolate and awakening coffee fragrance.  It truly is the best shower gel I've bought from the kitchen and will buy more when needed and where possible.  It was the most surprising shower gel I've come across too and admittedly wouldn't have given it the time of day if it wasn't for the hype Lushies gave this product.  But do believe it! The hype is to be believed! The hype is real!

                             

Thanks for reading!

Instagram: @lushvoyage
Facebook: LushVoyage

Curly Wurly shampoo review: "For it's scent alone this is a winner"

Curly Wurly (£10.25/220g) was one of those impulse buys from Lush.  I don't really have curly hair and I don't really need a moisturising hair shampoo either.  But yes, I bought Curly Wurly nonetheless.  I was actually going to buy Big shampoo but that didn't happen - until next time.

On the pot, it explains Mark Constanine gets really "cross" when companies make a coconut shampoo but don't actually have real coconut in them.  So Mark was inspired to do the complete opposite with his coconut shampoo and has put a hell of a lot of coconut in it.  You can actually see, feel and smell the true coconut inside this shampoo.

This is a really personal product to me even though it probably isn't the best shampoo Lush can offer my hair type. Curly Wurly doesn't just leave a fragrance I like for my hair but a smell of a personal memory.  Every summer when I was a child, my family and I travelled to America where I would be at the pool everyday for two weeks.  I'm not kidding it was hours on end... 9am to 5pm everyday.  At the pool side there were certain things I smelt, just like at the seaside.  At the pool, I would smell chlorine, palm trees, hot air and coconut.  The fans around the hotel blew these scents in my face as well.  Curly Wurly delivers such a personal memory and experience of these fragrances that I've not experienced in years.  I swear I even smell chlorine in Curly Wurly but that obviously isn't possible when it isn't in it.
The coconut oil, vetivert oil and vanilla infusion come together to make a holiday destination, a really beautiful and sweet scented product.   For it's scent alone this is a winner.

Not only does the product smell a-freakin-mazing its pretty amazing itself.  It is a really moisturising product with all of the butters, oils and fruit.  Curly Wurly contains Papayas and Avocado butter - have I ever wrote before I LOVE both of these ingredients?  Avocado anything will receive my unconditional love.  Both of these fruits add nourishment and betterment to the state of hair.  Curly Wurly also contains eggs so unfortunately it isn't a vegan product for any vegans out there.  That kind of makes me sad that you'll miss out on this experience but then again it is personal, no one else may feel the way I feel about Curly Wurly.  But the eggs provide a conditioning and strengthening element to the product that will benefit hair, and lemon Juice provides a good clean by refreshing the hair.

Although Curly Wurly isn't a skin care product but rather a hair care product, I had it tested on my arm in my Lush store and it felt incredible.  It was super soft and gentle - which surprised me with the desiccated coconut.  It was also really thick and spread like a paste before water got involved.  It also felt really creamy and bursting with goodness.

The first time I used this in my hair I was a little apprehensive.  It was so thick and sticky I didn't know how it was going to lather, and I also felt nervous in case it wouldn't come out my hair! But, as usual, Lush products aren't to be underestimated or misjudged.  To be fair, Curly Wurly didn't lather as quickly as shampoo bars do (HIWMH being an example).  It took more than a couple of palms to bring its lather out but overall it's alright.  The shampoo made a thick white lather that felt really juicy and fluffy, full of goodness and being palmed into my head.  However, as I've wrote, it's lather is a little weak compared to Lush's shampoo bar.


Curly Wurly is the fourth shampoo I've tried by Lush and I opted for this over Big because of its smell.  I have found myself a little disappointed by the lather of this shampoo considering I used a generous amount.  Nonetheless, I'm rather thankful I bought this shampoo opposed to Big as I found Curly Wurly's desiccated coconut pieces a challenge enough rather than pieces of sea salt.  The coconut pieces were tangled in my hair and I spent more time brushing my hair to get them out.  I love the fragrance of this shampoo and if the pieces of coconut are necessary then dismiss my criticism.  But if the product could survive without, I'd be much, much happier.  I do recommend Curly Wurly shampoo as it is a really beautiful hair care product that stands out from the crowd.  With its incredibly sweet and emotion-tied fragrance this was a winner to start with.  But after using it, it's fragrance lingered in my hair naturally and I even had compliments from people.  My hair didn't feel as soft as I pre-thought it would without a conditioner, but it certainly felt nourished and not in need of moisture from a conditioner.  My hair was easier to brush out after using this compared to shampoo bars, and it also had a lot of bounce and lightness to it that it usually doesn't have.  I wouldn't say it adds volume to your hair but it definitely succeeds in lifting it discreetly to bounce about and also revives my childhood curls slightly.  Curly Wurly adds a look of health to hair and my hair certainly felt better using it.  

Thanks for reading!

Instagram: @lushvoyage

Facebook: LushVoyage 

Ingredients: 

Ammonium, Laureth Sulphate,

Desiccated Coconut

,

Cetearyl Alcohol,

Propylene Glycol

Water (Aqua),

Fresh Organic Lemon Juice

,

Glyceryl Stearate & PEG-100 Stearate,

Perfume

Linseed Infusion,

Fresh Papaya

,

Lauryl Betaine,

Fresh Organic Free Range Eggs,

Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter,

Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

,

Shea Butter,

Organic Jojoba Oil,

Avocado Butter

,

Fair Trade Vanilla Absolute,

Vetivert Oil

,

Benzoin Resinoid

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil,

Alkanet Extract,

Lanolin

Cetrimonium Bromide

*Coumarin

 

Lush Face Care Haul

Today I've got a Lush Haul for you! A face care one - moisturiser, cleanser, soap, toner and so on!

I've suffered acne since I was eleven years old and it's been rocky waters since.  I went through my early teens with a face covered in loads of yellow heads, then in my mid teens this cleared to the odd yellow head but my face was bombed with blackheads.  Now, my very late teens/hedging twenty, I no longer have yellow heads but a face blooming with blackheads and everyday I'm dealing with a new cyst spot.  I have never suffered with cystic acne before until around a year and a half ago, with it increasing every month to it being a part of my daily life.  So I'm now a sufferer of cystic acne.  I'll note here as well, I have a really weird skin type.  It's extremely oily... extremely.  I have to dab down my face every two hours because it gets so oily! But, really strong acne treatment products for 'oily skin' strip my skin's oil away too much and makes my face all flaky and I break out in a rash, drying it out to almost cracks.  

I don't want to dwell on skin issues and bore people, but for me, acne isn't about how it looks - it is about how it feels.  Cystic acne is f***ing painful! PAINFUL! It's like a hard lump the size of a frozen pea under the skin that won't burst when you try to burst it.  PLEASE don't try to burst these kinds of spots - it causes more infection, increases their size and causes scarring.

I asked what Lushies use for their face and what they would recommend for my current skin issues, and I've plucked and tweaked Lush Face Care Routine suggestions from the lovely Lushies on Instagram. 

And here's my Haul! 

Ocean Salt Self-Preserving: £7.75 for 120g or £13.95 for 250g

I've heard of Ocean Salt more times than I can remember but have never looked into it for myself.  Why? Well, I saw an untouched pot of Ocean Salt once and it looked very rough.  By rough, I mean raw salt and that was it.  It looked like bath salts filled to the top of a Lush pot.  I ignored Ocean Salt's existences assuming that it would be too harsh for my skin.
But it's overwhelming fan base (love you guys!) intrigued me so much so I actually looked into it to see what it really was.  I mean, how could the fan base use this? It's salt and would hurt! Ehhh... WRONG!  I wish I could underline that even more.

My favourite bath bomb is Avobath since I'm a big fan of Avocado based products.  Guess what? Ocean Salt is an Avocado based product! How did I miss this?? It's also got Grapefruit infusion which makes it even more splendid.  I'm very excited to start using this product.  Avocado butter soothes and conditions skin and I'm well accquinted with its qualities.  Avobath is a necessity for me all year round - even cooler baths in summer with Avobath.  So I'm really, really, really, reaaaaally excited to use this.  The Grapefruit Infusion provides a cleansing and toning property to Ocean Salt to improve the condition of your skin as well.  These two ingredients working together will be a kick-ass product for sure.  Ocean Salt definitely smells similar to Avobath bath bomb which has made my heart soar.  I'm desperate for the Lush Kitchen to make Avowash shower gel and there have been no signs... Yet... But I've found this! It's a body scrub as well and I know I'm going to have to try it out as one.  It smells incredible.  The lime is very obvious - more obvious than in Avobath - and I'd say you can smell the vodka too.

And there are four Ocean Salt variations available.  You have the original and the new self-preserving available in store.  But you can also get the original and a self-preserving version without alcohol.  These are available online and the difference between them is, well, there's no alcohol in the two.  Alcohol Free!


Vanishing Cream: £18.75 for 45g

I would say this is the product I was most hesitant to buy.  For the small amount with a big price I was really unsure.  But... The majority of suggestions recommended this facial moisturiser.  So I just had to get it.  Desperation makes people do crazy things or is the reason for a lot of judgement calls.  This is one of those times.

It's most interesting ingredients to me are lavender oil, honey, organic jojoba oil and witch hazel extract.  These ingredients make me confident about this cream because honey is one of the best things you can use for your skin.  It's antiseptic and antibacterial qualities do skin wonders in general, not just acne.  It helps skin repair from damage, it kills bacteria and helps inflammation too.   The Lavender Oil is to calm your skin down and soothe any anger the acne bacteria is causing.  And Witch Hazel Extract is in a lot of acne products... A lot! It's an anti-inflammatory so just like the lavender, in its own way, should calm the skin down as well.  And last but not least the Organic Jojoba Oil.  Jojoba oil is naturally moisturising and is as close to the oil we naturally produce on our face.  It should do my face wonders. 

After really reading about what is in Vanishing Cream, I'm hoping my acne does just that... Vanish!


Coalface: £4.95 for 100g / £12.38 for 250g / £24.75 for 500g

One of the three solid facial soaps Lush has to offer.  I was VERY put off buying this because I'm not keen on solid cleansers and soaps.  But I wanted something that would really assist in controlling the oil production of my face rather than a product simply cleansing it and cleaning it.  Half the battle of acne is about prevention and that's exactly what Coalface should do in the long run.  Powdered Charcoal helps to balance the skin by absorbing excess oil which I feel my skin is in desperate need of - it's all over the shop.

Also in Coalface, is Liquorice Root with its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and moisturising qualities.  Different to honey but works very similiar.  It will help healing the wounds acne cause and will help the skin find itself again.  There is also Rosewood Oil which works in the same way as Powdered Charcoal to balance the skin.  

It smells like liquorice with a little scent of coal from the fire.  I think the smell of this would surprise people slightly, considering it's black and it's name proposes coal... It doesn't really smell like charcoal.  Definitely more liquorice. 


Grease Lightning: £6.40 for 45g

Gooooo Greased Lightning, you're burnin up the quarter mile .... Go Greased Lightning! Go Greased Lightning! I'm sorry, I just HAD to! First off, this is a pretty small bottle.  I almost missed this in store it's so small.  I had to ask where it was! Of course it's size is my opinion - others may find it big.  It smells an awful lot like Vapour Rub and I'm guessing that's the Witch Hazel, Thyme and Aloe Vera coming together to make this scent.  It isn't an unpleasant fragrance but more a treatment/medicinal fragrance.  Just smelling it you can tell its meant for something - not a fragrance of leisure like Snow Fairy.

Grease Lightning contains Grape Juice as an antioxidant for the skin.  Grape Juice also helps other ingredients to be absorbed by the skin.  
There's also Fresh Sea Water and Aloe Vera Gel.  The Fresh Sea Water is full of minerals making it good for the skin and Aloe Vera Gel helps to reduce redness, and it provides protection.  My skin is known to react to Aloe Vera Gel occasionally so I'm a little nervous about this product.  Hopefully with the other ingredients, Grease Lightning will be an effective and saving product but I won't know until I've tried it.  With the raving suggestions and reviews this gets I really do have high hopes for it.

Mask of Mag: £9.75 350g or £5.75 for 120g

Mask of Magnaminty comes in an original form or a self-preserving form - introduced in 2014.  Definitely one of Lush's most popular face masks since its effectiveness is supposedly great, and it is the only face mask Lush has to offer that comes in generally good sizes.  Every other Lush mask is 75g whereas the smallest pot of Mask of Mag is 120g.  Also, Mask of Mag doesn't need to be refrigerated like other masks too.  This can be a benefit for folk - like me - who keeps their Lush stuff all in one place.  Or someone who never has a bare fridge and needs all the room possible.  *Raises hand*

The main fragrance is mint and that is pretty much the dominant scent out of all that come through.  This mask does contain Peppermint Oil, which is cooling and invigorating for the skin.  This should provide a cool sensation so there isn't any pain.  When my eczema was in a really bad state, someone suggested to mix Peppermint Oil and water together and dab my eczema with it.  First I will write - it hurt like a MUTHER FXCKER.  But after forty seconds of pain (I actually counted this) there was a really cool sensation which did give me relief.  I no longer wanted to claw at my skin as much as I had.  However, please don't try that.  I found more relief with Lush's Sympathy for the Skin.  The reason I made reference to that was to explain a sort of understanding of the effects of Peppermint Oil.
I smell the honey and talc in Mask of Magnamity - they come through pretty strong.  There's also, African Marigold Oil which is said to reduce blemishes and inflammation and help protect the skin.  Let's get these spots vanquished! I'm quite eager to see how effective the Kaolin is as well, it should draw out impurities and excess oil - cystic acne's new best friend! 

Tea Tree Water: £4.25g for 100g or £7.95 for 250g

There aren't many ingredients in Tea Tree toner water but don't underestimate it.  I guess that's what a sales person would say? I don't know.  But seriously, there's only three ingredients in this toner water.  Tea Tree water, Grapefruit water and Juniperberry water.  There is the parabens and a perfume but they aren't the fighting acne qualities of Tea Tree Water.  Even though this contains perfume, I honestly don't really smell anything.  Maybe a little tea tree but that's it.  It just smells like water to me.  But the Grapefruit water will improve skin tone, which is definitely needed when your skin is a mess.  It's like having a bad hair day... But with your face.  What I was surprised to learn though, was Juniperberry water helps toward clearing skin with its antiseptic qualities.  I didn't know that.  And when you consider Tea Tree water clarifies skin, this really should be a Fairy God Mother product making my dreams of clear skin come true.

Here's a list of the products I've shown above:

• Ocean Salt Self-Preserving
• Coalface
• Mask of Magnamity
• Grease Lightning
• Vanishing Cream
• Grease Lightning
• Tea Tree Toner

And that's my face care haul! I can't wait to use all of these products and get some reviews going.  The majority of them are new to me - a part from Coalface as I've used a sample before.  But even then, I didn't use it long term and use it sensibly or generously.  I'm hoping all of this will band together and clear my skin of cystic acne.  That's all I want.  Fingers crossed!  Now, if you have any questions about any of the products or are even interested in how this new regime is coming along, don't hesitate to leave a little comment below and I'll get back to you.  Or talk to me on Instagram!  I'd also be really interested to know what your regimes are with Lush.  

Thanks for reading!

Instagram: @lushvoyage
Facebook: LushVoyage