Snowcake Soap

(Owed from Friday the 3^rd December)

On the ninth week of Christmas my LUSH limited gave to me......

9 Snowcake soaps,

8 Buffy body butters,

7 Sonic Death Monkeys,

6 Bearded Ladies,

5 CHRISTMAAAAS EEEEEEEEEVES!

4 Ghost shower gels,

3 Hottie bars,

2 Halloween specials,

and a Snow Fairy lip and cheek tint!

Snowcake Soap

Requested by and dedicated to meeee!

Price: £2.60/100g

Product category: Soap.

Contains: Water (Aqua); Rapeseed Oil and Coconut Oil for their moisturising and softening properties and as an alternative soap base to palm oil (see below); Benzoin Resinoid calms and soothes irritated, cracked, sore and dry skin conditions. It also leaves a protective film on the skin, which prevents it from loosing moisture; Rose Absolute soothes and moisturises the skin, and helps improve the skins appearance helping to create a smoother effect; Cassie Absolute for its beautiful uplifting aroma; Glycerine (palm free) is softening and moisturising on the skin and is also used to effectively carry oils allowing the skin to absorb them and benefit from their properties.

Other interesting facts:

·  Tradition methods of making vegetable soap have for many years used palm oil as a base. Palm oil plantations themselves cause severe deforestation, problems for indigenous populations and the animals that live there. LUSH discovered that cosmetic companies are responsible for around 7% of the worlds palm usage, so in an effort to reduce this problem, went off to the labs to work hard in creating a new palm free base to their soaps. They now use rapeseed and coconut oil with glycerine as a base to all their soaps. 

·  You may be wondering what gives Snowcake its almond/marzipan scent, when there’s no almond oil/almonds to be found in the ingredients (I know I was). Well after doing a little research I found that it’s all down to the clever blend of cassie (aka sweet acacia or prickly Moses), rose and benzoin that give products like Snowcake, Marzibain and Smitten their sweet (not sickly) almond scent. Cassie has a fresh sweet, spicy floral aroma, Benzoin a sweet warm vanilla like aroma and Rose absolute a sweet floral aroma, and blended together they create the most beautiful almond scent that’s not too sickly sweet. So there you have it :)

·  Rose absolute is great for dry, rough, mature, sensitive and irritated skin due to its gentle, moisturising, and soothing properties for the skin.

·  Cassie absolute has uplifting properties due to its beautiful sunny aroma, making great for treating stress, exhaustion, and depression.

·  Benzoin has been used for thousands of years to treat various skin conditions. It has also been used as an incense to drive a way evil spirits, and inhaled to help with respiratory conditions. 

How to use:

1. As it’s a creamy soap it melts a lot quicker than some of LUSH’s other soaps. Because of this I find chopping the bar into small chunks rather than using the full bar, helps make the bar last longer.

2. Take the small chunk and wash all over your body, working it into a beautiful creamy lather and rinse.

TIP: Try not to submerge the bar in water as it will melt very quickly. Step out of the shower stream, or lift the areas your washing out of the bath, to make your soap last longer.

Verdict:

I absolutely had to include this product in my Christmas countdown (don’t worry I’ve not forgotten about the requests I’ve received). I’ve been using this product for years since its release, and was so happy to see its return again this year. I always make sure I get a reasonably big slab after Christmas in an attempt to be able to enjoy it all year round (though I never get one big enough slab).

LUSH describe Snowcake as ‘marzipan- scented soap cake’, and that’s exactly what it is. Snowcake has the most beautiful almond/marzipan scent with subtle hints of rose. It avoids being sickly sweet by blending sweet floral scents into the mix. It’s far more subtle than Smitten in my opinion and reminds me very much of the retro bubble bar Marzibain. To me it’s a perfectly balanced (not too sweet, not too floral), pretty, comforting scent that I never tire of.

Snowcake has a simple design, your chunk of soap is cut from a white rectangular slab, decorated with delicate snowflakes. The design was inspired by Russian cakes that look like this, each with an individual message on them. Don’t let its simple appearance deceive you though, Snowcake is a real piece of luxury.

LUSH have done it again with their carefully thought out blend of ingredients. Not only does the blend of rose, cassie and benzoin give Snowcake its delicious almond/marzipan scent; but these ingredients also have great properties for the skin too.  The winter weather can leave your skin feeling dull and dry, but Snowcake comes to the rescue with its moisturising and softening blend of ingredients, leaving your skin moisturised, soft and silky smooth.

Snowcake is very moisturising and hydrating on the skin, without leaving the skin feeling greasy or leaving a film/residue on the skin. It gentle cleanses the skin without leaving it feeling overly squeaky clean and stripped of moisture. Snowcake produces a beautiful creamy lather over the skin which feels really luxurious, and it’s an absolute joy to use. The scent lingers on the skin after your bath/shower in a subtle way for hours.  As it’s one of LUSH’s creamier soaps it doesn’t last as long as some of the others (as it melts much quicker) but I feel that this is reflected in its reasonable price tag.

At the moment I’m loving cocktailing Snowcake with lots of different LUSH products. My favourite combos with Snowcake at the moment are Glogg, Sugar Plum Fairy scrub, Marzibain, Cinders, and Lil LUSH Pudd. Though for a cherry bakewell theme it’s yummy to use with Sweetie Pie, Happy Blooming, Skin Sin and Comforter too.

I’m sure if LUSH released this as an all year round product, it would be a best seller. But until they do, I shall be awaiting its return each Christmas with bated breath.

Complimenting products- Smitten, Skin Sin, Marzibain, Lil LUSH Pudd, Butterball, Happy Blooming, Comforter; Coconut and Almond Smoothie, Summer Pudding, Sweetie Pie, Sugar Plum Fairy scrub (trust me it works).