I do love an adventure. If time allows, any chance I get to throw too much money at train tickets I will grasp with both hands and throw responsibilities to the wind. This particular adventure was to the #LushSpring event at Lush York – and although I didn’t throw any responsibilities to the wind this time (I brought dissi work to do on the train, yay me), I did throw a ton of caution, since I haven’t been to York for about 10 years. And when I upon my arrival it would be dark.

Thankfully the absolute darling that is Louise Rose – over at louiseroserailton.com – was there to shepherd me to and from the station, with a lil’ time for starbucks chats before the event begun. Suitably de-nerved, we made our way Lush York’s first ever blogger event, something I feel really happy to have been a part of, to have a look at the #LushSpring range.

Spoiler alert: I think a lot of it is really quite fab.

I’m not a seasoned Lushie, so I’m probably going to be pretty useless at telling you which products smell like those already in Lush’s catalogue, other than the ones the (very helpful) staff described, but I have been reading up so let’s see how I do. Maybe my complete lack of experience will be useful to those of you who are taking your first tentative steps into the kitchen. Or not, but I did only start buying Lush products for myself last year…

The spring range for 2016 is inspired by storybooks and fairytales, which you can see in some of the product names, such as ‘Humpty Dumpty’, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, and there is also an actual golden egg. Will have to watch for giants when I use it. Shape-wise, we’ve got rabbits and eggs – as you’d expect this time of year – some wonderfully, fabulously, bright colours, and a strong citrus scent representation to step away from the warmer, spicy notes of the winter months. There’s a whole lotta lemon oil up in here.

To start, we had a little ice-breaker sessions – the first was a hunt for one of the new products: fluffy egg, a bath bomb that smells like Snow Fairy, candy sweet and very pink. The first to collect three won a prize, wasn’t me but it was still a nice way to get things going. The second was a to have fun with fun – the glycerine rich, squishy, super silky bubble makers, where 10p from the sale of each bar goes to a FunD that helps support projects for children affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster of 2011. Our mission was to create something inspired by Alice in Wonderland, which we all completed to varying degrees of success. Finally, we were set an instagram challenge – it’s not all about likes all the time, but when there’s a spa set to be won…

golden egg doing it’s job

Games aside, it was time for the staff to demonstrate the new products. There were some that stood out to me right away, like which came first? and golden egg – I love the fact you have to whack which came first? against something to reveal the surprise, and golden egg‘s outer is a melt, so it’s a bit of a slow burner. That plus the toffee scent and Fair Trade Colombian cocoa butter has me all sorts of hyped.

The ultraviolet bubble bar was next to be passed round to sniff – my own thoughts are that it’s quite an earthy scent, most probably because of the rich rosewood, but it’s lifted by a sweet lavender that’s also supposed to lift your mood. Going to be needing that in the coming months…

Next was a pretty in depth look at the gift sets on offer – knot wraps in prints worthy of Harajuku and more bright packaging to jazz up your bathroom. There are 5 Easter gift sets available, Bouncing Bunny – in the yellow knot wrap; Funky Bunny – in the pink; Carrot; Rainbow; and Good Egg. I somehow didn’t manage any photos of Good Egg, but it’s quite the majestic looking thing, Humpty Dumpty sat on his wall, filled with bubble creating goodness.

spring bunny fizzing away

We saw what the spring bunny bath bomb could do – which is a lot, it’s got a lovely lemon goodness to make anyone feel brilliantly spring fresh, and the silkiness of the water after it had fizzed itself out was probably due to the addition of more fair trade cacao butter, plus a little bit of carrot oil for a detox. It looked fab. I want many. You can get these individually, in the Bouncy Bunny or Carrot gift sets.

We were also shown bunch of carrots, the reusable bubble bar making a reappearance, now in bright colours, which is available in the Carrot gift set, and also to buy separately. The Carrot gift set is probably my favourite of the bunch (ha ha), as it comes with The Experimenter, spring bunny, and fluffy egg too, although I think Bouncy Bunny is a close second.

We were also given a little showcase of what’s on offer for Mother’s Day too. It comes around fast, doesn’t it?! There are 6 gift sets in the collection, and we were given an in depth look at  ‘Happy Mother’s Day’, which comes in an adorable tin basket – perfect for reusing – and packed full of goodies, including the exclusive Mother’s Day sunflower bubble bar which is in 3 of the 6 sets.

sunflower bubble bar in action

To swing back to all things rabbit, jelly’s and soaps were the next ports of call, and we had a little look at what the slimy little fella up there, the bouncy bunny shower jelly, had to offer. Aimed to uplift with some Brazilian orange oil, it’s a refreshing scent that I really quite like. It’s not particularly sweet or overpowering, just a little revv for the senses in the morning.

The very last products we were shown before being set loose to take photos and ask questions were the super fun bath bombs. Both Humpty Dumpty and Which Came First? involve a little bit of work – but it’s fun. Shell suits are back, says the catalogue, and it makes for a great de-stresser when you can smash your bath bomb against the porcelain. Not too hard though, don’t want to break anything. Toss both the shell and the bomb in for extra fizz. Humpty Dumpty continues with the Brazilian orange scents with some sweet bergamot in there too, and Which Came First? boasts vanilla and grapefruit in a sweeter combination.

We were a jury divided on whether Humpty Dumpty is a cheerful chappie or a slightly sinister bath fiend. What do you think?

This adventure concludes here, at least for now anyway. Keep an eye on my youtube channel for a few of the event demonstrations, some dreamy product shots and to see what the lovely, lovely staff at Lush York popped in our little gift bags – coming Saturday.

For my first Lush event, I had a blast. I mean, I’d go as far as to say it was da bomb ting but I’d be digging myself too far into this pun hole and I’d never leave.

What do you think of the #LushSpring range? Any returning products that you’ve got your eye on – anything new you want to try?

♥

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