Despite describing myself as quite an introverted person, I have been known in the past to show quite a creative flare when it comes to the way that I dress. Growing up, I was a typical 'rebellious' teenager who thought that being different made me far more profound and ambitious than the generation before me. Never was I without my black attire, fishnet tops and unbrushed, badly-dyed hair. I was a state. Yet something that I have in common with the old me, and something that I have maintained throughout the years, is my love of all things glitter.
There is something rather beautiful about the tiny, sparkly decoration - whether it be the memory of crafting Christmas cards at primary school or coating my arms and hair ready for a night out at the local pub with my high school friends. There is something simplistically fun about using the stuff, which is why I was really excited about trying out Lush's brand new shimmer bar when it was released for this year's Halloween range.
Packed with a multitude of different coloured lustres, Lush have gone all out on making Goth Fairy the most shimmery bar to date. Despite it being very small for the price you pay, this bar is both sturdy and long-lasting. Having tested it out by using it as a full body massage bar, I found that it had barely shrunk at all after I had finished, and given that it's not supposed to be used in such excess is enough to convince me that this beautiful seasonal bar would easily last you a good six months of regular use.Brand new to this year's Halloween range, this shimmer bar was definitely not the product that I gravitated towards when I first saw the whole range in store - nor would I expect many people to place it as their number one priority either. However, when I allowed myself the privilege of testing it out some four days after buying it, I could not believe that I had kept it hidden in a bag for so long.
Sharing its scent with the now-discontinued Space Girl Bath Bomb, this fruity shimmer bar offers such a beautiful fragrance. With grapefruit and bergamot listed as the key ingredients, you'd expect it to offer a citrusy aroma. However, to me it's more of a fizzy, blackcurrant scent with a layer of creaminess underneath that reminds me a little of blackcurrant fromage frais.
For those who live in the UK, you might recognise the smell as being very similar to the dark pink part of the swizzle lollies you can buy in the sweet section. You can definitely detect the grapefruit in the mix but it's not at all zesty and the smell sides more on the berry side than the citrusy side.
Just like a massage bar, Goth Fairy contains a selection of butters and oils to help it work perfectly on the body. With illipe and cupuacu butters to soften and moisture your skin, and almond oil to add radiance and shine, this bar pairs well with any body lotion to create a perfect finishing result.
Unlike a massage bar, the idea behind a shimmer bar is that you use it after using a body conditioner or a lotion, and it should not really be used as the sole moisturiser. It adds a beautiful scent to your skin, while gently coating areas with a thin layer of lustre to create an ethereal glow that you can wear long into the night.
This product can be used anywhere so you could use this to add shimmer to your face, as part of your make up routine, as well as all over the body. It's small enough that it can then be popped into your bag for you to reapply throughout the night and it wont melt because it's robust enough to hold its shape.
What I found interesting about this shimmer bar is that, despite what I said above, is can be used as a massage bar, albeit not one that is as moisturising or as oily as you'd expect any of Lush's other bars to be. After massaging it across my body, my skin did feel really smooth and conditioned, yet I didn't have to wait a long while for these butters to be absorbed into my skin because I found that the consistency was far less oily and therefore far less messy. If you like the idea of a massage bar but find Lush's range to be too oily to use regularly, this might be one you want to try out. I should warn you though that the size of this product means that full body applications will see this being used up fairly quickly.
Featuring gold, green, purple and silver lustre means that this shimmer bar means business. After applying this one evening, I still found traces of lustre on my skin some two days later, and my best friend even commented on the fact that I was looking very 'glittery' one evening when we were out. The lustre will remain on your skin for a number of days so you should be prepared to shimmer and shine for a good while after applying this.
Although I don't have much use for a shimmer bar as I tend to spend a lot of my evenings indoors or at the gym, I do really love the scent of this and will use it sparingly as a massage bar for when I need a 'perk me up' at the end of the week. This suits me well because although the wonderfully fun and fruity fragrance does linger on your skin for a few hours after application, it's not something that will withstand strong perfumes being sprayed over the top. For this reason, I'd rather apply before bed and enjoy the sweet, gentle and very creamy aroma as I fall into a peaceful slumber. If I had any more teeth to lose, I'd much rather the Goth Fairy paid me a visit and rewarded me by slipping one of these limited edition bars under my pillow in exchange.
Quantitative Ingredients: Illipe butter, Cupuacu Butter, Perfume, Candelilla Wax, Bergamot Oil, Grapefruit Oil, Almond Oil, Alpha Isomethyl Ionone, Citral, *Limonene, *Linalool, Gold Lustre, Titanium Dioxide, Potassium aluminium silicate, Synthetic Fluorphlogopite, Tin Oxide, Colour 77007.
Vegan?: Yes.
2016 Price: £5.50 for 35g.
Year Of Original Release: 2016.
Scent Family:
Goth Fairy Shimmer Bar
Space Girl Bath Bomb
