LUSH Snow Fairy

This is probably one of the most last-minute Christmas gift suggestion posts around, but luckily LUSH makes amaaazing gift sets whether you were wise enough to shop well ahead of Christmas week or are scrambling at the mall. One such gift set is the Snow Fairy box, charmingly packaged up in pink wrapping paper (with a gift tag too!) for the sugarplum fairy in your life.

Inside: a mini catalog of LUSH products to help turn the recipient into a devoted LUSHie, if they aren't one already. Other important contents: Snow Fairy shower gel (100 mL), Angels Delight soap (70g), and Shimmy Shimmy sparkle bar (30g).

Snow Fairy shower gel is a holiday favourite with its super-sweet bubblegum candy scent. This isn't the type of fragrance I gravitate towards, but I honestly ended up liking it a lot more than I expected--maybe because the scent doesn't linger too long after my shower for me to get sick of it. I use it with my Dove Men Shower Tool and it lathers up quite nicely; I hardly noticed the biodegradable silver shimmer infused in the gel though.

People who are used to seeing the rainbow-coloured blocks of Angel's Delight in LUSH shops will find the version found in this gift box a little unfamiliar. This version of Angel's Delight, exclusive to Snow Fairy gift box, is in a cute star shape with iridescent star glitter. It has a very, very sweet orange and tangerine scent, like super sugary fruit punch. I prefer it over the shower gel because its relatively high rapeseed oil and coconut oil content make it much better at softening my crocodile skin, although it probably won't last as long as lather-friendly Snow Fairy.

Shimmy Shimmy sparkle bar is a solid body conditioner that adds a bit of shimmer to your skin. The heart-shaped bar is mainly cocoa butter, making it incredibly softening and smoothing: just one stroke over my arm makes a difference. The natural glowiness that the hydrating shea butter imparts to the skin goes nicely with the very slight iridescent glitter trail hiding in the bar. Fans of American Cream conditioner will love this because it has the same vanilla and lavender scent; of the three, this one is my favourite scent because it's more warm and inviting, and less like a sugar rush. I think it would be quite nice to glide this over your arms, shoulders, and legs before heading out to a holiday party for a little extra sparkle.

Some people will find the fragrances in this set a bit over-the-top sweet, but the fact that it's sold out online suggests that a lot of people really like it! I imagine it would be an especially big hit with anyone that loves glitter and body products with shimmer.

If this gift set is just right for someone on your list, you may still be able to pick it up in stores for $22.95 CAD.

Snow Fairy shower gel ingredients: water, sodium laureth sulfate, sodium cocoamphoacetate, lauryl betaine, fragrance, propylene glycol, synthetic musk, lactic acid, titanium dioxide, calcium sodium borosilicate, tin oxide, polyester-3, methyl ionone, benzyl benzoate, D&C Red No. 28, D&C Red No. 21, methylparaben

Angel's Delight soap ingredients: water, propylene glycol, rapeseed oil, coconut oil (Brassica napus; Cocos nucifera), sodium stearate, sodium lauryl sulfate, fragrance, tangerine oil (Citrus reticulata), sweet orange oil (Citrus sinensis), titanium dioxide, gardenia extract (Gardenia jasminoides), glycerine, sodium chloride, EDTA, tetrasodium etidronate, sodium hydroxide, limonene, linalool, FD&C Red No. 4, FD&C Red No. 33, D&C Red 28, D&C Violet No. 2, D&C Orange No. 4, D&C Blue No. 1, silver lustre (potassium silicate, titanium dioxide, iron oxides and iron hydroxides), edible golden agar glitter (agar, mica, titanium dioxide, iron oxide), silver lustre (potassium silicate, titanium dioxide, iron oxides, and iron hydroxide)

Shimmy Shimmy sparkle bar ingredients: cocoa butter (Theobroma cacao), iridescent glitter (polyethylene terephthalate and acrylates copolymer), shea butter (Butyrospermum parkii), fragrance, vanilla absolute (Vanilla planifolia), clary sage oil (Salvia sclarea), lavender oil (Lavandula hybrida), benzoin resinoid (Styrax benzoin), linalool, coumarin