We are t-minus three days to Christmas Day, and I'm guessing you know someone who is still scrambling to find a last-minute gift or two! Maybe give them a nudge towards LUSH? As mentioned in my
beauty gift guide, LUSH gift sets are pretty awesome: there's a huge range to fit budgets big and small, and they're already beautifully pre-wrapped to save time (and frustration, if the gifter's really terrible at wrapping presents.) I got a chance to treat myself to this combination of delight/convenience in the LUSH Joy To The World gift set.
Who wouldn't love to see this little box under their tree? I dig the white/gold wrapping, which reads very festive and "holiday" but still pretty and elegant.
No separate gift tags necessary! The attached tag already has a "To" and "From", and also describes the goodies inside.
Love and Light is a jojoba oil- and cocoa butter-based hand cream that is bright with the scent of neroli and Brazilian orange oils, as well as orange flower absolute. Snowcake is a LUSH classic; it's a solid soap with a creamy, confectionary scent.
Something about Snowcake even
feels creamy, even though it has the same rapeseed and coconut oil base as many other LUSH solid soaps. This soap is inspired by marzipan, the sweet, almond-based treat often enjoyed in Europe around Christmastime. It has a creamy smell that is sweet but not cloying, enhanced by rose absolute and benzoin resinoid (the latter apparently known for a "sweet vanilla ice-cream scent".) The soothing scent is like the shower equivalent of a hot mug of milk: a perfect soap to lather up with right before bedtime.
The gold overspray is pretty, but washed away within the first use, leaving a plain, milky-white bar. (Note that unlike some of LUSH's other solid soaps, Snowcake contains sodium lauryl sulfate, which can be drying for some people. My mom, who generally likes LUSH soaps because they don't dry out her skin, even commented this one was not as moisturizing as the others.)
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Love and Light hand cream is new to LUSH, and it's a welcome addition. In contrast to Snowcake's comforting scent, Love and Light is uplifting with the scents of neroli and Brazilian orange. (Created from the inedible bitter orange, neroli is green and bright, and often used in fragrances that evoke the beach or the ocean.) Some might find the scent a little too sharp, but as a citrus-lover, I really enjoy it. Compared to other hand creams in my arsenal, Love and Light is relatively lightweight and absorbs really quickly, yet packs a surprising punch at softening and hydrating my dry hands. The mini 45g size included in Joy To The World would fit right in tucked inside a desk drawer at work.
Scent-wise, Joy To The World hit the mark for me: I love the combination of the bright Love and Light and soothing, creamy Snowcake (although for a comforting scent,
Yog Nog soap is still my favourite). Functionally, I really liked Love and Light's moisturizing ability and Snowcake was standard for a LUSH soap, though some might find it a little drying. Both items are available for purchase separately at $8.95 and $7.95 CAD, respectively, so there's a $3.05 premium for Joy To The World's gifting-ready packaging.
Available at
LUSH: $19.95 CAD (100g soap, 45g hand cream)
Snowcake soap ingredients: water (aqua), glycerine, rapeseed oil, coconut oil (Brassica napus; Cocos nucifera), sorbitol, fragrance, sodium lauryl sulfate, sodium stearate, titanium dioxide, benzoin resinoid (Styrax tonkinensis pierre), rose absolute (Rosa damascena), cassie absolute (Acacia farnesiana), sodium chloride, EDTA, tetrasodium etidronate, sodium hydroxide, benzyl benzoate, benzyl cinnamate, cinnamal, radiant gold lustre (potassium aluminum silicate, titanium dioxide, iron oxides)
Love and Light hand cream ingredients: water (aqua), organic jojoba oil (Simmondsia chinensis), fair trade organic cocoa butter (Theobroma cacao), glycerine, stearic acid, fragrance, triethanolamine, neroli oil (Citrus Aurantium amara), Brazilian orange oil (Citrus sinensis), orange flower absolute (Citrus Aurantium amara), cetearyl alcohol, citral, farnesol, geraniol, limonene, linalool, methylparaben, propylparaben
