The violet is traditionally associated with the qualities of shyness, modesty, and loyalty. The Bathos Bubble Bar from Lush, however, is not the proverbial shrinking violet. Lush’s catalogue, Lush Times, frequently mentions that violet is the favorite fragrance of Lush’s creator and owner, Mark Constantine. It was also the signature scent of none other iconic personality than Napoleon Bonaparte, who wore violet cologne, gave bouquets of violets to Josephine on their wedding anniversaries, and inspired his dedicated followers to wear the flower as well. The Bathos Bubble Bar, stamped with a glittery capital “B,” aspires to a similar romance and charisma. Its primary note is violet leaf absolute, but these delicate florals are balanced by a bolder blend of jasmine absolute, bergamot oil, ylang-ylang oil, and clove bud oil.
The word "bathos" is "depth" in ancient Greek, and in contemporary English, it means an anticlimax or a comedown. I’m guessing that the pun-like name for this bath treat refers to the former meaning, and to the act of sinking deep into a luxurious tub of bubbles. Lush's Bubble Bars are heavy, solid rectangles, typically weighing between three and four ounces; they are meant to be crumbled by hand under a faucet of running bathwater. I usually cut each bar in half so that it lasts for two baths; a half-bar seems to produce enough lather for a full tub. If I'm ever feeling particularly self-indulgent someday, I might use an entire bar at once. Bathos tints the water an imperial shade of purple under its suds, and its aroma is sweetly spicy, warming and relaxing, but definitely not shy.
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Violet sounds like such an amazing scent to bathe in! I really need to start looking into Lush products more… Very interesting review.
Jessica, welcome to NST and thank you for the lovely review! These bubble bars sound real nice, but I'm more of a quick-shower person though I probaly should indulge myself once in a while. I've used Lush's Mellow Yellow shower gel, great stuff when you're under the shower in the morning, still struggling to open your eyes. 🙂
Actually, Bathos is one of the products that first got me interested in violet! For more violet products, I can also recommend LUSH's Gratuitous Violets (ha ha) soap and Daddy-O shampoo.
Thank you! Mellow Yellow… That sounds great. I don't think it's available in the US, unfortunately (at least, not under that name), but I do like the Olive Branch and Sonic Death Monkey shower gels very much. 🙂
Mellow Yellow is an envigorating blend of grapefruit and incense, which reminds me – I need to get m'self another bottle… Sonic Death Monkey sounds too great to miss, LOL!
Very nice review. 🙂 I love Bathos. It's one of my favorite Lush products, and inspired me to try violet perfumes. Unfortunately, I haven't found one that I love nearly as much as the scent of Bathos!
Thank you! To my nose, Bathos has one of the more sophisticated fragrances in the Lush Bubble Bar line-up. Some of the others are fun, but much simpler and more playful. 🙂
I think Mellow Yellow is called Happy Hippy in the US. Here is the description from the website:
A long time ago in a land far, far away… actually it was in 29 High Street, Poole Dorset, now Lush's home, the Lush creative team used to run a company called Cosmetics to Go. One of their best selling products was our pink grapefruit shower gel, Happy Hippy. When CTG's former customers heard that we'd finally bought back the rights to our old products they started haranguing us with emails, letters and bricks through the window, begging us to make their favourite, joyously refreshing gel again. We did, we tested it ourselves and we decided that it was as brilliant as we remembered. So here it is, use it and step singing from the shower. (That bit about the bricks through the window isn't true).
Ingredients include: Fresh Pink Grapefruit Juice (Citrus grandis), Grapefruit Water (Citrus grandis), Grapefruit Oil (Citrus grandis), Bergamot Oil (Citrus bergamia), & Frankincense Oil (Boswelia carterii)
Aha! Thank you, too, Sunsetskye. Would you believe I haven't tried Happy Hippy yet? I'm not as much of a citrus person as I am a floral and gourmand person. Still, this is a Lush classic, so I should give it a whirl. 🙂