When I reviewed Lush's powdery jasmine fragrance, Silky Underwear, I mentioned that I had once splurged on their Flying Fox shower gel in the small size (100 ml, which looks sooo much smaller in shower gel than it does in perfume). I didn't think I'd ever spend that much on shower gel again, but then I started to miss it. Lo and behold, now I have another bottle, along with a small bottle of It's Raining Men.
Flying Fox is yet another one of Lush's many jasmine bombs. I'm all out of their Jasmine & Henna Fluff Ease at the moment, so I can't compare the fragrance, but Flying Fox is a big sweet honeyed jasmine with ylang ylang, and is probably at least vaguely related to their Lust perfume. The smell is strong and rich — really, almost too strong and rich — and so is the gel itself. You only need to use a tiny amount, which is just as well given the price. When you're done showering, a very slight jasmine smell lingers in the bathroom for a few hours, and an even slighter aroma lingers on your skin for a short time. I can still smell it on my bath sponge the next day.
It's Raining Men was a spur-of-the-moment purchase, and I don't know what I was thinking except that hey, those Lush stores are so intensely scented that I probably started to suffer olfactory fatigue within a few minutes. I think It's Raining Men is the gel version of Lush's popular Honey I Washed The Kids soap? Lush describes it as "toffee-fudge, with refreshing sweet orange and bergamot oils to give it a little extra sweetness", and that's about right, although there's far more honey and toffee than orange and bergamot. On the one hand, I do like the smell, on the other, it's so strong and candy-sweet that it can be nauseating first thing in the morning.
I am impressed with the quality of these shower gels, but they're too strongly scented for me to want to use them every day — I like scented bath products, but not such a huge jolt of scent all at once. I'm tempted to find a good unscented bath gel (anyone know one?) and blend it with the Lush gels to tone down the aromas.
Lush Flying Fox and It's Raining Men are available in 100 (around $10), 250 (around $18) and 500 (around $28) ml. Lush says you can also use their shower gels as shampoos, but I have not tried that.
Have a favorite scented shower gel? Do comment!
See also: Jessica's review of Lush Sonic Death Monkey.
I love the Lush Grass shower gel! So deliciously green. Can’t stand Flying Fox (death by jasmine!) In general, I think that Lush has some really great body products. The massage bars are also a highly-fragranced treat (my favorites are the tasty Friends With Benefits and Soft Coeur).
Grass sounds wonderful — although that really is an intense shade of green!
Grass is fabulous, and possibly my favorite shower gel evah. Lawnmower mulch in a bottle; simple and joyous. I keep meaning to repurchase it, but I feel a bit louche spending $9 on 100 ml of shower gel.
I like my Coffeemint shower gel by Wash With Joe. Jessica did a review some time back.
https://nstperfume.com/2009/08/01/wash-with-joe-coffeemint-invigorating-bodywash-scented-body-products/
It’s shocking how many of my scented body products came to me via Jessica’s reviews!
It’s Raining Man probably would give me a big mouthful.
I also prefere something less scented for taking a shower. Lately I’ve been using a lof of Dove Men+Care series and Original Source gels like lemon&green tea or watermint&lemongrass.
I will have to look for Original Source — those scents sound great.
there are much more, raspberry&vanilla, lavender&green tea, dragonfruit, basil&something and more, in winter they released Chocolate&mint and chocolate&orange as a seasonal scent. I wonder if they’ll come up with something for spring or summer
Great, thanks!
Last year Original Source’s summer release was a delicious pineapple. Normally I wouldn’t want to smell of pineapple but it was lovely.
I have tried the Lush Flying Fox, and being out of shampoo washed my hair with it. Usually I don’t love jasmine but it was lovely in my hair and the fragrance really lasted.
Two recommendations on unscented body washes:
1) Gold Bond Ultimate Deep Moisture – Sensitive Skin – rich creamy lather and although it lists some fragrant oils in the ingredient listing – towards the bottom of the list, the scent not discernible in the least.
2) Eucerin Calming Daily Shower Oil – unusual consistency; it truly is an oil which produces a low lather when in contact with water and rinses away leaving no residue.
Thank you! My husband has skin problems so I should look for that Eucerin especially. He has something by Aveeno which is not softening enough.
Robin, the Eucerin is excellent once you get past its consistency. Couldn’t get through winter without it.
I know this from switching to mostly natural shampoos — it’s hard to get used to little or no lather!
Paula’s Choice has a whole bunch of skin care/body care/makeup lines, many of which are unscented.
They are online only – you can get samples, though. I’ve used the skin care products for years and really appreciate that they’re unscented. They have a very nice shampoo/body wash that’s unscented. The Slip Into Silk body lotion is the only one I can use full strength all over and not feel sticky.
Thanks for the Eucerin washing oil suggestion, I’ll have to give that a try!
Baby bath products for sensitive skin are usually unscented and very cheap too – you could maybe dilute with that.
Oh, excellent suggestion!
I don’t know if it’s different for women, but men use shower gel as shampoo ALL THE TIME, and vicey-versey. They’re basically the same exact product. Lots of men’s shower gels are specifically labelled as being for hair and body anyway.
I can hardly ever stand to go into a Lush any more, because the smell is overwhelming. I’m not sensitive to scents at all, but if I had to work in a Lush I just know I’d have an eternal unshakeable migraine.
Gosh, maybe everybody does but me? My hair is so dry that I’m pretty picky about what products I use.
I love the brand, but agree, the stores are not a pleasant experience. I don’t like the smell and I don’t like the overly attentive staff — it’s hard to be left in peace in there sometimes.
Ah, now there I am lucky. I have a curly-haired daughter, so I take her with me to Lush, and the SAs descend on her, not me. They show her stuff and take her over to the hand basin to demonstrate. I can hear them chattering and laughing over the other side of the shop while I have a couple of minutes to myself. Sometimes I feel I should buy something small for her, but not always.
Works in Crabtree & Evelyn, L’Occitane too.
LOL — perfect! I always say I’m just looking, and despite that, they’ll come up 3, 4 times, sometimes more, to offer information I didn’t ask for. Once, I can see the point, but 4 times in a quick store visit — that’s annoying.
Used to work with a guy whose second “fun” job was at Lush and it’s almost like they’re brainwashed!! I can see liking the product you’re selling but he was a fanatic!
That makes sense — I mean, you can tell they really like the product. Sometimes I just want to be left alone to smell things without having to hear a spiel about the benefits & etc.
At Lush (and really anywhere), I would politely but firmly say No, thank you, I am just looking and if I need help, I will find someone, and then I would turn away and keep doing what I was doing. The persistent ones just get silence and my don’t-mess-with-me-I-am-the-customer-and-I-am-always-right-or-I-will-complain-to-store-management look.
My unscented bath soap of choice is Dr. Bonner’s unscented liquid castile soap. Most other soaps/gels really irritate my skin. I usually add some essential oils to it. I think you’d like my favorite blend, Robin – a combination of vetiver, lavender and rosemary essential oils.
Oh, interesting — I have several travel sizes of their scented gels (rose, citrus, I forget what else). They’re the opposite of Lush: thin & hardly scented. Betcha I could even use the rose and the Flying Fox would eat it right up!
I’m sure you’re right. A strong jasmine will just about eat everything except maybe tuberose.
For dry hair (mine is very dry as well), I first tried some of the Wen products, but they had wintergreen in them, which I’m allergic to. But then someone made a comment on their website, why not just use any conditioner as it would be much cheaper. I thought that was an excellent idea. I now use an organic lavender conditioner to ‘wash’ my hair and it works great.
Both these shower gels sound great, especially for layering under other products in the case of Flying Fox or the It’s Raining Men when I’m craving something sweet. We have really hard water so anything strongly scented is in for a fight straight out of the bottle. Maybe I should think about putting together a Lush order after intending to do so for years since we don’t have a local shop.
Co-washing has really improved my dry hair tremendously. It has even grown noticeably longer in the months since I’ve been doing it, rather than just splitting and breaking as it used to do. I’m currently loving the Macadamia Oil mask. It’s rescued my hair. Thank the curly hair boards and MUA for the suggestion. If a conditioner isn’t conditioning enough, I’ve been known to add a little olive or coconut oil to amp it up, so to speak, and that helps, too, for my seemingly always dry hair despite all the water I drink.
Robin, it is a little pricy but Body Time offers an entire range of unscented products through their website. And while I opt to add fragrance to mine (I’m in love with their grapefruit, tea rose and China Rain fragrances), you can get many items unscented and save the cost of perfuming each one, and they offer smaller sizes.
They have this fantastic spray on moisturizer that has the lightest herbal scent but works beautifully, and their shower gel is gentle enough to use on babies but still works very well on adults, too. It is even suggested for the whole family’s use, and they have really lovely bath/body oil as well. If you sign up for their frequent buyer program (it isn’t free to do so, unfortunately, but I make it back every year), you get 20% off your order every Tuesday. And no, I don’t work for them. 🙂
I really like Body Time, and have used their spray on moisturizer — it’s great. My quibble w/ BT is that they rarely offer free shipping, or if they do, it’s with an order of $100 or even $150. I just HATE paying shipping. They ought to raise their prices & offer free shipping — crazy people like me would order more that way.
Robin, I agree on the shipping and think the old-school catalog style of shipping for online orders is outdated and unreasonable. The good news is that I think the 20% applies to the entire order, including the shipping cost. I place orders over the phone and will ask next time I do so, but think the discount comes off the whole thing, which makes shipping more reasonable. Their Black Poppy is amazing, too, and reminds me a lot of Paestum Rose for some reason.
I really must try Lush, too, since I’ve pretty much given up on The Body Shop after they’ve gotten rid of almost every product I liked. I fear Satsuma will disappear next at the rate things are going.
Huge thanks, Rapple (and AbScent), for this idea! I’ve wanted to add a volumizing conditioner to my routine, but didn’t like the idea of another step – I can’t wait to try this!
Flying Fox sounds like my kind of wonderful. Get me to Lush, quick!
They have tons of different jasmine products, & might even have another jasmine shower gel, I don’t know. I wish they’d do a Silky Underwear shower gel.
I have friends who either despise or love Lush. I love them and used to frequent the store in Covent Garden when it first opened (yonkers ago) and then the Chelsea store in recent years, but haven’t tried any of their stuff lately. I like the fun names they come up with.
i’m definitely a lush despiser, mostly because i can’t bare to be in the overperfumed store. BUT i will admit i love the scent of the silky underwear powder and they have a wonderful carnation body lotion called Potion. it is really unique and amazing smelling.
Robin,
i totally agree that the scent from lush shops can really be overwhelming. i’ve always wondered how the neighbouring shops cope with that.. even so, i’d prefer it to lemongrass which i dislike intensively.
for unscented body shampoo, the first that came to my mind is by l’occitan. their products are all lovely and light, nothing cloying. this post also reminded me of a comment made years ago by a girlfriend : she said dior’s poison was too strong to be worn in the normal way; the trick is to spray a little on various parts of the skin, wait a little and have a shower. the subtle lingering fragrance will be less overpowering but still remain distinctive as poison. think about that !
That’s like the “spray and walk into it” trick, but I could not stand to waste so much fragrance. Rather just wear something lighter! Or decant and dab on from a vial.
I love Lush showergels. Rub rub rub is a great scrub, and goes perfectly with my Prada amber. Happy hippie is a really fresh citrus scent, nice for a summer day. There not cheap, but not as expensive as designer scent showergels.
I guess that’s true — I’ve never bought a designer shower gel.
i happened upon the discontinued diptyque bath gels in olene and eau l’ente at a pharmacy in nyc the other day. they were expensive but i just had to splurge and buy all the remaining stock (it was on sale since discontinued). they are incredibly beautiful if you want a scented shower or bath! i’m not going to look into the diptyque bath products they currently sell. i do like an unscented shower experience much of the time, but every once in a while i want to take a nice heavily scented bubble bath, even if i wouldn’t douse myself in the perfume of the same fragrance.
I’m constantly changing shower gels, but my current favorite is Caress “Scarlet Blossom” from the new fine fragrance elixir line. The patchouli oil gives it an incense-like smell . . . and I love incense. Caution though, this is also a “huge jolt of scent” that will linger in your shower.
Oh, I love that one as well as the purple one with the vetiver. I forgot what it’s called but it is nice. Not as great as their old Oil Infusion Morocco body wash, but the lychee and patch is a really nice combination and I wish they’d make it in more body products.
I will have to smell those!
I like Kiss My Face shower gels especially Rough Thyme, Peaceful Patchouli, and Anti-Stress and all of the Alba Botanica that I have tried. I am indulging in Pacifica Malibu Lemon Blossom right now. Claus Porto Wild Pansy is another favorite splurge.
Thanks, I do like the KMF line, and “Rough Thyme” is a great name! Will look for those.
I’m going to have to try the Flying Fox. I LOVE Lush’s Tramp shower gel, which the bottle says is a melissa/patch combo, but I definitely get oakmoss too. Whole Foods has a house brand shower gel that I think comes in an unscented option and it’s cheap too…
And I just *finally* got a local Whole Foods. Thanks!
I need Flying Fox, jasmine bombs, ‘death by jasmine’, ya, sign me up!!!! I need it!
Sold!
I have a small bottle of Flying Fox that I dont use very often, now, thinking about it, I must check the use by date. I would rather use Philosophy bath and shower gels-they seem to be very skin softening, they dont smell overpowering and dont irritate my skin- I am prone to allergic reactions.
I have never used the Philosophy, but my son loved the Chocolate Ice Cream one.
I’m nuts about this Flying Fox (and have turned my husband on to it’s charms), but have to admit due to it’s potency I use it about once a week. If you are a true jasmine fiend, try the Godiva solid shampoo. Using both will satisfy any jasmine cravings you may have…
Yes, about once a week is right! And will have to try that shampoo. I have a sample of some sort of coconut solid shampoo, & was surprised at how much I like it. Too much trouble to keep in the shower though.
I really like the philosophy shower gels. The perfumed versions, amazing grace etc., work well as hair or body shampoos. The tooti- frooti flavor offerings change as the seasons go and you get a burst of scent in the shower with no lingering perfume on skin after a few minutes. I liked the margarita one a few seasons ago.
My perfume SA recommends ivory soap for the shower because (he says) it doesn’t have the ingredients to neutralize scent, so your perfumes last longer. But I like scented shower gel so haven’t tested the theory. I may need to test some Lush instead. Great review!
That is true of Ivory, but of many other soaps as well. You really only need to avoid deodorant soaps.
I love the all-in-one body wash and shampoos for their convenience. I have not used one lately but the most recent one I used was Molton Brown Active Cassia Hair and Body Sportswash. I am not a sporty person but this product called out to me with its spicy clean scent and well, convenience, specially when I travel and the destination is someone’s home and not a hotel.
Waiting in the wings is L’Occitane The Vert Green Tea Shower Gel for Body and Hair. I have to first finish my Trader Joe’s Refresh Shampoo and Refresh Conditioner (I think they were $3 apiece for 16 oz).
Well, since we are on the subject of shampoos, I have begun using Bumble and Bumble’s Sunday Shampoo once a week (on Sundays!) and it leaves my hair squeaky clean and ready for the week; it has a very light slightly herby scent.
And…speaking of showers, one of my favorite olfactory delights is a steamy bathroom highlighting the remaining traces of Lab on Fire What We Do in Paris is Secret (did I say this is my current favorite scent?).
I really like Turkish Delight. It is a bit pricey, so I do not use it every day but it is like taking a shower in a rose garden. Another product I love is the hand cream Handy Gurugu. I never realised it is strongly scented until someone commented on the wonderful smell of our open-plan office.
That Turkish Delight looks fabulous!
I looove Felce Azzura by Paglieri, an Italian brand. The soapy-musky fragrance is quintessentially Italian and it is unisex. Best used together with the body lotion. While it keeps close to the skin, you will smell lovely and clean all day. May interfere with your fragrance, so either choose something close to it (Narcisso Rodrigues essence musk comes to mind, although Felce Azzura is better IMHO) or waive fragrance altogether.
Wish they had
Wished they had a cologne or an EDT, as well as more products in my country.
Do comment if available in the US
It is a very traditional brand and I believe family owned. In recent years they’ve expanded the fragrance range by the classic one is still the best.
Have you tried the deodorant?
No Chiara I haven’t, my deodorant must be unscented. Why?
They have this product here: http://www.paglieri.it/it/3/7/124/prodotto/Deo_Profumo_Classico/
The text says that it is an unisex eau de toilette that doubles as a deodorant for all the people that love the Felce Azzurra fragrance. I saw it in the supermarket at home (Northen Italy) and I have no idea if it is any good and if you can find it where you live, but maybe you might like it.
Nile Goddess, I have not heard of it but looks like you can buy it online here:
http://www.emporioitaliano.com/Felce_Azzurra.html
I recommend Shikai for an unscented shower gel. Their unscented lotion is very good. You can find it online or at most health food stores or if your grocery has a natural products aisle.
Thanks — I love their Yuzu shower gel.
i think this is the first time i’ve ever disagreed with you Robin! i tried flying fox recently and had an incredibly strange experience. when i sniffed it in the store, the smells all around me were so overwhelming that i could barely tell what it smelled like. i seriously don’t understand how lush employees can breathe in there! once i got home, i smelled it out of the bottle. interesting – smelled like a very strong jasmine with something a touch sharp or sour. i was intrigued. the next morning in the shower, i finally used it. within one minute of lathering up with it, i felt physically repulsed. all i could smell was a sour, rotting, chemical note – something i’ve never experienced in all my thirty four years and hundreds and hundreds of bath products. i was truly taken aback! i have no idea what they put in this stuff but the closest thing i can think of to describe it is the smell of a dead animal next to a canned jasmine air freshener and an open bottle of vinegar. the next several hours were incredibly unpleasant as i waited for the smell on my skin to go away (i tried washing it off with an unscented soap but it didn’t work). i left the bottle on the street the next day because i literally couldn’t bare to have it in my home!
sorry for being so negative, just had to share this with someone!
ps. i have a ton of great unscented shower gels. some to try are john masters organics bare, california babies unscented, dr bronners unscented (very drying though), jason natural fragrance free, exederm (for babies), aquaphor (for babies) cleanser, whole foods unscented bath and shower gel, liquid neutrogena fragrance free cleanser. if you need more recs let me know!
i think my favorite scented bath gel is kai. it’s as clean smelling as i like a cleansing product to be but of course still a white floral.
i don’t wear the perfume because it feels too easy (if that makes sense), but i will use the bath gel (as both shampoo and body wash) and then wear fracas. pretty heavenly.