It occurred to me the other morning, as I lathered up with my bath poof, that I have tried almost all the regular (non-Retro) LUSH Cosmetics shower gels offered in stores. Crazy! So I figured it might be time to sum up my thoughts with a good, bad, and ugly post. (Okay, none of them are particularly bad or ugly, but it sounded good…)

The first shower gel I tried was Flying Fox. The main notes are jasmine absolute, cypress essential oil, and ylang ylang essential oil (to my nose). Depending on my mood, I either love it or hate it. When I love it, the scent of jasmine and cypress is heady and intoxicating. When I hate it, it smells like an ashtray to me. Since I’ve read other reviewers who mention the ashtray thing, it’s not just me. When you use it, your whole bathroom will smell like it and it will drift out the bathroom door too – it’s STRONG stuff. When I’m in the mood, I love to wash my hair with it, and then have jasmine-scented hair for the rest of the day. I give it two thumbs up for being unique, at least.

Next up was Tramp. I always love Tramp. It’s a mossy green patchouli-fest, all damp forest and fresh turned earth. It literally is green, so you’ll have green foam. I also love to wash my hair with Tramp, to enjoy that mossy patchouli scent all day long – I can catch whiffs of it throughout the day. Mmmmm Tramp. We’re BFFs.

Due to an irresistable BOGO offer, I scored a small bottle of Happy Hippy. (That’s Buy One Get One in case you don’t know retail-speak.) Happy Hippy is also all love, all the time. It’s grapefruit, grapefruit, grapefruit, and maybe a little more grapefruit with your grapefruit. I ADORE using this stuff in the morning, since it is 100% refreshing in a fresh, juicy, citrusy burst of cheerfulness. Oh yeah, I like to wash my hair with it too (I’m sounding like a broken record here, but these shower gels do make great shampoos). The citrus oils make my hair super-shiny, so I’m tempted to get a full-sized bottle just to wash my hair with.

Thanks to another BOGO, I have two small bottles of The Olive Branch to try out. I like it, but not as much as I like Happy Hippy. It’s citrus-y, but not like Happy Hippy – more mellow, less bright. It’s good for washing my hair though, since it makes it really soft.

On a whim, I bought a full-size bottle of Sonic Death Monkey Shower Gel, which despite the weird name, is quite excellent. Lush describes it as chocolate with coffee and lime (sounds terrible, right?) but the blend works somehow. The brightness of the lime hits your nose first, but then it mellows out to the coffee and chocolate bits. It’s great for waking up in the morning. Two thumbs up.

I’ve also tried Creamed Almond and Coconut Shower Smoothie, which has a vanilla-y scent, and doesn’t lather well. It’s great for shaving your legs, though.

In the Retro section, I’m dying to try 13 Rabbits, Back for Breakfast, and Blue Skies shower gels.

If you are looking for a great shower gel that doesn’t smell like anything you’ll find at other stores, try a Lush shower gel. They are wonderfully herbal and all of them are pretty gentle to the skin.