Quicksand FUN Bar

From an outside perspective, it's sometimes a little confusing when certain products get discontinued and others suddenly make an appearance, especially when you assume that these products are rather popular when they're obviously not selling very well. It confused me quite a lot when Lush took away both the Yuzu And Cocoa Bubbleroon and Shower Cream from their shelves, as I always thought that these were two of their biggest sellers. 

When the company then brought out a Yuzu And Cocoa Liquid Perfume a few months later, and a Yuzu And Cocoa Body Lotion and Shower Jelly not long after, I couldn't for the life of me decide whether or not this product was actually just really popular as an exclusive, or whether Lush had underestimated how much negative feedback they would receive from removing the classic duo from their shops. 

Either way, I was thrilled to learn that Quicksand FUN was scented with the same fragrance as the Yuzu And Cocoa range, and I couldn't wait to try it out for size. Not only did the format, design and fragrance intrigue me, but reading the description also had me interested in how a fun bar with actual sand in the ingredients list would work on my skin.

What I found with Quicksand was that first and foremost the Yuzu And Cocoa scent worked perfectly in this format. Both fruity and creamy, this Liverpool exclusive boasted all of the fruity properties that you would expect from any other product in this range. 

A distinctive and rather difficult ingredient to describe, the yuzu is a Japanese fruit that has a scent not too far off of that of a grapefruit, albeit slightly more exotic and rounded smelling. Coupled with the grapefruit oil itself, these two add a wonderfully sweet fruity smell unlike anything else that Lush have made.

Alongside this, the cocoa absolute then gives that 'chocolate-orange' element that Lush describe: thickening the overall fragrance and adding a rich, creamy depth to the scent. Underneath this is a dash of tonka absolute that pads out the creamy bass note, while the bergamot oil adds a sweetness that compliments the other ingredients and rounds the FUN off beautifully.

Simply put: Quicksand FUN smells absolutely beautiful and very much like the warm, fruity dessert that we've come to recognise this smell as. Everything about the scent of this will have you salivating from the get-go and it's definitely on par with the likes of the bath bomb and the body lotion.

Not only does it smell divine, but it also happens to be super effective in the shower. This bar happens to be a little on the soft side so it definitely should be stored somewhere really cool between uses, and I'd definitely recommend that you only take a tiny piece with you into the shower each time as you really don't need a lot.

Alongside this, Quicksand boasts the addition of sand in the ingredients list, so this beautiful exclusive also offers a gentle exfoliation when it's being used. You can actually feel the little grains of sand getting to work at buffering and cleaning you skin, and you can feel the difference afterwards.

As soon as it comes into contact with the water, it lathers up and creates a thick, fragrant foam that coats your skin and leaves the scent lingering on your body. Much like a soap, the fragrance comes into full force when it reacts to the heat of the water and you really have to fight the urge not to munch on the bar whilst you're using it. I dare say at least one person has probably had a taste of this at some point and been sorely disappointed!

I will go as far as to say that this is even better than a shower cream as it lathers up a treat in the shower and produces a gorgeous, silky-soft mound of suds to clean yourself with. When you massage this across your skin, you can feel how instantly smooth it makes you feel and you can still detect the fragrance on your skin when you exit the bathroom, and for hours afterwards as well. It doesn't dry your skin out at all and the only thing that you may want to be careful with is applying too much at any one go. As it's quite a sticky product, you'll find that using too much at once will just create a messy paste in your hand, which is not a major problem, but does mean that the product is being wasted that this 'mess' will need to be used up instead of being stored for a later date.

Much like every other FUN bar, Quicksand can also be used instead of a bubble bar - held under a running tap to create a surplus amount of bubbles and a beautifully fragrant bath to enjoy. Again, this bar worked well in this way although it didn't produce as many bubbles as some of the other FUN bars have done so, perhaps because of its softer constancy. I cut a slice that probably equated to a sixth of the bar and this gave me more than enough bubbles, so this works out cheaper than a regular bubble bar.

While the product doesn't really create an exciting or colourful bath, the smell more than makes up for it and offers a relaxing and very comforting bath tub experience for all. Having said that, I would recommend that you use this in place of a shower gel as opposed to a bubble bar, as you get a much more rewarding experience this way and the product goes a lot further. Using it as a bubble bar will also leave a mild trace of the sand at the bottom of the tub, which may prove a little prickly to sensitive bottoms.

I'd probably go as far as to say that Quicksand FUN is one of my favourite inventions from Lush in a while, even if the bar itself is super sticky and almost like a sunken cake than a FUN bar. If you're a fan of the Yuzu And Cocoa scent, you will need to get your hands on one of these right away. This needs to be made a permanent for certain, otherwise I'll be trekking up to Liverpool myself, just to grab some of these in the future.

Quantitative Ingredients: Cornflour, Talc, Fine Sea Salt, Glycerine, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sand, Cocoa Absolute, Bergamot Oil, Grapefruit Oil, Tonka Absolute, Cocoa Powder, Aloe Vera Extract, Titanium Dioxide, Gardenia Extract, Coumarin, Limonene, Linalool, Perfume.

Vegan?: Yes.

2019 Price: £3.95 each.

Year Of Original Release: 2019.