Those that know me are aware that when it comes to fragrance, I am a complete almond fanatic. It is by far my favorite note, and in the past few years I have tried almost every almond scent on the market in my quest to find the perfect one. But I've remained largely unsuccessful, mainly because in my mind, I already know what my perfect almond scent is, and it doesn't come in perfume form yet. It is the smell of LUSH's Snowcake, a wonderful soap with an incredibly lovely smell of cream and sugared almonds.
Unlike many gourmand scents, it's not heavy, sweet or cloying, but rather a very milky, gentle, creamy and light fragrance, almost a second skin scent. It is also a lovely product in general, giving off a creamy, moisturizing lather, though like most LUSH soaps, it melts away extremely quickly. The main downfall of the product, however, is not its lasting power but its sadly limited availability: it is only available for a few months during the winter Holiday season, a fact that causes me to paranoidly stagger out the local LUSH store every December with armfuls of Snowcake in tow to soothe my irrational fear that the fourteen bars I've already bought will somehow run out before next Christmas-time.
Last spring, however, the gods at LUSH smiled down upon as they debuted Smitten hand cream, an ultra scrumptious lotion with the same dreamy almond icing smell. Fortunately, it is available year-round. It not only smells true to Snowcake's wonderful aroma but has a great texture and excellent emolliency. It works great as a hand cream, but I love it so much that I usually splurge and use it as an all-over body cream as well, and it moisturizes superbly and leaves a lingering scent that layers well with all my favorite almond and gourmand perfumes. The cream is presented in a sturdy black plastic pot: not my favorite type of lotion packaging because it can be too messy, but a small price to pay for the scent of Snowcake year-round. Now if only those LUSH gods would smile down once more and release this incredible scent in a perfume form.
Snowcake is currently available at $6 / 3.5 oz block and Smitten is $12.95 for a 3.5 oz pot at lush.
Good morning.
This sounds dreamy and I am SMITTEN! Almond is my very favorite note as well. I even know where my almond love affair was derived from….many many years ago when I was a young girl, this lady we knew always used the original Jergens lotion and it was heavenly! I am always on the constant look out for some perfume that smells exactly like that. Isn't that crazy? Thanks for the review and the post. I'm going to purchase this ASAP.
Good day to you!
Yum yum and yum…when you say that it isn't available in perfume form yet…is there a rumour that it will be…please say it is so A! 🙂
Yum, yum! Will check snowcake and smitten out the next time I visit my local LUSH store.
Hugs!
I'm a lover of almond scents too (as well as the nuts themselves). By chance, I was just given a piece of Snowcake. I look forward to using it, and trying Smitten the next time I visit Lush.
Dear A, your description of Smitten sounds devine! Do you think one can also use it as a bodylotion – or at least for the arms 😉 I really don´t know much about Lush – I think mainly due to the fact that they don´t have perfumes (or do they have & I don´t know???).
You wrote Smitten has a gourmand scent, but I hope it isn´t too foody – I´m always afraid of that…
Always a pleasure to meet another almond lover! I think you will definitely enjoy Smitten. Actually, I may lose my almond-license for admitting this, but in truth I've never smelled the famous Jergens that everyone is always talking about…will have to get my hands on some somewhere!
Hey M! LUSH fans have been pushing for years, but so far with no luck. I continue to hope though 🙂
I am almost positive that with your tastes R, you will love them 🙂
Lucky you! If you enjoy Snowcake as much as I do, you will be rushing to the LUSH store in no time 😉
My guilty secret is that I rarely use Smitten as an actual hand lotion, but splurge and use it as a body lotion — it works REALLY well, even if it is a bit indulgent of me. And it's not a foody scent at all really…very milky, creamy and soft, and even has a touch of rose in the background.
You're right that LUSH doesn't make too many perfumes — Karma and Ginger were all the last time I checked. I wish they would make more, since some of their bath products have truly divine scents!!
Oh my goodness! Walmart – $3.59 – Original scent. And it's the same as it ever was! 🙂
Enjoy!!!
I enjoy Karma mightily and plan to try this new smitten this weekend (I assume it's available in the Manhattan stores). I still have a partial bottle of Lush's Icon fragrance and I join the chorus of those who'd love more Lush fragrance sprays
Hey! I miss Potion too! That was a glorious lotion.
Oh Icon…a very pretty scent indeed! I once ran into someone wearing Icon at a party two or three years ago and had the courage enough to say something to her and we bonded over our mutual LUSH obsession!
Potion's amazing too, I can' t believe they decided to discontinue it. Carnation is one of my other favorite notes…
Anyway, yes, I imagine that the Manhattan store does indeed carry Smitten…it was released last January/February in England (I was studying abroad there at the time, and believe me I stalked my local LUSH everyday until they got it in!) and it probably got on this side of the ocean March or April or so….hope you enjoy it!
Hi sweet Anjali!
I miss hearing from you, but am so thrilled to see that you're writing for NST! Keep us the great work!
xoxo