u/EnvironmentalSir4214

This is both somewhat a rant and a rave but ultimately not that deep.

I used this shower steamer as a bath bomb yesterday (I don't believe in shower steamers) - the whole house smelled like 2010's era Lush and my actual skin smells phenomenal even now. It's like having a bath in a huge bottle of Big Blue perfume. The design of the product is absolutely perfect, the scent strength is perfect (similar strength to the 2010's Big Blue bath bomb), even the season it was released in was perfect for once lol. I actually felt like I'd used a real Lush product after and not just been quietly disappointed.

So tell me why it's only a Kitchen exclusive and not an actual retail product?! I would buy the shit out of this. The actual big blue bath bomb they sell in stores has barely any scent now and the seaweed is annoying. When the scent issue comes up I've seen people get a lot of push back on this sub from Lush workers that we must all have Long Covid, or we're perhaps 'overwhelmed' by competing scents in the store... but this product actually just proves that Lush is actually just putting less scent in their mainline products imo.

Someone else in this sub asked me to send them a pic if I ever came across my old notepad. I lost their comment but here it is!

I remember buying this from a link on his MySpace. It was some sort of back to school collection in 2008 that had binders and other stuff.

Does anyone else have any pics or info from this collection?

I've chosen these cards because even after 25 years I think the artwork is amazing. I'll likely get them all as tattoos eventually but I would appreciate you guy's insights on which artwork you prefer, if any?

Change of Heart and Monster Reborn are essential and have to happen. I am also obsessed with Exchange of the Spirit, Convulsion of Nature and weird ultra specific cards like that but not sure if I could make that work as a small tattoo bc of the amount of detail.

I love the Butterfly Dagger because it was probably the peak of my YGO days but it's Tears of a Mermaid that's the dark horse here for me just because its not obviously a YGO card and it would go well with other aquatic themed tattoes I'm getting.

Let me know your thoughts. if anyone has any similar ink I'd love to see it too!

I really needed the money a few years back and sold my very rare copy of this album to a collector in the US relatively cheap 😭 it’s my favourite Hole record and easily my biggest regret.

How dumb am I?!

Slammer scented!

These photos were taken by me on an iPhone 4 in 2012, then instagram filtered, and then screenshot, and saved to a USB at some point. I didn’t know a better way to do it back then (there was no “save to camera function on IG I don’t think?)

but really what I love about the images is that they illustrate the mix of analogue and digital technology at the time and they’re a snapshot into a really specific pop culture landscape.

(Lomo cameras, iPods, Hollister flip flops, Lauren Conrad book, digital camera case and charger)

The CD collection image is interesting because again it’s snapshot into pop culture at the time but also how quickly CD’s were falling out of fashion quickly from 2009-2012.

This is my collection at the very end of that era. I didn’t actually buy a single CD again until 2024 and was collecting vinyl instead so it’s like a time capsule.

Anyway, hope you enjoy Decadeologists! I have many more pictures like this but don’t want to spam the sub.

TLDR at the bottom

When we think of 9/11 we think of the WTC, Osama Bin Laden, the war on terror, we might even think of that one shady building that collapsed for no reason.

The truth however, in my opinion, is that it was partially enabled by dark underworld music industry executives such as Tommy Mottola - at the time the CEO of Sony Music.

Mariah Carey, who was married to Tommy Mottola and signed to his label had gone through a long period of discontent throughout the mid-late 90’s, culminating in her escaping the abusive situation and signing a record breaking $100 million contract with Virgin records.

The first release on the new contract was set for 11th September 2001. The project titled “Glitter” consisted of a high budget film, soundtrack album, music videos and promotion.

This obviously upset the dark music industry forces who needed to reset the equilibrium. They needed an antagonist, an industry plant. Enter: Jennifer Lopez.

It is well documented that the recording of the Glitter soundtrack album was sabotaged from within. Mariah would record a song, and J Lo would record the same thing and release it first. Mariah would hire a rapper for a remix, J Lo would do the same. This is most well documented on “Loverboy” vs “I’m Real”.

Of course this wasn’t actually J Lo’s fault. There were powerful marionettes behind the scenes trying to prove a point that you do not fuck over music industry executives and get away with it.

Mariah was forced to re-record the soundtrack many times, whilst simultaneously promoting it. Being signed to the highest value contract of all time had its pressures. She stopped sleeping and began uploading cryptic voice notes to her website, alluding to dark controlling forces sabotaging her.

Mariah was then institutionalised by her own family, who had allegedly been receiving advice from Sony regarding conservatorships (the thing that happened to Britney). This happened the same week the film and movie came out. Just a few days before 9/11.

Unable to contact the outside world Mariah sat and watched the planes hit the towers, destroying her chances of independent success without the Sony Music label and her ex-husband.

The movie and soundtrack are still considered two of the worst flops of all time. The media were allegedly directed to discuss Glitter as a distraction from 9/11 because it was more “lighthearted”, but was that the plan all long?

Virgin Records were clearly intimidated by what
happened and paid Mariah an unprecedented fee to end the contract early. She did eventually return to prominence but under new constraints. The world and music industry were never the same 💔

Sources: Mariah’s book, and sometimes I just know things.

TLDR: Mariah Carey was married to the CEO of Sony Music. She divorced him and signed the biggest contract of all time, humiliating him and the label. Her first release for the new contract was the “Glitter” movie & soundtrack… set for release on 9/11 👀

I have really fond memories of this collab. As a young Gay I remember being in the airport after Gran Canaria pride.

In the alcohol section of the duty free zone there was a very elaborate MDNA themed vodka stand - it looked amazing! Intricate brightly lit mirrored boxes contained the MDNA x Smirnoff Vodka, I remember all of the reflections of the bottles repeating endlessly and kind of resembling the album art style.

The actual box for the bottles had a similar vibe and were stacked up near a huge promo photo of Madonna. I found a pic on google but I definitely have a photo of the actual display. unfortunately, it will be on a camera SD card at my parents house. 🥲 👴🏻

The Vodka came with an exclusive downloadable EP - which admittedly is… of its time (track list at the bottom). It was super creative at the time though nevertheless and a interesting way to distribute exclusive content to her real target audience: Gays who drink vodka.

Safe to say, i bought the MDNA vodka and played the shit out of that EP. I bought the MDNA album and played that too (with a few tracks removed, sorry Bday Song). I treasured the bottle until it accidentally got thrown out a few years ago. I absolutely love the memory of finding it in the airport almost like a shrine, but also that whole time period. I’m really finding appreciation for niche, potentially somewhat forgotten Madonna stuff like this recently!

I’m not sure how widely available this collab was. I only ever saw it once in that airport. Do you guys have any other niche M stuff like this to share? I’d love to know! I would love to hear from someone who tried the Japanese MDNA skin. 😂

EP track-list:

Give Me All Your Luvin' (Oliver Twizt Remix)
4:48

Give Me All Your Luvin' (Sultan + Ned Shepard Remix)
5:59

Give Me All Your Luvin' (Demolition Crew Remix)
7:01

Masterpiece (Kid Capri's Remix)
3:57

Turn Up The Radio (Leo Zero Remix)
7:22

Turn Up The Radio (Richard Vission Speakers Blow Remix)
6:15

Turn Up The Radio (Marco V Remix)

I bought the stormy weather gift set, dirty beard oil and a whole bunch of Dirty bath bombs (not pictured)! I also tried Million Dollar & Banoffee Pie body sprays…. and the Vegan Leather beard oil 🥴

Full review from an extremely hairy man below:

1. Stormy Weather spray 2/5 - I’ll be honest and say this one is not the scent for me. I already knew it wasn’t for me almost a year ago when a sales assistant vigorously sprayed it at me and said “you’re a man, you’ll like this!” - unfortunately this fragrance smells like straight up Lynx Africa and reminds me of the rough school I went to and bus stop fights. If you’re American that’s ‘Axe’ but we have a variant of it named Lynx Africa in the UK and it’s genuinely identical. It’s not something you’d want to smell of past the age of 13 unfortunately.

2. Stormy Weather SG 3/5 - you’re probably thinking “if you don’t like stormy weather why did you buy it” - well my friend the shower gel is actually quite nice.
   This scent actually works a lot better as a shower gel and has a lot more complexity beyond just “Lynx”. Am I in LOVE with it? No, and I wouldn’t repurchase the gift set just for this. But it’s nice enough, works and the name is good. Honestly you could easily replicate this by buying a Lynx Africa SG for £2.

Cost: £28 (total gift price for two items)
Dupe: Lynx Africa body spray and shower gel

3. Dirty Beard Oil 4/5 - this is actually lovely and I do recommend it to the hairy Lush blokes out there. I’ve used it twice so can’t comment on whether it does anything. The Dirty scent is much more complex in this format. It usually just smells like old toothpaste to me but there’s another deeper element balancing this beyond just mint. Would I repurchase? Probably not. I’ve got a lot of beard oil and this ranks on the lower end comparatively. In terms of just Lush products this is the most wearable scent out of Stoick, Vegan Leather and Dirty.

Cost: £18
Dupe: accidentally leave toothpaste in your beard. You’ll smell similar 🤷🏻 or just add some dirty body spray to any other beard oil

4. Vegan Leather Jacket beard oil 0/5 - this isn’t a fragrance, it’s just a bad smell. Just don’t even bother with this one. Absolutely disgusting. It’s all of the worst parts Pumpkin Spice from last year. Even the staff physically recoiled and couldn’t think of a single nice thing to say. It smells like a burning car, but on your face in close proximity to your nose all day. No thanks! I’m beyond grateful I only tested one drop on my hand.

Cost: £18
Dupe: You really don’t need one imo just avoid at all costs, but I guess if you like that fragrance just add a couple drops of the perfume to any beard oil

5. Million Dollar Body Spray 5/5 - this is so easy and wearable I’m almost shocked that Lush made it. The simplest way I can describe it is Sleepy/Twilight with a bit of Rose Jam mixed in. It’s stunning. I’ve already layered it with shit loads of Oud and it works so well together. This one could easily go “viral” or whatever if they pitch it correctly.

Cost: not sure, didn’t buy it
Dupe: Rose Jam and Sleepy body spray layered together

6. Banoffee Pie Body Spray 2/5 - I’m just not a gourmand person sorry so probably not an accurate review. It just smells like cheap Poundland spray that my niece uses. Just kinda artificial, cloying, gross. There’s zero actual banana in the scent and it shows (not that I’d want it personally)

Cost: not sure, didn’t buy
Dupe: go to Poundland, B&M, Home Bargains etc and try those fragrances bc it’s honestly not far off. Anything generic, sweet and artificial with that heavy sticky dates base would be a pretty good dupe

7. the bath bombs

I’ve forgotten all of their names except Dirty. That one smells exactly like the perfume, no notes.

I was a little taken aback by the scent choices of the other bombs - ultra generic cloying gourmand! I honestly do not understand that for Father’s Day. It would’ve been the perfect moment to perhaps make Stormy Weather into a bath bomb or maybe experiment with some non-food scents. The prawn smells like desserts, the music note just smelled sweet and generic.

The new Lemon bubblebar is more like a 24:43 fragrance profile (dark heavy and cloying) rather than a 2025 kitchen box lemon vibe (much lighter and tangy).

Anyway, hope you enjoyed my Ted Talk! Hope it de influenced a few people from purchasing stuff they don’t need. I wish I had video footage of the staff reacting to the Vegan Leather stuff earlier it was hilarious seeing them try to toe the party line while being assaulted by such an awful smell.

New song suddenly spiked up to 8.6 for a day and dropped back down again… what does this mean exactly? Someone listening on repeat for exactly one day?

Would appreciate your insights!