LUSH Confetti and Keep it Fluffy by Samantha Scriven©

“Laughter through tears is my favourite emotion,” Truvy Jones, Steel Magnolias

There are two LUSH fragrances in front of me, and in the midst of lockdown and a very cold winter, they brought a welcome embrace of colour and gaiety into my home. LUSH Confetti and LUSH Keep it Fluffy conjure all the delight of their names, with visions of sugarplums against an unrelenting slate grey sky.

LUSH Confetti bottle image by Samantha Scriven

 LUSH Confetti was created by LUSH perfumer Emma Dick for her wedding which was postponed due to COVID-19. What could be more Right Now than a bride with a dress, shoes, perfume, a fiancé and no wedding? Confetti would have been Emma’s wedding day fragrance, and still will be, although it began (in 2019) as a rather different fragrance from the one I’m wearing (and loving) today.  Emma was playing with the idea of a pear, coffee, violet and rose scent but at some point in the process, LUSH co-founder Rowena Bird remarked that the as-yet unnamed perfume reminded her of sugared almonds. Here in the UK, these pastel shelled rock-hard treats used to be left as bridal favours at the table, and sometimes still are. In Italy, sugared almonds are called confetti and so now Emma had a name for her perfume.

The Roses of Heliogabulus by Alma-Tadema

Confetti is a deep rose fragrance. In my imagination, each bloom is shaded in pastels, like an Italian gelato display: Lemon yellow, blush pink, pistachio green. Wreathing its pretty magic through the roses is violet leaf: not as distinctive as violets themselves, but a blend of gauzy violets and green summer grass. A flutter of powder, dainty as a butterfly, brushes the velvet Geranium petals as they brazenly bloom their rose/lemon accord. The natural sandalwood oil adds an opulent glamour that would take any bride from dewy to devastating by the time the first dance strikes up. Confetti is armfuls of roses, dazzling smiles, laughter and glamour. After the shadow of 2020, it’s exactly the light and the lift that we need. Notes: rose, violet leaf, sandalwood.

LUSH Keep it Fluffy image by Samantha Scriven

LUSH Keep it Fluffy, an all-vegan perfume is one from the archives (when LUSH was a fledgling  brand). Travel back through time to the perfume (and shop on Carnaby Street) B Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful, and you’ll find future LUSH co-founder Mark Constantine creating Keep it Fluffy. This old favourite has been brought back in 2021 and its timing could not be better.

Jean Harlow Dinner at 8, 1933

I sprayed generously, because now we’re social distancing, we can, and indeed, we should! The result is instant addiction. The nose to wrist frequency made my head a blur as I greedily inhaled these wafts of jasmine, roses and vanilla. Precious orris weaves its powdery magic like a diva that plays Kiss Chase: in this instance combining suave allure with a frivolous undercurrent. This is a pink powder puff, marabou if you please, that belongs among ostrich feathers and dressing screens draped with lingerie. Keep it Fluffy, despite its playful name, takes glamour to another stratosphere.  This is a fragrance that conjures vintage looking -glasses and impossibly glamorous women. Think Jean Harlow smouldering from a feathered peignoir. This may be sophisticated, but it is accessible too. The cosy vanilla, coupled with a lasting skin scent of come-hither musk offers the comfort of a soft feathery blanket next to your skin, keeping you warm as the winter roars outside. Notes: jasmine, rose, musk, orris, ylang ylang

Disclosure I received my bottles via LUSH UK, Opinions my own

–Samantha Scriven, Senior Contributor and author of  iscentyouaday.com