When you think of fun places to go and fun things to do, shopping isn’t necessarily on the top of the list for everyone. However, Lush, a UK cosmetics brand, offers an interactive experience that makes entering the store like entering a whole new world that you always want to come back to and never want to leave.
The minute you step inside, Lush will hit your different senses from all directions in all the best ways. Your eyes will be greeted with bright and vibrant colors that fill the shelves and buckets lining the walls and spread throughout the store’s space. Sweet and fresh scents from all the products in the store will hit you like a flower explosion so bold you will never forget it. As you walk around, you get to touch bubble bars, feel the texture of bath bombs as the glitter rubs off on your fingers, and pick up your favorite body butter, squirting a sample of it into your palms so you can get a waft of its aroma. With amusing yet purposeful products, a unique in-store experience, and a commitment to being eco-friendly, Lush makes shopping for soaps, fragrances, lotions, and other cosmetic items a fun and entertaining experience in itself.
About Lush
Lush began with Mark Constantine, who studied health of hair and scalp, and Liz Weir, a beauty therapist, meeting in a hair and beauty salon in Poole, England, in the 1970s. Then, Mark and Liz started their own business selling fresh and natural hair and beauty products. In the 1980s, they developed products for The Body Shop, becoming its biggest supplier. They then set up Cosmetics-To-Go, a mail order cosmetics company. When that burned out, Mark and Liz along with others from Cosmetics-To-Go created what would be Lush. In a small store in Poole, they made products upstairs, Mark created the perfumes himself, and they sold them downstairs. A customer gave the store its name in a naming competition, where “Lush” was fitting for meaning “fresh, green, verdant, and drunken women”.
Lush Products
Lush is dedicated to charitable giving, fighting animal testing, producing the freshest cosmetics, ethical buying, being 100% vegetarian, being handmade, naked packaging, and being eco-friendly. Lush not only offers products for baths, showers, hair, face, body, fragrance, and makeup, but also has wrapped gift sets, collections, and essential oils. Its best selling products are its bath bombs, face and body masks, face and body scrubs, and lip scrubs. They come in different scents, flavors, and colors, giving customers an array of options to decide their favorite items as well as try new things without ever getting bored. Some classic choices to try include the “Intergalactic” bath bomb that is an out-of-this-world explosion of neon-colored froth smelling like peppermint for you to soak in and the “Bubblegum” lip scrub with a sugar-like texture that is rubbed onto your lips for moisturization. Arguably, the best part of all the lip scrubs is that they are edible, so you can lick your lips for a sweet taste!
Lush in Italy
Lush stores can be found globally, but going to an Italian Lush store can feel like a whole different experience. In Milan in the shopping center around the Duomo area, Lush employees will stand outside and spray you with some kind of revitalizing lemon water to cool you down on a hot summer day. In Florence, you can only find one store, but it is well-stocked and conveniently located on a shopping strip with popular stores and cafes. There is also another store, but it is an hour away and in a mall, said Lush Firenze employee Giada Ombroneschi.
Giada Ombroneschi has worked here for seven years and said her favorite product is what is called the “Rub Rub Rub” in English. It is an exfoliating shower scrub made with mineral-rich sea salt and lemon juice. Serving multiple purposes, it can be scrubbed on either wet or dry skin.
“It can also be used as a hair scrub to make your hair shiny and voluminous,” she said.
If you’re traveling and visiting a Lush store outside of the country, you may wonder what different products are offered that are worth splurging on abroad. According to Ombroneschi, a product that can only be found at Lush stores in Europe is the “Sunshine” sunscreen collection. This solar collection consists of “Sesame Suntan Lotion” and “Powdered Sunshine”, sunscreen in both lotion and powder forms. The purpose of Lush’s European-exclusive solar collection is to combine SPF and natural ingredients like sesame to provide both sun protection and skin nourishment for customers.
Ombroneschi said a product that is unique to Lush in Italy is the innovative “Million Dollar” highlighter. If you come by the store, you can feel how smoothly it runs across your skin. Unlike typical highlighter that is a sort of powder applied by brush, this product is solid and applied directly to your face for a poppin’ glow. Sticking to its eco-friendly commitment, Lush ensures this product requires no packaging. It is creamy, thick, pigmented, and sparkling, and it does its job to make your face shine all while moisturizing it!
Loving Lush
With reasonable prices such as bath bombs costing an average of between 5€ and 7€ and body scrubs being about 10€, Lush makes buying its unique products absolutely affordable and worth it. The wide array of fresh and different scents make for an experience diverse people with different needs and likings can get excited for. For something that feels refreshing, natural, and nourishing on your skin, Lush products are your best bet. But what truly makes Lush stand out is not just how creative the products are, how high quality the ingredients used to make them are, or even that you know you are supporting a brand committed to giving back and being eco-friendly. What Lush is especially known for is how fun it makes simply entering a store, whether you leave with a purchase or not.
Once you have been once, you will always recognize the bold and fresh smell that hits you the second you step inside the store. How you can walk around and pick up every item with a pop of color that catches your eye or touch every different texture that draws you to it never gets old. The interactive layout pairs well with the top notch customer service that ensures you have the time of your life in the store. You will be greeted by big smiles and friendly personalities of Lush employees who help answer questions and tell you as much as you want to know about each product you lay your eyes on. They help you sample and test out the products on display without pressuring you into buying anything. And sometimes they do bath bomb demonstrations, releasing a new bath bomb into a tub of water so you can see the explosion of color and aromas.
While shopping can be a favorite hobby for many people, others find it overwhelming, stressful, and tedious. However, Lush offers a one-of-a-kind interactive experience that is truly more than just shopping. Bringing fragrant and fresh cosmetic products to people across the world as well as joy in the process of sampling and choosing them, Lush is a must-do. Treat your senses at your neighborhood Lush, and then put it on your list of fun things to do while traveling for an interesting experience comparing the store’s different offerings. Loving Lush has never been so easy!
