Lush

The Lush store in Newmarket has a very different feel from their Queen Street store. If it isn’t busy, the staff are very knowledgeable and attentive. However as it is a smaller store with less foot traffic, they can be understaffed and a bit manic when it gets busy. Also, because they are smaller they tend to be sold out more often both in range and bottle size. If you are unfamiliar with Lush and their product line then it is can be a fun experience to try many different products and to get free samples to take home. The Newmarket location has A/​C which mildly takes the edge off the dizzying pervasive scent which lingers in a 10 metre radius from the door. Lush creates fantastic ethical product at affordable prices, but the layout of their stores is cluttered and unfocused. Every time I go in, the same product is in a different place and the container size I’m after is ALWAYS sold out. My recommendation is if you know what you want, shop in their online store, in tandem with visiting in-​store once a blue moon to keep a finger on the new-​product pulse.

I have to admit the chick who works at this store really sold it for me. She looks so rockabilly cool that I thought to myself that she wouldn’t work in such a store if she didn’t believe in the products. So because of this I ventured in, and while I must agree that the place smells like what I imagine I a flowery stinkbomb would, they do actually have some great stuff.
I bought one of the solid perfume sticks in the ‘Vanillary’ scent, which I am really digging. Unlike some eau de toilettes it actually holds its scent for ages, you don’t have to keep reapplying.
Though I have been cause I just can’t get enough of it.
I like how a lot of the products actually look like their name sakes. Like the coal face soap actually looks like a lump of coal and the same goes for the chocolate one. Mmm good enough to eat!
And another bonus is the rockabilly cool girl is actually rockabilly nice too!

As much as I don’t appreciate getting bath bombs and soap for a gift, I have to admit coming to Lush when stuck for a gift idea is always a good start. As soon as you set foot into the store you’re blasted with a million and one different scents. Here they have a large variety of bath bombs, soaps, hand and foot moisturisers and much more.
Even though this is a pretty store with lots of colour and scents, I do find it very intense and a bit too much to be in. I find this store more suited to the likes of my grandmother and/​or mum. They do however present their gifts very lovely, in gorgeous little boxes. But to be perfectly honest, Lush isn’t the store for me.

Lush is kind of polarising. I know people that love it, and people that hate it. The first thing you will notice upon walking into a Lush store, is that the stench is off the chain. It is like every ‘good’ smell in one area, times one thousand. Very, very pungent. If you ever needed to fart without it being noticed, this is the place to do it.
The weird thing about Lush products for me, is that everything looks edible. Do you want your bar of soap to look like a block of chocolate? I don’t know. It’s ‘freshly made’ stuff — creams and bath bombs and the like, all ethical and fair trade which is pretty cool.
Three stars.

A great shop for a gift for the woman in your life or women in general. I had to buy a gift for my boss when I was leaving Greenlane hospital and was a bit baffled as to what to buy her. My wife suggested here and it was an inspired idea. I got a gift set for about $ 30 which went down very well with said boss. The Body Shop do similar boxed gifts for women but that place is a rip off if you ask me. The gift sets come wrapped up which is handy if you are a man like me who can’t wrap gifts to save his life. I guess the marketing people for Lush are perfectly well aware that most men can’t wrap gifts so their products are all ready to go with ribbons and all the rest. It is probably just the strong scents but women seem to adore the products they sell at Lush — something every heterosexual man should be aware of!