Lush

Once upon a time, there was this chain of shops that I despised. I'd never been in one. But the smell. Oh, that smell which infiltrated and hijacked the senses of any passers by (even those going nowhere near the shop and taking active detours to skirt it) was enough to give you a headache. Not just a headache, but you could actually taste it. Perfume. Floweriness. Too intense. It made me feel sick. Urgh.


Fast forward a few years. I'm on one of my eco-friendly stints and looking for a 'shampoo bar' of all things. Yes, doing away with plastic bottles and buying the shampoo equivalent of a bar of soap seemed like a great idea. But where to buy one? An internet search took me all around the houses of a lot of online retailers, and then I stumbled across Lush. Ah haa, she thinksthere's one of those just along the road from me so I could just nip in and pick one up! Sure, there's the smellbut if I can hold my nose long enough?


That was it. My first Lush encounter. I walked into the shop, and it was love.


The bars of soap laid out in the centre of the shop looked like cakes - I swear, I could have eaten them had somebody sliced me a bit off. Some of them certainly smell good enough to eat, and we're not just talking about that flowery smellbut cocoa and vanilla and coconut andand Yes, whatever did happen to that overpowering wall of floral aroma that I always used to associate with Lush? Well, either I've acclimatised myself to it, or it was psychological in the first place and nowhere near as bad as I'd remembered it being. And realistically, now that I understand the way the shop worksthey're not all about plastic packaging and bottles and the rest - sure, some of the products 'have' to be packaged like that - but they believe in minimal packaging and little paper bagsso of course all of the aromas are going to be mingling, merging and overpoweringthey're not all sealed into bottles!


On the whole, Lush is a rather ethical retailer. Their products are 'mostly' natural, but a few do contain the odd synthetic ingredient. They're all nicely labelled however, so it's easy to make a clear, conscious decision over what you're buying. It's also nice to see that Lush are reducing the amount of products they sell containing SLS tooit's something I try to avoid whenever possible.


The Lush staff in Ocean Terminal are amazingly helpful. They will immediately acknowledge you when you walk into the shop and offer to help. Yes, I know this can be annoying in other shops when you want to be left alone, but it's not at all intimidating in here. If you're just browsing, then say so and they'll give you all the space you need. But as soon as you get stuck over which product to choose (and you will, because there are so many delicious products to choose from), you need only to glance in their direction and they'll be straight over to give you all the help you need. I've spent a good extra half hour or so in this shop at times, just because I'm busy chatting away happily to the assistants about various different products and the different ways they can be used - they're as interested in hearing feedback from the customer as they are in handing out the advice themselves! It's nice to see they're so passionate about what they're selling. They'll frequently give you a little sample tub of something if you're just wanting to test a product out, and I virtually always walk away from the shop with a few extra little bits and pieces that they've thrown in my bag as freebies anyway. Plus, I always walk away with a smile on my face. Yes, my pocket's always that little bit lighter than I expected because I saw something new that I just HAD to try (even though it wasn't on my shopping list), but I'm beaming with excitement over my little bag of goodies and can't wait to get home and try everything out. It's sad, but this shop really does do this to me!


Finallydon't expect to walk in and buy your 'usual' style of toiletries. Go in with an open mind and embrace it. We're talking shampoos in bar form, facial cleansers which look like rolls of sushi, deodorants in a putty type form which you take a pinch of and smear on, body moisturisers which come in bars that you take into a hot shower and smear all over you, tubs of shower jellyyes that's 'jelly' rather than gelall very unconventional, but WAY more exciting to try.


Lush really is my favourite shop. And Lush at Ocean Terminal is where I feel at home - it was this shop which converted me, well and truly. I can't believe that I avoided Lush for all of those years. It was me who missed out though - I realise that now!