Lush - how do they get away with charging so much?

[Marissa5]

I've never shopped at Lush before. Not my kind of thing and they're a bit of an odd brand. However I just asked a friend what her child wanted for his birthday, and apparently he's after lush Mario products. I've just had a look online:

• £21 for a relatively small shower gel (290g).
• £12 for an egg bath bomb.
• £35 for a bottle of body spray.

This just seems absolutely insane to me! I buy mostly Korean bath products as they're a safe zone for my eczema, they have decent ingredients such as hyaluronic acid and have hardly any chemicals (they use ceramides instead) or weird colouring. The ingredients are far superior yet they're half the price.

The lush products have SLES listed as the third product so obviously have a lot of it, three different fragrances and tin oxide (glitter) which aren't great.

Do people actually spend this much money on gimmicky products? Are they actually good? Do they smell incredibly to justify that price.

£21 for shower gel just blew my mind.

I’ve used their henna and the Roots scalp treatment for over ten years because they do wonders for my fine, frizzy hair.

Would you mind linking the henna product please? Been meaning to try one.

Just don't get him a gift from Lush! You'll have to think of something else. £10 is my maximum for a primary aged child's birthday party gift (unless it's a family member) and besides that I'd be fairly offended to spend over a tenner on something so ephemeral. Though I suppose there's a lot to be said for tat that vanishes after one use ...

I used to use Lush, back when I had a disposable income and my work walk took me right past one. Back then, it was about £4.50 for a bath bomb which seemed like a reasonable occasional indulgence, and I did have a brief foray into their skincare. There was something in a little black tub that cost about £30 (moisturiser) which for a while seemed like the ONLY thing that worked for me (I think I mostly liked the smell) but fortunately I came to my senses eventually and went back to good old Oil of Ulay.

Since then I've gone right off the brand, with its slavish kowtowing to whatever the current cause du jour is for the under-25 crowd. Using Lush branches as distribution centres for binders means I'll never darken their doors again, not even for a sniffy look around (plus they REALLY do a hard sell in there! You get pounced on by young men with flowing hair and too many piercings who really want to know an intimate amount about your skincare regime and why it's wrong). But the anti-police thing was just weird, and that stunt they did where they were selling kisses from their young female staff? 'Questionable' doesn't come close. They are a very, very strange and often sinister brand.

Not just neurodivergent adults.

The stench is enough to stop me entering 😂
They tortured a woman in the shop window in a flesh coloured body suit to make a point about animal testing. Not a man. Not a dressed woman. Righty ho.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/demonstrator-tortured-in-shop-window-in-protest-805286

Lol anti genocide and ethnic cleansing is political! Seriously lol. Flabbergasted

same here except not asthma, it makes me feel nauseous and always has. I don't know if they still do it but the one I used to walk past used to blast the smell out into the street. Horrible.

There is one body spray which I bought after being influenced by someone online. I absolutely LOVE it. It is sweet and not my regular fragrance but I use it before gym and when I go running. Not a day goes by without someone commenting on how nice it smells.

But other than that, their shops do smell and it’s hard to be in there. It’s very fragrance heavy and I’d imagine if you have asthma or allergies it may be a bit too much.

I hate those massage bars as my hands are cold and the blo*dy thing doesn’t melt. So I put it on the radiator and it melted completely.
Just do a body cream/ lotion in Lord of Misrule.
I don’t like the gender thing either.

Never bought their products, only went in once to their shop due to the smell! But they do have a nice bathbomb making session they offer. Various prices. I'd rather get that than any products. At least that way the children experience making something and you never know it might set them off on a quest to invent!

The same way Jo Malone does for their candles. People bay for a brand not quality

Exact same scent candle and same size, on Etsy from a small business (who have far higher overheads comparatively) will cost you £20. But Jo Malone charge £60. I've bought the same shower gel/bath bombs from Etsy for a fraction of the cost that Lush charge.

There were whole threads about it at Christmas...couldn't resist trying the dupes that people on here recommended and tbh they were always just as good as the original and the customer service was a million times better.

I used to love them back in 2001-2007. You could get a decent moisturiser for £8 and I remember the outrage when their Skin's Shangri-La moisturiser was launched at over £20. I haven't shopped there in literally years as I was put off by some awful marketing campaigns - I get the Snow Fairy ripoff shower gel from Lidl and Aldi at Christmas!

I occasionally buy their shampoo bars, the seaweed one and a lemon one. I still have a conditioning bar from yonks ago. I intersperse buying these with the shampoo bars from the supermarket, it's just when I am passing I go in which is not often.

BodyShop is opening up again in our local town and I am going to see if they've actually started selling shampoo bars and will probably switch.

@Ninerainbows I didn't know about the Snow Fairy ripoff, DD loves this and I will let her know - thanks

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKZ_GHuCF5u/?igsh=dWZxeDRtaW55M284

This depiction of shopping in Lush made me laugh!

I think it's Winter Queen in Lidl and Sweet Angel in Aldi? There is a Treacle Moon one as well called Frosted Candy Angel.

Cannot stand lush. The smell knocks me sick just walking past. I got given a lush gift box from work about 18 years ago and I had to hide it in a cupboard because I couldn’t stand to have it on the desk anywhere near me 😂

I’m apparently not allowed in their shops anymore because I’m a terf and take pride in my ‘Let Women Speak/Adult humans female stuff I have bought and use.

Presumably it’s the latest ‘must have’ brand for kids who are too young have enough sense to steer clear.

Personally, the overpowering smell from their shops is enough to put me off ever going inside.

That is horrifying and exploitative.

I haven’t shopped there in years as their values aren’t aligned with my ethics. I suspect a portion of their sales are easy presents for tweens.

I took a look at their financial report and couldn’t get past the contradictory word salad on their tech position. That this made it into the report reinforces my view that their execs are ignorant and like to make a stand against things they don’t understand because it makes them feel important.

I used to buy their stuff when I was a teenager (about 15-20 years ago!) but I have no idea now how they haven’t gone out of business. But pp are right, the shops always seem full! Would never use their products now, they seem too chemically and expensive.

Yes exactly. They can't go out of business quick enough for me. Smug, sanctimonious twats. I live in hope.

I hold my breath as I walk past as I find the smell so repulsive. I do not understand how they are still going.

Because people like my teenage daughter buy the shop! Her whole part time earnings go to Lush I’d swear

I have no idea what their mark up is but if people weren’t buying it at that price, they wouldn’t be selling it at that price. Stuff is worth what people are prepared to pay for it.

My (adult) DD is a lover of Lush, and to be fair she has never had a reaction to any of their products. She has a raft of allergies (including to the Sun & all UV light) and her skin thrives on it.

On the other hand, I never fail to have a cracking headache when I visit a shop or take delivery of an order for her, and on the few occasions I’ve used a Lush bath bomb I always develop thrush.

I usually do a Lush order for my kids (all adults) and their partners as stocking gifts, but I chose to use a different company for small smellies last Christmas and it’s the first time I’ve ordered any bath bomb products that haven’t made me want to scoop my brain out with a spoon when the parcel arrives. Unfortunately DD is allergic to their bath bomb equivalent, so I’ll still to brave the Lush leviathan for a couple of times a year!

I stopped going to Lush ever since they decided to have their employees pester you. Same for The Body Shop.

Their marketing is heavily focused on sustainability and that will inevitably drive up the prices.