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 like Lush and find the service excellent - we only get the bubble bars though. Id much rather this that Sol Janeiro or anything else rainbow coloured that the kids like. I do think Lush need to rebrand somehow - because things are all going the way of being environmentally friendly and Lush feels a bit dated/boho whereas i think brands like Fussy have done it right. That's the stuff im sure my kids will want when older, not Lush

They're very successful at marketing to the young, rainbow LGBTQ+++, creative, urban crowd.

They have isolated products that are very good - the odd scrub or fragrance ( but their perfumes in recent years have been eye wateringly expensive), but otherwise they rely heavily on people's perception of 'natural is best' and people's loyalty to Left-leaning businesses, like many such companies.

Interesting, given that Lush is not a non-profit - they are a regular for-profit business, and the behaviour & training of their retail / sales staff is very full on. In some branches I've just pretended not to be an English speaker so I don't have to interact with them.

We always get a few Lush bits in for Christmas presents/ treats. I love it and my adult daughter does too.

Yes - it's pricey. Hence it's a treat.

I always have a chat with the customer assistant - and last time I went in she ended up gifting me £15 worth of extra 'broken' items. 😄 I was v happy with the customer service that day.

I used to buy the odd bar of soap and liked them, still have a few in the fridge as were presents. Prices have gone up a lot, there is often a queue to get into the Oxford st branch, usually japanese, korean teens. I find the staff strange...almost programmed with the fake insipid smiles and asking me about my day

I made a Christmas fairy with some netting that C2G packaged a bathbomb in. I haven't darkened the doorstep of a Lush for years. The gender bollocks put me right off. Nothing they've done since has tempted me back.

Their bath bombs!!! Lush strangely rhymes with thrush.

The branch in Kingston has been going for 25 years, it stinks.

I think they come across as quirky and handmade and it's a vibe that attracts young people and those with disposable income who like bright and quirky. I don't tend to shop there because of the prices have been in to buy my niece gifts in the past year. I've also asked for a gift set in the past when I fancied some bath stuff.

Also DD has been to a pre teen birthday party there.

I mean, they are very popular. I worked next door to the Oxford Street London branch for years, and it was never not rammed solid. I always pop into one on my UK travels. Always rammed. Exeter, Bath, all over Scotland, Newcastle, Leeds, you name it.

I have stopped buying from them now due to the prices. I used to buy Bath Bombs for my partner, as you could get them from £3, but even the basic ones now seem to start from £8. And don't get me started on the shower gel prices, as you say!

They do have some lovely stuff which I will buy once a year, but I couldn't afford any more than that.

honestly, I don’t get it either. Occasionally I’ll let dd buy a bathbomb or two on special occasions - don’t live that close to one of their stores to go more often anyway, but I tell her we have to go in and out quickly as the smell is revolting and headache inducing, the staff approach you immediately and I get overwhelmed 😅 I can’t use them due to eczema so I avoid. When dd gets them we often break them in half so get 2 baths out of 1 product! I wouldn’t buy anything else from there due to the cost!

dd saved a couple once and they went mouldy pretty quickly bent stored in a box in her bedroom!

OP, I haven't read the full thread yet, but you do realise Lush (and how awful it is) is a MN all-time favourite topic, don't you?
I will now read back the thread to see how many people claim they get thrush, eczema, itchy skin from the (once, always an unappreciated gift) time they used it and/or get breathing difficulties/migrane if they come within a mile of a store.

What do you mean? Have you been told to leave the shop while wearing Let Women Speak clothing?

How indeed do they get away with it? It's a very cunning system they have going on. Most people don't notice it.

What they do is, when people come up to the counter with items, they brazenly tell them what the items cost and then the people hand over that amount.

Honestly, I've seen this happening. You couldn't make it up.

Well, they're shit products that are drowning in perfume. I'm not one of those "choke and retch at a scented sanitary towel 12 feet away/suffocate in McDonalds" people, but Thrush products could knock out the proverbial dog with no nose. No way that can be good for you.

Please could you give some brand names and recommmendations for your korean face products as i would like to find some good products ar reasonable prices. Thank you.

It's the preachyness (word?) coupled with overpriced, decreasing-quality products that is annoying.

It is a bit sad when you used to really like a brand and it pivots in a money grabbing direction.

True it is how the world works. Just as a company is allowed to make money, people are allowed to be peed off.

Disgusting ethics. I wouldn’t buy their products

It was on MN that I heard about Snow Fairy - everyone was ranting about how amazing it was. I was passing a Lush store so thought I’d check it out going by all the great reviews. It smelt sickening and artificial to me. I know people have different sense of smells but I really did not get the hype!

Lush is like avocados, sourdough, almond milk, and working from home.

They all seem to rattle a certain type of person to the point they should pop in a bath bomb and relax before their blood pressure explodes.

I think it’s my husband keeping them in business on my behalf. Apologies all.

When he travels to London for work, he always goes to a lush and stocks up on intergalactic bath bombs for me.

He’s like a bower bird bringing me offerings.

“Breast binders for confused girls” 🙄

Please. How patronising are you? 🥱

Back in the day (maybe 2006?) I remember Lush doing a 'staff have to be naked for the day under an apron' campaign to promote their 'naked products'. It was honestly horrifying. They claimed it was opt in for staff but we all know that many would have felt too uncomfortable to say no and be seen as not a team player. I was a teenager and remember going in and walking past a woman stocking a shelf, she was bent over and I swear on my life before I had chance to register and look away I saw her anus. Still can't believe it to this day. Seeing a shop assistant's anus. I love Lush products but they are absolutely bonkers at times and I don't buy that they're this hyper ethical company. For one, if they were that keen on animal rights they'd have dropped the use of honey yet the magically seem to create brand new honey products year on year.

Bloody hell, did this actually happen? how is this even legal and what about women having periods etc

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/lush-coronavirus-transphobia-racism-sexism-prejudice-ban-entry-a9654966.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Haven’t used them since this was put up in 2020.

Yep. I can't believe they got away with it. Totally completely naked except for an apron which tied at the back, so bums completely out. I think they claimed that people could opt out but yeah. I don't buy it. I don't buy that many staff were that thrilled to be completely naked and vulnerable at work with the general public.