2013 and Kingsway Mall has a new Lush store! I do like some of the LUSH products: the hand cut soaps are fantastic such as the Karma, Snowcake and Dirty - careful though, don't leave these soaps in the shower -- allow them to air dry as they will disappear if water hits them continuously.
And I really like the relatively new tooth tabs which you use in place of toothpaste. I have a real problem with toothpaste because of the ingredient sodium l. sulfate which happens to be found in most toothpastes and it is really 'stinging' and desiccating to my mouth. Well, these tooth tabs that Lush has created are perfect because they are comprised mostly of Sodium Bicarbonate and essential oils and do not sting or irritate my mouth at all and really do a great job in cleaning my teeth and mouth. I like the 'chou chou' tabs the best, you can purchase 30 tabs for $4.95.
I find Lush an interesting and innovative cosmetic store as the creators of these products do seem to try to use ingredients that are minimal (the ingredient list is not overwhelming) and the stuff they put into the lotions and potions is probably pretty good (they source known stuff and not crap!).
Now, the downside of this Lush store (and actually every Lush store that I have shopped-Victoria, Vancouver, Whistler, Edmonton)are the poor sanitation and hygiene of the employees and some of the products do not have 'safety' seals.
I find that the employees generally are unkempt in appearance and their personal hygiene is atrocious (yes, you need to wash your hands --scrub the filth underneath your fingernails...please!). I have seen employees at Lush with dirt underneath their fingernails and they dip their fingers into a product such as the creams to demonstrate (which makes me gag). Now likely, the employees are working on the cash register maybe handling cash and putting product into bags and wrapping soaps into the paper, then they do different tasks such as showing customers the products but they do not wash their hands in between tasks and it really shows! This is just plain gross.
As well, in one way Lush is very generous in that they give samples of products but many of the employees sticks their fingers into the product or sample jar and then will put the product into the little jar for you to take it home and try (well that is nice to have the Lush sample but you also get the employee's germs be it staph aureus, fecal coliform, etc., etc.,....to spread all over yourself!)
Lush as a corporate entity really needs to revisit their policy on staff hygiene and sanitation, in fact I watched one of their videos on line which ( You tube) shows their staff making one of their products in their factory in BC and I almost barfed when I saw how unkempt this guy was ( I automatically would have thought he would be wearing clean and sanitary clothing and would be working in an environment where they would be minimizing cross contamination as much as possible -- sterile free is impossible but it would be nice if they at least tried -- this factory looked like they were working on a commune on Cortez Island, BC).
As well, they need to provide a factory seal on all of their products. As it is now, people can open up a jar of cream and stick their finger in and then you go and buy it and take it home with their snotty germs left behind...nice.
Now the upside of the employees in LUSH, they are very nice people in general and usually very helpful. read more