3.5 stars... with really great friendly service, this is a kaleidoscope of colour exploding into cute scents and suds.
LUSH is one of those stores where they have a very specific audience... it's not for your Stepford wives or curated Yorkville Yoga moms. This is not for the subtle ... this is loud, proud, and fun. That being said, the service here is SUPER friendly that anyone walking in, can appreciate immediately.
The store in Sherway is interesting, if you remove the actual products, it reminds me of the Canadian super popular brand Ordinary. Clean white subway tiles with strong black lines accenting the store with the nice warmth of wood tables ... they're a nice frame for the rainbow explosion in their soaps, bars, and everything else. Their products are ... VIVID. Like someone on Instagram who just jacked up the contrast to 200%. If Unicorns did exist, it would exclusively shop here for their skincare. I find it so fun to just look around. It feels like a candy store almost.
As mentioned, service here is really sweet and nice. No judgement even if you look out of place (ahem ... me). The young ladies are all very knowledgeable and have a shared enthusiasm for what they love. The also listen really well to figure out what you could possible like. There's an immediate gushing while explaining any product. While talking to the staff, I realize that a lot of other places are so jaded... these people actually like their store!
As for the products, its a really interesting spin... locally made in Toronto, the products are vegetarian friendly and do not test on animals. They believe in cruelty free. They also try to use as little preservatives and are 'fresh' with their face masks, creams, ... everything. They do sell everything from shampoo to foot cream. So head to toe... they've got you covered. I would say one of the other defining notes of LUSH is their scents... it's bold, strong, and cute. They do have some more 'mature' scents that are more nuanced with spices but a lot of their best sellers are fruity and sweet. With my white bathroom, I was really concerned of staining the grout or anything with the neon shades and so I did the vanilla thing... literally. I got the vanilla scented butterball bath bomb.
Butterball bath bomb - I know.. of all the things to buy in LUSH, butterball is the most benign and vanilla looking thing in there. It's a large white round golf ball. No sparkles, no swirls, no neon colours... just a nice light vanilla scent. I'm not a bather necessarily but when it comes to relaxing, i could be persuaded to do this. This is not just for scents, but the actual bathbomb has cocoa butter in it. Just drop the thing in (if you have a smaller bath tub supposedly you can only use half) and watch it fizzle and dissolve. With my winter skin, i'm heading into lizard territory... so I was hoping this would help kick start my skin back into humanity. I would say this was really lovely to smell but did it change my skin noticeably? I would say perhaps but it's definitely would be hard to do unless you do this daily. I'm not a daily bather so maybe this isnt just for me BUT I do love the rounded vanilla scent. 3.5/5
I'm sure there are tons of other items here you can try to find the perfect unicorn for you... definitely a fun place and one that I would say is a good place even for a nice gift to brighten (literally) someone's day. read more