A review of Lush by Eternal*Voyageur
A Lush store opened in my city so of course I went to check it out. I see now why Lush is so popular -- everything looks ridiculously cute, the product descriptions are so funny and the staff is very helpful.
But, good undercover agent that I am, I tried to not be distracted by that and focus on the ingredient lists. My finds? Very mixed. While many products are mostly natural, many others contain chemicals like parabens that are commonly know to be harmful.
So what did I walk out with ? Solid products for travel. Solid deo, tooth tabs and solid body butter (pictured above). I blame it all on Sarah from Yes and Yes. I plan to cut a piece of the deo and butter as the whole thing is more than I need for 2 weeks.
So anyway, here is what I think about Lush:
THE BAD:
SLS and SLES in cleansing products
Shampoos, soaps and cleansers --- almost all contain Sodium Laurel Sulfate or Sodium Lareth Sulfate, chemicals that are very harsh cleansers and a skin irritants. If you want a cleansing product, I suggest you look elsewhere.
Artificial colours, flavours and aromas
All the cute colourful products contain artificial colours. Many products have chemical aromas, though for these prices essential oils should be in there.
Parabens, no really?
Some products are conserved with parabens. There are so many safer alternatives, and I can't understand why a brand that presents itself as so green cannot use one.
THE GOOD:
No animal testing
Yay for this one ! Many products are vegan as well.
Minimum packaging
This actually left me pretty impressed.
Many products are all-natural
For example some of the body butters.
The bottom line?
I don't like the way Lush is claiming to be completely natural, when it isn't. Obviously it is a step up from the chemical laden average product, but honestly for the price that Lush product cost you can buy high-end certified organic products that dont't look that cute but have much higher standards of "natural".
On the positive side the Lush journal (the one that looks like a newspaper, available at the store) lists plant ingredients typed in green, and the rest in black. This made it easy to have an overview. Not all the black ingredients are bad --- sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) for example is ok by me.
So what do you think of Lush? Do you have any favourite products ? Something that I should try ? I will still rely on Hobbythek for my beauty care basics, but am not above returning to Lush when I run out of my solid moisturiser.
A Lush store opened in my city so of course I went to check it out. I see now why Lush is so popular -- everything looks ridiculously cute, the product descriptions are so funny and the staff is very helpful.
But, good undercover agent that I am, I tried to not be distracted by that and focus on the ingredient lists. My finds? Very mixed. While many products are mostly natural, many others contain chemicals like parabens that are commonly know to be harmful.
So what did I walk out with ? Solid products for travel. Solid deo, tooth tabs and solid body butter (pictured above). I blame it all on Sarah from Yes and Yes. I plan to cut a piece of the deo and butter as the whole thing is more than I need for 2 weeks.
So anyway, here is what I think about Lush:
THE BAD:
SLS and SLES in cleansing products
Shampoos, soaps and cleansers --- almost all contain Sodium Laurel Sulfate or Sodium Lareth Sulfate, chemicals that are very harsh cleansers and a skin irritants. If you want a cleansing product, I suggest you look elsewhere.
Artificial colours, flavours and aromas
All the cute colourful products contain artificial colours. Many products have chemical aromas, though for these prices essential oils should be in there.
Parabens, no really?
Some products are conserved with parabens. There are so many safer alternatives, and I can't understand why a brand that presents itself as so green cannot use one.
THE GOOD:
No animal testing
Yay for this one ! Many products are vegan as well.
Minimum packaging
This actually left me pretty impressed.
Many products are all-natural
For example some of the body butters.
The bottom line?
I don't like the way Lush is claiming to be completely natural, when it isn't. Obviously it is a step up from the chemical laden average product, but honestly for the price that Lush product cost you can buy high-end certified organic products that dont't look that cute but have much higher standards of "natural".
On the positive side the Lush journal (the one that looks like a newspaper, available at the store) lists plant ingredients typed in green, and the rest in black. This made it easy to have an overview. Not all the black ingredients are bad --- sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) for example is ok by me.
So what do you think of Lush? Do you have any favourite products ? Something that I should try ? I will still rely on Hobbythek for my beauty care basics, but am not above returning to Lush when I run out of my solid moisturiser.
