Day 40 - Lush

I was trying to wait until later in the year to blog about this, but I went in tonight to buy some face masks for my girlie slumber party tomorrow evening.  There is no more putting it off.  I. LOVE. LUSH.  Lush products consistently make me happy at least once a day, every day. In fact, I am a Lushie for life.  There are several reasons for this. 

Reason 1:

It has been an amazing bonding experience for Shonna and me.  The first time I ever stepped into Lush, she was with me.   It was March 5, 2011.  Please don’t ask me why I know this.  We spend a fair portion of our time together talking about Lush products.  I think it is because we both like learning about new things, comparing, making lists.  We like debating the pros and cons of certain ingredients and scents.  I know this might sound ridiculously boring to most people, but for us it is fascinating.  From what I’ve heard, it sounds like the same kind of pleasure or comfort that people derive from video games.  It isn’t “mindless”, but it is relaxing.

Reason 2:

I love the Bellevue Lush, mostly because I love the people who work in the Bellevue Lush.  I go into this store every 2-3 weeks.  My bank account wishes this was an overstatement or exaggeration.  My body, mind and soul wish it would happen more often.  It has become my new Happy Place*. There are a handful of ladies that recognize Shonna and me the second we walk through their gateway to olfactory heaven.   They are helpful, they are kind, they are knowledgeable and they are super excited about their products.  I’ve only ever been to one other Lush store and I found the staff to be super pushy and the bath products to be mediocre at best because they kept them in the window, which dried them out.  At Bellevue Lush, that is not the case.  They are enthusiastic, but they aren’t up my ass the whole time I’m browsing.  Mostly, since they know us, they usher us to the new stuff to tell us about it.  They are darling and I look forward to seeing them when I go in.  Also, they don’t have any windows but even if they did, they would be smart enough to put the more protected products in direct sunlight.

Reason 3:

Lush products have done wonders for my skin.  My skin is pretty decent by nature, but they make it super extra soft and glowy.  When people tell me I look young…well…the Lushie goodness gets all of the credit.  The soaps are really moisturizing, so much so that I don’t really need lotion anymore.  And even if none of that was true, the smell alone would be compelling enough for me to buy them.  I have tried more products than I should probably admit and I have loved almost every one as equally as the next.  People who love this shit as much as I do painstakingly make it, so the quality bar is set really high.  All this said, while the price point of their products is a bit high, I believe they are worth every penny.

Reason 4:

Nothing relaxes me in time of stress like a Lush bath.  I have a system.  I make myself a little bath time cocktail which consists of half of a bath melt, half of a bubble bar and half of a large (or one whole) bath bomb.  I play with scents and colors.  I grab my wine and a book, put on my favorite playlist and sink into my tub.  Joel refers to my endgame at work as “Bath Season” since I spend at least an hour every evening in the bath.  I can literally and figuratively wash the rest of the world away while I am in there.  There is no bliss like the bliss of a Lush bath.  I drew one for Emma when she was here over Christmas.  She came out saying “The water didn’t even feel like water!”  That is right my sweet girl, it was transformed into something else.  Some kind of luxuriously delightful thing that cannot be explained until it is experienced.

I have converted so many people into Lushies that if it were a pyramid scheme I would be considered at least a co-pilot by now.  I went through the exercise of gathering most of my Lush products tonight for the photo op.  I was kind of terrified to do this.  First and foremost, it is photographic evidence in the case that Joel ever wants to explore the question "How much does my wife spend there anyway?"  Not really all that accurate though as it turns out, since I forgot some stuff, didn’t include my soap backstock which is in my freezer and is obviously missing all of the stuff I have tried and used up.  The good news is, once I saw it all together, I realized it is not nearly as extensive as Shonna’s and that weirdly made me feel more reasonable.  ;)

This is a shot of most of my products.  The rubbermaid contains bath bombs; along with one lonely, discontinued shower bomb.  The jar contains bubble bars and bath melts.  The rest of the stuff is Lushie goodness that cannot be so simply categorized.

These are my shampoo bars and the soaps that I currently have in the shower.  I hate smelling the same every day and require a variety.  

* My previous Happy Place was Enexile in Fremont.  The owner moved to Savannah a few years ago and I’ve been on the hunt for a new one since.  Lush is actually less expensive, so I guess it all worked out in the end.