First time at ' L$&&'...

[elmtree]

Wow so I'm now totally grossed out by L$&@ products. I smelled the 'honey I washed...' soap I've heard so much about and couldn't smell a thing! Everything was out in the open for people to handle, definitely look better in photos than in person. Creams were open for people to stick their hands in and most of the products I smelled didn't have much of a scent. The only things that had a somewhat strong scent were the bath bombs, again not wrapped, and dinged up and obviously touched by everyone. The soap for 12$, for what was it,half pound? I had to see what the hype was and I still just don't get it. Oh and oily bath melts for sale with fingerprints on them... Shudder. Am I too picky??

 

[roseb]

I've never been...but now I have no desire to go. No you are not being picky. I think that soap and all other products should be wrapped and sealed. Yuck!

 

[elmtree]

Seriously roseb, I was appalled. And the girls there kept going in and on about every ingredient being natural. Um pretty sure there aren't any sls trees!! Or fragrance trees! Lol

 

[pamielynn]

I'm surprised you couldn't smell their products. I get a headache halfway down the hallway from the store. I'm not real big on the unwrapped soap, myself - I've worked in the mall and know how dusty those stores get. And nothing in that place is "natural" with maybe the exception of their face masks. But they have no preservatives in them - I find that too risky for me to try.

 

[TVivian]

I was a big fan of Lush at one time. I have several of their stores near me and I still go in to browse almost every time I go shopping.. Because really, isn't it all of our dreams to own a bath shop? Lol.. I find their products overly scented, mostly with fragrances I can't stand. I loved honey I washed the kids soap until I started making my own soap.. I used a bar of HIWTK recently and after the shower my skin felt like it was shrinking, dry, itchy, I had forgotten what that felt like since using handmade CP soap. Their prices are ridiculous. That particular soap costs $7.95 for a 3.5 oz bar! .. And it's a melt and pour base. There are many videos on you tube made by the lush company claiming to demonstrate how the products are made. Many of the ingredients listed are left out of the demos and the most disturbing part is watching them pour mashed, fresh fruit and avocado into products they claim have no preservatives? How does that work? How can you have mashed bananas in a lotion bar without it going bad? Anyhow.. It's a nice inspiration for me once in awhile to see their products and try to duplicate them in a better way.

 

[seven]

i'm also a bit confused about the "no preservatives" part. i mean, how come? the only logical explanation i come up so far is that some of the ingredients they are using already have preservatives in them.

i'm still a fan of their ocean salt scrub (on my last tub and i refuse to buy it again after this, coz i want to duplicate it ), and that thing is abused over here. splashes of water went into the cup many times and no mold of funky stuff so far. whatever they did, it worked!

i kind of understand why their stuff is over fragranced, they leave them unwrapped for long periods of time. the last time i purchased their stuff was a couple of years back, and it gives me shudder thinking of the many hands that touched the stuff i bought (euw!). big fan of wrapped soap here, mainly for hygienic reasons.

their marketing is good though, lots of ppl managed to believe about them being all natural despite the facts. reminds me of another company that use mp for their soaps but still scream natural. it's all about the words.

 

[Dorymae]

They do use preservatives, they are mixed with the fragrances and so are listed only as fragrance.

They don't add more preservative in and because it is a part of their fragrance formula they get away with it.

Oh one more thing, the word Natural is not in any way regulated. Since all things at one time or another 'come from nature' they could call plastic natural. When you think about it even olive oil is not natural - when did you see an olive oil tree? Everything is processed - even if minimally.

 

[TVivian]

Here is one of the many videos lush industries has on YouTube. They don't mention the preservatives so I wonder how many unknowing people try to duplicate the products (since it looks so easy!) and end up covering themselves in mold ick.

http://youtu.be/FvQ4UK1uyQs

 

[elmtree]

I absolutely could not believe their prices! Totally crazy!! It was like 8$ for a bath melt that weighed maybe .5oz. And had everyone's finger prints on them. It started melting on my fingers when I picked it up... I was very surprised at the lack of scent in many of the products considering what I've heard. I still dont know what 'honey I washed the kids' smells like. I'm serious, it had no scent on the loaf I smelled. And it was a gross brown color. I was very surprised since I've heard they are very fragrant. They had a bunch of weird mud looking creams ( no mud in the ingredients) and such all open for people to stick their hands in and they were all either brown, black, or a cream color that just looked old, not creamy or pretty. I get that they may use charcoal and whatnot in some things but as a creator myself, I just thought that they would want to make them look appealing. And I still could not smell any discerning scent in any of them. They listed all kinds of eo in many of the creams but I couldn't really smell any of these with any kind of 'oh that's lavender, or lemongrass'. You know?? Now their bath bombs had a lot of scent I guess, but again there was nothing where I went 'oh that's really nice'. However, I have bought things at craft fairs made by other soap/body products crafters recently I thought were lovely and had to have it! I knew they incorporated their preservative in their 'fragrance' because how can they have all of these products open and not grow mold and such. Personally, I think it's a joke how they can get away with this. Yes, I think it's a dream for many of us to have a store, but would we completely lie and sell out any integrity to be successful?? I would like to think not. For many who want to believe everything they read and for those who aren't really concerned about whats in the products they use I spose the products are quite a novelty, but for me, I think I'll pass on spending my money on a product and company with no integrity.

On a side note... I've seen some amazing bath bombs and products by many on etsy and the like for a fraction of the cost of l$&@ and I think their creativity is truly amazing. If only the public would see through the corporate BS!! I just got Holly Port's book 'Make it fizz' today and can't wait to try the recipes!!

 

[pamielynn]

They do use preservatives, they are mixed with the fragrances and so are listed only as fragrance.

They don't add more preservative in and because it is a part of their fragrance formula they get away with it.

Oh one more thing, the word Natural is not in any way regulated. Since all things at one time or another 'come from nature' they could call plastic natural. When you think about it even olive oil is not natural - when did you see an olive oil tree? Everything is processed - even if minimally.

Nope the word isn't regulated. But what do you hear when people talk about L*$&? NATURAL. HANDMADE. The people shopping for "natural" products are usually thinking simple, pure, no "chemicals".

 

[Sagebrush]

When I go there, I feel like I'm walking into an old hippie's garage

 

[Dorymae]

The trouble is the public is educated by the nightly news. Commercials, tv shows and the like tell people that there are natural products without preservative that don't go bad.

It's hard to get past that and unless someone wants to make the products (most who buy them don't) they will never really learn that there are no natural preservatives that can be used in a quantity proper for making lotions, creams and such. The quantity you would have to use would overpower the formula.

There are so many things in life that are "another world" when you look closely at them. Making soap and bath products is just one of those worlds and most people don't care enough to delve deeply into it.

This is the nature of selling anything - there will always be those that believe if the law says they can then they will and it is okay. We all have to live with our decisions. They profit off of the public's ignorance of the process. All you can do is make sure that you do what you can live with, and not bother with the rest.

 

[Ellacho]

Wow~ I am also surprised that you could not smell their scents! I always get a headache, too, whenever I go there. But it's still fun to be in there to browse their products. Sometimes I get some inspirations!

I don't say anything but I get annoyed when the sales people kept on insisting on about all their product being 100% natural!

 

[LunaSkye]

I actually preferred L'occitane & Sabon over Lush before I started making my own soaps. They seemed to have better ingredients and I liked their scents. Lush had a minor appeal to me with their bath fizzes, but I was not a fan of many of their scents.

 

[cerelife]

i'm still a fan of their ocean salt scrub (on my last tub and i refuse to buy it again after this, coz i want to duplicate it

I was addicted to Ultrabland until I was thumbing through an old book of home remedies my brother picked up for me at an estate sale. This book is OLD as in it lists things like 'useful herbs for the birthing room'...and lo and behold - there was a recipe almost identical to Ultrabland! In fact, I like this recipe even better. There was also a recipe in this book for an almond/clay soap-free cleanser that the book mentioned dated back to medieval times. Oh, yeah...pretty much Angels on Bare Skin! Jackpot

 

[Sallyj]

I have a shop and one of the things I have to really bite my tongue over is people coming in and saying "ooh, its like a mini L--h". I used to try and explain the difference but I don't bother anymore. I think the people who are on the look out for a good product will know the difference between the two.

 

[Obsidian]

This book is OLD as in it lists things like 'useful herbs for the birthing room'...and lo and behold - there was a recipe almost identical to Ultrabland! In fact, I like this recipe even better.

Any chance you'd be willing to share the recipe? I've been looking for a non soap cleanser as my facial skin is really dry & sensitive.

 

[seven]

Their marketing is brilliant.

totally agree!

 

[LuckyStar]

I used to buy their bath bombs and bubble bars before i started soap making. The nearest one to me was like, six hours away in the town my brother lived in, so they were a very rare 'treat' , so the price didn't bug me; however, now that i have my own fragrance oils and dyes >.>


The only bad experience i had with them was with one of their bubble bars. The label said to use all of it for one bath, it was WAY to much for my very large tub. Made the water deep purple and slimy. Have you guys seen the combination videos on youtube? People use like 2-3 bath bombs, a bath melt and a bubble bar all in one tub...*shudder*

 

[seven]

ah, their ocean salt scrub has metylparaben in it! that's a preservative, right?