Hello Princesses!
Today I'm going to be talking about my online shopping experience with one of my favourite walk in stores - Lush! This is an online store review because I wanted to take advantage of Lush's half price boxing day sale while I was in Gisborne, which of course has no Lush store.
Website Practicality
I find Lush's website very practical and easy to browse, but not incredibly aesthetically pleasing. I'm not sure what it is about the home page, perhaps it's the lack of predominant "fun" colour throughout the site, or the busyness of the pages that irritates me, but I don't find it lovely to look at. However, it is very practical with the massive search bar at the top and a million downbars to choose from.
Price Comparison
I don't think I can really compare prices for Lush since they only sell their products in-store and online. I find their products to be well priced, sitting nicely between the cheap drugstore/supermarket brands and lower high end brands (only a couple of $100 moisturizers there!).
Shipping and Packaging
The standard flat rate shipping for Lush costs is $9.00NZD. My package came neatly wrapped in a box, with a Lush product pamphlet. Nothing was bubble wrapped or foam padded in the box, but nothing was harmed during shipping. I was surprised that the two glass jars in my package were not bubble wrapped, but I suppose that there was nothing else hard in the package for them to break on and no room to roll around.
Products
I decided to splash out and buy a couple of products that have been on my wishlist for a while, a couple of limited edition products, and a couple specifically to take with me to Taiwan!
Lavender and juniper shampoo bar to control oily hair. Along with spots
and exams, oily hair can be one of the most annoying things to torment
your teenage years. Jumping Juniper cleans away grease and balances
sebum production with lavender oil. Juniper sorts out an oily, congested
scalp, while lemon and lime make your hair clean and shiny and give it
an extra fresh scent. Juniper will get you jumping in no time.
I bought this solid shampoo bar specifically for my trip to Taipei and I have no regrets! It's a good size, super lightweight and leaves my hair feeling really clean and fresh for three days. It's currently tied in first place for my favourite shampoo along with Lush's BIG Shampoo!
A Christmassy red lip tint made with cherries and dates for sweet,
kissable lips. Made with Fair Trade shea butter and nourishing carrot
oil to soften and moisturise, and a cinammon-sweet, cola-flavoured taste
of Christmas, Santa will be hurrying down the chimney tonight.
If you're looking at the product photos and wanting to vomit a little bit, I don't blame you. The surface of this Lip Tint looks like a glittery bacteria colony and you can bet your right foot that I took this into the store to be assessed before putting it anywhere near my mouth. Apparently the formula of the product isn't quite perfect, but it's perfectly safe to use. The cola smell is incredibly tasty, but this tint is very very matte and drying (not unlike MAC Ruby/Riri Woo) so beware dry lipped girls!
Make sure that your skin, moisturiser or Colour Supplement are
completely dry before you apply a powder. Can be used with matching
Colour Supplement. Once you’ve got the powder on the brush; tap off the
excess. Make sure you brush evenly, outwards from the nose! Keep
blending until the coverage is just right. Can be used on its own for a
natural effect.
This translucent powder is surprisingly lovely! My only gripe with this product is the tiny packaging. It makes it very difficult to pick up the powder with a large powder brush and tap off the excess without powdering the entire floor.
Mix a little in with your favourite moisturiser or colour supplement. Or
apply a thin layer between your moisturiser and colour supplement to
brighten skin tone. Apply the product on the brow bone, cheek bone,
eyelid, cupid’s bow or collar bone. This reflects the light from the
skin to make it glow. Apply a little underneath the eye to cover dark
circles.
This skin tint is absolutely gorgeous and works well as an illuminating primer as well as a highlighter! It is a little sticky, so I feel more comfortable setting this product with a powder which does take away a little of the glow it produces.
Let your skin be kissed by a rose with this sweetly floral shower gel.
Wrap yourself in a comforting embrace with nourishing Moroccan argan
oil, organic rose absolute and rose oil together with a Fair Trade
vanilla pod infusion. This is an indulgent wash that lifts the spirits.
I haven't had time to try this shower gel yet, but it smells divine!
Jam packed with the fruity, candy smells of childhood. FUN
is a novel, multi-purpose, mouldable soap! It’s for body, hair, bath
and fun! That’s right, you can wash your hands and body with it; you can
bathe with it for masses of bubbles; you can wash your clothes with it;
and for even more fun you can mold it into shapes and characters. With a
gentle softening base of corn flour, talc and glycerine, choose from
five different types of FUN.
I've used an entire bar of pink fun previous to purchasing this one, and I really love this product for traveling! You can choose how much you take with you, it acts as a body wash, shampoo and bath bubbles! Super cute, smells divine and is perfect for a short or long trip.
Exfoliating scrub for your seating area. Use Buffy on wet skin, in the
bath or the shower, to make you softer and smooth to the touch. Buff
yourself all over, paying special attention to your backside; rinse off
the ground up exfoliating bits of rice, almonds and beans and pat
yourself dry. There’s no need for body lotion after a Buffy, because the
cocoa and shea butters in it moisturise your skin beautifully. Slay
that cellulite.
I've used a buffy body bar previous to purchasing this one and I absolutely love it! It exfoliates my skin while also leaving it touch-ably soft with zero effort.
Hardcore body scrub and butter bar to show skin how to behave. It’s
black, fruity and it scrubs your skin really, really hard. Get soaked in
the shower and start your punishment. You Snap The Whip forces your
skin to submit to its pumice and charcoal regime. Once the wickedly
effective exfoliation is over, it comforts you with luxurious macadamia
nut oil and scents you with fruity blackcurrant and bergamot essential
oils. Your skin feels as if you’ve just peeled off the old one and
revealed a sexy new one (which you have, in a manner of speaking).
You Snap The Whip is a new product for me, and another one that I chose to take over to Taiwan with me! My first bar however was inexplicably faulty - it started melting as soon as I touched it and melted like butter in the shower. I took it into my Local Lush store and the girls there swapped it for a non faulty version for me. I'm absolutely loving using it, it makes me skin feel incredibly clean!
What I Love
- Quick shipping
- Cheap shipping for large orders ($9NZD Flat Rate)
- Easy to use website
- Great customer service for faulty exchanges
What I Don't Love
- No bubble wrapping on glass products
Final Thoughts
Although I really enjoyed my online shopping experience with Lush, I still much prefer to actually walk into the store to buy my products! The store always smells divine and you can touch and see the products which I think is so much fun, (my local store always demo's the new products for me! ^.^), but shopping online with half price is still a pretty decent experience in a pinch!
