Lush – Union Square & The Marina,

It was a happy day when Lush’s first shop in the US opened in San Francisco. Every time I walk by the Powell street shop, and smell the particular aroma of Lush unguents wafting out onto the street and mixing with gasoline fumes and damp air, I think, “Aaah, that’s the smell of London.”

Inside the shop, the lovely, natural products smell good enough to eat. My favorite is the Butterball, a fizzing bath bomb of shea butter. The soaps are nice too, great for sensitive skin. They’re cut off big blocks and wrapped like cheese. My personal favorites are Honey I Washed the Kids, made of honey; the orange juice and cinnamon soap, Red Rooster, which is, by the way, a great hangover remedy; Rockstar, I don’t know what’s in it but it smells like Barbie; and Banana Soap with fresh bananas and yoghurt.

I love Lush but there are a few weird products that I don’t quite know what to do with. For example, their bath jellies look like big slabs of gelatin. Are you supposed to rub it all over your body? The shop girl suggested freezing a piece, then taking it into the shower on a hot day. That may be good in Georgia, but how many hot days do we get in San Francisco? Then there are the shampoo bars. They’re bit too earthy for me. It feels like you’re washing your hair with a bar of soap, and I don’t like a wet blob melting away in my shower.

Lush has finally started selling shampoo in a bottle, though. Big shampoo is fantastic, as is American Cream double conditioner. It’s great for those of us who have an over processed tangled haystack on our heads. not to mention the nice vanilla smell – yummy!

A few imposters have opened with the same concept as Lush but nothing I’ve tried so far comes close to the smell of the real ingredients and the nice way Lush feels on your skin. I’m beginning to sound like an advert for Lush, so I’ll just stop now.

240 Powell St, San Francisco, 94102 - 415.693.9633
2116 Union St, San Francisco, 94123 - 415.921.5874