If you are not familiar with the LUSH brand then you have been missing out! I fell in love with their quirky style of cosmetics and bath products on our visits to the UK. The super exciting news is that they will be opening right here in the Mother City later this month!

This British High Street beauty retailer’s approach to retail-cosmetics is somewhat “out-the-box” – they are a self-proclaimed cosmetics grocers rather than a traditional cosmetics company. Think hand-made, natural and fresh merchandise, butchers’ blocks, pricing by weight, greaseproof paper wrapping and even best-by dates.

In LUSH’s “beauty delis”, soaps are piled high on Provencal-style wooden tables like strange exotic cheeses, whilst a myriad of orbs (fizzing bath ballistics) are presented in-store like perfectly round apples.

I’ve always loved the way fruit and vegetables are displayed in a grocery store,” says Mark Constantine, LUSH’s managing director who set up the company in 1995 with a close-knit team with whom he has worked for over 20 years. The inspiration behind the store design was, he says, “cheese shops and German veggie restaurants – and any fresh fish counter.”

At LUSH, customers are encouraged to choose their cosmetics personally from a pic’n’mix style display. You can choose from chunks of solid shampoo, bubble slices or from the Bio Fresh Range, where products carry use-by dates and are displayed on the chilled fish counter-style cabinet.

“The whole point of LUSH is that it should be fun for our customers and fun for us, while at the same time offering original products that work and give value for money. ” ~ Mark Constantine

LUSH cosmetics are made to be as natural as possible and are crammed with top quality organic (where possible) ingredients such as herbs, fruit, flowers and essential oils. They avoid the use of synthetic preservatives, which are damaging to the environment. Not only do they use the freshest ingredients but the majority of the products have little or no packaging, making it an ecologically responsible choice as well.

Product ingredients are clearly labelled and merchandise includes items that are suitable for both vegetarians and vegans. None of the LUSH products are tested on animals, and they also guarantee that none of their suppliers, test any of their raw materials (including those not bought directly by LUSH) on animals either.

With over 800 shops worldwide, the brand has grown dramatically since the first shop opened in Poole (UK) in April 1994. The September 2012 opening will see the launch of the first Lush store on African soil, here in our very own city – Cape Town!

For a little fun pop over to Lush.com and check your Emotional Brilliance:

Super Mom Blog will be attending the launch and will report back afterwards to tell you all about it, with a few pics as well!

To stay up to date with opening dates and product news you can follow LUSH on Facebook or Twitter.