Lush is a cosmetics brand that does a lot more than just sell beauty products. Their products are all handcrafted, made from vegetarian ingredients – “fresh organic fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils and safe synthetics.” The company does not believe in animal-testing. They do believe in “happy people making happy soap, … long candlelit baths, sharing showers, massage, filling the world with perfume and the right to make mistakes, lose everything and start again.”
In terms of design, Lush is interesting to me for two reasons. First, the company is catered to a growing subset of millennial consumers who embody mindfuul consumption, choosing to buy products that are locally made, ethically sourced, and sustainable. Second, I love how Lush redesigns the very ways we conceive of, and engage with, beauty products. Let me show you what I mean…
Are these chocolates…or massage bars? Many Lush products resemble foods, from shampoos that look like glittering macarons and bath bombs that look like jawbreakers, to face masks that look like hummus and chocolate spreads. Associating delicious foods with beauty products seems brilliant to me because both are richly sensuous and pleasurable experiences. Not to mention, it’s fun and quirky, and sets Lush products apart from more traditional competitors.
Lush has also transformed the experience of bathing. Bath bombs, like the one shown below, not only douse your bath with fresh aromas and luxurious soaps and oils, but also fill the bathwater with beautiful swirls of colors. The bathtub becomes a canvas for abstract and visually stunning art. Again, Lush was able to take something commonplace and potentially boring, and transform it into a magical and deeply aesthetic experience.
