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LUSH Cosmetics at Westfield North County Review

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I consider myself a recovering shopaholic. It started with sunflower shaped picture frames in high school. Scratch that, I think it might have been clothes in middle school. Hard to say exactly when it started, but I considered shopping a full time hobby and I would indulge in it whenever I was not working. I remember at some point my obsession turned to lotions, makeup and soaps. Pretty much anything that goes on your body and smells good was fair game.

It got so bad that when I moved to college I had a full suitcase filled with lotions and potions that there was no way I could take with me and I finally had to admit to myself that there was a problem. I would love to tell you that I changed my ways but alas, it was not meant to be.

Throughout college it got better in some ways but not really. I tend to think I just got pickier. I wanted only the best products, but I wanted them all. I had to try every scent, every color, every last one of them.

Then I had kids.

This is the part of the story where life slapped me in the butt and I had a rude awakening that it wasn’t about me anymore. I had to get my self together. I stopped buying all my beloved body products and started stockpiling baby stuff. Seriously.

It was about this time that I finally figured it all out. You can have the best of both worlds. I still bought my beloved lotions and soaps, but I focused on quality not quantity. And so my search began to search out the best products…

Recently I was walking through Westfield North County and saw LUSH Cosmetics. Or did I smell LUSH first? It might have been the the smell coming from the store first… regardless I did a double take and as soon as I got home I looked them up on the internet to see what they were all about.

After a little research, I made arrangements to have a tour of the store and my girls all came with me. Remember that little mission to make our household more natural? This store makes it easy. Knowing that all of the ingredients in their products are food grade and made by real people who often have culinary backgrounds is a bonus!

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Knowing that I am a lotion freak, we started our tour with the uber sweet Rachel in the lotion area. The girls really got into the whole smelling thing and the little one would constantly pipe in to make sure that nobody forgot her time to sniff and smell the amazing creations. Seriously I had no idea that this little girl shared my love of good smelling stuff!

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And then the treatments started. The girls all got mini arm massages while the lotion bars did their job of hydrating.

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And then we talked about bombs. Bath bombs to be exact. Wow! I’ve used plenty of bath bombs in my life but these were special. First of all, they are HUGE! Secondly, they smell so good and the colors are amazing! 

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They also have bubble bars and bath melts. One makes really awesome bubbles {bubble bars} and the other helps soften your skin while you indulge in the aromas of decadent fruits and flowers. I love that you can break off a chunk and save the rest for your next bath.

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I am desperate to try the gold ones above. Can you imagine taking a gold bath?

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This is something I’ve never seen before. Fresh face masks! Another thing I have to try! Each of these masks is made with real, fresh food and it’s so fresh that it has to stay refrigerated! With delicious masks named “Love Lettuce” and “Cupcake,” they are fantastic facial treatments that smell just as good as they work!

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Does anyone else love handmade soaps? I love them. The prettier the better! I stood there for a good 10 minutes smelling all of the soaps and trying to pick a favorite. I couldn’t. Honestly, they all smell really good. I love that there is a soap for everyone’s skin type {dry, sensitive, etc}!

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There are so many products to choose from and men are totally welcome to come and enjoy the fun. Lot’s of what I saw I would consider gender neutral. My husband doesn’t necessarily have to use products that say “for men only”, but he also isn’t into using soap that smells like roses. With these products, we could both be happy sharing much of the same things. This makes shopping so much easier.

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If you are in a hurry and need to grab a great gift for a friend, or need to buy me a gift {hint, hint Mom} head on over to the corner of the store where they have beautiful gift boxes already put together!

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I was fascinated by these facial cleansers. They look so cool and I’ve added them to my list of wants. Totally fresh stuff here and you can see it in all that they sell. These need just a pea size of the product that you mix with water and use! The one wrapped in seaweed looks so cool too!

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At the end of our tour, we had a bath bomb demo. Can you see the excitement in my little one’s eyes! She was so pleased to be able to drop the bomb. Literally.

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Can you see how much it bubbles up? She kept saying how soft the bubbles were, which shows how moisturizing they make your skin feel.

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The older two couldn’t control themselves. They were all over the bubbles too! So fun!

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The consultants at LUSH are so knowledgeable and totally fun to be around. I don’t even want to call it shopping, it’s more like an experience because of them. They make every guest who walks into their store feel like a VIP and they love to tailor your experience to your likes and needs. When we first arrived we were immediately greeted with questions that helped to make sure that we were looking at the right products for our skin. You are welcome to test almost everything in the store, and they make you feel welcome and encourage you to stay for a while and really get a feel for the products. They also love questions so ask away. I would really recommend blocking out a good 1/2 hour and really taking it all in! 

Even better call ahead and book a party for you and your friends. I’m really thinking of having my daughters birthday party at LUSH or having a girls night out there.

Also, be sure to say hi to Manager Jennie Lee and the amazing Rachel Unruh! Thanks, ladies for showing us around… we had a blast and we will be back!

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We left our tour with some goodies to try at home {thanks LUSH} I’m saving the bath treatments till it’s a bit cooler out, but we already ripped into all the other products {not literally}, I should have said enthusiastically squealed as we went through all the cool stuff! I think it’s great that they are sold “naked” aka without unneeded packaging and that the jars are made from recyclable material. In fact, those cute little black jars below are what the aprons they wear in the store are made out of. How awesome is that?

The girls and I all have our favorites… the little one loves that green clay looking log. It’s called FUN! No really, that’s what it’s called. It’s a 4 in 1 product that is a bubble bar {hold it under running water, it makes BUBBLES!} a shampoo, a toy! and a soap! It pretty much is a kids dream! I love the Charity Pot which is a luxurious cocoa buttercream and helps fund deserving causes along with the lip scrubs. I tried the Mint Juleps and it’s heavenly. You slather it on and scrub it into your lips and lick the rest off. Did I mention that all of the ingredients are food grade… like you could totally eat them? It makes sense that you wouldn’t want to put something onto your skin that would make you sick if you were to eat it. Right?

The big girls love the massage bars for their lotion-y wonderfulness. Shimmy shimmy was the favorite! and the Rub! Run! Rub! shower scrub too! My oldest went crazy for the Trichomania solid shampoo. The smell is what originally draw her in, but she loves the way it makes her hair feel. Clean and soft!

I could have spent another hour discovering all the products and there were tons more I wanted to try so I have started a list. Yes, a list. That’s the adult version of the high school me who would have just grabbed it all at once. Now I plan and really enjoy it all. These products are in a quality class all of their own and I can’t stress that enough. If you are vegetarian or vegan this is the ultimate playground. We love being able to shop without having to keep checking the labels for animal products. My vegan daughter was so impressed by the number of items they offer. I’d say it’s 90% vegan and 10% vegetarian which is fabulous. Even better, no animal testing. As you can tell, I’m a big LUSH fan now. I would totally recommend their products and checking out the Escondido store in Westfield North County Mall. 

I’d love to hear about your favorite LUSH products… or are you a LUSH newbie too?

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Thank you again to LUSH for the personal tour of your beautiful store to facilitate this review. The goodie bag was very much appreciated too!

Heather Reese
the authorHeather Reese
Heather Delaney Reese is the storyteller and photographer behind the lifestyle and family travel blog, It's a Lovely Life®! For the past decade, she has vacationed over 150 days a year with her family. She is a vegan, and loves being by the water, spending time with her children, husband, 2 Shih Tzus and Cat.

12 Comments

  • Oh I would absolutely LOVE to visit one of their stores. I can see myself spending TONS of money there!

  • I don’t think too many people know that Lush was in San Diego – years ago. They closed shop here and it seems with all the youtube guru’s gushing about the products, Lush is back on the map.

    Their products smell great and are all natural so it’s nice that they have returned.

    Monica.

    • Monica, I had no idea LUSH had had such a following until after I went there and saw some serious devotees shopping… then I did a little search on the internet… WOW. I totally get why though. They have awesome products… wish I knew they were here in San Diego earlier…

  • I LOVE LUSH! So glad that you have discovered it with your family too. My 5 year old loves Shimmy Shimmy massage bar and we routinely use FUN at bathtime. My favorites: the fresh face masks, Full of Grace serum bar, Lust solid perfume, and MintJulips lip scrub. The staff at that location is also amazing.

    • Tari, sounds like our little ones are very similar! My 3 year old was covered in the Shimmy Shimmy bar yesterday. I have a confession, I used the fun bar today. It was fun 🙂 I’m addicted to the MinyJulips scrub but I also want to try the popcorn one… sounds strange in a way but also really interesting…

  • I’ve been addicted to LUSH since about 2006 when a friend introduced me to it. I was ecstatic when they opened one at Fashion Valley (in San Diego). And then I moved down to San Diego from north county…and I go in to that store at least once a month. A little secret: you can get good deals online sometimes that are not always available in stores. After Christmas, they have a buy one, get one free sale online AND in stores. Needless to say, I stocked up on soaps and I STILL have quite a few of them even though it’s almost Christmas time again!

    Oh, and I was a lot like you, Heather: I had all of the Victoria’s Secret lotions through college and many years after. Now I’ve learned moderation and get better quality products from LUSH. =)

    • Diandra… Thank you so much for the heads up on the sale! I have a wish list of products I still want to try and a buy one get one free sale would be awesome!

  • I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE LUSH. I use their caca rouge henna in my hair and it’s beautiful. I get stopped by people telling me how pretty my hair is every time I leave the house. That NEVER happened when I was bottle blonde or red. Their products are amazing and I gifted hundreds of dollars of LUSH stuff this Christmas.

    • Summer, I am so happy to hear about the henna. I’ve been really thinking of using it myself and it pushed me even closer when I hear from others that they love it! I’m actually working on a new post with my favorite LUSH items. It’s been about 4 months since I started using their products and I’ll never go back now!

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