Lush?

The word lush to me brings about the thinking of fullness, luxury, and voluptuousness. In my travels all over more and more of the store named Lush have been popping up in malls and street-level store fronts. The overwhelming crowds of young and hip people was enough to keep me at bay. Yesterday my wife drug me into one in order to shop for bath bombs and various other things lady potion related. The second I stepped into the visual and olfactory overload I experienced could only be described as an explosion of some kind of K-pop and electronica mix. I was overwhelmed by sweet and sugary vibe.

Quickly looking for the exit my disorientation was very real. But, determined to convert me to their bright and shimmering ways the sales lady said: "Sir, we do have shaving items". My acquisition disorder quickly came to surface. They offer three shave options. The first two are two "creams" titled Prince and Dirty. They call them creams but they are actually no lather super thick lotions. The sales clerk quickly loaded two small sample tins and set about showing me the third option. This third option is called d'Fluff and is labeled as a strawberry shave soap, again like the previous two the definition of the term here seems off. More the consistency of florists foam in regards to light density this is more close to a cream. I snagged a tin of this paid my 10 bucks and got to the exit. The reality was my brain was on fire from too much overall smell.

So I set about trying the three products today. The Prince and Dirty creams I have not fully used simply felt and played around with. The scents were fairly pleasant and I could see a place for them in a travel kit when you don't have space for a brush. I'll be headed east this week and have these at the go for a trial then. (side note based on estimation the sample sizes they gave me of each of these would be enough for about a week of shaves so pretty solid freebie score.

On to the Strawberry Razor Soap.
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The tin cost ten dollars and only holds about 70g of product. This puts it on the priceyish side for shave creams. The company website describes it as such "When you’ve had enough of the rough stuff, there’s D’Fluff. This fluffy, sweet shaving soap will have you dreaming of Strawberry Fluff sandwiches while you shave. It’s packed full of effective ingredients: fresh strawberries, egg whites and golden syrup, all whisked together with rosehip oil, coconut oil and maple sugar to create a light, marshmallowy texture that will leave your skin silky smooth. Plus, fair trade cocoa butter leaves skin moisturized and helps keep post-shave redness to a minimum."

Strawberry marshmallow fluff seems accurate.
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The site and package instructions don't suggest that its meant to lather. And, my initial results suggest the same.
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So I called the store and expressed my desire to return the product as the girl selling it said she lathers it using a brush regularly. They popped her on the phone and we talked shop and technique. Long story short here you really really have to load this stuff up no matter how you use it. But, eventually, I got an acceptable foam level.
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Let's start with the smell. Honestly, the scent is nothing strawberry in the slightest. In fact, more strawberry scent comes off a melted gummy bear. Instead, I would describe this smell as somewhere between prom night hairspray and broken dreams on the poll. Insanely sweet and with no depth other than sugar, brown sugar, and candy syrup. It was barely palpable to get through and has left a lingering aroma that my wife has said is not attractive on a man.

The foam itself really had a low cushion but did sit nicely and sat very stable on my face. It also did leave a nice moisture to my skin, though I won't be able to get through a several day shave routine to see how this goes. I got through three passes but it did not give the glide I wanted. On the subject of glide, I would probably have been better off with just water. No slick, no glide and honestly not even close to what a bar of soap would give.

Overall, I would say avoid this product like the plague.

Bravo for this spectacularly comical and well-written piece, Theoman! Not certain about you, but I laughed, I cried, and I easily got my money's worth. ;)

From your first words I experienced olfactory flashbacks and a great Sunday morning smile.

I HATE candle shops, soap stores and perfume counters. They cause me a kind of sensory overload that is extremely unpleasant.

Thanks for writing this on Fathers’ Day. It should be mandatory reading for anyone looking to buy Dad a Dad’s Day gift - Please avoid those generic aromatic product places you find in the malls.

Yes, it has been my experience that most products, like those you described, seemingly aimed at the Millennial crowd are not worth the powder to blow them to smithereens. There is just something inherently wrong with a shaving soap/cream meant to be used without a brush.


Bob

Lush makes me change over to the opposite side of the sidewalk.

Ever since I walked past the first Lush store somewhere in the UK, I felt assaulted by the bombardement of cheap perfumed soaps that billows out of their open front doors.

I love the subdued elegance of scented of soaps, but find the overpowering smells flowing out of Lush stores downright offensive.

So no danger for me ever spending a penny on their shaving soap - I would even decline their samples.

Rant over... :)


B

Thanks for the review. My motto is "there is always room for one more Tier 1 soap", but it sounds like these Lush soaps don't come anywhere close to that category.

I have a tube of Dr. Bronner's tea tree shave cream. One of the prime ingredients is sugar. Although it is sold as a a brushless cream, I found that if I did not add water, the sugar crystals would precipitate and it would be more appropriate as a face/foot scrub. I am sure the crystals would do a job on the edge of a razor. It was kind of like shaving with pancake syrup. If it dried out, it became very sticky. With the right amount of water, it gave a decent shave. After washing off the sticky mess, the after-shave face feel was great. That was the only redeeming feature of the soap.

I suspect the cotton candy sweetness of the Lush soap might be similar in performance.

On a related note, I have purchased nine Formula T shave soaps from WSP. I love the manly scents and the performance is great. In my last purchase, they threw in a couple of "sexy soap" samples for women. One was a rose petal scent. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the aroma of roses. However, in this case, the scent was so strong that my eyes started to itch and burn and my nose and throat became irritated to the point of coughing. I sealed the soap in two Ziploc sandwich bags, one inside the other; I can still smell the soap from several inches away. It sounds like the Lush stores might trigger a similar reaction if I were to venture inside. Thus, thanks for the warning.