LUSH.  The name of this divine store immediately brings a smile to my face.  It is my happy place.  I can be having the world’s crappiest day, but a stop at LUSH, a couple of samples and some major aromatherapy later, and all is right with the world.

My love affair with all LUSH products started a few years ago.  I was in Calgary visiting a friend and we decided to take a day trip to Banff.  She was horrified when she realized that I was a LUSH virgin and she quickly decided that this state of affairs needed to changed, and quickly.

Now picture this:  Sicily, 1952 – no, I’m kidding.  (For those of you who are not familiar with the old TV show “The Golden Girls”, just ignore my attempt at humor)  Okay, so I’m in Banff for the first time.  Picture an immaculate little town that remarkably resembles an Austrian village nestled in a little valley high in the Rocky Mountains.  It’s late September so the leaves are rich, burnished reds, burnt sienna and deep, warm yellow.  The sky is blue and a few puffy clouds float by so close that you feel like you could reach out and touch them.

My friend and I walk down the picturesque main street and all of a sudden I can smell lavender, vanilla, jasmine, little hints of citrus and is that chocolate?  This delicious smell is overwhelming my senses and suddenly we stop in front of a store with a black and yellow sign that reads LUSH.

We walk inside and the first thing I see is a girl with waist length, thick, shiny red hair ecstatically telling the girl behind the counter about how some shampoo had changed her life…and let me tell you, she had the hair to prove it.   “I’ll have what she’s having,”  I think.

We perused the store, and I was a bit surprised.  I expected expensive cosmetics and creams in beautiful and expensive packaging selling for outlandish prices.  Instead I found a table filled with huge blocks of handmade soaps.  You could have pieces cut off to the size that you wanted.  They were then wrapped in paper and handed to you in a recyclable bag.  The girl behind the counter found out that I was a LUSH virgin and she immediately set out to educate me.  Bath bombs, melts, shower gels, shampoo bars, beautiful soaps, toothpaste, hair henna, fresh face masks, moisturizers, it seemed to never end.  And they are all made with fresh, hand-picked ingredients and real essential oils, not some chemical that’s trying to imitate the real thing.

The best part?  LUSH’s products are “cruelty-free, vegetarian (and increasingly vegan), minimally preserved, minimally packaged and formulated by experts in natural cosmetics.” (that’s a direct quote from lush. ca)  I was in heaven.  I had found the most amazing cosmetics in the world and they were environmentally friendly.

My lush love affair has now become almost an obsession.  I have only had one negative experience with a LUSH product (that’s a whole other post), but I have to say that the good has far outweighed that one time.  I’ve converted many friends.  It’s an old stand-by when I am buying gifts.  I’ve even managed to convert my husband.  If your significant other, like mine, finds it absurd that you need to drive over an hour away from home to buy soaps and shampoos, or that you are willing to pay the extra shipping and handling for an online order - then I highly recommend that you introduce him to a Soft Coeur Massage Bar aka the Honeymooner.  If he or she is anything like mine, they’ll be instantly converted.  Enough said.

Unfortunately LUSH stores are not found on every street corner, but thankfully they have a wonderful online service available and very reasonable shipping costs.  Check out www.lush.com.  If you too are a LUSH virgin then take my word for it - LUSH is SO worth it!