The Story of Lush, the Brand That Put Color in Your Shower

Look up the meaning of the word “lush,” and you’ll find definitions dealing with abundant vegetation, libidinous bed partners and a person who drinks too much. Which is reasonable enough. But say “lush” to millions of everyday consumers, and they’ll think of only one thing: the store that sells all that great-smelling soap. (More on these aromas a bit later.) Ask co-founder Mark Constantine about the Lush name, and he will admit he had nothing to do with it. Constantine, after all, is a formulator, not a marketer. As an herbal trichologist with an innate talent for whipping up all-natural balms and emollients, Constantine first made a name for himself in the 1980s concocting goos for The Body Shop, which ended up buying a bunch of his creations for a reported 6 million pounds ($8.15 million). But in the early 1990s, after the collapse of Constantine’s fledgling mail-order venture Cosmetics to Go, he decided to gamble his dwindling bank account on starting his own brand. The problem was that the best name he could come up with was Cosmetics House. Too dull to even consider. So, he asked for help. “We went to over a thousand ex-customers and said, ‘Could you come up with a better name than Cosmetics House?’” Constantine told Adweek. “Someone came back with Lush Garden—a Mrs. Bennett from Glasgow. We liked the 'Lush' bit, but we did drop the ‘Garden.’” The reason Constantine liked "the Lush bit" quickly became the reason that customers did. Lush, which opened its first store in 1995 and now operates 927 shops in 52 countries, espouses strict ethical standards including using vegetarian ingredients, prohibiting animal testing and eliminating packaging. But the store’s main selling point is sensory. Arranged in wooden bins stacked high against blackboard walls, Lush’s “anarchic” technicolor concoctions suggest what might happen if you locked a mad scientist or a kid (or both) inside a laboratory and told them to have at it. There’s Snow Cake, a “shower jelly stack” that you dump into your hand and leaves you smelling like cherries, toffee and almonds. There’s a Sugar Cleanser Roll facial scrub that you break apart like asiago cheese and slather on your face. And there is the signature Bath Bomb (see sidebar). That consumers have come to love these products has as much to do with how they smell as anything else. Lush stores are famous for engulfing shoppers in fruity, floral clouds of scent. This is because most all of Lush’s products are “naked”—meaning they have no plastic or other packaging that would keep the scent contained. Contrary to rumor, Lush does not spike the air conditioner ducts or pump its aromas out the door. “My basic riposte when people complain about the smell of the shop is they're smelling the future,” Constantine said. “They don’t have any problem when they smell a hamburger joint.” It's Da Bomb Few items have made a bigger splash in the personal care sector than the Bath Bomb. It began with Constantine and his wife and co-founder, Mo, talking about non-irritating alternatives to bubble baths. In short order, Mo mixed up some sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and lavender oil, then compressed it into a ball. Originally sold as the Aqua Sizzler, the Bath Bomb comes in countless varieties today, many of them spiked with non-plastic glitter called lustres. “Nothing gives us more delight than some grisly old guy that's chucked in the Bath Bomb and ends up covered in glitter,” Constantine said. “To our mind, we have made a real contribution to society.” Clean house Mark and Mo Constantine (far right) started Lush with several other partners after a previous venture, Cosmetics to Go, didn’t make it (1). The first Lush store opened in 1995 in Poole, Dorset in England. (2) and is still there today. Lush soaps (3) are sold “naked”—meaning, without packaging—which is the main reason why its bazaar-like stores (4) are known for their heavily aromatic atmosphere.

Perspective

The Story of Lush, the Brand That Put Color in Your Shower and Bombs in Your Bath

The aromatic soap shop

Robert Klara

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Robert Klara