My partner and I have been out and about in town today, as I was rapidly coming to the conclusion that my favourite pair of black skinny jeans were beginning to die a painful death, and I also needed to pick up a few items for an exciting new recipe I had been concocting.
Perhaps you may recall in the post I will link here, that I had mentioned I had never been into a Lush store or tried any of their products. Recently however, particularly since my positive experience with Bomb Cosmetics' similar products, and the trawling of several Lush hauls on Youtube, I've been finding myself increasingly interested in trying some of their things.
I keep finding myself curious about Lush products, even though I've never been in a Lush store. I blame Bunny Meyer for this (see one of her Lush hauls here:- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFdkn4zprMQ
As mentioned in the post linked above, I was a bit unsure about actually venturing into the shop in town, as I usually find the assault on the senses too much when I just walk past, but my partner (who, as a student, applied for a job at Lush and had his own small niggle of curiosity) encouraged me to go in.
I was greeted immediately by a member of staff, which was fine, and attempted to make my way over to the makeup section; I had seen the Colour Supplements, which I was interested in, by the window; however, I now had a shop assistant virtually standing between me and the product I wanted to look at.
She then immediately proceeded to ask me what I knew about Lush, their products, their ethos, and what I had come in to look for, all in rapid-fire. I'm generally not the kind of person that wants an intense customer service experience, as I like to be left to browse in my own time, and so I just gave some brief, but polite answers, and emphasised that I wasn't there for anything in particular; I just wanted to have a look around.
Counter-intuitively for a store where everything is set out invitingly for you to play with, I was actively discouraged from browsing
This evidently was not the correct answer, and I was asked, again, for more precise information, and in particular, what sort of scents I liked. I tried to give an indifferent answer, but when pushed (and I was pushed) I admitted to favouring sweet scents, such as vanilla.
This was apparently the cue that I now needed to try a product, and I was encouraged to the back of store, away from the product I'd been trying to look at. Trying to be polite, and also still, at this point, being a little curious about their other products if nothing else, I agreed to look at what the sales assistant was directing me to.
Now, in the countless videos on Youtube which I've watched recently about Lush, I had been led to believe that Lush employees are not only knowledgeable about the product line, but they're trained and encouraged to select products that will suit an individual customer's needs.
Bearing in mind that I had just been forced to confess I liked sweet scents, (in the same way one might also be coerced to confess a war crime at a UN tribunal), I think I was understandably disappointed when I was slathered in a scrub and a shower gel (the dubiously named "Rub Rub Rub" and "It's Raining Men" respectively), both of which were heavily citrus-scented, particularly with orange blossom, which I can't stand and certainly wouldn't describe as being "sweet" in the first instance. My hand was subsequently basted in a lotion named "Dream Cream", which, having been scented with rose and lavender, is more "floral" than "sweet", and, of course, blatantly not anything to do with "vanilla".
The "Rub Rub Rub" scrub, which was forced on me; which is scented with orange blossom
The "It's Raining Men" shower gel was inflicted upon me next; it has a heavy honey texture and note in its scent, with more citrus-y orange blossom over top
It was only at this point, (after further questioning about what I knew about Lush products, how I had heard any of that information, and a lecture about Lush's current campaign relating to the upcoming election) that I was encouraged to "tell [her] about my skin"- I felt it was a bit late to be asking if I had any specific requirements at this point, but replied that I had psoriasis.
She immediately told me Dream Cream was marketed for psoriasis. I've since checked this information on the website, which was easy enough to do, since the "hand-picked items" the sales assistant chose for me are all currently featured products (no surprise), and whilst Dream Cream is recommended for eczema sufferers, there is no mention of psoriasis, and the two conditions are ostensibly not the same and are not always treated interchangeably.
I usually favour heavy body butters and lotions, but this took forever to sink in and feels extremely greasy
At this point, I felt like I had been held hostage for quite some time, and was quite relieved when she said she would sort me out with a sample of the Dream Cream to try at home. I immediately returned to the Colour Supplements with my partner, and managed to get a couple of quick swatches before she returned, only to have the Lush Gestapo immediately push her way into my conversation with my partner and interrogate me on how I had heard about the Colour Supplements.
I now felt under a considerable obligation to buy something, as I'd been in the shop for what felt like an eternity, but so far, I hadn't seen anything I felt like I wanted to leave with (particularly as I hadn't been permitted to browse anything). I remembered I had been interested in trying the toning Steamer Tabs, which I thought would be a quick, cheap, guilt purchase, but I couldn't find these, and at that point, daren't ask a question and risk being detained further.
And so I took my sample of Dream Cream and ran, under the mournful, puppy-dog gaze of a sales assistant that had failed to inspire a purchase.
To add insult to injury, the Dream Cream on my hand, in addition to smelling quite unpleasant to both myself and my partner, was extremely greasy and did not sink in well. As some of the slime transferred onto my partner's hand (who it should be noted is an eczema sufferer), he immediately broke out in an allergic reaction to it. The whole process' effect on my lizard-skin knuckles was negligible at best, particularly compared to other, cheaper products I normally use.
Funnily enough, the heavy residue of this product on my hand transferred to my partner, and it immediately irritated his skin
I can't honestly convey in accurate terms how disappointed I was by the whole experience; I was pressured to try a product I wasn't interested in (and was equally disappointed in), whilst being actively discouraged to do what I had specifically gone into the store to do, which was to test and swatch items I had actually been interested in, and to just plain see what there was. This behaviour was, by no means, limited to just the sales assistant that targeted me, as I noticed all the other sales assistants were behaving in the same way towards other customers.
I wouldn't describe myself as someone who suffers from 'anxiety issues', but I can genuinely say it took me half the day to calm down from this high-pressured sales situation. I actually made my partner cross the shopping centre back to the car park on the opposite side to the Lush store, as I daren't even walk past it again.
The sample, which apparently was so important that I couldn't browse the items I might have wanted to buy
I don't understand what the point of preventing someone to browse actually it. I can only assume there are some people who enjoy this level of intensity, or at least some sort of perceived personal service. For me, it convinced me never to set foot in a Lush again. If I do decide I want to try something, I'll order online, but I can't help but think it'll be a while before I'm prepared to forgive what was a very uncomfortable and intimidating experience.
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