Every year, Lush Cosmetics excels in creating a season of vibrant scents and eco-friendly products. This year is no exception as Lush has already released its holiday products, including some new collections. Erica Vega, brand and product expert at Lush, provides insights into what consumers can expect, what new products are available and will unwrap new trends.
Vega says like other retailers, the holiday season at Lush is starting earlier every year. For this season, holiday launched earlier than ever, on September 21, even seeing the launch of our iconic Snow Fairy Shower Gel launching as early as August 24th, to coincide with the Barbie collaboration.
“Christmas is getting earlier and earlier every year. We really want to make sure people have the comfort of knowing they don’t have to rush out at the very last minute to get things, they can take their time and get things done in a stress-free way. This year is probably the first year where people feel a lot more secure about going out, shopping and enjoying the holiday season again. So, we want people to come into the store and just enjoy their time with us,” says Vega.
Balancing tradition and innovation
Lush is known for its ready-to-go gift sets, including traditional items like Lush’s advent calendar or its 12 days of Christmas. While consumers can count on Lush for its easy and traditional gifts, Vega says products inside will be different every year – keeping it fresh for consumers and gift receivers.
“You can never really rely on Lush to come out with the same things all the time. So when it comes to traditions – the tradition is giving and receiving Lush, but it might not be the same products every year. The only thing consumers can pretty much count on is Snow Fairy, our best selling product.”
In addition to Snow Fairy, consumers can anticipate new products such as seaweed sheet masks that can be used multiple times, seaweed eye pads, gingerbread lip scrub, strawberry santa shower foam, snowman sheet mask and other bath, shower and skin products.
“Everyone loves lip scrubs as you can just throw it in the stocking, so those are just nice additions to either bath stuff, shower stuff, or skin care products. Our one thing I would say if Lush was known for, it would be for creativity and innovation.”
Vega says inspiration comes from picking up ideas from all over the place such as traveling or “sometimes it is just from a funny Christmas movie that they want to bring out.” Lush is also known to collaborate with the entertainment industry, such as its Barbie collection, and will continue to evolve and collaborate for more ideas.
Lush also provides a variety of products to include and celebrate everyone.
“No matter what holiday you celebrate, whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah, Diwali or maybe you are not celebrating any particular holiday but you just want to be part of the festive season. We have something for everyone that comes into our shops and has a way to feel included and celebrated.”
One product turning into multiple
Besides holiday gift sets, Vega says Lush also evolves with products. For example, Snow Fairy started off as a shower gel in 2009; today it is now included in over a dozen different products for the Christmas season for bath, shower and body lotions.
Lush has also branched out to include new products such as candles and its lush melt.
“Candles are pretty new to us, but we are really exploring all the different ways we can incorporate things not just into the bathroom routine, but also perfume and to celebrate the home as well. We also have something called lush melt which has a double purpose: you can use it as a bath melt and infuse the bath with beautiful oils, or you can melt it in your wax burner and perfume the room with it.”
Self-care trend on the rise
Vega says since the pandemic, emphasis on self-care and relaxation has increased – bringing more people to Lush. As people are becoming more aware of their mental health and the need for self-care, Vega says “more people are wanting to take care of themselves better and incorporating self-care into their daily routines.”
With the increased trend, more shoppers are buying to treat themselves during the holiday season, not just for others. No matter what products consumers are looking for this holiday season, consumers can expect each Lush store to provide the identical experience and products.
“Christmas time is a really interesting time for Lush because I would say that is where people are the least familiar. They might be walking through the mall and come in because they need gifts – and then they discover it. This is the time where people discover Lush a lot and is a time where people start their own Lush traditions.”
