LUSH

I appreciate how their products are handmade and often are free of artificial colorings. I have found a few items such as their shampoo bars and shaving creams to be effective. The Prince shaving cream is around twenty dollars for 7.5 ounzes yet it is so effective that I have been willing to use it exclusively.

Usually the staff is respectfully helpful but one particular longtime employee at the Powell street store is particularly aggressive and in your face. This has made for some bizarre interactions that cause me to avoid this location.

This place has more high-pressure salespeople than the Union Street location. I wonder if they're on commission too?

Anyhoo, they at least have a better selection of merchandise, and the displays were really pretty and conducive to making you want to shop for more even if you were just looking in the first place anyway.

The only problem I have is that since their products are sooo fresh, supposedly, it has such a small shelf-life too. For a bar of bubblebath that costs $7, it going bad after 1-1/2 months of being stored in my cabinet is too soon.

Lush is incredible. They are an international chain store with Berkeley attitude - lots of vegan products clearly marked, no toxic chemical fragrances, whole foods like seaweed and mango puree in their products. This store is your gateway t...