Lush Vs The Body Shop

vs

It's about to be a showdown. 

Not really. But these are two companies that are a kind of similar-but not really. And I thought it would be fun to compare them. I have tried quite a few products from each company. Mostly body butters from The Body Shop and mostly soaps and bath bombs from Lush. Ideally I would have liked to try a product from each category but...that would be pretty expensive.

So let's get started.

Fair Trade Ingredients

What both of these companies do is try to source ethical ingredients. I respect that. I love using products like that because it makes me feel good about myself. I think The Body Shop may have the upper edge on this for me because they talk about building schools, empowerment, and all that other good stuff. I've read about fair prices on ingredients at Lush but no more than that. I should probably dig a little deeper on that though.

All Natural Ingredients

I hate when someone claims the ingredients in these companies are all natural. All it takes is a glance at the ingredient list and you should be able to tell that the ingredients are NOT all natural. They CONTAIN natural ingredients (as do a lot of products-even stuff you find in the drugstore) but that doesn't erase the use of preservatives etc. I was particularly disappointed with the soap ingredients at Lush. They are definitely companies that make all natural soaps out there that smell pretty good too.

Sales, Sales, Sales

There is some sort of satisfaction to be had when you score a $20 body butter for $5 or even $10. The Body Shop has plenty of items that I feel are overpriced but they run some pretty amazing sales a couple times a year. Lush has...ONE sale. At the end of the year. Other than that...NO SALES. I would probably buy from them more often if they had sales.

Sales Tactics

I have never been in a US Lush store but I have heard ugly rumors about their sales tactics. I've heard they can be horrible pushy. But I'm not too sure if it's true. I've been in quite a few Body Shop stores and even worked in them. They greet you and then leave you to your business unless you ask for help. Which is what I prefer.

Packaging 

One thing I hate about Lush is how expensive the products are...and the fact that it comes in cheap, unexciting packaging. If the products were cheaper I wouldn't mind so much. But since Lush saves money or makes their profit margin bigger by extra cheap packaging, I feel they should pass those savings on to the consumer. The Body Shop packaging is more substantial. But it is recyclable. And they do cut down where they can. For example the perfume does not come in boxes. I think The Body Shop wins for me. Not to say I don't like the paper packaging, I just don't like paying such exorbitant prices for it.

Scents

It definitely seems like I'm leaning toward the Body shop for most of these categories but Lush wins as far as scent goes. They have more products with essential oils (actually I don't think The Body Shop uses essential oils) and just more unique, exotic scents in general. Like Karma Soap. I tried a dupe of it recently and it just doesn't compare. The Body Shop has more structure the the scents which makes it boring and predictable.

Conclusion:

Even though Lush products make me want to try them all because of the fun colors and the uniqueness....I am more likely to continue purchasing more products from The Body Shop. I love a good sale. I do want to try the rest of the Fresh Face masks though.

I can't think of anymore categories at this moment...but I will be sure to update if I do.

Which do you prefer?