Lush Halloween and Christmas is coming and you’re invited to have a sneak peek at exactly what is to come from this years Lush Creative Showcase! This years Showcase was HUGE and there were exciting things happening everywhere you looked. From people sliding down gigantic slides, product demonstrations, making workshops, live performances, a film festival, live talks with the founders and even Jeremy Corbyn and Brian May popped in!
This particular post is an overview of the entire event, what I saw and what we got up to over the two exciting days spent in London – I’m still shocked at how we managed to fit everything in and carry everything home on the train! As always I will be writing two separate posts including information about every single Halloween and Christmas product in detail once they have launched in stores. The products hit all Lush stores on the 6th of October so there’s not too long to wait but they are all available to view online via the website if you want to look into further details.
This year is my fourth Christmas with Lush, I started working for the company when I moved to university and although I’ve now graduated and want to push my degree I can’t imagine Lush not being a part of my life. For this years Showcase there were so many opportunities for staff members to apply for particular roles as there are so many talents within Lush. I applied for a shop role which meant working at the Showcase with the brand new products and selling them to the public. I was accepted for this position and worked on the Halloween section of the product reveal store. I had so much fun and met so many amazing people and staff members, we demoed so many of the new bath bombs in our demo cauldron and I was extra sparkly by the end of both of my shifts!
Not only did I apply for a shop role but also a making role which involved helping create costumes for the Lush Players. Never did I think that I could have incorporated my love of designing and making with Lush but the opportunity became a reality and I was selected out of so many people to create the Fakey Nakey costumes and a Snow Fairy costume! I went down to Bristol and spent some time with the Lush Happenings team and was overwhelmed at how immensely talented and kind they all were, they greeted me with open arms and welcomed me into their team and I cannot wait to work with them again in the future!
Opening the entrance to the venue was a beautiful space set up exactly like a Lush store, this was filled with every single product (besides the Halloween and Christmas products) to give members of the public the in store experience. There were demo and pamper stations everywhere you looked and detailed consultations inside comfortable greenhouses. This was a fantastic way to showcase the beautiful products that are firm Lush favourites and to give people an opportunity to find and try something new. The event was very interactive and social media went crazy, there will digital aspects all over the venue but one of my favourites was the batching sticker creator which allowed you to become a Lush compounder!
Down in the basement was the Lush Spa Experience, this was a unique space set up to let you relax and get away of the craziness of so many things happening upstairs. There were light installations and giant bean bags to dive into, there were also therapists from the Lush Spa giving miniature treatments making everyone feel extra pampered and cared for.
Not only did I get to travel and stay in London with work but so did some of my other team members from Lush Preston, it was so much fun to share the experience with them and I can’t wait to return back to my shop and tell the rest of the team how incredible it was! We still managed to fit loads of time to explore in to make the most of the experience (with a lack of sleep) but it was worth every second of it, I’m crossing my fingers that next year we will get the same opportunity!
As well as having so much going on at Old Billingsgate there were separate venues around London as part of the event. One of my favourites had to be Bath Art in the City at Covent Garden, the staff there were absolutely incredible! The venue involved Lush Players dressed as oversized bath bombs and in the Fakey Nakey costumes that I had made lounging around in the bath tubs. The display featured thousands of bath bombs with large demo stations for members of the public to get involved and every single product was given away as a Random Act of Kindness and completely free!
Another separate venue for the Showcase was The Naked House on Greek Street. This 5 story house was completely made over by the Lush team and turned into an exhibition space with so much information about our naked products and the environment. The top floor was an example of an apartment full of items that were made from 100% recycled materials, it was a very light open space and was so informative. As we went around the floors we had a sneak peek at the new fully naked products that the company have been working on and future plans for an even better environmental future for Lush.
On the bottom floor of the Naked House was the Ocean Room, it was filled with essential oils and the fragrance of the Big Blue bath bomb. There were large cushions on the floor to dive into and relax and the screens were full of information about the percentage of plastics that we currently have in our oceans and how wildlife has been affected due to human waste. At this point in the day we had walked over 17,000 steps so having a place for a comfortable rest was exactly what we needed!
The event in general was just so much fun, it was a great open space with lots of smiling faces everywhere you looked. It was visually stunning and made me so proud to work for such an incredibly unique company that gives so many staff members an opportunity to be a part of it. There were so many activities to be involved in from screen printing knot wraps, learning to wrap Christmas gift sets and a hilariously fun jelly section with a moving floor that wiggled them about.
Introducing you into the Christmas and Halloween launch was the Christmas photo booth that was filled with props, Christmas jumpers, gifts and fake snow. It was a fantastic keep sake from the event and of course myself and my team members had to get an ‘I don’t want to be in this photo’ family photo. The photo booth even had a boomerang feature included so you could create fun content for Instagram and email it to yourself to make your memories last forever.
And now finally the sneak peek you have been waiting for, introducing this years Halloween and Christmas range!
I’m constantly meeting more and more people who prefer Halloween to Christmas and I know that Lush will always push the boat out to make their Halloween range just as spectacular as years before. This years range is full of fruity and uplifting fragrances with of course the exception of Lord of Misrule – everyone’s favourite spiced Halloween Lush scent. Brand new bubble bar Bewitched is looking to be a huge favourite due to it sharing the fragrance with the very loved Blackberry Bath Bomb and its ability to fill a bath tub with black sparkly bubbles. For some extra Halloween magic there are three brand new makeup products – a naked lip tint, a naked lip scrub and a lip tint in a tube that all share the name Black Rose. Although the products are visually black the lip tints actually turn a different shade on every persons skin, it ranges from a bright fuchsia to a deep purple and the pigment and stay power of them is ridiculous!
This years range is ‘A Naked Christmas’ and Lush have been working and creating brand new completely naked products. From shower gels to body conditioners and body lotions, the company have worked very hard to perfect the formulaes for the products not to need any packaging at all. Of course these will be products sold alongside the liquid and cream versions to give customers a choice involving what personally works for them but it’s another fantastic step towards yet another unique selling point for the company! To go with the naked theme there are so many stunning knot wraps this year which are incredible for creating unique and beautiful gifts for loved ones, I’m genuinely excited to use them when they come to stores. Unlike previous years every single product will be available in all stores besides the Giant Golden Wonder’s (6 Golden Wonder bath bombs in 1) that will be available in Oxford Street only!
Big ones, smalls ones and Golden Wonder’s the size of your head. Bath is the most popular section of the store at Christmas time, most of the time we can’t re-stock the table fast enough due to huge crowds surrounding it grabbing everything in sight! The bath range usually gets around 25 brand new products for Christmas and this year they have not disappointed, if you like your spiced fragrances then you need to get your hands on a Christmas Sweater – the perfect winter warmer! With returning favourites and lots of brand new bath bombs, bubble bars and bath oils to have a good smell of you need to prepare yourselves for one hell of a haul and far too much choice!
Continuing with the naked makeup from Halloween are the two popular favourites Santa Baby and Sugar Plum Fairy from last year. Each product will come as a potted lip scrub, a naked lip scrub, a naked lip tint and a lip tint in a tube – again giving customers a choice on what their preference is. I think that the naked products are going to be fantastic stocking fillers as they are so unique and I’m sure that all customers will be happy to see these two flavours returning to their shelves! Another piece of makeup that will be coming into stores is Shades of Gold Frankincense & Myrrh a solid highlighter with 4 different sparkled shades that is safe to use all over your face, eyes and mouth. This product is my very favourite of both of the new ranges and I know so many people that are going to fall in love with it!
This years soap range is incredibly diverse with a large range of soaps to find your favourite, the design work gone into them has really paid off. The soaps are fairly smaller than previous years due to keeping them extremely fresh in store and some soaps have the option of being cut and weighed or having individual pieces at a set weight and price. Old favourites like Baked Alaska and Snowcake have returned with Snowcake receiving a saucy makeover. There are a few options for individual soaps too that do not need to be chopped at the till, Golden Pear is a personal favourite of mine as it’s a soap with a Roulade/Shower Smoothie centre and smells divine!
Shower products are huge at Christmas time thanks to the one and only Snow Fairy that is loved by millions of people and is the best seller every single year! With the success of Sleepy body lotion this year Twilight Shower Gel will be released into all stores as part of the Christmas range, along with newcomers Santa’s Christmas, Berry Berry Christmas and Bucks Fizz. All of these products come in bottles and pots but also have naked alternatives, the naked body conditioners are a favourite of mine and after trying them out myself I can’t wait to stock up on them when they come into stores!
And last but not least is this years gift range, gifts are one of my favourite parts of Lush and every year the creativity of the teams that design them just blow my mind. There are so many gift sets wrapped in knot wraps this year which does count as an additional product, the boxes are incredibly strong with coloured insides encouraging customers to re-use them in the future. I myself love the gift boxes for storing a lot of my products and especially the large tins. From bath gifts, shower gifts and everything in between you are bound to find so many options for yourself and your loved ones this year!
All in all the event was completely incredible, the work that went into it by hundreds of people definitely paid off. I was overwhelmed by every single part of it and had the best few days with so many incredibly talented people, if you can get your hands on tickets for next year I would encourage anyone to go and see it for yourselves. I’ve no idea how it could even be topped but know that the company are probably planning ideas for next years already and I know that I’m definitely getting my hands on another ticket!
