Has anyone figured out any famous LUSH recipes?

[danjpiscina]

I love lush, but it's expensive. I wanted to know if anyone had any of their recipes.

I know the ingredients can be found on their website, but that's not a recipe! It would be nice to know the proportions of EOs and Oils. [and an important aspect of the ingredient list on their site; "perfume" doesn't really say much!].

Anything would help. Soap/Bath Bombs/Bubble Bars/etc.

It would be great to know this stuff. That way we could play around with them and customize.

Thanks!

 

[tisci]

I believe almost all, if not all, of their soaps are made w/a melt & pour base so you can start there. I don't believe any of them are CP. I personally have never been in a LUSH store because walking by them gives me a migraine, but I did have someone buy a few bars for me & they were alright. I'm new at soapmaking, only 6 batches so far & I can tell you that LUSH isn't all it's cracked up to be compared to nice homemade soaps.

 

[Jezzy]

I use to think LUSH was really good too until...... I started making my own soap.

There is an outlet not to far away from here where I use to go once in a while and BLOW my money. After I started making my own soaps I went there for inspiration... I got none. I get my inspiration here now...

You can buy LUSH dupes all over the net. Even here in Germany where there are only a couple of online stores for soap supplies.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

You can buy LUSH dupes of fragrances. I tried the honey one and I didn't like it.

 

[KathyB]

Lush Sugar Babe Dupe

I played around with a recipe to duplicate (sorta) the Lush Sugar Babe sugar scrub. I bought one about 6 months ago and really liked it. I thought it might be a different type of item to sell. Anyway, I made a "for real" batch yesterday and am waiting for them to dry (it takes a few days until they are hard enough to handle). I don't recommend these for facial use or for very sensitive skin as they are pretty scrubby.

8 oz. fair trade organic sugar
4 oz. baking soda
2 oz. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
1 oz. coconut oil
3 ml fragrance oil (I used coconut vanilla)

Mix dry ingredients. Melt the coconut oil and add the fo. Add to dry mix and knead with gloved hands until fully incorporated. Pack into molds. Let sit for several hours or overnight and very gently umold them - I used 2.5" plastic ornament molds from Hobby Lobby. I did not create balls since they cannot be crumbled, so these are half balls (if that's a term!) and this recipe created four half balls plus a little extra. I did not add dye since I wanted these to be off white. If you want these to be colored, add powdered dye to the dry mix - the color will deepen when you add the oil and fo. If someone has a better way to color these, let me know. This is not an exact dupe because Sugar Babe has some colored oil in the middle, but it's pretty close. I plan on wrapping these in colorful cello bags with a big label tied to the twist tie.

 

[krissy]

Thanks Kathy! for sharing! i am going to try making these next week.

 

[KathyB]

Lush Sugar Babe Dupe

You're welcome! Let me know how they come out for you!

 

[nattynoo]

I'm a Lush fan.... I love the stuff. I love my stuff too... hell I just love getting clean!! I could sleep in their shop if was allowed. Soapers love to knock Lush I don't understand why. It smells devine, looks visually AMAZING, and feels fine to me. Is it over priced? probably, but hey it helps to lift the price of CP soap if you ask me. So thats a good thing.

As PP said there are many products that have been duped. Their solid bubble bath has been brain stormed to death and recipes available on various forums. Solid shampoo is another. Watch their youtube lushvids. They actually show how they make some of their products. Its an interesting watch.
Keep in mind always that alot of their recipes/formulas are patented. I don't think it hurts to make a few things for yourself but to outright use their formula & sell is asking for trouble. I don't agree with them being able to patent such formulas, in fact its a crime in itself, but hey, money talks right.

 

[busymakinsoap!]

Just an observation - I have been buying soap from Lush for years. Honey i washed the kids was a regular item in my shower. There soaps used to be AWESOME!, however a while back I brought another bar (which is sooooo expensive) and seriously, it lasted about 5 days. Somewhere along the line they have changed their recipes, might be to do with the Palm oil thing? not sure. Or they might have originally started out making CP and moved on to MP.
Either way, they were what inspired me to start soaping. I love the smells, the presentation and the concept of the stores

 

[judymoody]

Day Star has dupes of most of their fragrances.

If you want to make solid shampoo or conditioner bars that knock LUSH out of the water, a good place to start is swiftcraftymonkey.blogspot.com Or buy her e-books, the proceeds of which support youth groups in Canada. She also has recipes for lotion bars, scrubs, lotions, you name it. A wealth of information.

 

[Bubbles Galore]

If you've ever place an order with Lush online, this is just to advise you that their website has been hacked and customer details may have been compromised. See the link for more info.


http://www.lush.com.au/

There have been some disturbing things happening with hackers lately.

I know what I'd like to do to hackers and it's not pretty. :evil:

 

[krissy]

Re: Lush Sugar Babe Dupe

I played around with a recipe to duplicate (sorta) the Lush Sugar Babe sugar scrub. I bought one about 6 months ago and really liked it. I thought it might be a different type of item to sell. Anyway, I made a "for real" batch yesterday and am waiting for them to dry (it takes a few days until they are hard enough to handle). I don't recommend these for facial use or for very sensitive skin as they are pretty scrubby.

8 oz. fair trade organic sugar
4 oz. baking soda
2 oz. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
1 oz. coconut oil
3 ml fragrance oil (I used coconut vanilla)

Mix dry ingredients. Melt the coconut oil and add the fo. Add to dry mix and knead with gloved hands until fully incorporated. Pack into molds. Let sit for several hours or overnight and very gently umold them - I used 2.5" plastic ornament molds from Hobby Lobby. I did not create balls since they cannot be crumbled, so these are half balls (if that's a term!) and this recipe created four half balls plus a little extra. I did not add dye since I wanted these to be off white. If you want these to be colored, add powdered dye to the dry mix - the color will deepen when you add the oil and fo. If someone has a better way to color these, let me know. This is not an exact dupe because Sugar Babe has some colored oil in the middle, but it's pretty close. I plan on wrapping these in colorful cello bags with a big label tied to the twist tie.

i just did a batch of this but i subbed cornstarch for the cream of tartar. i used the last little bit of an FO that smells exactly like cotton candy and washed my hands with the left overs. they feel so soft and the scent is one that "sticks" really well on your skin. I wish i could get more but it was from Mr. Missy and the last time i checked the website was down. .
i cant wait till these dry enough to try in the shower!

 

[Northland Naturals]

kathy, what area of cypress are you in? i grew up in lakewood forest and went to cypress creek HS!

 

[KathyB]

I live near Huffmeister and Spring Cypress in small older neighborhood. Love it out here!

 

[KathyB]

Re: Lush Sugar Babe Dupe

I played around with a recipe to duplicate (sorta) the Lush Sugar Babe sugar scrub. I bought one about 6 months ago and really liked it. I thought it might be a different type of item to sell. Anyway, I made a "for real" batch yesterday and am waiting for them to dry (it takes a few days until they are hard enough to handle). I don't recommend these for facial use or for very sensitive skin as they are pretty scrubby.

8 oz. fair trade organic sugar
4 oz. baking soda
2 oz. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. sodium lauryl sulfoacetate
1 oz. coconut oil
3 ml fragrance oil (I used coconut vanilla)

Mix dry ingredients. Melt the coconut oil and add the fo. Add to dry mix and knead with gloved hands until fully incorporated. Pack into molds. Let sit for several hours or overnight and very gently umold them - I used 2.5" plastic ornament molds from Hobby Lobby. I did not create balls since they cannot be crumbled, so these are half balls (if that's a term!) and this recipe created four half balls plus a little extra. I did not add dye since I wanted these to be off white. If you want these to be colored, add powdered dye to the dry mix - the color will deepen when you add the oil and fo. If someone has a better way to color these, let me know. This is not an exact dupe because Sugar Babe has some colored oil in the middle, but it's pretty close. I plan on wrapping these in colorful cello bags with a big label tied to the twist tie.

i just did a batch of this but i subbed cornstarch for the cream of tartar. i used the last little bit of an FO that smells exactly like cotton candy and washed my hands with the left overs. they feel so soft and the scent is one that "sticks" really well on your skin. I wish i could get more but it was from Mr. Missy and the last time i checked the website was down. .
i cant wait till these dry enough to try in the shower!

I think the cream of tartar interacts with the baking soda to create a foam that helps wash the skin and make the bar less oily. I did notice that the batch I created was too hard - had to press really hard to crumble up. Next time I will try .75 ounce of coconut oil and see how that turns out.

 

[kelleyaynn]

I never had the opportunity to enter a LUSH store until today. I have to say I was extremely underwhelmed. I know they are going for the real handcrafted, rustic look, but I thought their products were decidedly unattractive, and nothing special about the scents. I'm not getting why they are so popular. Even before I made my own soap I wouldn't have been impressed.

 

[maryannm]

I'm with you - it's all just marketing. It's good marketing, though! I can't comment on the products as I am way to frugal to buy them.

 

[Hazel]

danjpiscina -

Have you searched for "Lush" on the forum? There's been several discussions about making Lush products.

I know awhile back Healinya posted a thread.

http://soapmakingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5920

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I never had the opportunity to enter a LUSH store until today. I have to say I was extremely underwhelmed. I know they are going for the real handcrafted, rustic look, but I thought their products were decidedly unattractive, and nothing special about the scents. I'm not getting why they are so popular. Even before I made my own soap I wouldn't have been impressed.

Yep, I thought the same. Messy looking soaps, cupcakes. Overwhelming scents. You guys make much nicer soaps. :wink:

 

[nattynoo]

Agree... our soaps are much nicer.
Have to disagree with the style/look etc.....It totally apppeals to me. The smell... faint!! I love it. I love how my bathroom smells when there is Lush at hand.