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The renovated Vancouver space offer facials, massage and book-a-bath services for a DIY spa day.
People go hard for Lush. So hard, in fact, that the newly renovated store on Vancouver’s Robson Street has an entire wall of “discontinued favourites”—products they don’t sell at any other location. If you’re like me and wonder why the bath-and-body-care giant would ever discontinue a favourite, I don’t really know what to tell you. Maybe we just can’t have nice things. Maybe it’s the exclusivity factor. We’ll have to chat with whoever’s in charge of the McRib.
Anyway—besides the Graveyard of Lost Lotions (my words, not theirs) and a very Instagrammable bath bomb wall, the renovated downtown store has a true wow-factor just behind a glass door: Canada’s first Lush Spa.
So, what exactly can you do at this Lush spa? Get a facial with “Let the Good Times Roll” polenta scrub? Be massaged with a “Karma” patchouli massage bar? Book a bathtub and take a bath? Yeah, it’s all three.
And Lush really brought it with their media opening on Tuesday. A peek behind the curtain: the store invited social media influencers and uggo magazine editors alike to a pre-opening event, where all of the spa’s services were on display. Meaning that I stood elbow-to-elbow with a small crowd in a small room watching someone get a massage. It looked extremely relaxing (if you can forget about all the TikToks of your oiled-up arms).
Obviously, the real patrons of the spa won’t have their treatments broadcasted—in fact, it’s meant to be a relatively unplugged space. Lush has recorded their own music for each treatment (!) and the practitioners deliver the treatment along with the song. Like a choreographed dance. And-a five, six, seven, exfoliate!
At first, this seemed ridiculous to me—then I remembered that 1) not everyone has a bathtub in their house and 2) cleaning the tub, before and after, is the worst part of having a bath. Lush’s book-a-bath service removes the cleaning from the equation, and they also provide you with a pretty dreamy setup: think face masks, bath bombs, etc.
The first 15 minutes of bath time are for a quick introduction (that’s probably when the very nice purple-haired Lushie tells you that you can’t eat the eye cream, no matter how good it smells) and then you get 30 minutes to soak. It’s $65 . There’s only one tub in the facility.
Don’t worry, I asked the embarrassing question so you don’t have to. No, you can’t book a bathtub for more than one person at a time. (“Why not?!” I joked. No one laughed). So don’t even think about using the book-a-baths for your twisted fizzy fantasies… unless you’re getting wet solo.
As I mentioned above, booking a bathtub starts at $65 for 30 minutes. Facials start at $95 and go up to $170, and the massages range from $95 to $240. There’s also a very intriguing “Tangled Hair” scalp and upper body massage for $70.
I was thinking about the price point compared to other spas when you consider the products—for example, a facial using Eminence Organics products at Beverly’s Spa on Fourth is $130. For comparison’s sake, a Lush facial cleanser is about $20 and Eminence cleansers are around $50. Sooo…
Does it make sense to pay the same for facial using Lush products as you would for a facial using “luxury” products? I’m assuming that the Lush practitioners are just as lovely and capable as practitioners at other spas. (At the opening, the gal who gave me a hand massage had transferred from a Lush Spa in the UK.) (She told me that she can tell I type a lot.) (My forearms are a mess.)
I think it comes down to the products and the experience. The Robson Spa is all about activating all five senses (yes, including taste—you get a yummy drink with your facial) and really embraces the Lushie lifestyle. And there’s certainly merit to getting a treatment with products you would actually use: maybe with the help of a mystical Lush guide, you can recreate that glowy facial look every day. I’ve never bought a luxury cleanser post-spa, but I would consider a more accessibly priced one (especially if it’s vegan).
The Lush Spa officially opens on Saturday, January 20.