Website of the week
Whenever I'm in London, my first stop is Topshop, but my second stop is always Lush. Lush is a bath and body store in the vein of The Body Shop, except all of their products are vegetarian (most are vegan) and fresh: Soaps are sold by the pound, and many products need to stay refrigerated. But Lush is most famous for its bath bombs, Alka Seltzer-like balls that fizz and dissolve in the bathtub (my personal favorite is the Softly, which smells like ylang-ylang and lavender and leaves rose petals when it dissolves). I'm also a big fan of the Buffy the Backside Slayer body-buffing bar, the Dream Cream, and the Extra Virgin Olive soap (it doesn't really make you smell like salad).

When I was in San Francisco a year ago, I was beyond delighted to find a Lush store near Union Square; a few weekends ago when I was in Boston, I found a Lush on Newbury Street. Finally at that store, I asked the salesgirl when they were going to open a store in New York. "Um," she said, "there's a store at 34th and Broadway." Of course I felt like an idiot; apparently the store has been open for a few months now. However 34th and Broadway is one of my least favorite intersections in the city, and the store is in that weird mini-mall with a Daffy's and a Payless. So I have yet to actually visit the store, but I will stop complaining about how there aren't any Lushes in New York. So if you're brave, visit the store; if not, definitely check out the website.

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