general tips apply (don’t dress bummy, scope before actually lifting, be nice to sa’s, etc.)
get a gauge on the products you want beforehand if you want actual help from their sa’s. their sa’s are knowledgeable about aesthetic issues, and can have good recommendations, so your mileage may vary on if you want to do this or not. i’m just saying if you do, that’s your first trip. wait at least three months before actually lifting there after talking with them about your actual problem areas tho
avoid the sa’s if possible, and try to get them off your back. they might back off if you say you’re just browsing (my personal fave is telling them something like “everything smells so good! i hope it’s okay to sniff around.” it indicates you’re interested in the products, but not that you’re here for something specific, and honestly? they know the good scents are a big draw for a first time customer lol. they also know once people see prices they might not be as inclined to shell out for them)
if you can’t avoid them, have a bullshit question in mind in case they ask. their sa’s are really into being helpful and hands on, so it’s always good to have a story set up. they’ll ask about your skin/hair, and a key thing is to tell them something DIFFERENT from what your actual problems are. the reason for this is if you’re trying to lift a product to help with dry skin for example, it’ll be sus when that product turns up missing. their immediate first suspect for who stole the argan oil based moisturizer wouldn’t be the the person who was asking for help with oily skin
it’s better to wear darker colors and have a black handbag/store bag. their locations are usually dim, and they often paint the walls black, so you’ll blend in more. their products are also predominantly packaged in black pots, so they’ll blend in with your outfit. did they really see you with something in your hand, or was that just your black sleeve?
avoid them seeing the products you want in your hands however. it’s one thing if you’re checking out a product, but once you move from the area it’s housed in it will look sus. grab and conceal as quickly as possible and try not to move out of the area. in my experience whether they have a shopping basket can vary, so the more products they see in your hands that vanish, the more sus. if i’m not actively concealing and checking out other products, what i want i will sit down on a display and turn the pot around so they can’t read the product name. i’ll pick it up only when it’s time to conceal
sniff everything. this is the kind of store that it’s not sus to take your time in and browse stuff. normally at other places you want in and out asap, and i’m not saying spend an hour in lush, but here it can be beneficial for an sa to see you at the same display for five minutes because to them it looks like you’ve been sniffing every bath bomb (when actually you’ve been waiting for the person next to you to walk away so you can conceal lmao)
their locations often have mirrors, and that’s where you want to conceal. the reason for this is you can watch what’s going on behind you, but conceal what you’re doing with your own body
if they have a middle island display near a wall, that’s a holy grail. my local locations have switched up their layouts (probably because of what i’m about to say lmao)… but maybe not all locations have switched layouts. a fantastic place to conceal is if they have an island at the back of the store where nobody can really get behind you to watch you, but where you can watch everyone else in the store. i used to just stand there a few minutes pretending i was checking out everything on the display and it was a buffet to drop everything in my bag in one go with confidence nobody saw me because i was watching them lol. the display itself made the blind spot for me to do this. god i miss it so if you have this miracle spot please utilize it in my honor. pour some body wash out for me and my lost holy grail spot ),:
try not to let them see what you actually have in your hands. try not to let them see ANYTHING in your hands at all if possible, but if not make sure the item you actually want is obscured so they can’t read the exact label. they might assume it was something you just picked off of the display you’re in front of right now, and if they don’t see it in your hand later that you just set it back down
grab things from the BACK of the display, not the front. they often set things in rows, so grab something from the back row to begin with, or if you’re being watched grab something from the front to “examine,” and when they’re not looking grab something from the back to set it down so it looks like you’re “putting back” the original thing you had
if a display is looking low on product, do something similar. let’s say a display has only two pots of a moisturizer you want, but 10 of a different moisturizer. it’ll be conspicuous if one of the low stock moisturizers goes missing and nobody bought it. grab one of the high stock, conceal the low stock you want, and put the high stock UNDER or BEHIND the other low stock. turn the label away so it’s not as obvious this is a different product mixed in. don’t be seen doing this or it’s hella sus tho
i often lift a smaller container of product since it’s easier to conceal and leaves more room in my bag and i don’t find i go through the product before the next time i go in anyway. another reason is i can bring a big pot to another display with me, and that’s the one sa’s will have their eye on… i’ll just leave the big pot obviously sitting in a different area and they figure i didn’t want the product
another thing is to grab the most expensive things, but not lift them (unless you want them, but if you’re aiming for, say, a $13 face scrub? they’re more likely to pay attention to the big pot of $40 body scrub that you conspicuously left sitting on the counter)
i only recommend one or two decoys like this however. there’s a fine line between normal customers in retail doing things like this, and doing it so much it annoys the employees. (they might get annoyed anyway, but i wouldn’t say more than usual since this is a common thing customers do. i’ve found at a lot of locations, especially on slow days, they can get bored and desperate for something to do as well, so putting a pot back is often not even a big deal to them)
DON’T STEAL CHARITY POTS. 100% of profit from those goes to, well. charity. if you’re the kind of lifter that always buys something to reduce suspicion, this is the item i recommend. the smaller charity pots are one of their cheaper products ($8), and you’re essentially making a donation instead of a purchase. this also gets you a bag to use in another store if your local lush is in a mall
another good decoy item is their cheaper face washes ($13.) they have a return policy of 90 days or half the product unused, so if you do this you have a reason to come back in sooner to “browse” for an alternative product, or if you want them to not see you as often you could wait to the last day lmao. (i’d ask them what their return policy is locally to make certain, though.) when you return it tell them you looked (and they should know, they probably saw you at the display) but you don’t think you want to exchange for an alt product and just want your cash back. don’t do this every time, wait three months in between, then you can get into a “cycle” of it. if possible it helps to alternate buying at one location and returning to another as well so they aren’t seeing you constantly returning things to the same location. so for example, buy at location 1 > you’re back in three months for a refund > buy at location 2 > you’re back in a month for that refund > wait three months > buy at location 1 > go back to location 2 in three months for a refund > wait three months > by now it’s been six months since they even saw you at location 1 > repeat the cycle. you can switch it up a little bit too but keep track of it. if you add trips where you don’t even buy or have returns (like a charity pot purchase) then it’ll be even more varied and whatnot, and less obvious you’re basically not spending money lmao
a concealment method is touching something and getting glitter on your hand, like a bath bomb. ask if you can wash your hands in one of their sinks, and dry your hands with paper towels. wrap what you want to conceal in paper towels and it looks like you’re tossing paper towels in your bag to throw away later, or you can use the paper towels to just conceal without actually putting them in your bag too
another decoy method you can use to return sooner is once you finish some products with a recycling symbol on them, you can bring empty pots back to get a free face mask. it explains why you’re there and why you might not buy, and all the sa’s will see you doing this specific thing and not find it sus if you don’t buy, especially because you often need to ask for them to get the fresh face mask out of their little fridge they store them in. it also won’t look sus to browse, because maybe you want to replace some of the products you just finished up. didn’t buy anything? you either no longer use the product, or you’d already restocked before. it might help to make a little story for these, and not do this often at the same location. it also helps to hold on to them for a long time, like way past their expiration date (so nobody questions why you don’t buy but return empty pots; “oh they’re super old products she got a year ago, no wonder i don’t remember her buying it”)
try to commit sa’s to memory. i know this seems strange and not something i’d always recommend for other places, but you don’t want a situation where they’re remembering you but you’re not remembering them. they might wonder why this person keeps on coming in, browsing, but NEVER buying. if you notice the same sa’s are there on days you go, go at different times/days. take notes even, if you have to. i’ve had a situation where the same manager would always be in, so i learned to avoid going in if she was there bc i’d talked with her before
depending, you’re just going to have to resign yourself to your bag getting dirty. it looks very sus to bag up a bath bomb and not buy it. sometimes their “naked” products have tins that are designed to house them, that are available for separate purchase. then you can get away with tucking stuff like a shampoo bar in a shampoo bar tin and concealing if nobody saw you do it. sometimes you CAN manage to bag up something like a bath bomb, but that’ll vary on how busy the store is, how attentive sa’s are, etc. use your head and don’t be obvious. when in doubt just conceal the naked product and clean your bag later lol
i’ve not personally encountered any lush location with cameras, but your mileage may vary. always scope and make sure before lifting. same goes for tags and lp
ask for samples. i know i said to avoid the sa’s, but that’s WHILE you’re lifting. BEFORE YOU LEAVE, ask for some samples. go up to the register so the person checking people out doesn’t get sus, and they’ll likely have the floor sa you were avoiding make the sample for you, so that means essentially all the floor employees see you with your excuse on why you didn’t buy anything: “you’re testing products to see what you want to buy next time.” this is if you’re not buying. if you are i wouldn’t bother and just save it for when you need an excuse not to buy
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