Car dealerships host blow-out sales, red, white and blue bunting is brought out, we’re firing up grills and tucking heavy sweaters away - May is almost over, but summer is arriving fast.

Though it has significant origins and meaning, Memorial Day has also been adopted as the unofficial kick-off of the summer season. A lot of people go out of town to enjoy the extra day off. Others enjoy taking on a project at home or in the garden, or having friends over for a cookout. Maybe you unplug all gadgets and finally have a weekend without an inbox (how luxurious does that sound?). There’s a million ways to enjoy any weekend, but we especially love a long, lingering one.

Here are a few great ways to make the weekend last even longer:

Relax, Take A Bath

Floating Island may not physically take you somewhere else, but it can mentally. Draw your tub full of water, set the cupcake-shaped Luxury Bath Melt in the water and it will gently bob along, like a floating atoll, gently dissolving into rich froth. Lemon, sandalwood and the sweet scent of melted cocoa butter swirl beautifully in the perfume that lasts on skin and in the air for ages after the bath is over. It’s an easy way to take a trip without leaving your bathroom.

Give Feet A Digit-al Revolution

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It's easy to be green these days.

Composting kitchen scraps is hardly the newest way to lighten our loads on Mother Earth, especially with more communities offering curbside compost services. Our LUSH Kitchens and head offices all compost, and our shops do so whenever possible as well. There's always more we can do, though.

Composting isn't difficult provided there is a designated spot, and a system to it. It's a natural process, so however diligent or casual the system, compost will happen. (We suggest a more diligent system for communal spots like the office though!) A helpful resource for all kinds of compost questions is Barbara Pleasant's article "Compost Made Easy" on Mother Earth News; this is a must-read if you are looking for good dirt on the topic.

On the Internet one day, I stumbled upon another article about "compost smoothies" from a blog called Maoomba. Hang on a tick, I thought - what have my plants been missing all these years? And how easy would this be in an office lunch room? While there's still a compost heap in the yard, Maoomba's article about compost smoothies-or direct composting, or what some even call blender composting, has helped tighten the loop on my kitchen garden by using fresh scraps immediately. (I like to think of the activity of the fresh nutrients doing for my plants what a Fresh Face Mask does for my skin.) 

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Strawberries are versatile, flavor-packed, and rich in all kinds of healthy nutrients.

No wonder they wear their seeds inside-out, they just have that much to offer! Ranging in size, shape, and even color, and averaging 200 seeds per fruit, strawberry facts overflow.

The pick of the crop:

1. According to Guinness records, the heaviest strawberry ever recorded weighed 231g (814 oz!) and was grown in 1983 by G. Andersen of Folkstone, Kent, in the south of England.

2. RETRO calling: Long ago, LUSH carried a range called Ultra Fresh, offering masks, scrubs and treatments customers could buy minimally packaged, and use quickly at home. One product was called Strawberry Boat. It was like a semi-solid smoothie of strawberry, ginger root and scrubby rice and salt, wrapped in a banana leaf. It still has some long-time LUSH fans recalling with bliss.  

3. Gardening tip: remove the plants’ first flowers, which causes them to put more energy into developing their roots and leaves. This leads to overall strengthening, and the strawberries produced later are quite a bit larger.

4. Strawberries’ characteristic red color comes from flavonoids, which are also believed helpful in promoting healthy heart functions. Another way to set the heart aflutter is massage. Read More...

Is your skin looking a little less than luminous these days?

Silk Stockings and Black Stockings are here to help! Moisturizing cocoa and Shea butters melt easily so the shimmery colors blend evenly—while gorgeous essential oils perfume the skin. This is the quickest way to amp up your color without hitting the beach—or coating your skin in color-changing chemicals.

Silk Stockings can even out naturally pinkish skin tones or act as a highlighter for skin with deeper pigments. Apply to the collarbone, décolletage, shins, or anywhere you want to draw the eye. It’s fantastic for a candle-lit setting! Scented with come-hither rose and jasmine, two of the most beloved perfume ingredients for inducing romance. No additional perfume required—unless desired.

Black Stockings has the most pigment to illuminate darker skin tones, or deepen pale skin for a just-back-from-Barbados look. This is one especially effective on bare legs to give them a smooth finish and a warm, sultry glow. The perfume has a spicy twist of pimento berry oil, cinnamon, and orange—creating a cozy feeling to cuddle into. Created with a Caribbean inspiration, this will have you looking and feeling ready for a sunny beach long before summer hi...

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LUSH is a global business, and our North American branch of the family tree covers Honolulu to Halifax, and Prince George to Miami.

There is a lot of ground to cover - and just as much water! Many LUSH professionals travel widely and for as many various reasons as you might imagine…and then some. As well, LUSH events might call for any number of costumes, or at least wigs and other gag finery not to mention props, ingredients, and random materials; as a LUSH Trainer for over 7 years, I had all sorts of unusual, precious or just downright outrageous items packed in (and out- by security-) of my suitcases.

Good packing became an occupational requirement for me. Years of planning my self-expression into carry-on-sized collections for particular events have honed a few tried-and-true favorite packing tips. I use them for trips ranging from overnight to over-the-globe, and time and again they come in handy. Feel free to add yours in the comments below.

Know Thyself, And Thy Destination

Where are you going and what do you need while you’re there? Sounds simple enough, but if you’ve ever lugged clunky shoes around you never wore while away, a moment’s reflection now can save additional baggage fees later. This doesn’t have to be complicated, but it does require understanding your bare essentials for personal style, as well as possessing a clue about where you are going. The first one can take years to get right, but thankfully for the second one at least, there’s an app for that.

Let&r...