Brand crush: Lush Cosmetics

Crushing on Lush Cosmetics

Lush Cosmetics has a colorful history thanks to a group of founders that came together through chance meetings and twists of fate, each step leading them toward the company’s creation in 1995. You can read the full fairytale here.

The first Lush shop sprang up in England and had been growing nonstop. Lush began as a small, homespun operation and now boasts over 900 storefronts worldwide. What hasn’t changed is the unwavering passion for quality products and transparency in all their practices. It’s what makes Lush the unicorn of the cosmetic industry.

And rightly so.

Lush is distinct in all that they do. Most notable are the six core values that the brand is built around. This is what makes Lush so crush-worthy:

Fighting Animal Testing

Animal rights are a core component of Lush’s heartbeat that they’ve advocated for decades. From day one, their belief in ethical practices has been implemented as a policy, not just a feel-good message. Their efforts to inform and fight to go beyond just complying with cruelty-free methods. They’ve become instrumental in making moves to stop animal testing as a whole.

The Lush Prize is an annual 250,000-pound prize awarded to different people and organizations making an impact against animal testing.

Ethical Buying

An entire team at Lush is dedicated to Ethical Buying. The team is responsible for maintaining personal relationships with growers and producers with the same values and moral imperatives as Lush. Through those relationships, each ingredient bought reflects a positive community working together to harvest ingredients and change. Their efforts fuel their mantra: “Our ingredients don’t cost the earth.”

Being 100% Vegetarian

Vegetarian and vegan ingredients are the name of the game. Lush is 100% vegetarian and 80% vegan. This means that Lush relies on essential oils, Belgium rapeseed oil, and longstanding relationships with trusted suppliers to create beautiful alternatives and innovative recipes. And all the hippies said, “Amen!” Watch the video here.

Freshest Cosmetics

Lush knows there’s only one way to make the best product – fresh ingredients. An enormous amount of effort and attention is put towards ensuring that the fruits, flowers, herbs, and veggies they use are as fresh as pulling them out of your garden. To do this, they employ local suppliers and make new batches every. Single. Day.

Handmade Everything

Lush’s team of smiling people, affectionately called “compounders,” are the hands and hearts behind the daily batches of products. From the soaps to the signage in the storefronts, they make everything Lush does. When you buy a product, look for a sticker on the bottom that shows the name and face of the compounder who made it.

Naked!

Lush ain’t shy. They bare it all and show you their skin. Before you get all blushy, we’re talking about the absence of packaging. While total package elimination is unrealistic (shower gel, anyone?), Lush actively reduces waste by only packaging what needs. Walk into any Lush store, and you’ll see soaps and bath bombs openly displayed like apples in the produce section of a market next to bottles of shampoo and pots of lotion. This mix of unpackaged and packaged goods makes for more smell, awareness, and sustainability. Knot wrap, a reusable fabric made from organic cotton or Greenspan, is used as gift wrapping. All containers are reusable and recyclable.

A “Lush Life” culture is built on these beliefs that Lush holds near and dear. “Lush believes in making beautiful products by hand, putting our faces on our products, and making our mums proud.” Mums everywhere would pull a Roger Ebert and give Lush two thumbs up.

Lush stores are total eye candy. Their signature black and white look with bold lettering grabs you and beckons you in. They could pass as a boulangerie or flower shop if you squinted your eyes. Baskets of bath bombs and bouquets of soaps fill the shop. The menagerie of products creates an unmistakable smell that wafts through the air. The sensory serenade you experience isn’t just for kicks; it has roots in sustainability. You best watch out, though; those smells will act as a pickpocket for your wallet. Before you know it, you’ll be blowing stacks to smell so luscious.

A trip into Lush isn’t just an experience for the nose but also for the hands. It’s like playing with party favors from a unicorn’s garden party. Seriously knowledgeable employees eagerly share samples and urge you to touch and try any of the products you want. Don’t try to eat them, no matter how edible they look.

Lush has proven their commitment to sustainability, but it may have given you more than you bargain for. In the news this month, someone posted about how their Lush Wiccy Magic Muscles massage bar started sprouting in her shower!

When you travel to your local Lush shop, we recommend ‘The Experimenter’ Bath Bomb.” Made with Vetiver Oil, Popping Candy, and Vanilla Absolute, it feels like you’re sitting in a Van Gogh painting. (Wine not included, but encouraged.) amidst the starry night sky, you are the moon.

To follow Lush and all their happenings:
Founders: Mark Constantine and Liz Weir
Website: www.lushusa.com
Twitter: @lushcosmetics
Facebook: facebook.com/lushcosmetics
Instagram: @lushcosmetics