Be number one in every category

Fresh isn’t just important to us; it defines us.

From the very beginning, we had a vision. It’s clearly stated in the company name: Lush Fresh Handmade Cosmetics. We believed you wanted effective products. Natural, although who knew exactly what that meant. Fresh, and by that we were throwing shade on to our competitors who were selling a product that could be three years old, sterile, stale, chemical concoctions that had more of an eye on the supply chain, than their customers’ hair or skin. And we didn’t want to spend more money on the packaging than on the contents… the product. So above all we believed you wanted good value, not cheap, but loads of hair and body goodness for your money.

In 2017-18 natural ingredients represented 65% of our raw material spend. That’s compared to 35% spent on safe synthetic materials. This is not across just one range, this is across ALL of our products. All our products are Fresh, made and sold to you in less that 21 days, with a Made on date as well as a use by – clearly shown on the iconic batch stickers.

This is what makes Lush different, in one year we bought:

• 132,000kg of sea salt
• 23,000kg of lemons
• 11,400kg of bananas
• 11,000kg of limes

We really do put the whole fruit in!

Picture the scene. It’s Summer and the first Lush shops have just opened their doors. The inventors and founders are sitting together in Lush Co-Founders’ Mark and Mo Constantine’s garden. The grass is long. The bees are buzzing. The sun is out.

Fellow Lush Co-Founder Helen Ambrosen has created a new product. On the table she places a Tupperware tray and uncovers the product within. It’s a Van Gogh-esque sunflower scene… made from solid deodorant base and decorated with real flowers. Quiet “wow’s” are uttered around the garden.

“I was just trying to make them visual and beautiful, because they are something that people want and need to use every day,” explains Helen. “I always had this thing about trying to make deodorants beautiful instead of them being so utilitarian. I turned it out and it was stunning!I have never been able to do it again, and I don’t think I should. Just on that day it was there – with the magic. It got us going.”

And so Aromaco, and our range of deodorants, were born.

Available in solid, naked, powdered or packaged forms, there’s something for everyone. But no matter which one you choose to pamper your pits with, each Lush Deodorant has been formulated with the best, safest and most moisture-absorbing ingredients we can lay our hands on; combined with essential oils that really stick to the skin and perfume it for a long time.

So go on, choose Deo not B.O.

It’s 2001 and Lush co-founder and product inventor Helen Ambrosen is late leaving her lab at 29 High Street, Poole. As the light outside slowly dims, she’s mixing a blend of Iranian henna leaves (Lawsonia Inermis), herbs, and cocoa butter together for the very first time.

On the shelf above Helen, an ancient form of currency known as a tea brick and owned by Mark has held pride of place for a few years. Today, an absent-minded glance has resulted in what could potentially be a stroke of genius – if she gets it right. Pressing the creamy mixture into an impromptu mold, she leaves it to set and heads home.

Nearly 20 years later, Mark Constantine still raves about Helen’s invention that evening. “Adding cocoa butter to the henna so that it melts when you add water and turns into this lovely creamy base was just sublime. It’s unpackaged and unpreserved; the cocoa butter makes it easier to comb and get the henna out. The simplicity, the clarity, the nod to history are just exquisite in my opinion.”

More than 65% of Lush products are self-preserving, which means that they don’t require any synthetic preservatives to keep them fresh.

But it’s not as simple as just taking out the synthetics. The dynamics of each formula must be carefully balanced in order to produce effective, practical and long-lasting products, which are just as good as their preserved counterparts. Lush co-founder and product inventor Helen Ambrosen explains, “We see cosmetics as an art form. When you are creating products you are painting a picture and you want to put things together in a way that has the best effect. No matter how organic, or ‘green,’ a product is,  if it doesn’t work for the customer they’re not going to want it, so therefore we have to create a formula that retains its benefits.”

So you like the idea of trying something new: Mouthwash tablets that fizz like a mini bath bomb on the tip of your tongue for exquisite freshness and flavour.

Contained in a recyclable bottle, each little tablet is packed full of mouthwatering ingredients which dissolve in your mouth to flavour and freshen your breath. The use of a mouthwash should be the final step in the oral hygiene process both in the morning and in the evening. It’s a useful addition to brushing and flossing, and should not be used alone as a substitute.