By: Sydney Nazloo
Buying ethically can be hard when so many companies use exploitative labor and harmful chemicals. Finding cosmetics that are all organic and high quality can be equally difficult. Luckily, a company exist that not only abides by ethical guidelines, but produces natural and effective products.
Lush Cosmetics was founded in 1995 by Mark Constantine and Liz Weir. They dedicated themselves to creating hair and body care products using only fresh and natural ingredients. Their small shop in Poole, England has expanded to over 210 stores in North American alone.
Lush practices what they call “Ethical Buying”. This means they ensure the sources of their products use ethical labor practices and that workers are paid properly. Also, Lush does not test on animals and actively campaigns against animal testing.
Lush Cosmetics is primarily known for their Bath Bombs and Bubble Bars, popular primarily among young women and teenage girls. While their bath products are high quality, much of their other product lines deserves as much attention.
Lush’s skin care line includes cleansers, moisturizers, toners, masks and other lovely things to put on your face. My personal favorite Lush skin care products are Breath of Fresh Air toner, Let the Good Times Roll cleanser, Celestial moisturizer and Love Lettuce mask.
Breath of Fresh Air toner This toner makes your skin super soft and has a pleasant, light scent. It is also soothing on dry skin as it is made with aloe vera, rose absolute and seaweed.
Let the Good Times Roll cleanser This cleanser smells heavenly, like cinnamon and cream and caramel. It exfoliates gently, leaving your skin soft and fragrant. The only problems I have are that it can feel heavy on your skin if you aren’t used to it and the fact that it is solid makes it a bit difficult to use. Also, if heavy fragrances bother you, it is a good idea to stay away from Let the Good Times Roll.
Love Lettuce mask You can’t go wrong with any mask at Lush, but Love Lettuce is my favorite. It softens your skin and feels wonderful on sunburn. It smells lightly of lavender and exfoliates gently with ground almond shells. Unfortunately, Lush’s masks must be refrigerated and therefore are only sold in stores.
Celestial moisturizer This moisturizer was recommended to me by an associate at Lush. According to her, it is best paired with the Let the Good Times Roll cleanser. Despite her review, I do not like to use the two together because, while Celestial is a good moisturizer, it feels a bit heavy on the skin and paired with Let the Good Times Roll, my face feels buried under a thick layer of product. I recommend using Celestial with a lighter cleaner, such as Origin’s Checks and Balances cleanser or even a product from Clean & Clear’s Morning Burst line.
Lush’s high quality products and ethical corporate habits do come at a cost. Lush is quite a bit more expensive than your average drugstore skin care. Prices for the products reviewed above range from $6.95 – $31.95. If you have the money to spend, I recommend trying out some Lush skin care. The world and your skin will thank you.
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