Bath Bomb display at a Lush Cosmetics store using no individual product packaging (Image: prettysmartblog.wordpress.com)
It was a life-changing day when I discovered Lush Cosmetics. I was looking for shampoo and body lotion to bring with me on my semester abroad in Costa Rica. I was to live there on an organic farm that released the water from showers and laundry right into an orchard.
I was so impressed with their fresh ingredients that were safer for the environment. Then I saw how Lush Cosmetics used minimal to no packaging — and I fell in love! The products worked so well in the hot climate, and made me smell so great, I decided to work there when I returned.
Lush Cosmetics bag used to transport products has on-the-bag labeling
Naked Products
Solid items like Lush Cosmetics’ super effervescent bath bombs and orange and lemon soaps come with minimal or even no packaging. We simply slip our Naked Products into Lush’s signature mini-bags. The ones in our store now are black and white and talk about no animal testing.
Furoshiki Knot-Wrap from Lush Cosmetics made from recycled plastic bottles (Image: Lush)
Buying a gift?
We don’t give you wrapping paper. Rather, we wrap them in a Japanese style furoshiki which we call Lush “Knot-Wraps”.
Lush Dish Fairy alternative to liquid dish soap requires no packaging (Image: truefashionmirror.com)
Tired of Looking at Those Clunky Old Palmolive Bottles?
Lush Cosmetics’ Dish Fairy soap is solid so it needs no packaging at all! It comes on a wand that looks like a Popsicle stick. (I’m giving one to my Mom for Mother’s Day.) All you do is fill up the sink with water, and swish the pink and green Fairy around in the water to get big, frothy, lemon-scented bubbles. Once the Dish Fairy has finally dissolved away (after a whole bunch of sinkfuls of clean dishes), all you are left with is one wooden stick! Check out this video — seeing is believing!
Black Pots and Free Face Masks
Although 46% of Lush Cosmetics products are “Naked,” liquid products, such as our “It’s Raining Men” shower gel (I love the honey version myself — it’s so moisturizing and calming!) and “Daddy-O” shampoo (for blondes), are packaged in 100% recycled plastic bottles or Lush’s signature black pots. The pots are black since they are made from a combination of Lush’s own purified plastic waste such as toner bottles. (The only virgin plastics are those used for the pumps.) Lush has even gone so far as to disclose their total plastics usage via the Plastics Disclosure Project. (They were the first member!) And they are really good about telling you how they are getting certain chemicals out of their products, too. Check out their Lushopedia on their site telling you about all the ingredients they use.
When you bring back five black pots for reuse or recycling, you get a free face mask! No ordinary face masks, these are made of a combination of fresh fruits like grapefruit and kiwi, seaweeds, and clays, among other cool ingredients like ground-up almonds and asparagus. (They’re so fresh, you have to keep them in the fridge.)
Lush Cosmetics’ “Fun” product used as a sculpting toy (Image: Lush)
Fun
Our “Lushies” want personal care products to be luxurious, even fun. So we let our customers try out the products in the bowls of water we place throughout the store. There’s even a product called Fun, a playdough-like combo soap, shampoo, bubble bath and toy literally rolled into one. Great for travel, they lure kids right into the tub, too!
Why Do My Hair and Skin Look and Smell So Good Today?
No packaging and a lighter green footprint might have drawn me into the store, but its the luscious scents — and the fact that they work great — that keep me and the rest of the Lushies coming back. And you don’t have to go to Costa Rica to want to try them. With stores now in 45 countries and in many U.S. states, chances are, one is already near you. Go in and take a whiff. You might even want to sign up to work their too. (Let me know if you do. You’ll see how much fun it is!)
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Hi Gina – this is great! Packaging waste is one of my pet peeves. Every time I shop for cosmetics, haircare products, or toiletries I cringe at all the packaging! Hopefully very soon, companies will provide eco-friendly containers, packaging, and refill options for makeup and other toiletries. I try to buy products that have the least amount of packaging possible (especially avoiding plastic and foam). Congrats to Lush on all they’ve done re packaging and ingredients! If consumers pay more attention to this and base their purchases accordingly, then things will change for the better. I encourage everyone to consider the packaging as part of their buying decision, to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills or the oceans.
Hi Ilene! I’m glad you can relate so well to this issue. Back in the 90’s when Lush was still a small operation, the lotions, shampoos, and other cosmetics were actually sold by weight in big bowls right in the shops and customers could bring in their own containers for transport. Can you imagine being able to buy cosmetics that fresh? Without having packaging? And everything was made right on site with ingredients from local grocery stores. Over time, the company grew exponentially and they had to set up factories around the world and resort to some packaging to meet demands. It would be amazing if we could still buy by weight and refill containers. Consumers definitely need to be more aware of unnecessary packaging- buying organic or “sustainable-sourced” products will have less of a positive impact if the packaging is of virgin materials and plastics. I love that I can really drive this point home with customers at my store. Naked products provide a great talking point to really open up conversation about packaging and living greener.
Hey Ilene and Gina,
Speaking of fresh ingredients, I heard that my great grandmother used to make her own cosmetics. And so did Helena Rubenstein and Estee Lauder — that’s how they got started, selling their own cosmetics to neighbors. It would be really interesting if we could find some of those recipes and see the ingredients. Maybe there’s something important we can learn from those early concoctions!
Hi Gina,
This is a great post and how interesting it is to me to read about one of my favorite cosmetics brands… and yet I still have to try their products!
I’ll explain: I used to work for one of the leading worldwide personal care companies where, well conscious of the lack of substance in our brands’ personalities (or in an attempt to make them appealing to always more people), we would regularly get seminars from marketing consultants to teach us how to get better at it. I got trained twice in two different companies by the Big Fish people who both times used Lush as a great example of “full circle” (products, operations, branding, points of sales…) strong brand identity.
I worked on several (in comparison empty) brands during my time there and it was quite exciting to see how Lush was aligned to my ethics concerns. Yeah, meeting people’s everyday needs to help them feel good, look good and get more out of life (what a mouthfull and a catch all!) was not quite cutting it… and still does not 😉
I did some store checks at the time but making naked pruducts was out of reach for us, and I guess working in an industry can often be the best way to get you to NOT personally use these products (You know way too much about production!).
On a last note, Jacquie, my grandmother swore by rose water, made out of pure essential oil… And she had great skin! Minimal packaging there too!
PS: this intrigues me and I want to check Lush again… Will have to look for one next time I’m in the city 🙂
Hi there Elodie. I think Lush is worth a shot. As for insight into production, I find that the more I learn about ingredients and sourcing, the more I prefer to use Lush over other cosmetics brands. They seem to really go out of their way to be transparent for employees of all levels, and consumers, One of Lush’s mantras is “happy people making happy soap.” They recently aired an episode of Undercover Boss Canada for Lush! If you aren’t familiar with the show, for each episode, the CEO or other executive of a large, well known company like DirecTV or Boston Market, gets disguised and works under an alias among sales staff and lower tier employees in the company to gain insight as to how the business is run. The episode featuring Lush had Brandi, the Director of Brand Communications, disguise herself and work in one of Lush’s factories. I really liked that they featured a factory versus a retail store to really see the physical production of bath bombs and such. What’s funny is that the actual founders of Lush (who are actually still the main inventors of new products), are so recognized by all of Lush’s employees, it would have been too hard to hide their identities. They still run the managers’ meetings and are very involved with all levels of the brand.
Lush has definitely established itself a solid brand identity, that’s a really good point to mention. They’ve gathered a loyal following of “LUSHies” over the years, and a lot of that is driven by ethical campaigns. Fighting animal testing in cosmetics is an important building block of the Lush brand and the company has a fervent dedication to the cause (there is a website called http://www.fightinganimaltesting.com that elaborates more on issues in animal testing and Lush’s efforts to eliminate it in cosmetics).
As for minimal packaging, Lush has solid products that aren’t just for the bath (shampoos, conditioners, massage bars, and body butters). After you’ve gone to visit a store, I’d love to know what you think!
I saw the Undercover Show once, funny concept, and what you describe here is indeed positively in favor of Lush.
On the animal testing front, now that it has officially been banned by the European Union last March, Lush’s fight must have just gotten easier in Europe, and hopefully they can re-focus their efforts on the rest of the world, where, besides a few companies (Shiseido, Estee Lauder) there is a lot to do. Especially with some countries like China, that requires animal testing to accept cosmetic product imports from abroad… A noble but arduous cause!
I’ll gladly report back after I get to visit a store. Now you have really piqued my interest!
Hi Gina,
I can relate to your life-changing experience at Lush. I was only 12 years old when I first walked into a Lush store while vacationing in Banff, Canada, and from then on it became my favorite beauty store. Albeit my original attraction to Lush was because I could make a lathery bubble bath out of bubble bars that resembled colorful rocks, but over time my attraction to the brand evolved after learning more about their practices. I prefer how their products are displayed out in the open and how you can squeeze multiple bath bombs, bubble bars, etc. into a single bag for purchase, rather than buying soaps individually wrapped in plastic. Another aspect of Lush products that I love is that they are fresh—so fresh that several of their products require refrigeration. They are definitely worth the premium price. When I buy their masks and skin treatments, I know that I’m not using something chock full of chemicals and preservatives.
I haven’t been to Lush in a few years but your post has alerted my attention to a bunch of its new “green” initiatives. I had no idea that they had released a dish soap, I’m excited for my next trip there—I’ll be sure to buy plenty of it as gifts for my friends and family.
Hi Madeline!
I completely agree with you- Lush just makes sense to me. If you’re buying bath products and soaps, they’re most likely to go straight into your tub when you get home so why wrap them up in needless packaging? And if you pick up a few at once, you can just leave them out in a nice bowl in your bathroom or any room in your house to fragrance it.
Lush is also very transparent about exactly what ingredients they use and they make it known on all of the signage in the stores. The products are effects driven, so you can take home the products with the best ingredients for your skin type, needs, or concerns. For example, if you were looking for a product that will help with scarring, you would look for one with neroli or primrose, both of which are helpful with scarring on skin.
I love it when people come into the shop to buy gifts! You can pick out your own products a la carte and create your own Knot Wrap package or choose one assembled for you one the awesome wall of gifts. The paper is all produced by Lush as well and we have a gift called Out of This World where the stars on the paper glow in the dark. It’s so much fun, let me know about your experience when you go for a visit!
Gina, thanks for sharing with us the inside scoop on Lush. I have really been happy with the Lush lotion bars. Their delightfully fragrant, quite moisturizing, and also a great way to minimize the amount of plastic I take home.
My only issue with the lotion bars is that they last less than a third of the time that a bottle of lotion does.
Do you have any tips for how to make the lotion bars last longer?
I’m always happy to answer questions, Paloma! Here’s the thing about the bars- they’re actually called massage bars and though the cocoa and shea butter blocks are wonderfully moisturizing (and smell incredible, my favorites are Therapy and Heavanilli), they melt onto your skin into massage oil and are meant to be used for massage purposes. The massage bars are very rich in different kinds of natural oils, depending on which one you have, and therefore melt down very nicely to glide over your skin.
You can definitely use them to give your skin a conditioned, silky feel, and I suggest rolling the massage bar around in your hands to warm it up and using your hands to work the oils and butters into your skin to make it last a little longer. However, using the massage bar as an extension of your hand (or better yet, having someone else do this for you) and gliding it over your body to push out knots is how it is intended to be used. Then you can set the bar aside once you melted down enough for a fabulous massage.
Though there is also the Tiny Hands solid serum. This one is a great solid hand moisturizer (perfect for nurses who are always washing their hands) and is intended to be used as such. It smells great and is shaped like a literal tiny hand.
I did wish they lasted longer though- can you imagine how huge those massage bars would be? But then again, we always want the things we love to last longer. Which ones have you tried?
What a great story. Seems that this company not only found a way to distinguish itself in the marketplace with products that are environmentally friendly, but actually created an entire customer experience around them.
This reminds me of a sustainability report I just read from International Flavors and Fragrances, a company which has been looking for innovative ways to pursue sustainability and remain profitable at the same time. Green Chemistry has become an essential part of their research and manufacturing process for their flavors and fragrances to limit the amount of waste. This translates into a more efficient transformation of raw materials into finished goods. They’ve also managed for example to create vanilla through biosynthesis. Very interesting stuff. Here’s their complete 2012 sustainability report: http://www.iff.com/custom/IFF/IFF_Sustainability_2012.pdf
LUSH is one of my favorite cosmetic stores for many reasons. Not only is my skin so much happier when I’m not imbibing it with chemicals and artificial fragrances, but my heart is happy because I’m supporting a business that shares my ‘green’ values.
Reducing waste from packaging is one of the more challenging feats today, as almost everything is wrapped both unavoidably and unnecessarily. My family reuses holiday wrapping paper and never uses plastic bags, but it can be difficult to forego purchasing anything packaged in plastic wrap or bottles these days. In addition to composting, buying from LUSH and other companies that avoid packaging whenever possible has helped my household cut down our waste input by almost one-half. I love that LUSH not only eliminates packaging at every change possible, but encourages customers to contribute to their efforts and rewards recycling pots — as a student, I’m even more enamored with LUSH, as this reward scheme has been wonderful in saving me money on many occasions. Plus, those stores smell AMAZING.
If more towns were to institute pay-to-throw schemes, I know that many more households would go out of their way to avoid using paper towels, cling wrap, and bottled everything, and become more innovative consumers and homeowners. Some great resources on pay-as-you-throw schemes and their role in reducing household waste: http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/tools/payt/research.htm
Hi All,
I apologize for being a little late to the conversation, but this company is amazing! I will admit, this is the first I am hearing about Lush, but after reading about the company and Gina’s insight into the inter workings of the production processes, I quickly found the Lush store nearest to me.
I am interested in exploring the refillable option idea that Ilene mentioned earlier in this thread. I think that Eco-aware people would find it beneficial to have this option as a way to further reduce their carbon footprint. Also, for frequent travelers, soap refill stations in airports would be a great way to reuse the small soap bottles that are often used/purchased when on the road.
Another packaging idea that comes to mind after reading a different post on WeHateToWaste.com is the idea of bundling bars of soap in an Eco-friendly cloth or towel, like the People Towel (http://www.wehatetowaste.com/paper-towel/). This addition to the product would increase the price a bit but also add value; proceeds could also be donated to a related cause. This option would have to be sold alongside the conventional product, but consumers need only purchase the bundled soaps once to start using the reusable cloth. This is a great way to spread the use of reusable towels that could ultimately decrease the mainstream consumer’s carbon footprint for good.
I came across this DIY soap recipe on Pinterest, looks pretty great to me…
http://petitelefant.com/homemade-citrus-coconut-soap/
Hi Gina,
Thanks so much for posting this. I too recently discovered Lush, and have loved it ever since. I like to think of going into a Lush store as so much more than shopping- it’s an experience. I can easily spend hours in there just reading the different materials they contain.
It always amazed me how natural and simple the ingredients are, yet they work so well! My mom even went so far as to nibble on the coconut pieces in the Curly Wurly shampoo! Compared to all of the indecipherable ingredients on main-stream shampoos and bath products, it is a welcome relief to see these simple and recognizable ingredients.
Perhaps my favorite part of the Lush brand is their “no-secrets” approach to their products. When I first discovered Lush, I immediately went on their website where I found video after video of their step-by-steps on how they make all of their products. It was so interesting and enlightening to see. Needless to say, three hours disappeared very quickly!
Thanks for posting! Every time I see a new story on Lush, I get excited thinking about what product of theirs I will try next!
-Elena
Hi Gina,
Great Article. I’m writing a Business Review about Lush at the moment and looking at how much #freshmatters to the brand. I’d love to be able to ask you some questions, is there an easy way that I can email you over some questions?
These products are so amazing. As a dancer who constantly needs make-up for performances I was pretty excited when I discovered them! The woman at the store had a field day with me and showed me everything in the store. We were like little girls at a sleepover. My favorite product by far is the masks!
I just found Lush about a month ago from a friend who was looking for acne solutions. She told me everything they made was natural, so naturally I was interested. When I first went to the store it was a little overwhelming because they have a lot of products and flavors but the staff was amazing! They sat me down and got me exactly was I was looking for, a face mask, and tested it on the back of my hand. The associate was so knowledgeable about the products and the brand in general.
I would ABSOLUTELY recommend this place to anyone not only because it is a great alternative to other wasteful products but because the stuff actually works! I am in the process of switching over my shampoos and body washes to their products so that I don’t have to worry about wasteful bottles and plastics anymore.
Hi Gina, thanks so much for writing this article. I just started using Lush Cosmetics a couple of months ago and I absolutely fell in love. Some of my favorite products are their BB Seaweed fresh face mask and their Angles on Bare Skin face wash. Besides their amazing products, one of the things I really appreciate about this company is their willingness to encourage all their customers to be more environmental friendly. A while ago one of my roommates purchased some of their products off line, when she opened the box I was really impressed that they had actual tips about how you can personally reduce your impact on the environment printed on the box. Some of there stuff is a little pricy but it makes sense, since all of their products are handmade!
Whilst lush are Great for Their no packaging and Animal rights virtually none of Their products are natural. Clever packacing and marketing fools people into believing its good for you. Their soap is made from sls so you might as Well buy it from tescos, it still Gets made from the same Chemical soap bases. Their Bath bombe are full of cosmetic Chemical fracrances and dyes. Lush is clever marketing and a giant comercial machine. If you knew how much money they make from every item you would feel ripped off not cared for.
Tale the time to learn whats truly natura rather than be seduced by bold claims and black pots
Hi Laura, you should call into Lush sometime to get a catalogue. They colour code ingredients so you can see just how natural they are. Black is synthetic and green is natural I believe?
Also the soap base lush use is free from palm oil and petrochemicals so really not much like supermarket soaps at all.
I’m sure you’ll be happy to know that Lush is still going strong as a brand! Recently, Forbes covered it in this article (https://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2017/04/07/lush-beauty-taking-the-industry-by-storm-thanks-to-young-love/#21aedba611c5). And the sustainable packaging movement is going strong, as well. I found even more companies getting on the sustainable packaging and refilling bandwagon. Has anyone tried any of these? Please share your comments!!
Kevin Murphy: http://kevinmurphy.com.au/the-brand/the-choices-we-make/the-environment/
Tata Harper Skincare: http://www.tataharperskincare.com/why-we-are-different
RMS Beauty: https://www.rmsbeauty.com/pages/about-us
Dr Bronner’s soap: https://www.drbronner.com/about/
Elate Beauty: https://www.elatecosmetics.ca/
Plaine Products (with refillable bottles): https://www.treehugger.com/organic-beauty/plaine-products-sells-shampoo-non-plastic-refillable-packaging.html
Pogo (refillable chapstick) http://www.pogobalm.com/
Kjaer Weis (refillable makeup) https://kjaerweis.com/story-behind/
Deodorant (with compostable packaging) http://organic-essence.com/?s=deodorant
Makeup remover (compostable): http://www.konjacspongecompany.com/shop/facial-sponges.html