If you’ve not heard of Lush Cosmetics, we wonder where you’ve been. With over 600 stores in 43 countries, Lush is a top contender in the world of fresh hand-made personal care products.

The folks at Lush develop their line from fresh,  organic materials, essential oils, and safe synthetics. All products are vegetarian (and mostly vegan)  and do not test on animals.

They are so green, well, it almost makes it difficult to list everything they do.

Grocery-store ingredients
They perfect their personal care items with natural ingredients, hailing from everyday items, such as strawberries and fresh mint. The reason behind this? Nutrition for the body, intact with vitamins and minerals.

Minimal preservatives
Only one-third of their materials use preservatives, and the ones that do are simply for preventing bacteria and promoting shelf-life. They explain that their use methylparaben and propylparaben are the safest preservatives possible.

Planet protection
There is hardly a speck of packaging on Lush products (you can smell their stores from a mile away – delicious!), and any use of (minimal) packaging is developed from post-consumer recycled, recyclable and biodegradable materials.

Charity work
Their econess doesn’t end there; Lush is also actively supports small global producers who supply their ingredients. They also sell a Charity Pot Body Lotion and 100% of the retail price (minus taxes) goes to charities around the world that support animal rights, environmental protection and humanitarian concerns.

Carefully developed
All of their products are handmade in small batches, saving the planet from factory producing gases, and ensuring quality in each item.

Their company promotes planet-friendly awareness in other ways; for example, their recently launched campaign to end Canada’s commercial seal hunt. (Check out our article, LUSH Cosmetics campaigns to end seal hunt)

The campaign corresponds with a launch of their First Swim Bubble Bar , and we have to tell you how much we love it.

Their limited edition bar comes package-free, but is adorned with a reusable seal face sticker encouraging users to Save Our Seals (and you’ll be doing a small part yourself, because 100% of the proceeds from the sales of the bar are donated to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

The natural ingredients include a combination of lime and lavender oils, along with the light scent of seaweed, marrying a calm freshness with a hint of the ocean. It’s primary scent is citrus, perfect for unisex use. It’s cleverly rolled in coconut shavings akin to the fur of a seal pup, giving a unique texture to the first few uses of the bar.

According to LUSH, the name is derived from the baby seals that are killed at such a young age, that they haven’t had the chance to have their first swim. “We thought it would be lovely to give this baby seal its first swim,” they say. We do, too.

The only drawback? It’s limited edition: but we think that LUSH should keep this on tap, continue to aid in protecting the seals, and keeping our skin clean and bodies smelling wonderful.

The vegan First Swim Bubble Bar retails at $5.95, with 100% of the proceeds going towards saving the seals.

Check out lush.com for a retain location closest to you, or for online shopping.

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