American Cream

Vanilla is the unmistakable, uplifting and sweet scent we all know and love.

Vanilla beans (pods) are the fruits of the orchid Vanilla planifolia. Centuries ago, one could only purchase vanilla from Mexico, as the flowers required a local bee to pollinate and grow the precious pod. Thanks to the discovery of a hand pollination technique in 1841, orchids can now be cultivated in most tropical areas close to the equator. This step requires specialised know-how and must be carried out a few hours after the flower opens; otherwise, it will wilt.

Each blossom produces a single bean, which is normally harvested after eight or nine months. The beans then pass through a complex curing process before becoming the black-brown fragrant spice we all know. This process usually involves four steps: soaking in hot water, sweating in a warm environment, drying for a few weeks, and conditioning (packing in boxes) to develop flavours.

It has a sweet fragrance with uplifting, de-stressing and aphrodisiac qualities.

The sugars in vanilla act as humectants, which minimise moisture loss.

The spice is soothing, softening and antibacterial for the skin.

Its main aromatic compound, vanillin, is an antioxidant that helps the skin to stay firm and radiant.

Since Madagascar, the world's first vanilla producer, stopped regulating vanilla prices in the 1990s, its trade has seen ups and downs. The latest struggles began in 2012 when very low harvests caused demand for the spice to exceed supply. Since vanilla is a rather rare natural delicacy that cannot be rushed, the situation quickly snowballed into huge price increases (over 100%), poor quality and crime.

In 2016, the situation in Uganda (where we buy our pods) became critical and was reported to us in an article by Lulu, owner of the Ndali farm. Resellers and agents working on commission began buying vanilla that was not even cured properly yet. Vanilla pods must reach maturity and undergo the full curing process to develop all the notes of their wonderful taste and aroma, and to prevent mould. During price crises, crops are sold far too early, and pods can even be stolen from the fields before they're ripe. Farmers try to expand their crops to meet demand, and governments implement drastic measures. Eventually, when things finally calm down, farmers find themselves with too much production and prices drop tragically, as has been the case since 2019.

We love natural vanilla so much that we couldn't stop using it. Thanks to our dedicated team of creative buyers, year after year and month after month, we have found solutions to the market’s turmoil. Find more information on each source in the description of the main vanilla ingredients we use:

Vanilla Extract, combines several ingredients whose comforting scent enhances our perfumes and skin-soothing cosmetics.

Vanilla Pod Powder, which adds vanilla’s signature tiny black dots to our products.

Want to dive straight into our range of vanilla-scented products? They're ready for you.

Strawberries are so tasty that we rarely associate them with anything other than food. But that’s never stopped anyone at Lush! These vitamin C-rich fruits certainly make sense in cosmetics. 

The strawberry is a small, juicy red fruit that grows wild in many parts of the world. Contrary to what its name suggests, it is a fruit, not a berry. Some would even say it’s an “accessory fruit” and that the true fruit is actually the tiny seed you can see on the outside of the strawberry, but… let’s not dig that deep.

After Europeans discovered the Americas, different species of strawberries from both continents were crossbred to obtain the perfect size and colour. This gave rise to the commercial varieties that we find today in supermarkets.

It's funny how one plant can carry similar symbolism across different civilisations. The strawberry is a good example: from the Vikings to the Cherokees to the ancient Romans, this fruit symbolises love, union, and fertility. Isn’t the strawberry the most famous craving of pregnant women? Is it its colour, its heart shape, or its delicate, sweet scent that makes the strawberry so enticing and romantic? Perhaps it’s the fleeting nature of its seasonality.

They’re full of vitamins, especially vitamin C, an antioxidant that can soothe inflammation and enhance skin’s radiance. 

They’re acidic, almost as much as grapefruit, which gives shine to hair. 

They’re fragrant and can give products a beautiful pink to red colour depending on concentration.

The seeds should not be left out—as tiny as they are, they can make a good, soft exfoliant when rubbed on the skin and yield a moisturising oil when pressed.

It’s time to indulge! Take a look at our gourmand bestseller American Cream conditioner, famously filled with fresh strawberries. This collection of sweet, fruity products may also satisfy your cravings.

Orange is a very well known and delicious fruit. It’s one of your five a day - but has many other benefits to your skin and wellbeing!

An orange is a well-known fruit within the citrus family that grows on trees all around the world. The sweet orange is a flowering tree with glossy, evergreen leaves and thorny branches, and it is thought to be native to China, and East Asia. The trees now grow all over the world. Botanically, their juicy, edible, orange-coloured fruits are a type of berry called a hesperidium.

Orange juice and oil have astringent, cleansing properties that help the skin and hair to glow.

Oranges contain potassium, folic acid, and large amounts of vitamin C, which together with lutein help improve skin elasticity.

Citrus scents are usually uplifting and refreshing, but the sweetness of oranges tends to be so cheerful that it actually promotes rest. You feel good, therefore you relax.

Orange peel wax is considered a good vegan alternative to lanolin as it has similar emollient, moisturising and emulsifying properties, with a lightweight feel. 

We use orange in many different forms (essential oils, juice, peel, wax…) for different products, and each of them can be purchased in different places around the world. To find out more about our suppliers, browse your Lush product’s list of ingredients and click on the ones you are interested in. This should take you to a page full of details!

Honey is a fragrant, sweet, sticky liquid made by the hard-working honeybees.

The clear honey found in the Lush products that are made in the UK, Germany and Japan comes from Casa Apis, a cooperative in Brazil made up of 28 communities. Bees’ welfare is at the heart of their practice and the cooperative sees beekeeping as a communion with nature, a way to have better lives while helping to increase the bee population and land’s regeneration.

Our Australian and New Zealand markets have their own suppliers. Beechworth Honey supplies Australia. Through their daily work, the creation of an arboretum, charitable donations, and many other projects, they aim to support biodiversity, protect threatened habitats, and advocate for sustainable beekeeping. Cammells Honey, meanwhile, supplies New Zealand. This family-owned business prides itself on selling premium, unadulterated honey collected by experienced beekeepers.

In Lush’s best-selling soap Honey I Washed The Kids, our UK manufacturing site uses two other sources. One honey is from a network of British beekeepers, where all beehives are located on permaculture or wild lands with diverse forage all year round. The other one is Ethiopian, from a supplier committed to protecting the remaining forests of the country.

At Lush, we agree that the modern honey industry treats bees like farmed animals. To ensure their welfare is respected in our supply chain, we work with beekeepers who understand the importance of managing hives with consideration and of working in a minimally invasive way. We do not allow the use of harmful practices such as queen wing clipping or artificial rearing.

Where possible, we aim to work directly with beekeepers, but in any case, we ask for full traceability and adherence to our high standards. We actively encourage and select those who go beyond organic beekeeping and implement regenerative practices that positively impact local wildlife and the hives’ environment.

Humectant

Antimicrobial

Antioxidant

Protective

Conditioning

Nutrient-rich

Because of its remarkable antimicrobial and humectant properties, honey also contributes to the preservation of products’ formulae.

Bees collect nectar from flowers and carry it to their hives where the worker bees convert it into honey. Half a kilogram of honey contains the essence of about two million flowers and the colour, fragrance and properties of honey vary depending on the varieties foraged. Bees need to make thousands of round trips to collect nectar, and a single bee produces only about a teaspoon of honey during its lifetime.

Dreaming of lathering up with as much honey as possible? Here's a buzzing selection of Lush products for you!

It pays to recycle with us! Return the packaging for this product to any a Lush shop and receive money towards your next purchase. Alternatively, return 5 qualifying items packaging for a free fresh face mask.

Fresh cosmetic ingredients are more effective on skin, hair, and mind than heavily preserved beauty products. 65% of our raw material spend is on natural ingredients.