Daddy-O

When the cold winter days start to seem endless, the elegant violet emerges from the ground with a sweet fragrance full of hope.

Violets grow all over the world, but only the Viola odorata, or sweet violet, gives off an unforgettable sweet, powdery scent. The fragrant flowers appear in February and finish blooming in April. Interestingly, the plant blooms again in autumn but usually produces uninteresting flowers, as the primary goal of this revival is to produce self-generated seeds. Look who doesn’t need pollinators to thrive!

When not sold as ornamental plants, violets are cultivated for culinary purposes (the plant is entirely edible) or for their leaves from which a fragrant absolute can be extracted.

From the very first lines of William Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night, Orsino evokes the transient nature of the violet scent:  "Stealing and giving odour! Enough; no more: 'Tis not so sweet now as it was before." Indeed, if the flower has had a rather joyful and innocent reputation over the centuries, it also carries a mysterious and somewhat melancholic aura. This is certainly due to the fact that its scent vanishes after a few minutes of enjoyment. The reason? Ionone, the main scented component of the flower, inhibits our olfactory systems after a few sniffs. The flower continues to smell, but we no longer feel anything (well, temporarily).

It is precisely ionone that was synthesised in 1983 into a perfume material called alpha-isomethyl ionone. With a very beautiful violet scent (that doesn't fade!) accompanied by woody and powdery orris notes, the compound enjoyed immediate success and took a prominent place in perfumery. It has wholly eclipsed the natural extracts of the flower, obtained after very expensive processes with uneven results which require a considerable amount of flowers.

At Lush, we use an absolute extracted from the leaves of Viola odorata to perfume our products with a fresh herbaceous scent, believed to calm the mind. The absolute also has excellent properties for the skin and scalp, being very soothing, antibacterial and antifungal. Fresh or dried leaves can also be infused for a while in boiled water to obtain mucilage, an anti-inflammatory and formula-thickening substance.

Lush purchases this absolute from an Egyptian supplier. Violet leaf absolute has been produced in northern Egypt for over 100 years. The little flowering plants live for about three years and their leaves can be harvested four times a year. They go through a complex solvent extraction process to obtain the absolute; a method that gets the most from delicate plants.

Get irresistibly perfumed hair with the sweet violet candy scent of our iconic shampoo Daddy-O, and its best partner in crime, Violet Cream conditioner.

A juicy lemon will always brighten your day - and your skin! 

Oh, we all know what lemon is, surely!? Okay, for those of you who don’t, it’s a fruit that grows on a small, slightly thorny, evergreen tree that belongs to the Rutaceae family. The lemon tree typically grows in Italy, Asia and East India, and produces highly fragrant blossoms and shiny leaves as well as this bright yellow, oval-shaped citrus treat. 

Lemon oil and juice are known for their deeply cleansing and brightening effects on the skin.

A lemon’s natural fruit acids encourage the cuticle of the hair to lie flat, reflecting more light and in turn enhancing shine in the hair.

Lemon oil is often used as a top note in perfumery, adding a refreshing quality to fragrances to directly delight your synapses.

The juice is full of vitamin C which makes your skin glow and helps the complexion.

Since 2005, Lush has sourced bergamot, lemon and mandarin essential oils directly from a family business that have been producing citrus oils for three generations. While the lemons and mandarins thrive under the sun of Sicily, the bergamot fruits are grown in Reggio Calabria, Southern Italy. Grown without pesticides, the lemons are collected by hand and pressed entirely with their peel. The resulting liquid then goes through a centrifugal process that separates the oil from the juice. 

When it comes to fresh lemons and their zest, peel or juice, browse your Lush product’s list of ingredients to find out more. Click on the ingredient you are interested in and it should take you to a page full of details!

Under the sea, forests of slimy algae grow, and they’re full of benefits for the skin and hair.

Soothing

Mineral-rich

Radiance boosting

Softening

Texturising

On this last point, it should be noted that certain seaweeds have gelling properties, especially agar-agar and Irish moss (from which a powder called carrageenan is extracted). When combined with the right ingredients, they can help create a wide range of textures and shapes for our products such as our shower jellies.

Lush was founded in Poole, a coastal town in southern England where it is still strongly rooted in today. Outside the headquarters, massive seagulls soar and cry, and salty waves crash onto the quay. No wonder the seaside has been such an inspiration for our products! It's also why we're not afraid to use strong-scented seaweed absolute in some of our fragrances.

Saying that we source them from the sea would probably sound a bit vague! At Lush, we purchase a lot of different algae from around the world - fresh, dried, powdered, and even distilled. To learn more about each of these, you can go through your product’s ingredient list and click on the one you’re interested in. You can also click on this list of curious names below for a sneak peek:

Toothed wrack

Bladderwrack

Sugar kelp

Wakame

Kombu

The romantic scent of the rose is said to help restore inner balance and is considered by some to be an aphrodisiac. 

Rose petals are the source of rose oil, which some say was the first floral essential oil to be distilled. Rose oil has been an important part of fragrances and flavours for thousands of years. It is perhaps the most beloved floral scent in the world. The many versions of rose materials that we include as key ingredients in our products have an array of different qualities that will serve your senses, your skin and your mind!

Depending on the concentration, roses products may:

Soothe

Balance

Subtly tighten the pores

Restore radiance

Improve elasticity

Reduce the appearance of broken capillaries

Rose flowers are used in our products in several forms (essential oils, infusion, petals, dried buds…) and each of them can be purchased in different places around the world. To find out more, 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!

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.

Your order will be expertly protected against impact during transit by biodegradable Eco-Pops, compostable packaging nuggets made from potato starch! They're easily dissolvable in water or soil.

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.