D'Fluff

Such a sweet biodegradable, natural exfoliator!

The name 'sugar' can be applied to any carbohydrate that has a sweet taste. In Lush's ingredient lists, it describes the sucrose obtained from sugar cane or sugar beets - the classic crystalline sugar you can find in most kitchens. It can be coarse, fine, white or coloured. We use this diversity to create innovative products that vary visually and have different effects or sensations on the skin.

It is a gentle scrub that removes dead cells to brighten, smooth and prepare the skin for other treats. (It’s particularly effective and yummy on the lips!)

It is a natural humectant, so it helps maintain moisture in the skin and hair. 

The human skin renews itself regularly, in cycles of 5 to 6 weeks on average (although this changes with age). New cells are created in the deepest layers of the epidermis and work their way to the skin's surface. Even though they usually flake away on their own, they sometimes stick around for too long, clogging the pores and giving a dull and tired appearance. This is when an exfoliant comes in handy. Coarse materials like sugar buff and cleanse the skin perfectly.

To find out more about each of our sugar 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!

If you were about to exfoliate your lips (to make them extra smooth), wouldn't you be tempted to use sugar? Well, great minds think alike - our Lip Scrubs got your back. Or lips.

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.

There are many different syrups: ones you drink, ones you glaze on your pancakes, ones you pour in your batter. At Lush, we love them all.

What is common to every kind of syrup? A very high sugar content. Dates, maple, agave, sugarcane, corn… all these plants contain natural sugars. Their fruits, sap, kernels, or fibres are processed, generally by simple boiling and filtering, in order to concentrate these sugars until a dense and velvety liquid is obtained. Another way to make syrup is to mix pure sugar with water and infuse the sweet liquid with fragrant flowers, leaves or bark. However, most of the time, it’s done with artificial flavours and colourants.

Their high sugar content gives syrups humectant properties, meaning that they attract moisture from their surroundings and bring it to the skin and hair.

They contribute to the sweet, tantalising and gourmand aura of some of our products, sometimes even adding to their scent and texture.

They can give a delicious taste to oral and mouth care products.

We purchase a lot of different syrups, in small or large quantities, so the country of origin will depend on the product, stocks, and the Lush manufacturing site where your product was made. For more information on each syrup, search for them in our ingredient hub or have a look at this selection:

Organic Date Syrup

Organic Agave Syrup

Maple Syrup

Rice Syrup

You’ll find date syrup as the sweet base of all our gourmand Sticky Dates products and much more in our skincare and haircare ranges.

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.

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.