Kiamo Ko Castle

Ylang-ylang’s flowers diffuse a heady, sweet and floral scent that is often recommended to calm the mind. It is featured in a few of our most popular fragrances, such as Sex Bomb, Sleepy and Magik.

The cananga tree, also called ylang-ylang or ilang-ilang, is a tropical plant native to Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. It can grow very tall in the wild, averaging 12 meters (40 feet). In British English, ylang-ylang is pronounced ee-lang ee-lang. In Tagalog, an old language of the Philippines, it means ‘flower of the flowers’. 

The tree’s branches are quite flexible and are often positioned vertically and pruned by farmers to ease harvest. Flowers bloom nearly all year round, hanging from stalks. Their drooping, long and narrow petals are thick and wavy - and wonderfully fragrant! They start off green but reach their optimal scent when turning yellow.

The scent of ylang-ylang flowers is known to help you relax, slow down and fall asleep more easily. It is said to reduce anxiety while increasing a sense of well-being.

The sensual flowers’ scent is also considered an aphrodisiac.

The yellow petals can be distilled into an essential oil or extracted into an absolute. These are highly valued in perfumery but also in cosmetics, for their numerous benefits to the skin, scalp and hair.

Not just a scent, it is also a flavour! Ylang-ylang works really well in mouth products.

Learn more about the benefits of ylang-ylang oil on this dedicated page.

Lush uses ylang-ylang essential oil in various products, ranging from perfumes to bath bombs and hair conditioners. The essential oil is steam-distilled from the petals, and the process can last up to 20 hours! We also use a fair amount of ylang-ylang absolute, which is extracted from the petals as well, but using solvents.

We purchase the essential oil and the absolute from the Comoros Islands, but we also produce our own oil in Ghana. Click on the links below to learn more about these different sources:

Ylang Ylang Oil

Ghanaian Ylang Ylang Oil

Ylang Ylang absolute

Are sweet, sensual and tropical scents your thing? Have a go at this collection of floral-scented products.

The jasmine flower is a delight for the senses! Its scent is powerful, sensual and enticing.

Jasmine belongs to the large olive family (Oleaceae). It is native to tropical regions of Eurasia, and Oceania. The jasmine flower is white or pale yellow, star-shaped and extremely fragrant. They open at night to release their sensual scent. Thousands of jasmine flowers are processed through solvent extraction to produce just one kilogram of jasmine absolute, which is a thick, dark orange liquid with a rich, floral aroma.

Jasmine absolute has an earthy floral aroma which provides a rich, deep note to products and perfumes.

The overall scent of a jasmine flower is seductive and heady; it entices and delights the senses.

The flowers can be used to soothe the scalp. They can also be used to rejuvenate and brighten the skin.

Jasmine was brought to Europe in the 16th century and became a staple ingredient in the perfume industry. Every August, a jasmine festival is held in Grasse, France, during which revellers scatter jasmine water and flowers over celebrating crowds and the town comes alive with music, events and visitors from all over the world.

Lush gets jasmine from many different places around the world such as India and Egypt. The flowers are ideally picked at sunrise when they are the most fragrant. To find out more about each of 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!

It’s cold outside. The tip of your nose is freezing, the sky is grey, and you could really use something comforting and warming. Well, here comes cinnamon!

Cinnamon is a spice harvested from the Cinnamomum verum, also called the ‘true cinnamon tree’. It is a shrub-like evergreen tree of the Laurel family, considered native to Sri Lanka and India. Its leaves and outer bark are fragrant, but it's the inside of the tree that is most sought after. Indeed, it contains an aromatic inner bark that peels easily and in thin layers. These precious sheets are tied up and left to dry so that they form the brown curls that we know. It can also be sold in small pieces or powder.

The whole cinnamon tree can be used! Traditionally, the shredded outer bark is used to fill the cinnamon curls. The bark, leaves and flower buds can also be distilled to obtain essential oils of different intensities.

Its warm and spicy fragrance comforts and invigorates. For some, it’s emblematic of the winter festivities; for others, it’s an aphrodisiac!

It has powerful antibacterial and antifungal properties, ideal for skin, body and oral care.

Depending on the concentration, it can have a warming effect on the skin when applied topically, helping to stimulate blood circulation and energise tired muscles.

Cinnamon was once one of the rarest and most expensive items in the spice trade. Its powerful antimicrobial properties had been noticed by the ancient Egyptians, who used it for embalming and to preserve their food. It was prized during Antiquity and the Middle Ages to flavour food, in religious rites, as medicine or perfume… and that hasn't changed today! Interestingly, some parts of the world view it more as a spice for savoury dishes, while others will pair it with sweets.

We’re so used to pepper that we tend to forget how precious, fragrant and versatile it is.

Piper nigrum, the black pepper plant, is a vine native to southern India that can grow up to 20 meters long (65 feet). Its very small, berry-like fruits grow in clusters and change in colour, taste, and scent as they ripen. Typically, black pepper is obtained from young green fruits which are picked and dried in the heat until they turn black and develop their pungent pepper smell. But you can also get white, green and red pepper from these fruits, each with a different intensity - so many flavourful choices with just one plant.

If this already amazes you, then rejoice, because there are so many plants in the world called pepper... enough to be overwhelmed! In Lush products alone, we use or have used pink pepper (Shinus molle), Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum Alatum), Sansho pepper (Zanthoxylum piperitum) and Jamaican pepper, also known as allspice.

Although each pepper has its own specificity, their main common trait (when it comes to cosmetics) is their scent. Not that they all smell the same! But their oil, powder or infusion release strong and complex fragrances that can perfume the skin and hair.

As for black pepper, which we love so much at Lush, it is said to help relieve tension and aches while stimulating blood circulation when applied to the skin and scalp.

Well, kind of! Black pepper is listed as one of the Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History (Bill Laws, 2010). Indeed, it was one of the stars of the spice trade. This trade began near 1000 BCE, bringing fragrant plants from all over the world, by land and sea, to the most enthusiastic European noses and palates. Black pepper was so popular and profitable that it encouraged explorers like Christopher Columbus to find easier and faster routes to India (where pepper was produced). And we all know how that ended!

Many peppers mean many sources! To learn 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.

You can find the warm scent of black pepper gorgeously paired up with patchouli and vanilla in our Lord of Misrule range.

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.

All of our products are made by hand, fresh, every day, across 6 manufacturing sites all over the world. We believe in happy people making happy soap, putting our faces on our products and making our mums proud.

It's better naked. 66% of products sold each year are packaging-free.