Living Lushly
April 20, 2007 | 12:00am
It’s not easy being green. Or is it?
Saving the earth can be hard work. It can get potentially icky, too  especially when you’re steering clear of preservatives and all that icky chemical stuff that you just know is bad for the environment. (If you’ve ever tried glopping a DIY fruit mask on your face, then you know just how miserably messy being all-natural can get.) But thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way  not with top-quality international beauty brands getting into the green game. In these enlightened times, preservation doesn’t have to mean self-deprivation  and making sure Mother Nature stays beautiful and well-taken care of doesn’t mean you can’t be.
Self-appointed "cosmetics grocer" Lush is one of these brands. With over 30 shops in the United Kingdom and 100 worldwide, Lush is known in Manila for being the cosmetics store you can find with your nose. When you’re drawn into a Lush store by delectable scents down a mall corridor, you just know a delectable pampering experience is about to begin. "Lush is such an evocative word," says founder Mark Constantine. "It can mean green, make you think of the rain forest or a passage of poetry, a piece of music, or a woman who has had too much to drink."
Maybe it really is easy to be green: as easy as unwinding with a hot shower and the scent-filled steam of a hot shower using Lush’s best-selling Karma soap, or slipping into a hot bath all fizzed up with your favorite Lush ballistic or bubble bar. And maybe being green is as feel-good and deep-down satisfying as a relaxing massage using any one of Lush’s decadent massage bars. And maybe, just maybe, a beautiful planet just isn’t complete without a beautiful you.
So can something almost selfishly good for you really be good for the environment too? Lush international PR manager Lisa Rolfe fills us in.
What is Lush’s vision of beauty?
The creation of beautiful cosmetic products that do not harm animals and are kinder to the environment.
What is Lush’s commitment to the environment?
Lush is committed to minimizing carbon emissions. Over half of Lush products are solid, which means we can cut down on preservatives and packaging. That in turn cuts down on carbon emissions, as carbon is not expended on producing, shipping and storing packaging. Stock is delivered fresh every day to shops, which means we don’t have warehouses full of product, using up energy. Plus, after an initial audit by The Carbon Trust, our shops and factories were found to be below the industry average when it comes to energy consumption  and we are doing more to make them even lower!
How is Lush "all-natural" and "animal friendly"?
Lush products are crammed full with the highest quality  and organic wherever possible  natural ingredients such as herbs, fruit, flowers and essential oils. Lush has a staunch anti-animal testing policy. Nothing is tested on animals, and Lush guarantees none of its suppliers test any of their raw materials on animals either. Lush is recognized by both the Vegetarian and Vegan Societies and won the RSPCA Good Business Award 2006 and the PETA Trailblazer Award 2006, both for work in animal welfare.
Why should consumers go for "green" beauty products versus those of bigger, more popular beauty brands?
Because they are better for you and better for the environment.
How is Lush different from other beauty brands that also claim to be "green"?
We’re naked! About 68 percent of our products are unpackaged. We’ve just launched a range of new reusable tins, making it much easier to take your fave Lush products out with you. The tins also keep in line with Lush’s environmental stance, as these are reusable and enable you to cut down on packaging.
How does Lush incorporate the latest global trends in "natural" and "green" beauty into its products?
"Organic" and "Fair Trade" are buzzwords at the moment and Lush incorporates both of these into all aspects of the business. Ingredients are organic wherever possible and supplies are also sourced locally where possible, to avoid unnecessary transportation and to support local communities.
What are Lush’s best-sellers in the Philippines?
Filipinos love Lush’s Karma soap because the scent stays with them the whole day, so no need to put on perfume after using this soap. Filipinos love anything with a strong smell, and Karma has the strongest and most lasting smell of all of Lush’s products. The Karma Kream body moisturizer follows suit also. There’s also the New Shampoo Bar, which stimulates new hair with peppermint and cinnamon ingredients. Customers with falling or thinning hair are hooked on it, plus it lasts longer than the liquid shampoos. For skincare, Coalface is the most popular product. It’s a cleanser made out of licorice that exfoliates and lightens the skin. For summer, the new Ice Blue Soap tops the charts. The hot weather in Manila just propels customers towards a soap that refreshes them every time they take a shower. It’s competitively priced, too, at P195 per 100 grams.
Saving the earth can be hard work. It can get potentially icky, too  especially when you’re steering clear of preservatives and all that icky chemical stuff that you just know is bad for the environment. (If you’ve ever tried glopping a DIY fruit mask on your face, then you know just how miserably messy being all-natural can get.) But thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way  not with top-quality international beauty brands getting into the green game. In these enlightened times, preservation doesn’t have to mean self-deprivation  and making sure Mother Nature stays beautiful and well-taken care of doesn’t mean you can’t be.
Self-appointed "cosmetics grocer" Lush is one of these brands. With over 30 shops in the United Kingdom and 100 worldwide, Lush is known in Manila for being the cosmetics store you can find with your nose. When you’re drawn into a Lush store by delectable scents down a mall corridor, you just know a delectable pampering experience is about to begin. "Lush is such an evocative word," says founder Mark Constantine. "It can mean green, make you think of the rain forest or a passage of poetry, a piece of music, or a woman who has had too much to drink."
Maybe it really is easy to be green: as easy as unwinding with a hot shower and the scent-filled steam of a hot shower using Lush’s best-selling Karma soap, or slipping into a hot bath all fizzed up with your favorite Lush ballistic or bubble bar. And maybe being green is as feel-good and deep-down satisfying as a relaxing massage using any one of Lush’s decadent massage bars. And maybe, just maybe, a beautiful planet just isn’t complete without a beautiful you.
So can something almost selfishly good for you really be good for the environment too? Lush international PR manager Lisa Rolfe fills us in.
What is Lush’s vision of beauty?
The creation of beautiful cosmetic products that do not harm animals and are kinder to the environment.
What is Lush’s commitment to the environment?
Lush is committed to minimizing carbon emissions. Over half of Lush products are solid, which means we can cut down on preservatives and packaging. That in turn cuts down on carbon emissions, as carbon is not expended on producing, shipping and storing packaging. Stock is delivered fresh every day to shops, which means we don’t have warehouses full of product, using up energy. Plus, after an initial audit by The Carbon Trust, our shops and factories were found to be below the industry average when it comes to energy consumption  and we are doing more to make them even lower!
How is Lush "all-natural" and "animal friendly"?
Lush products are crammed full with the highest quality  and organic wherever possible  natural ingredients such as herbs, fruit, flowers and essential oils. Lush has a staunch anti-animal testing policy. Nothing is tested on animals, and Lush guarantees none of its suppliers test any of their raw materials on animals either. Lush is recognized by both the Vegetarian and Vegan Societies and won the RSPCA Good Business Award 2006 and the PETA Trailblazer Award 2006, both for work in animal welfare.
Why should consumers go for "green" beauty products versus those of bigger, more popular beauty brands?
Because they are better for you and better for the environment.
How is Lush different from other beauty brands that also claim to be "green"?
We’re naked! About 68 percent of our products are unpackaged. We’ve just launched a range of new reusable tins, making it much easier to take your fave Lush products out with you. The tins also keep in line with Lush’s environmental stance, as these are reusable and enable you to cut down on packaging.
How does Lush incorporate the latest global trends in "natural" and "green" beauty into its products?
"Organic" and "Fair Trade" are buzzwords at the moment and Lush incorporates both of these into all aspects of the business. Ingredients are organic wherever possible and supplies are also sourced locally where possible, to avoid unnecessary transportation and to support local communities.
What are Lush’s best-sellers in the Philippines?
Filipinos love Lush’s Karma soap because the scent stays with them the whole day, so no need to put on perfume after using this soap. Filipinos love anything with a strong smell, and Karma has the strongest and most lasting smell of all of Lush’s products. The Karma Kream body moisturizer follows suit also. There’s also the New Shampoo Bar, which stimulates new hair with peppermint and cinnamon ingredients. Customers with falling or thinning hair are hooked on it, plus it lasts longer than the liquid shampoos. For skincare, Coalface is the most popular product. It’s a cleanser made out of licorice that exfoliates and lightens the skin. For summer, the new Ice Blue Soap tops the charts. The hot weather in Manila just propels customers towards a soap that refreshes them every time they take a shower. It’s competitively priced, too, at P195 per 100 grams.
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