On Friday the lovely team at Peterborough’s Lush store hosted their first ever Bloggers Event. I was planning to post about my visit and all the lovely things we did (which of course I will talk about below!) but first let me address what’s been on my mind since the event:
Baby orangutans? In a beauty post? Yes. Yes there are. Stick with me on this!
So at the event I was given a copy of their Spring catalogue and decided to flick through it when I got home. Right at the front of the magazine before you get to all those pampering treats was an article from their Head Buyer Simon Constantine. It immediately struck a chord with me as it talked about the depletion of the rainforests due to the massive consumer demand for palm oil and how destructive this is to our wildlife’s natural habitats.
I had witnessed this first hand when I honeymooned in Borneo. We stayed at the Shangri-La Rasa Ria resort in Kota Kinabulu where there is an Orangutan Sanctuary onsite.
I will always cherish the memory and photos I took of them swooping down through the trees to eat fruit supplied by the keepers, gazing at us shyly before deciding that lunchtime was over and they’d rather get back to the rainforest thanks very much.
The memories are tinged with sadness too though, because really I shouldn’t have been able to get up close and personal with the orangutans. They should have been with their mothers. The only reason I could go visit them is because they were orphans. Orphans whose homes were destroyed in a quest for palm oil, creating the need for a sanctuary like Rasa Ria.
This is why I really love companies like Lush, as their ethical sourcing of ingredients and work with fair trade suppliers around the world helps us all to get our beauty fix without damaging the planet in the process.
Their products are handmade with absolutely no animal testing and contain only natural ingredients or safe synthetics. Whilst I’ll be totally honest and tell you that I can’t say with 100% certainty that every product that I use in day to day life measures up to this high standard, I’m trying to make responsible choices. That’s why I have a lot of time for Lush!
(Also I love watching their bath bombs fizz away!)
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, let’s get back to Friday night! Upon arrival at the store in Queensgate Shopping Centre I was greeted by the lovely Lush Peterborough Squad who tempted me in with drinks and biscuits and the promise of hand massages and face masks.
Grace, Carolynn and Lisa walked us around the store, showing us the range of products in each section, allowing us to sniff and test them and giving us the story behind each.
The man behind their haircare range, for example, is a former trichologist and therefore an expert in developing products to make your hair and scalp healthy and glossy.
I’ve never really thought of Lush as a place to go for makeup before but what Grace explained about their approach to cosmetics made perfect sense. Their products are very kind to skin due to their natural ingredients, totally free from animal testing (YAY!) and each is designed to make you feel good on the inside as well as out! They call it Emotional Brilliance and their products are all given names depending on the ‘mood’ of how you feel/want to feel, like Confident, Decisive and Passionate.
Their scents are all natural too and Lisa explained that they will smell differently on each individual, so it’s best to give them a spritz and let them rest on your skin for a bit. I really liked the smell of the men’s fragrances, especially the sea salty waft of ‘dirty’. But let’s be honest, I mainly loved it for the packaging!
To demonstrate what goes into a Lush product we got to see the Catastrophe Cosmetic face mask made from scratch.
Almond oil, glycerine, calamine powder and a punnet of blueberries as well as other soothing ingredients were combined to make up a really soothing, cleansing treat for our skin and we all got to take a pot home to try it for ourselves.
If I wasn’t already relaxed enough at this stage, as a final treat we were all given a blissful stress busting hand and arm massage.
I really want to tell you what was used, because my arm felt so moisturised and supple aftwards, but I have to admit to drifting off to a faraway place and completely forgetting to ask!
I think it was one of their massage bars though as we’d learned about them earlier. They look a bit like soap, but you rub them onto your skin to release the butters and oils.
I’d like to say a HUGE thanks to Georgie and the team at Lush Peterborough in Queensgate Shopping Centre for putting on such a fun and informative evening for us all.
…and for reminding me to think about those baby orangutans and whether I’m helping them live a happy life when making my shopping list!
I went on an obligatory shopping spree after hearing about all the lovely products, so look out for my review of my Lush haul coming very soon!
For more information on Lush please visit: Lush.com
Disclaimer: This post is not sponsored, I just bloody love Lush! See my Disclaimer page if you’re interested in reading more about how I decide what makes it onto Loved By Laura!
