Clear-Conscience Consumerism (Unrelated to Spanking)

 

I try to be reasonably well-informed about the food I eat and the products I use, more so now than ever before, and that includes the yummy-girly-sniffy stuff, too.

You can’t walk into any drugstore, department store, supermarket, or even 99cent place without seeing hundreds (or thousands) of ‘beauty products’ – stuff geared (mostly) toward women that’s supposed to make us look, smell, and feel better. Problem with most of that stuff is that it’s a)terrible for you b)terrible for the environment c)tested on cute little tortured bunnies or d)all of the above. Really. Most of the stuff that they sell you in the beauty aisle is runoff from petrochemical processing and chemical by-product. Does that make you feel at all pretty or fresh? Yeah, me either.

After a playmate gifted me with an unbelievably-great-smelling gift box from Lush Cosmetics (lushusa.com), I was immediately hooked. The first thing I noticed after the scent was the large ‘Stop Animal Testing’ logo on their packaging (which is very mimimal, by the way, as they’re pro-reuse/recycle/biodegradable, too). None of the Lush product line contain animal products, and many are completely vegan – they even make zero-impact, beeswax free lip conditioner that is out of this world. Right down to the packing peanuts in their shipped boxes, which are made from biodegradable rice puff rather than unrecyclable styrofoam! It’s also worth mentioning that not only is each and every product in their line packaged and inspected by a specific company employee, LUSH is headquartered in Vancouver, BC, and all their products are sourced and produced right there in Canada.

So this stuff’s real hippy-dippy, you’re thinking, which is fine for girls who wear birkenstocks and don’t shave their legs, but not for Regular People….wrong. This stuff is really excellent, lasts forever, and is very reasonably priced when considering the great good done by leaving out tortured bunnies, clear-cut rainforests, and multi-syllabic chemical compounds nobody could ever really identify.

I’ve become somewhat preoccupied with eliminating as much chemical-infused junk as possible, so I’ve incorporated lots of their products already, and I love each and every one of them. The solid shampoo bars they make (amazing idea!) smell divine (I use Godiva), last forever, and lather better than the very best salon shampoo. My hair actually feels clean after using it and smells insanely good for hours. The bath gels are all scrumptious, but I prefer It’s Raining Men – a kind of sexy, honey scent that leaves skin (and hair!) moisturized and glowing. Then there’s Fresh Farmacy, quite possibly the best cleanser I’ve found for my…ahem…mature yet still-prone-to-spots skin. I could go on and on here, including the solid patchouli-scented Aromaco deodorant which is the BEST deodorant I’ve ever used, ever.

Check out LUSH online, or at one of their US boutiques, and tell me that you don’t absolutely love at least five things you find there. (And the bunnies will thank you.)

–  Dana

PS. Also, as you may have guessed, I’m enjoying writing outside the spanking theme more lately, and have categorized these posts as Totally Unrelated to Spanking in the ‘Favorite Subjects’ navigation in the right-hand sidebar.

PPS. I’m not being paid to gush about LUSH, nor do I get a coupon or cookie for the rave review. I just really like their products, and especially respect their ethics.