Lush Is An Ethical Beauty Brand You Can Trust. Just Ask Dylan Mulvaney

Finding a company that matches your values in this divisive social climate can be like trying to find an adequate pair of jeans when you’re in between sizes. There may be a few brands that almost deliver on the promise of a perfect fit, but with every pair you pull on, something isn’t quite right. Oh, and they’re all made in sweat shops. Yes, it’s usually naive at best and futile at worst to put your faith in a for-profit corporation to provide good products and be good. But for 30 years, Lush has done both. Led by co-founder Rowena Bird, Lush Cosmetics has been committed to protecting people, animals, and the planet and they’ve put their money where their morals are. Recently, they threw a Resist Ball (hosted by trans activist Dylan Mulvaney) to honor a big milestone: donating 100 million dollars to grassroots organizations.

Long before the Resist Ball, Bird and the beauty company have been at the forefront of combining commerce with furthering good causes. They were vegetarian before it was trendy and sustainable before it was expected. “It's always been in the whole ecosystem [of the company]. It's in the bones of us, as opposed to saying, ‘hey we'll start a company, and what do people want to see? Let's do that’,” Bird tells me over lunch at Cafe Cluny in New York City the day before the Resist Ball. She knows about the stat that 82% of Gen Z say they are more likely to purchase from brands that advocate for social equality, but that’s not her motivation. “It's always been, ‘no, this is how we are, and whether it's fashionable or not, this is how we're going to be, and this is what we're going to do.’”

That commitment is clear in their partnership with Mulvaney, a comedian, activist and bestselling author who used to work at Lush when she was 16 years old growing up in San Diego. “I think if you had told me then that I would be hosting the Lush Resist Ball in New York City, I would have probably passed out on top of the gorgeously curated bath bomb display I had just made,” Mulvaney said to laughs as she emceed the Resist Ball. Before the big event, Refinery29 was there as Mulvaney was getting ready — glam and all — and she spoke more of what the partnership means to her. 

“Lush was one of the only places I felt safe as a queer kid,” Mulvaney said in a pink Marchesa gown. “All the women and queer people who worked there made me feel like I could be myself.” Her collaboration, the “Late Bloomer” bath bomb, has already garnered over $30,000 for trans-led organizations. As an outsider looking in at Mulvaney’s partnership with the brand, it’s a beautiful testament to the longevity of Lush’s progressive spirit. The brand created a safe space for Mulvaney when she was a vulnerable teen, and now she’s blossomed into an essential voice in the trans community and a beacon of hope on our depressing timelines. 

When I ask Bird what it means to her that Mulvaney found solace in her stores, she gives an answer, like so many times throughout our lunch, that is oozing with humility and empathy. “It makes me sad because that’s the only place [where she felt included] but I’m pleased that there is somewhere. One of our taglines is ‘All are welcome always.’ Everywhere should be. But if we can create a safe place for people to hopefully see or feel things in there, it makes me feel good,” Bird says. “It's a really great, authentic story, given that she actually worked at Lush. She truly is a fan of the brand and uses many of our products.” 

Unlike Mulvaney, I hadn’t used Lush products in years. I remember picking up bath bombs when I was in high school working at my local mall in Oakville, Ontario, and Lush was the store we gravitated to because of its distinct aroma and inviting displays. So when I showed up to my hotel room and it was packed with Lush products, I knew I had to try them all. From the “dream cream” body lotion to the “ultrabland” facial cleanser and the “brazziliant” body butter, my skin hadn’t smelled — or felt — better. And it helps knowing that all the packaging is recyclable and the products are made with cruelty-free and vegan or vegetarian ingredients. 

When Bird talks about how the brand chooses their ingredients (like sourcing Tagua nuts in Ecuador for their scrubs), she lights up. And when she details how Lush vets which grassroots organizations to give to, she’s even more passionate. “We have an in-house team that's dedicated to vetting those organizations and ensuring that the money is going to go to places where it's going to make the biggest impact.” The 100 million dollars that has been donated over the last 30 years has all been distributed amongst 19,000 different ones. Lush actually employs an ethics director (Hilary Jones, a former activist and campaigner), which is not something all beauty brands can say. And what does Bird say to the critics who think Lush should stay in its lane and be less outspoken? “It’s important,” she says plainly. “I think it matters who says it, as long as it's genuine, as long as it's the truth, as long as it's not greenwashing information to tell you what is going on and what governments don’t want you to know that you really should know. If there's something that you can do about it, do it. If a million people make that one small change, it's actually a big change. And we've got all our windows and billboards to the world to be able to pass those messages on, and then a customer or person walking past can think, ‘Do I want to know more about that?’”

“Everyone's job is to highlight things that are not right so that people can make their own decisions. We have the luxury of all these shop windows where we can do it, so we're gonna do it,” Bird says, referring to a recent campaign where they renamed three bath bombs to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Since Trump’s inauguration, many brands have cowered to the U.S. president’s demands to roll back DEI initiatives. Lush not only remains committed to their plan, they’re also very publicly and unequivocally condemning the far right’s war on progress. In a time when so many other beauty brands have abandoned their moral compasses, Lush’s has never been more centered. 

Lush’s continued commitment to DEI was on full display when I got to experience the Lush Spa on Lexington Avenue. The staff looked as eclectic as the streets of New York City, and my spa treatment was led by a warm and welcoming Black woman named Solange. Rest is an essential part of any resistance so before the Resist Ball, I got the Wicked-themed book-a-bath experience (which I swore the team curated specifically for me, a noted Wicked stan, but the activation has been available for months) which was an unforgettable, 30-minute immersive bathing session that transports you into the magical world of Oz. While enveloped in a cozy, green-and-gold room adorned with taper candles and Oz-themed wallpaper (as you soak, instrumental versions of songs from the Wicked soundtrack play) and enjoying my “Pink Fizzes Good With Green" bath bomb and limited edition "Emerald City Soap,” I thought about how rare and frankly radical it is to encounter a successful business that delivers such care and intention in the products and experiences they deliver and in the causes they support. In the past year, it would be easy to start to believe that these things can’t coexist; that you have to choose between your morals and making money, between value and your values. Sure, I was on a curated brand trip, but Lush is who they say they are, and learning that truth was as refreshing as taking a bath in the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. 

On the night of the Resist Ball, Lush continued to prove that its charitable commitments aren’t just lip service. Partygoers were treated to the sounds of the Resistance Revival Chorus (with one singer donning a keffiyah scarf), Mulvaney’s energetic hosting style, and a conversation moderated by Carleen Pickard, the advocacy and activism manager for Lush North America. The panelists included Danielle Silber, the director of corporate engagement for the ACLU, Damario Solomon-Simmons, national civil rights attorney and founder of Justice for Greenwood (a foundation fighting for justice, restoration & reparations for the survivors and descendants of the victims of the Tulsa Massacre), and Manuel Oliver, gun violence activist, co-founder of Change the Ref (working to vote out politicians who take NRA money and vote in politicians with gun-safety agendas), and father of Parkland shooting victim, Jaoquin Oliver.

This wasn’t your average panel at a beauty event. Things like reparations, gun violence, and fighting against unlawful deportations are topics people tell you to avoid at dinner parties. For Lush, they are issues in desperate need of platforming. While the panel just scratched the surface of each issue, the conversation went deep and the room was left in awe of each activist and their imperative work. 

By the time Rowena Bird took the stage to thank the crowd, there had been big laughs, a few tears, and a space created that prioritized resistance and joy (the motto “joy is an act of resistance” was projected on a giant screen throughout the night). 

When she was 16, Mulvaney found a safe space in Lush. A decade later, while she’s no stranger to people attacking her joy and her very existence, she stood up in a space that met her with applause and excitement. Mulvaney is someone who lives authentically in the face of bigotry and stands in her truth, in spite of an onslaught of hate. Now, she’s found a partnership that matches that energy. You could say it's the perfect fit.

The Resist Ball, and Lush’s 30 years of service, was a reminder that companies can stand up for what’s right, even when it’s not popular and amid pressure to stay silent, you can thrive without compromising your values, and that giving back is always good for business. In this climate, it’s the reminder we all needed.