A hand and body lotion that’s good for your skin and your community: it’s Lush Cosmetics’ famous Charity Pot. I’ve stumbled upon the Charity Pot as often happens to me – for a matter of pure luck.
It’s good as it does something very good. It’s Lush Cosmetics Charity Pot, the all-over lotion with fair-trade cocoa butter that gives back to society.
Lush Cosmetics Charity Pot: product & packaging
This is one of Lush Cosmetics’ bath and body products with fair-trade cocoa butter. The Charity Pot is a moisturising, vegan and cruelty-free body and hand lotion… now with a new self-preservative formula.
Available in three versions – travel size, 45 and 240 grammes – the Charity Pot is contained in Lush’s iconic recycled plastic jars. Black but ‘green‘ has never been that convenient! All Lush lovers know that by collecting 5 empty black jars and bringing them back (clean, please!) to the shop, you can get a fresh face mask for free.
Formula
Natural oils and butter make Lush Cosmetics Charity Pot a cuddle for dehydrated skin: olive, jojoba and moringa oils boosted with fair-trade cocoa and shea butter. To my great surprise, I found how Charity Pot turns into a wonder for sensitive skin. That’s also a pure relief for early summer sunburns, thanks to the soothing power of fresh aloe gel.
Texture and scent
Lush Cosmetics Charity Pot is a yellow cream with a fairly dense consistency – if compared to Dream Cream which is oiler. It melts delicately with body heat without being extremely greasy. It gets absorbed by the skin quite well but it still gives you time for a massage. The result is soft, smooth and very elastic skin with a healthy glow.
Charity Pot’s olfactory base is buttery and sweet with notes of vanilla. However, its scent changed after the reformulation: it lost its intense vanilla pastry or custard cream fragrance; which was long-lasting and pleasant, ‘wrapping‘ your skin at the first sniff and application. The new Charity Pot with a self-preservative formula has a peculiar scent with mixed flowery notes of geranium and ylang-ylang that drift into warm and sweet notes of rosewood oil and vanilla. Good but unusual, I need to say quite ‘old lady‘.
Cosmetics that give back
A special detail in every Charity Pot’s packaging is its colourful stickers. Each jar has a label representing one of the organisations supported by Lush Cosmetics with the sale of these body lotions. A Charity Pot represents your help to a charity of your choice.
Lush Cosmetics supports a variety of non-profit organisations, selected on a global and local basis. These NGOs are active on different fronts by raising awareness on social issues; protecting endangered animal species and the environment; supporting local communities and groups of people with disabilities or in economic distress.
Lush shops host ‘Charity Parties‘, often on weekends, dedicated to raising funds and presenting a charity with Q&A sessions with the volunteers. Volunteers tell about their ‘mission’, while Lush staff illustrates the star of the day: the Charity Pot.
During my last Neapolitan stop, I joined a ‘Charity Party’ for Survival International. I was able to meet a sweet volunteer and help her NGO which supports and legally protects indigenous communities around the globe with my purchase.
If taxes go to the State, what’s left from the sale of your Charity Pots goes as a donation, while we get a nice cream I’m going to sum up for you…
PROS:
- it hydrates,
- restores skin elasticity,
- gives a natural glow,
- calms irritated skin,
- it has a gentle formula,
- it isn’t overly greasy,
- it’s vegan and cruelty-free.
CONS:
- it has an unusual scent,
- unhandy packaging.
Good action, good cream? No doubt. Charity Pot is a very good moisturiser, but the new perfume isn’t as pleasant as the old one. Charity Pot’s jars aren’t practical while travelling and other differences can be spotted with the older version. For what concerns the application and feel, the new Charity Pot, although soothing, doesn’t release the same freshness everyone is looking for in summer.
Where to buy your Charity Pot?
Charity Pots are available in any Lush Cosmetics store and online with variable prices depending on your country and product size. It costs $7.95 (45 gr.) and $27.95 (240 gr.) in the US, respectively from £5.00 in the UK.
My final thoughts? Would I recommend Lush Cosmetics’ Charity Pots?
I can only partially recommend Charity Pot because its price is relatively high for a daily hydrating lotion. Even if the results are satisfactory and the charitable goal can justify its prize, I suggest trying it at the shop and having a personal sniff to get a good idea. Joining a Charity Party to help a non-profit organisation of your choice is fun too.
Although I like the after-feel and glow, I’ll try a new body cream once my Charity Pot’s over. I loved the old vanilla scent; it was an “eat-me-in-one-huge-bite” product!
Valentina Chirico aka Valens
