Lush has to be one of my favorite places to shop and I could spend hours in there smelling all the lovely products and tend to leave with a large paper bag filled with the stuff. I have shopped there for many years now and whilst I love trying out there new products I do also have some favorites that I keep going back to time and time again, one of which is the Charity Pot Hand and Body Lotion which I am reviewing today. I bought a small tub of it a few years back and had absolutely loved it and I have repurchased it many times since then, so I was more than happy to receive a tub of it amongst some other Lush goodies this Christmas.

The Charity Pot Hand and Body Lotion is presented in a plastic black tub with a screw on lid. The usual Lush black and white labels are stuck on the front which show the brand logo along with the product name. A suitable for vegans sign is proudly displayed on the front. The pot itself can be returned to any Lush store for recycling, if 5 clean full size pots (or tubes) are brought back to lush they will give you a fresh face mask for free which is a nice added incentive. As with all Lush products this lotion has not been tested on animals. Ingredients are given on the back. A circular sticker shows a cartoon picture of the person who made this product, in this case it was a man called Muhammed. The sticker also shows the date it was made along with the use by date. My bottle was made on the 06/11/12 and the use by date is 06/01/14 so there is plenty of time to use this product, but it is best used fresh. 

According to Lush this product is "a cream that wants to change the world. Give / use generously". 100% of the sale price of this product (minus the VAT) goes to small charities specifically chosen by Lush, it is wonderful to see a company being so generous. Often companies that support charities only give a percentage of sales to their given charity (eg the total profit) rather than the whole lot. Usually an example of one of the charities Lush is supporting will be given on a sticker on the lid of the Charity Pot, however the pot I currently have does not have this. An extensive list of charities the that lush support is given on their  website. They tend to focus on small charities working in enviromental, human rights and Animal protection. For those wanting to recommend a charity an email address is given on the pot. 

The lotion contains fairtrade Organic cocoa butter, almond oil and a variety of essential oils including ylang ylang, geranium and tagetes. Of course cocoa butter is well known for its moisturising properties and it is also an excellent emollient. Whilst essential oils restore and improve skin, plus they smell yummy. 

The first thing that hits me upon opening my charity pot is the strong fragrance, you can really smell all those essential oils and they all work really well together plus there is a added hint of chocolate, it smells absolutely delicious. I have found that the colour of the lotion can vary slightly from pot to pot, which I guess is something to expect from "natural" products,  the lotion in my current pot is of a nice yellow colour. I tend to take a generous helping of the lotion and massage it onto my body. I do feel that the consistency of the lotion is on the runny side, it is slightly more watery than I like. It can therefore be a bit messy to use and can cause a few drippages onto the tub and lid causing it to become slightly sticky, which is a bit of an annoyance. All that being said the lotion sinks into my skin well and is absorbed within a few minutes leaving no sticky after residue on my skin. Whilst using this product I have not experienced any dry skin problems, infact I have always been left with wonderfully soft healthy looking skin. The fragrance also has a decent staying power, if I apply it in the morning I can still smell a hint of it on my skin by evening. I have heard of people using this on their face but its not something I have ever done so cannot really comment on how well it works for this.

I really like Lush's Charity Pot Hand and Body Lotion and will continue to buy and use it. It would be great if they released some different charity pots too. Its nice to buy a product and know that all the money you spent on it will be going to a worthy cause. It is also generally just a lovely hand and body lotion that really works, it certainly leaves my skin looking good. Plus, it smells lovely. All that being said I do feel the lotion is slightly too runny and it is for this reason that I knock a star off. 

The Charity Pot Hand and Body Lotion is available in most Lush stores and their website (delivery charges may apply)

10g - £1.00

95g - £6.95


240g - £12.75