Why have the ingredients in my Lush product changed?

Spoiler alert: they probably haven’t.

Written by: Milly Ahlquist - Lush Communications & Product Content
Updated: May 2026
Read time: 3 minutes

If you’ve spotted a change in the ingredients on your favourite product, chances are it’s due to regulation, not reformulation. Recent regulatory changes mean our ingredients listings are going to look a bit different (and a bit longer). Don’t let that put you off  – once you get your favourite back on the skin, you’ll soon realise it’s the same formula you know and love.

What you should find when you read any ingredient list on a cosmetic:

• A quantitative breakdown of what is in your product. This should be presented in order of weight (greatest first) down to the final 1%.
• The ‘fancy’ INCI ingredient name (which stands for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients).
• Cosmetic allergens are declared when they occur at over 0,001 % for leave-on products like moisturisers and 0,01 % for rinse-off products like shower gels. 

The extras you’ll find when you read a Lush ingredient list:

• The ingredient’s ‘common name’.  This tells you what is inside your product in the local language, so it's easier to understand.
• Colour-coded ingredients. Our safe synthetics are indicated in black and natural materials in green so you can make informed choices. 

What’s changing about our ingredients listings?

Since 2009, EU cosmetics regulations, alongside other global bodies, have identified 26 materials (now 24 after lilial and lyral’s permanent ban) commonly found in fragrances that are more likely to cause allergic reactions in the form of skin sensitisation or irritation in susceptible individuals. This list of allergens has since been updated to include 56 additional substances, which should start appearing on labels in 2026. Many of these are no longer components of essential oils and absolutes (like limonene) but the oils and absolutes themselves (like lemongrass oil). Some also use umbrella terms for a variety of species and extracts. It means your quantitative ingredients list may look like materials have been added or changed when, in fact, they have always been present inside our secret sauce! (Learn more about our handmade, in-house fragrance blends, made with the finest essential oils here.)

Does this change include food allergens?

No, this is not a legal requirement. Cosmetics allergens are contact allergens, which are considered distinct to food allergens given their different routes of initiating an allergic response in sensitised individuals. Because cosmetics are not designed to be consumed, we are not instructed to indicate food allergens on our labels. It might also suggest that some of our products were edible if we were to label them like food products are. You can read more about allergies here. 

Why else might my product have changed?

We do occasionally make changes to formulas to improve the performance of a product, or due to material shortages (our approach is not to stockpile ingredients). This is all part and parcel of working with so many fresh and natural materials and dealing with threats like climate change. A majority of product tweaks result in small changes and are always intended to make your product better  – like removing preservatives to make your product self-preserving!

What is a natural ingredient?

Lush defines natural ingredients as materials that are either of natural origin (like fruits, vegetables and plant butters, oils and waxes), are naturally derived (like glycerine) or of mineral origin (for example, kaolin or fuller’s earth). Most of our raw materials are natural, and we use some thoroughly assessed safe synthetics to make our formulas work more effectively when we need to. 

What’s a safe synthetic?

What makes safe synthetics extra safe? Our extensive work to test and use materials we have human-relevant safety data for. Knowing that much safety data around cosmetics ingredients is based on historic toxicity data derived from animal testing means we have always gone further to satisfy ourselves and our customers that the concentrations of the synthetics we work with are safe. Using human-relevant data, including epidemiological research and non-animal new alternative testing methodologies (NA-NAMs), means we can be even more discerning in the concentrations we use. You can learn more about our long history of pioneering and funding cruelty-free science and animal-free toxicology assessments here.

How can I find out more about the ingredients in my product?

When you see oats and aqua listed in your QI, we wish we could show you a little window into our factory floor: the soaking, wringing, squeezing and stirring to extract those beautiful cooling qualities from the oats and get them onto your skin in the most effective way! We highly recommend using our Ingredients Finder to delve into our beautiful ingredients and learn about why and how we use them. You’ll also find plenty of information on the benefits of our beautiful ingredients on your product label and on the product page online.

Got any more burning questions? Our friendly Customer Care team will be happy to help. You can reach us here.