Say Hello to your Skin's New Bestie
Hi, I’m Lucy, the person behind the brand’s name.
Lucy Bee is a small, UK-based, privately-owned family business, and it was named after me due to the fact I was diagnosed as a celiac at 18 months old. This meant that my parents had to completely change the way we ate. They had to constantly check labels and cooking from scratch became the norm in our house. This naturally made us interested in our health and wellbeing, from the inside out.
I am a CIBTAC Beauty Therapist and have always been interested in not only what I put into my body but also what I put onto it. Working in spas and salons meant I was introduced to many different products and all sorts of ingredients I had never heard of or could pronounce. It made me realize what was actually in a lot of products we use and to question the fact that these were being absorbed into my body, through my skin.
I started to create my own products and I loved the fact that I knew exactly what I was putting on my skin and that the products were completely natural. The skincare range followed on from this so that I could share these products and my passion with others.
An emphasis on being ethical and caring for the environment is at the foundation of all that we do, so a major point with developing the skincare range was to make sure that the products would be free from palm oil. This has taken time and perseverance, but I believe in sticking to our values and am so happy that we have finally achieved our goal.
All of our beauty products are certified Vegan and Cruelty Free. Additionally, our Soap bars are certified Fair Trade. It’s these ethics that are at the foundation of everything that we do – including using recyclable packaging and minimizing our use of plastic.
Our entire range of skincare products are manufactured in the UK and I really hope you love them as much as I do,
Lucy x
We believe that what you put onto your body is just as important as what you put into it and so the ingredients in every Lucy Bee product focuses on using natural, effective ingredients throughout all of our formulations.
This isn’t always easy to achieve but, as with everything that we do, we’ve stuck to our principles and are really happy with the results and hope that you are too!
Our skincare range is formulated without:
• Palm oil (and that includes any derivatives of palm oil)
• Petroleum
• Silicones
• Formaldehyde
• PEGs
• Sulphates
• Artificial dyes
• Soy
• Gluten
Additionally, we’ve also formulated our products with no added fragrance because we understand how sensitive some skin types can be.
Palm oil is a vegetable oil that comes from the oil palm and is used in many everyday products, including skincare and body care products. Each palm can produce a high yield and this, along with the fact that it’s cheap to produce, has led to a huge increase in its production. This has resulted in large areas of forests being destroyed so that oil palms can grow in their place. By destroying the rainforest to grow these plantations, they are in turn destroying the natural habitat in which a diversity of wildlife and plants thrive and grow.
One of the most recognized things to have been impacted by this deforestation is the destruction of land in which orangutans, elephants, rhinos and Sumatran tigers live. The forests in which these animals live are destroyed and their homes are lost.
Most of the animals which are displaced from their homes are injured or killed during the process and animals which are of medicinal interest are also more easily accessible to be sold.
Additionally, those people indigenous to the forests have also lost their homes and alternative livelihoods.
At Lucy Bee, we choose not to use palm oil or any of its derivatives in our products because of the impact that it has on the environment, habitat, animals and eco-systems.
Petroleum in skincare is mainly used to seal in moisture.
The ingredient is generally considered safe to use, however, during the refining process, some components are removed which can be carcinogenic. The chemistry based on petroleum is used to make synthetic oils (mineral oil, paraffin oil), synthetic waxes (petrolatum, ozocerite), and preservatives (phenoxyethanol).
Instead of oils from petroleum, we use a combination of natural oils from vegetable source eg. coconut oil, coco caprylate/caprate, coconut alkanes, apricot oil, calendula oil, grapeseed oil.
Instead of waxes from petroleum, we use tribehein from rapeseed oil and candelilla.
Silicones are used in skincare because they make the skin feel and look smoother. However, this is a temporary fix and doesn’t help long-term. They are a cheap filler so lots of companies use them.
Similar to petroleum, silicones are used to trap moisture in the skin. However, as well as trapping in moisture, it can also trap dirt, sweat and dead skin cells.
We opt to use natural alternatives that help the skin and allow the other beneficial ingredients to be absorbed and utilized by the skin.
ead of waxes from petroleum, we use tribehein from rapeseed oil and candelilla.
Formaldehydes are used as a preservative system (ie. to avoid growth of bacteria in water-based products). It is restricted on the EU market as per the cosmetic regulation and banned in some countries. It is a strong ingredient and one that can cause skin irritation and is also known as a carcinogenic if exposed to high amounts of it.
Instead, in our formulas, we use benzyl alcohol, dehydroacetic acid, potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate.
Otherwise known as polyethylene glycol, PEGs are used in skincare to thicken a formulation or as a softener in a cream base.
They aren’t the worst things to be found in a product, but they should not be used on damaged skin due to some of the compounds found in it penetrating the skin. If exposed to the sun, it can cause allergic reactions. PEGS are chemically classified as ‘surfactants’: this type of surfactant might be used as emulsifier or solubilizer (to solubilize fragrance because it might be complicated to incorporate it or fragrance can make the formula non-stable).
We use non-PEG surfactants: Heptyl Glucoside from sugar cane, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Glyceryl Stearate from vegetable sources such as olive oil, coconut oil.
These are cleansing agents that help to remove dirt and oil. They also help to create a bubbly lather in products such as shampoo, cleansers and body washes.
The main issue with sulphates is that they can cause skin irritation as it is a very drying ingredient – that’s why it’s so good in shampoo because it strips the dirt out.
We use a non-ionic surfactant sourced from sugar cane, heptyl glucoside.
These are colors used to make a product look more appealing to the human eye. However, up to 50 synthetic chemicals can be mixed together to make just one color – these can be drying for the skin and in some cases have been found to be carcinogenic.
We choose to use natural alternatives and rely on natural ingredients around us like turmeric.
Soy is a popular ingredient in skincare due to its ability to help brighten skin and reduce redness. However, due to negative press around its sustainability, environmental and social impacts, and numerous GMO sources, we have decided to eliminate soy from our range.
It is not the soya itself; it is the amount of soya grown, driving environmental damage (it’s the most popular oil used in the world, mostly to feed animals). Its popularity means lands are cleared to grow it and then cause serious issues of deforestation.
The use of gluten in skincare isn’t very common. However, when it is used, it has been known to affect people who suffer with gluten allergies.
We have decided to make our formulations without gluten because Lucy herself is a celiac.
At Lucy Bee, we believe that part of our Social Responsibility is to care for the environment.
While we insist that our products are the best quality available, we also insist on using recyclable packaging. We make every effort to minimize our packaging and to use only the most sustainable materials available to us. We realize that we’re not perfect, but we do our very best to be as eco-friendly as we can.
All of our decorative cartons and inner liners are made of recyclable cardboard and certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
The FSC system “promotes environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world’s forests.” Simply put, this means the FSC ensure forests are managed to support nature and, helps local people and incentivizes them to sustain the forest resources, in a viable manner.
We use glass jars and bottles (the most easily recyclable material) with aluminum lids for the majority of our products.
Our Cleanser comes in an aluminum tube. We’ve chosen this material because it is completely recyclable everywhere. As you’re no doubt aware, this is quite a soft material and can dent easily but we believe that this is a small price to pay compared to the dent on the planet if we were to choose another material which cannot be easily recycled!
For our Soaps, in addition to the FSC outer card box, the soap bar is wrapped in a recyclable PP plastic flow-wrap. Though we’d prefer not to use this, it’s a necessity because of the unique formulation of the soap, as I will explain here.
Many soaps are made using palm oil but one made wholly of coconut oil, as ours is, is uncommon. With its better foaming and lathering qualities than soaps made with palm oil, this unique formula means the soap can sweat, which presents something of a challenge to us in storing it, hence the use of flow wrap. Please be assured that the packaging weight is minimized. We are trialling a biodegradable flow wrap and as soon as this is a viable option, we will use this to wrap our Soap bars.
To ship your order to you, even though our prime concern is to make sure it arrives with you as we would like to receive an order ourselves, we’re also conscious of sticking to our values of caring for the environment.
Charlie and his team in our warehouse take pride in packing your items using:
• recyclable boxes
• recyclable and biodegradable zigzag shredded paper, made from 100% recycled material
• recyclable paper tape to seal the box
This is reflected in our support of Fair Trade, donations to charities, products which are certified Organic, Vegan and Cruelty Free, our choice of environmentally friendly packaging, as well as reducing our carbon footprint. Our products are certified organic by the Soil Association, using their COSMOS Organic logo.