Name: Lord of Misrule
Brand: Lush
SKU: 1656-NA

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Vegan Society

Aromatic

Stimulating

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Natural

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We’re so used to pepper that we tend to forget how precious, fragrant and versatile it is.

Piper nigrum, the black pepper plant, is a vine native to southern India that can grow up to 20 meters long (65 feet). Its very small, berry-like fruits grow in clusters and change in colour, taste, and scent as they ripen. Typically, black pepper is obtained from young green fruits which are picked and dried in the heat until they turn black and develop their pungent pepper smell. But you can also get white, green and red pepper from these fruits, each with a different intensity - so many flavourful choices with just one plant.

If this already amazes you, then rejoice, because there are so many plants in the world called pepper... enough to be overwhelmed! In Lush products alone, we use or have used pink pepper (Shinus molle), Sichuan pepper (Zanthoxylum Alatum), Sansho pepper (Zanthoxylum piperitum) and Jamaican pepper, also known as allspice.

What are the benefits of all these fragrant spices?

Although each pepper has its own specificity, their main common trait (when it comes to cosmetics) is their scent. Not that they all smell the same! But their oil, powder or infusion release strong and complex fragrances that can perfume the skin and hair.

As for black pepper, which we love so much at Lush, it is said to help relieve tension and aches while stimulating blood circulation when applied to the skin and scalp.

Well, kind of! Black pepper is listed as one of the Fifty Plants that Changed the Course of History&nbsp;(Bill Laws, 2010). Indeed, it was one of the stars of the spice trade. This trade began near 1000 BCE, bringing fragrant plants from all over the world, by land and sea, to the most enthusiastic European noses and palates. Black pepper was so popular and profitable that it encouraged explorers like Christopher Columbus to find easier and faster routes to India (where pepper was produced). And we all know how that ended!

Many peppers mean many sources! To learn more about our suppliers, browse your Lush product’s list of ingredients and click on the ones you are interested in. This should take you to a page full of details.

You can find the warm scent of black pepper gorgeously paired up with patchouli and vanilla in our <a href="https://www.lush.com/uk/en/c/lord-of-misrule">Lord of Misrule range</a>.

Ingredient

Pepper

Soothing

Fragrancing

Comforting

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Vanilla is the unmistakable, uplifting and sweet scent we all know and love.

Vanilla beans (pods) are the dried unripe fruits of the orchid Vanilla planifolia. Native to tropical America, it can grow in most tropical areas near the Equator. Every flower is pollinated by hand and pollination must occur within a few hours of the flower's opening. Each blossom produces a single bean that is normally harvested after eight or nine months and then passes through a complex curing process before resembling the black-brown fragrant spice we all know.&nbsp;

Vanillin, the main aromatic compound within vanilla, is an antioxidant and contributes to restoring the skin's brightness and softness.&nbsp;

Sourcing vanilla has been a struggle during the past decades, due to the great demand and price increases which lead to smuggling, quality issues and shortage. But at Lush, we love the beans so much that we couldn't stop using them. We thus had to find solutions, years by years and months by months, thanks to our dedicated team of creative buyers. To find out more about each of our suppliers, browse your Lush product’s list of ingredients and click on the ones you are interested in. This should take you to a page full of details!

Vanilla

Earthy scent

Grounding

Antibacterial

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The scent of patchouli is grounding and bewitching, and will transport you to dense Indonesian forests.

Patchouli is a fragrant bushy herb that belongs to the same family as mint. It can grow as high as three feet tall, with purple and white flowers growing from its long stems.

On Saturday, 4th July 1846, the <a href="http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/18460704/033/0001?_=1486388422470">London Daily News</a> advertised: “Viner’s patchouli is confidently recommended as the only remedy known to prevent moth. In foreign countries, the peculiar properties of this Indian perfume are highly appreciated.” This perfectly illustrates how patchouli arrived in England during the Victorian era: the plant's aromatic leaves were slipped into the folds of Indian textiles to avoid the ravages of insects during their journey to other lands. Impregnated with an unmistakable aroma, Indian shawls were sent to Great Britain, where they were all the rage. The ubiquitous scent soon became symbolic of luxury and the mark that distinguished a material of Indian origin.

The scent of patchouli made a comeback in the 1960s, also imported from Asia - but this time in backpacks! The Hippie Trail was a promising mystique adventure and, if lucky, a spiritual enlightenment. An overland round trip of roughly 12,000 miles, this trail took hippies through Istanbul to Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal and India. Herbal handbook writer Stephen Orr writes that patchouli’s association with the era is “due to the Asian travels of backpacking hippies, who brought home the scented oil and incense as a reminder of their spiritual awakenings.”

The story also goes that patchouli oil was used to mask the scent of marijuana. In terms of pure usage, it’s plausible: cannabis was a booming business in the American counterculture of the 1960s. It was also suggested that marijuana and patchouli don’t smell all that different and hippies simply wanted their bodies to smell like their bedrooms. An argument can also be made that patchouli smells of fresh soil and roots, an ‘authentic’ scent that recalls hippies’ aspirations to connect with the natural world.

Patchouli is used in our products in several forms (essential oils, root…), and each of them can be purchased in different places worldwide. For example, our dark Sumatran patchouli oil comes from a remarkable producer, the <a href="https://www.lush.com/uk/en/a/regenerative-patchouli-oil">Gayo Lues Permaculture Center</a> in Indonesia. Their practices are designed to support the health of Sumatra and Borneo islands’ ecosystems, protecting the primary rainforest and its inhabitants, like the noble orangutans.&nbsp;

To learn more about our other sources, browse your Lush product’s list of ingredients and click on the ones you are interested in. This should take you to a page full of details!

Two of Lush’s most iconic fragrances contain patchouli. If you’re a fan of the earthy oil, have a look (and smell!) at our best-selling <a href="https://www.lush.com/uk/en/c/karma">Karma</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lush.com/uk/en/c/lord-of-misrule">Lord of Misrule</a> ranges.

Patchouli

It’s time for shower shenanigans. Black pepper and patchouli create a spicy perfume to feast your senses on; whilst vanilla provides a soothing backdrop to the scene.

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Lord of Misrule

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Ingredients

Pepper

Vanilla

Patchouli

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*occurs naturally in essential oils.

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Lord of Misrule

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Ingredients

Pepper

Vanilla

Patchouli

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*occurs naturally in essential oils.

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