A few weeks ago, I received an email from a lovely lady called Ruth, inviting me to the official opening of her store, Lemongrass House, in Trinity Leeds. Lemongrass House was founded in Thailand in 1996 by Bobby and Palita Duchowny, and specialises in handmade spa products using the best quality herbs and essential oils. Their products are of such high quality that they are used in over 100 five and six star hotels and spas around the world.

In a world where questionable ingredients are used left, right and centre, I was really impressed by Lemongrass House's ethics. Not only do they derive all of their ingredients from safe, renewable sources, but also their packaging is made from recycled and recyclable materials, they never use animal ingredients nor do they ever test on animals. And just to top it all off, all of their products are SLS sulphate, paraben, dye and perfume free! They manage to achieve all of this whilst keeping their prices very respectable too, which is a very impressive feat.

So, last Thursday afternoon I made my way along to the Trinity Customer Services lounge where I was greeted with a gorgeous lemongrass cocktail and a warm welcome. I got chatting to Ruth's mum, who had come along to the event and Grace from Grace Talks Beauty - I had no idea if any other bloggers were going so I was pleased that it wasn't just me! We had the pleasure of meeting Bobby, who was fascinating to talk to; he told us all about the farmers that he and his wife have worked with and how he ensures that he gets the best ingredients. We were also treated to some lovely canapes from the Chaophraya restaurant in Leeds, and I think I speak for everyone when I say that everything was absolutely delicious!


After we had tried all of the food and drained every last drop out of the cocktail pitchers we made our way over to the store. Ruth, the manager was very patient with me and Grace as we took our photos (You fellow bloggers will understand the need to take photos of absolutely everything), and very kindly presented us with a beautiful goody bag filled with products for us to try. We then spent about an hour picking up every product, testing them and having a sniff - each and every product has a fresh, natural scent that you just can't get from using synthetic perfumes. Some products smelt good enough to eat! I was particularly impressed by their facial skincare range, that had everything from mists to masks for every skin type. Let me show you what the store has to offer...










Products in the goody bag - Lemongrass & Orange Blossom Body Scrub, Blue Chamomile Shampoo & Conditioner, Wild Mint Foot Spray and Mandarin Orange Room Spray. I will be reviewing all of these for you guys in the future, I can't wait to get stuck into them!

There was so much to take in from the evening, but along the way I picked up some "fun facts" if you like and can't resist sharing them!

1. Bobby Duchowny is originally from Malibu, California and was a Screenplay Development Executive in the movie industry before becoming an aromatherapy expert - quite a leap!

2. The headquarters for Lemongrass House is in Phuket, Thailand and all of their products are manufactured there, by employees who are almost all relatives of Bobby's wife, Palita.

3. Yellow and green recycled shipping containers house the headquarters and whenever they want to expand, they just add another shipping container! The shipping containers are reflected in each store - on the walls and on the sign of the Leeds store, which you can see in the first image.

4. They believe that "fresh handmade Products should always be made one kilo at a time" to ensure consistency and product freshness.

5. They have a pet range (primarily for dogs), including shampoo, paw balm and spritzer. The spritzer is so popular that it had sold out by the time the store had its official opening. Ruth's mum also said that it smells so good that she would wear it!

That ends a quite frankly monster post from me! If you're interested in Lemongrass House's products, you can visit their store in Trinity Leeds (The only one in the UK!), or visit www.lemongrasshouse.co.uk.