Hello! Welcome to Valley Mist if this is your first time visiting us, and if it isn’t – welcome back! Valley Mist is a gorgeous shop offering sustainable gifts made in Lancashire. Our shop focuses on sustainable skincare, offering gift boxes and gift sets, in addition to our individual products.
Sustainability
So, you might be wondering, what is it exactly that makes our products sustainable? ‘Sustainable’ is a word that we see thrown around an awful lot these days and it is often used to refer to a huge spectrum of more environmentally friendly choices, from products that simply contain a small percentage of recycled materials to those that prioritise the environment in all areas of their production. Here at Valley Mist our sustainable gifts made in Lancashire fall into the latter category and here’s why:
Our Shop & Lab – Sustainable Gifts Made In Lancashire
First of all, our physical shop is based in Leyland, Lancashire and the lab in which almost all of our products are made is attached to the back. Jo (our founder) handmakes all of our sustainable gifts made in Lancashire herself in this lab (with a little help at weekends from her lovely assistant!). The only products that are created outside of this lab are our soaps and our candles, but these are made by equally environmentally conscious small businesses and our candles are even delivered to us personally by electric car. So, you can forget mental images of giant industrial chimneys spewing out smoke and replace them with this image of Jo’s delightful little workshop instead…
Waste
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Upcycled Natural Candle – Bay, Lime & Lemongrass£8.00 – £14.00 -
Upcycled Natural Candle – Lavender Dream£8.00 – £14.00 -
Upcycled Natural Candle – Cedarwood & Orange Spice£8.00 – £14.00
You might now be thinking ‘That’s all very well, but surely even sustainable skincare production still results in waste?’ and you’d be right. We try to create as little waste as possible when creating our sustainable gifts in Lancashire, but inevitably there is still a small amount of waste material that cannot be used in our skincare products. However, it seemed unjustifiable to simply dispose of it and call ourselves sustainable, so instead we have stored up our waste over the years and last year we sourced a sustainable candle making company that was able to up-cycle our waste into our wonderful candles that you can see pictured on the left.
Charity Donations From Our Gifts
Furthermore, our candles are one of our charity products, along with our lip balms so we donate 8.5% of the profits from these products to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and the World Land Trust. These are two excellent charities working to preserve and look after our environment.
Packaging our Sustainable Gifts
Of course, one of the most discussed sustainability issues in the media is plastic packaging and I’m sure you’ll be relieved to know that all of our packaging at Valley Mist is plastic-free and either recyclable or biodegradable (or in some cases both!). Our products are sold in a range of beautiful, endlessly recyclable, amber glass bottles and jars (reminiscent of antique apothecary bottles!), biodegradable paperboard tubes, and biodegradable and/or recyclable brown paper and cardboard. The only exception to this rule is the optional pipette lid on our facial oil and optional spray pump on our massage oil. However, this is optional and you can choose to have a plastic-free aluminium cap if you prefer, thus reducing unnecessary waste and our carbon footprint at the same time.
If you would like to know more about our packaging, you can find out here: Valley Mist Sustainability.
Online Orders
As this is a blog post on sustainable gifts made in Lancashire, it would be lovely to see you in person at our lovely shop located on Charnock Farm, in Leyland, where you can meet Jo herself and have a chat about the products. The shop is located on a wonderful site with several other small businesses for you to browse, along with a spot by the lake for lunch, surrounded by donkeys and miniature ponies, if you have time to explore. However, if you are unable to make it to the shop in person and would prefer to order online then you can rest assured that your sustainable gifts made in Lancashire will arrive in recycled paper and cardboard packaging.
Ingredients
Finally, whilst talking about sustainable gifts made in Lancashire it would be impossible not to discuss our ingredients. Our ingredients are 100% natural where possible and mostly organic. Many of our products are also certified vegan and registered with the Vegan Society, the product page (and product packaging) will let you know if this is the case with the products that you are considering, but I have included a small selection below for you to browse.
