The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Mark Constantine designed Twilight as a tribute to the beauty moment between day and night, that purple-orange sky, the stars beginning to appear, the hour when the world exhales. Launched in 2010 as part of the Lush Forum limited holiday collection, the fragrance takes its name from that exact threshold: not day, not night, but the glowing transition between them. Lavender and tonka bean absolute form the core, with benzoin and ylang-ylang adding warmth and a quiet sensuality. The name says it all, this is the fragrance for the moment the day gives up and the evening begins.
The combination of lavender with tonka bean absolute and benzoin is what makes Twilight distinctive. Lavender brings its cool, herbal clarity, aromatic, slightly camphorated, a clean brightness that opens. Tonka bean absolute adds a warm, vanillic sweetness with a hint of caramel. Benzoin contributes a sticky, honeyed warmth. Ylang-ylang brings an exotic tropical sweetness to the heart that deepens the overall effect. Together these notes create a lavender-forward scent that's simultaneously sweet, warm, and slightly powdery, comfort and sensuality working in tandem rather than against each other.
The evolution
Lavender leads. Cool, clear, briefly herbal, then the tonka bean arrives and takes over. In the heart phase, ylang-ylang's yellow floral sweetness joins the warm vanillic sweetness of the tonka, creating a sweet, almost edible quality that reads as comforting rather than cloying. Benzoin's sticky warmth holds everything together underneath. The drydown is where Twilight earns its name: as the floral notes fade, what remains is a warm, sweet, slightly powdery cloud that lingers close to the skin for hours, on some people, well into the next morning. On others, it fades faster. But for most, it settles into a quiet, intimate presence that lasts most of the day.
Cultural impact
Mark Constantine designed Twilight as a tribute to that liminal moment between day and night, that purple-orange sky and emerging stars. The fragrance captures exactly that emotional quality: a pause, a transition, a moment to exhale. The sweet lavender and tonka combination has become iconic across Lush's product line. Twilight was the original expression of what would become one of the brand's most beloved scent stories. Launched in 2010 under the Gorilla Perfume collection, the perfume itself has been discontinued, but the Sleepy scent story has only grown stronger. The body spray and bath bomb remain some of Lush's most requested items, with people constantly asking when a perfume version will return.
