LUSH has added to the array of Christmas ads from famous retailers by unveiling its own festive animation.

The Poole-based cosmetics brand commissioned a traditionally-animated short film to bring its character the Snow Fairy to life.

It says the short film is a “celebration of kindness, courage and confidence”.

Lush collaborated on the film with FeralChild, a London-based duo of directors, Rogan van den Berg and Nella Addy.

The pair worked with a team of artists to create the story of Akl and the Snow Fairy.

“Utilising traditional cel animation techniques and beautifully lush environment paintings, we were able to achieve that really lovely handcrafted charm you only get from frame by frame animation,” they said.

Jack Constantine, chief digital officer at Lush, said: “I’m extremely proud to have worked on this project for Lush.

“Seeing the Snow Fairy evolve from a pink bubblegum shower gel into a character that brings confidence, courage and kindness embraces our ‘all are welcome, always’ ethos.”

The unveiling of the animation coincides with the launch of the Lush Christmas collection online and in shops.

Feralchild said: “From the initial conversations with Lush, we were immediately drawn to their concept of this untraditional Christmas character, the Snow Fairy, being a spirit of nature and an embodiment of kindness, confidence and bravery.

“It was a dream project to craft the story of discovering the Snow Fairy, with the broader message of self-discovery and acceptance.”

Lush is also touring with Snow Fairy, which it says will be “popping up … to colour high streets across the UK and Ireland that irrefutably renowned shade of pink”.

Among the big TV ads of the season, John Lewis has presented an alien named Skye discovering Christmas with the help of 14-year-old Nathan.

Marks & Spencer has shown its Percy Pig character coming to life with the voice of Spiderman star Tom Holland, in the company of an animated Dawn French.

That leaves a total of 1,285 staff locally – 874 in manufacturing and digital fulfilment, 411 in support and retail.

Earlier this year, Lush boss Mark Constantine said the company had "restored profits to an extremely good level" after the Covid crisis, which saw shops around the world closed and 215 redundancies including 100 in Poole.