CARGO is a Canadian cosmetics company founded in 1996 by Hana Zalzal. Based in Toronto, it is now a multimillion dollar company with makeup sold in five different countries. A signature of the brand is their oversize metal tins of lip gloss. The name CARGO comes from the idea that makeup is every woman's "cargo."
A recent innovation from CARGO is their line of environmentally-friendly PlantLove Botanical Lipsticks. The lipstick cases are made from corn, which is a renewable resource and easily biodegradable, and the packaging is made from flower paper that can be planted as it is embedded with wildflower seeds. The lipstick itself contains no mineral oils or petroleums and is made of cymbidium orchids in a vegetable oil base with meadowfoam seed oil, mango seed oil, jojoba and shea butter.[1]
Furthermore, two dollars from every lipstick purchase is donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and for every virtual flower planted on the PlantLove website, CARGO will make a donation to Conservation International.[2] Five of the lipstick shades are designed by celebrities Evangeline Lilly, Sarah Chalke, Maria Menounos, Lindsay Lohan and Mariska Hargitay. The other six shades are "inspired by places of ecological beauty," including Canada, Japan, Ireland, the United States, the Mediterranean, and the Himalayan highlands.[3]