Popular cosmetic retailer Lush has unveiled its Christmas advert for 2021 - and it sees its iconic Snow Fairy brought to life for the first time.
The short animation imagines the brand's best-selling festive product line, Snow Fairy, as an animated mythical creature.
It follows a young girl called Aki, who is looking anxious on her way to school.
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At the last second, rather than entering the school ground, she turns around and walks in the opposite direction.
She ends up exploring an enchanted forest, and follows a trail of pink, sparkly vapour to a tiny house.
There, she sees a cauldron of pink liquid and begins levitating.
She looks in a mirror which appears in front of her, and she has two golden stars on her face.
She smiles, and turns around to see the Snow Fairy flying with her.
At that moment viewers get a full view of the Snow Fairy - who has been brought to life for the first time.
Lush collaborated with creative studio FeralChild, which crafted the animation with a team of talented artists.
The London-based studio used traditional 'cel' animation techniques to bring the story to life - where a transparent sheet is used to draw or paint objects for hand-drawn animation.
FeralChild said: “Utilizing 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.”
Jack Constantine, chief digital officer for Lush, said: "I’m extremely proud to have worked on this project for Lush. Seeing ‘The Snow Fairy’ evolve from a pink bubble gum shower gel into a character that brings confidence, courage and kindness embraces our ‘all are welcome, always’ ethos."
FeralChild added: "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."
Along with Snow Fairy, the rest of the Lush Christmas 2021 collection has launched online and in Lush shops.
