Singing the Blues

Blue has always been associated with serenity, but who knew that also applied to skin? The former model May Lindstrom, for one. Her Blue Cocoon Beauty Balm Concentrate taps the blue tansy plant. “It’s so calming,” Lindstrom says of the herbaceous perennial, which has been harnessed for medicinal purposes as far back as ancient Greece. Indigo, best known as the source of the deep-blue dye that bears its name, also has a long history of healing. In 18th-century Japan, wounded samurai wore indigo-dyed cotton beneath their armor to help speed recovery. Now the geisha-inspired line Tatcha is using extracts of the shrub in its new Indigo Collection. The Soothing Silk Hand Cream and the Soothing Renewal Treatment also contain green tea and red algae—practically a rainbow of botanicals.