If you walk past almost any cottage garden this week, you might spot Marigold: a scatter of orange and gold, still flowering late in October when most of the garden has called it a day. Marigolds are wonderfully stubborn like that. In a mild year, they'll keep going as the frosts creep in.
We kind of have a soft spot for a plant that refuses to give up on the sunshine. So this month, we're celebrating Marigold, also known as Calendula. The flower behind three of our much-loved skincare products.
The Flower That Follows The Sun
The marigold's botanical name, Calendula, comes from the Latin calendae, the first day of the month: a nod to how readily it flowers from one month to the next. Its common name is often said to come from "Mary's gold", and for centuries it was a cottage-garden staple as useful in the kitchen as in the medicine cupboard.
Cooks scattered the petals into soups and stews, and used them to give butter and cheese a golden glow. This earned marigold another nickname: poo man's saffron. Then there's its most charming habit. Marigold flowers open with the morning light and close as the day fades.
A flower that rises with the light, carries on when everything else has gone over, and has been passed down through garden for generations? It's not hard to see why we love it.
What does calendula do for skin?
Marigold has a long history in balms and salves, traditionally prized for its gentle comforting touch on skin. Modern science helps explain why. Its petals are naturally rich in antioxidants called flavonoids and carotenoids (the pigments behind that golden colour), which help defend skin against the everyday stresses that leave it looking tired and dull. It's why calendula extract has become a firm favourite among natural skincare formulators, valued for its soothing, skin-conditioning qualities.
Is calendula the same as Marigold? Yes and no. Calendula is the pot marigold, but it isn't the same plant as the French and African marigolds you'll see in summer bedding displays. Those belong to a different genus, Tagetes. The marigold in our skincare is the classic cottage-garden calendula, and on an ingredients list you'll find it as Calendula Officinalis (Marigold) Flower Extract.
What we love most is the marigold is a team player. In our formulas, it works alongside other botanicals, adding a gentle touch to products that each have their own job to do. It's the friend who makes everyone else in the room better.
Calendula is generally well tolerated, even by sensitive skin, but it does belong to the daisy family. If you know you react to related plants such as camomile, patch test and new products first. It's the same advice we'd give for any botanical.
Calendula Skincare: Where You'll Find Marigold In Our Range
Clementine Antioxidant Cleansing Balm
The best way to end a day, if you ask us. This balm melts into a rich oil as you massage it in, then turns to a soft, milky emulsion, lifting away make-up and everyday impurities. The science is beautifully simple: oil dissolves oil, so a balm breaks down make-up, sunscreen and the day's build-up without the harshness of a foaming wash. Rich in oleic and linoleic fatty acids, with marigold, apple seed and clementine, it leaves skin feeling clean, supple and soft. And yes, it suits oils skin too: by lifting away excess oil rather than stripping skin, it helps leave it feeling balanced.
The one with Marigold in its name! And the one to reach for when skin feels congested. Each ingredients has a job. Kaolin, a soft white clay, absorbs excess oil, while charcoal draws impurities out of the pores. AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids, found naturally in fruit) loosen the bonds between dead skin cells so they can be gently swept away, revealing a brighter-looking complexion. Marigold rounds out the formula alongside the other botanicals. Ten minutes, once or twice a week, and skin feels fresh, clean and dewy. Made for combination, oils congested skin.
Our tip: AHAs can make the skin a little more sensitive to the sun, so wear an SPF the day after masking. New to masks? Try a 10ml sample first and add it to our Skincare Pick & Mix.
Sunflower Replenishing Body Balm
Rich, buttery and made for the parts of you that winter hits hardest: elbows, knees, shins. Sunflower seed oil brings antioxidants and vitamins, hemisqualane (a plant-derived emollient) gives a silky, smooth feel, and marigold adds its gentle touch. Used as the final step after bathing, a balm locks moisture in, giving dry patches an intense boost and leaving skin nourished, soft and smooth. As one customer put it: "Has sorted my dry elbows out a treat!".
Every jar also gives back: 1% of every sale goes to Plantlife, supporting their work protecting wild plants, flowers and fungi.
A Sunday Evening with Marigold
The evenings are drawing in, the heating's going on, and skin is starting to notice. Here's how we'd spend an hour with all three:
- Cleanse. Massage the Cleansing Balm over your face, focusing on dryer areas in particular. Take a breath of clementine, then lift it away with a warm, damp muslin cloth.
- Mask. Smooth on the Face Mask and leave it for ten minutes. Run a bath while you wait.
- Soak, then seal. Once you're out of the bath, warm a little Body Balm between your palms and work it into elbows, knees and anywhere that feels dry.
Then, kettle on, feet up, and an early night.
Like the marigold in the garden, it's a small way of holding on to a little light as the days grow shorter. We think that's worth an hour of anyone's Sunday.
Curious about the other botanicals in these formulas? Read The Magic of... Sunflower and The Magic of... Clementine.
