Earth/Sky/Mauka/Makai

By Ali Resich

ELIXIRS OF LIFE

When it comes to living healthy, many consumers have grown accustomed to reading ingredient lists on food-packaging labels in an effort to make nutritious meal choices, yet the same details aren’t always considered when selecting skin-care products that will be nourishing to our bodies. Helping others understand the positive effects that purely crafted, herbal-infused topical treasures can have on our inner and outer well-being is something herbalist and natural perfumer Deanna Rose is dedicated to, a passion she shares through her botanical skin care line, Indigo Elixirs.

Indigo Elixirs features all-natural skin-care products, like the Citrus Blossom Stain

Indigo Elixirs features all-natural skin-care products, like the Citrus Blossom Stain

“Your skin is your largest organ — everything you put on it, most of it gets absorbed and then it’s in your body,” Rose explains. “That’s why you really do have to treat your skin care like food.”

Through Indigo Elixirs’ all-natural medicinal and beauty products, which are made with locally sourced raw plant materials, men and women alike can feel good about what they’re putting on their skin. Items like Savior Salve cream, created specifically to sooth eczema, reflect an array of products designed to heal, while body butters and oils, makeup and lip balms are just some of Indigo’s skin-pampering gems.

The island-based business originally took shape in Massachusetts, where Rose grew up braving brutally cold winters — and the dry skin that came along with them. As a sophomore in college, she began experimenting with homemade moisturizing remedies, and by the time she was a senior in 2009, she was selling batches of her products at neighborhood farmers markets.

Deanna Rose selling Indigo Elixirs at Honolulu Night Market

Deanna Rose selling Indigo Elixirs at Honolulu Night Market

After moving to the Islands in 2012, Rose was inspired to re-imagine her line to blossom with as many Hawaii-based floras as possible. She unearthed 100 percent locally sourced products through this process, developing honest botanicals such as a Solve All Salve, designed to treat abrasions and irritated skin with soothing macadamia and kukui nut oils, Oahu beeswax and more, as well as a luscious Chocolate Mud Scrub featuring local cacao shells, cane sugar and honey, among other island goodies.

Rose, whose radiant au naturel complexion is hard to miss, currently attends World Medicine Institute in Aina Haina. She infuses her products with knowledge attained from studying herbalism both here and on the Mainland, and brings whimsy to her potions by enchanting customers with the traditional uses of each ingredient. Lucid Dream Balm, for example, “awakens night’s eyes” with mugwort, an herb that is thought to incite dreams of premonition. Meanwhile, olena (turmeric), an anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial plant that was used in ancient Hawaiian medicine, finds its way into many of Indigo Elixirs’ “supernatural botanicals.”

The herbalism goddess also offers essential oil perfumes and hosts one-on-one consultations to create customizable scents known as Venom Vials.

“I can kind of imagine what it’s going to smell like in my head, and I start mixing, and then (the perfume) reaches this nirvana spot where it has the perfect depth and delicacy,” she says.

Rose also offers various workshops, including an upcoming botanical perfumery class from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Nov. 13 at Paiko in Kakaako.

Indigo Elixirs' Lucid Dream Balm PHOTOS COURTESY INDIGO ELIXIRS

Indigo Elixirs’ Lucid Dream Balm PHOTOS COURTESY INDIGO ELIXIRS

“At the root of what I’m doing, I’m trying to make medicine out of what we have in abundance, and skin-care products that people really can know will nourish their skin and soul.”

Find these earthy cosmetics, which range from $7 to $27, around town at Art + Flea and Honolulu Night Market, online at indigoelixirs.com, and at numerous retailers (see website).

For more, check out @indigoelixirs on Instagram.