WELCOME TO THE garden party

Look no further than the end of the garden for some of beauty’s smartest ingredients, says beauty editor Fleur Fruzza

Who can resist pulling on a rosemary sprig as they walk past a bush of the aromatic herb? Or scrunching and sniffing a leaf of softest sage? Massaging a little mint between forefinger and thumb, maybe? We’re instinctively drawn in by all the pupil-dilating sensory delights that await in a garden or greenhouse; programmed to delve, touch, inhale, nibble, exhale, smile.

And while this synergy between us and our green spaces is gloriously intuitive, there is also hard evidence to show that – due to the smells, sounds and colours – people who spend time in a fragrant garden are likely to see a significant improvement in their mood, alertness, sense of calm and feelings of wellness.

Gardens and all the magic therein are, without doubt, a form of therapy – places we need to be in times of stress, pressure or sadness – a fact that has been increasingly appreciated since the pandemic. As this nature-centric view continues to gain traction, so does the drive towards discovering, investigating and utilising all the wonderful ingredients our green spaces have to offer – as much for our beauty routines as for our nutrition and wellbeing. (There’s a very good reason why the entirety of Kate Moss’s beauty line, Cosmoss, was born out of her Cotswolds cottage garden.)

While plants have been plundered for their beneficial properties for millennia, the difference now is that they are going under the microscope anew; their healing benefits better understood and worked in with the latest scientific advancements in skincare, haircare and body care to optimise their effects.

‘Plants are brilliant chemists,’ says Dr Melanie-jayne Howes, who specialises in phytochemistry (analysing useful plants for medicines, food and health) at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ‘They produce a whole host of diverse and complex chemicals and there is certainly untapped potential in harnessing what they can offer us.’