Tulip Extract Is The Skin-Care Ingredient You're Missing

REFINERY - August 2019

I’m standing up to my knees in tulips on a private farm just outside of Amsterdam when the sun bursts through the clouds overhead. Sunshine drenches the fields of lush bulbous blooms, lighting them up from the highway to the horizon in electric stripes of white, yellow, and red. It’s even better than the pictures.
As I tip-toe through the delicate rows, I ask the owner of the private farm what will happen to all these beautiful flowers at the end of the season. “They're getting chopped off and composted tomorrow,” he says flatly. “It’s only the bulbs that we sell all over the world.”

That’s right, all 1.7 billion of the multicolored tulips that flood your Instagram feed from March through April end up crushed and forgotten in the iron jaws of a harvesting machine. For tulip farmers, the real draw is the bulb, and to get it while it’s hot (or, rather, before it gets too hot), they have to cut off the stems at a stage in which they’re too short to sell in bouquets. That’s where Kim van Haaster, co-founder of Bloomeffects, saw an opportunity.

“Tulips are globally one of the top favorite flowers, but it’s one of the only flowers that hasn’t been diversified into a different category or even industry,” she says, referring to the popularity of rose, CBD, jasmine, and other natural ingredients in the skin-care world. “We were on a mission to find out what’s in a tulip, and whether we can make something beautiful and good for the skin.”

After that breakthrough, van Haaster got to work creating a product line that utilized all the natural resources Holland had to offer. There’s Dutch Dirt, $49, the brand's hero mask made from the Netherlands' famous nutrient-rich soil, that comes in light-blue aluminum packaging that will likely draw comparisons to Summer Fridays moisturizing Jet Lag mask. But that's where the similarities end, because Dutch Dirt is a clarifying clay mask that's an earthy brown color. “The soil in the Netherlands is so rich and yields 20 times more than any other soil,” says Kim. “The mask is clarifying and gives you a nice exfoliation and glow.”

There’s also Royal Tulip Cleansing Jelly, $39, Bloomeffects' take on a Korean cleansing balm, and the Tulip & Cheek Tint, $29, a nourishing lip-and-cheek balm that reflects the laid-back makeup style of Amsterdam’s cool girls. I was personally most drawn to the Royal Tulip Nectar, $65, a honey-like salve that helps soothe my sunburns and eczema on the spot. Even though I find it too thick to smooth on as a daily moisturizer for my oily skin, I’ve used it as a calming, after-sun treatment all summer. Unlike most floral-based products, Bloomeffects' line is completely fragrance-free (and tulips themselves don’t carry a strong natural scent), which makes it ideal for sensitive skin types.