Ingredient Library
Calendula
Calendula officinalis
Calendula is a marigold flower extract long used to calm and comfort. It soothes redness and supports the skin barrier, and suits sensitive, dry, or irritated skin.
A natural history
Calendula, the bright orange pot marigold, is a flower of the Mediterranean that has been grown and loved for so many centuries its wild origin is lost to history. The first-century physician Dioscorides recorded applying it to skin and fresh wounds, praising its cooling, calming nature, and it has soothed skin in folk and household medicine ever since. Its very name is a small poem: it comes from the Latin for the calendar, because the plant seems to bloom month after month, as faithfully as the turning pages.
Beyond the medicine chest, calendula has always had a place in the kitchen. Its golden petals were dropped into pots of soup and stew to lend color and a gentle flavor, earning it the affectionate nickname the poor man's saffron. The same gentle flower that colored a peasant's broth is the one valued today for calming the look of stressed skin.
What it does for your skin
Calendula's reputation is soothing, and modern study supports that gentle role. In a clinical trial in patients whose skin was under real stress, a calendula ointment was linked with fewer higher-grade skin reactions and more comfort than the comparison cream.[1] A 2025 trial likewise relied on a gentle calendula cream as a standard for soothing stressed skin.[2] We use it simply for comfort, to calm the look of sensitive, reddened skin.
References
[1] Pommier P, Gomez F, Sunyach MP, D'Hombres A, Carrie C, Montbarbon X. Phase III randomized trial of Calendula officinalis compared with trolamine for the prevention of acute dermatitis during irradiation for breast cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2004;22(8):1447-1453. doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2004.07.063
[2] Ngan TH, Yeh SH, Tien HJ, et al. Bao Yuan Gao vs. Calendula cream for radiotherapy-induced skin toxicity in head and neck cancer: a randomized controlled trial. Radiother Oncol. 2025;209:110976. doi.org/10.1016/j.radonc.2025.110976
Found in these formulas
Questions, answered
It is one of the gentlest soothing botanicals, long used to calm and comfort sensitive, irritated skin.
Yes. Calming sensitive, reddened skin is exactly what calendula is known for.
Its golden petals were dropped into cooking pots for color and flavor, earning it the nickname the poor man's saffron.
Our Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm and Bakuchiol Overnight Oil, among others.