THE POD
A dramatic, heart-shaped capsule covered in soft spines protects the seeds inside.
BIXABEAUTY
THE ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPH · ZANZIBAR, 2014THE STORY BEHIND BIXA
IT STARTED
WITH A SEED.
A social mission trip. A Zanzibar spice farm. One unforgettable orange-red pigment.
THE DISCOVERY · 2014
A COLOR TOO
POWERFUL TO FORGET.
During a social mission trip, Bixa Beauty founder Deida Massey, a makeup artist and twenty-year beauty-industry veteran, visited a spice farm in Zanzibar.
When she was introduced to the Achiote plant and saw the brilliant pigment surrounding its seeds, beauty and purpose connected. That encounter became the starting point for Bixa Beauty.
THE PLANT FILE
BIXA
ORELLANA
Also known as achiote, annatto, or the “lipstick tree.”
Kew Science recognizes Bixa orellana as a shrub or tree of the wet tropical biome, native from Mexico through tropical South America. Its spiny pods open to reveal clusters of seeds coated in an intensely colored waxy layer.
FAMILYBixaceaeFORMShrub or small treeBIOMEWet tropicalPIGMENTOrange to red
FROM PLANT TO PIGMENT
COLOR,
ALIVE.
The seed became the inspiration. The woman wearing it gives the color its voice.
WHY THE COLOR IS SO VIVID
THE COLOR
LIVES ON THE SEED.
THE COATING
The red-orange color is concentrated in the waxy outer coating surrounding each seed.
THE PIGMENT
Carotenoid pigments, especially bixin and norbixin, create annatto’s unmistakable range of warm color.
FROM DISCOVERY TO PURPOSE
BEAUTY ROOTED
IN SOMETHING MORE.
Bixa Beauty is a Black-led, female-founded social enterprise headquartered in Chicago. Its vegan-friendly, plant-based, GMO-free, and paraben-free line was created to make high-end color accessible while helping fund social change for women.
VEGAN-FRIENDLYPLANT-BASEDGMO-FREEPARABEN-FREE
SHOP THE COLOR BOTANICAL & PLACE REFERENCES
Kew Science · Bixa orellanaUNESCO · Stone Town of Zanzibar