Beauty / IN THE BAG

May Lindstrom on taking the leap

Waxing lyrical about how a beauty product can change your life can grow tiring, but truly the May Lindstrom range is like no other. Luxurious, organic and crafted in small batches, here Lindstrom shares with RUSSH how she got started, her favourite products, and what keeps her going.

My breakthrough career moment was …
Quite simply, the day I made the choice to leap into this collection without restraint. I had already been formulating for years for bespoke clients coming to me [with] severe skin issues - care following cancer, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, burns, traumas, and severe cases of acne, eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, rosacea, and the effects of autoimmune conditions. It was a heavy place to work from, but an important one. This gave me my backbone and a seriously solid focus on efficacy through plant medicine.

From here, I wanted to bring something beautiful and celebratory into the world. Something that felt great to reach for and to display proudly in the sacred space of our bathrooms, a reminder of your own beauty rather than the brokenness. This collection was about bottling a catalyst for our romance within - tuning into this and building from that place of warmth and openness … that changed everything.

The top 5 most useful products are …
May Lindstrom Skin The Blue Cocoon: This is my ultimate hero and has a permanent spot in my purse, and another in my bathroom and on my nightstand. Besides being the most gorgeous hydration and healing source of all time, The Blue Cocoon is beautiful under makeup or a bit over the top to add glow, as an eye and lip treatment, ​run through my hair to smooth flyaways, to define my curls, and to envelop me in the most beautiful scent.

Body Brush for dry brushing: I forget to do this more often than not, remembering halfway through my shower when I'm already wet and it's too late. But when I do remember - what a delicious treat! It takes getting used to, but the way your skin tingles and glows after is crazy addicting.

Kjaer Weis cream blushes: I am enamoured with the simultaneously sleek and heavy packaging and even more so with the formulations. I layer "Desired Glow" and "Lovely" for a super natural flush that makes me look and feel a little bit giddy.

RMS Living Luminizer: This classic formula has been in my rotation for a decade and I still love it. A touch blended with The Blue Cocoon and pressed into cheek and brown bones leaves you with the most dewy, natural, “lit from within” glow. The substantial little glass pot lasts forever and easily slips into a pocket or purse.

Reverie: I love their leave-in Milk that can be used wet or dry. It’s a brilliant formula and I don’t ever wash my hair without following with this. I’ve turned so many people onto it I should be their spokesperson!

The product(s) most worth the investment are …
The Honey Mud and The Blue Cocoon are both incredibly special to me and were released on the same day to specifically address the needs of clients like myself - with desperate skin that is hypersensitive, temperamental, and typically retaliates against everything.

The Honey Mud lived in my imagination for years before it came to life under my fingertips. I dreamed of a formula that would marry my three favourite things - raw honey, pure plant oils, and gorgeous clays. The day this blend took final form and became its pudding-like self was one of much celebration.

This said, The Blue Cocoon is my absolute favourite treat of all time and there is simply nothing that stands up to it. This is essentially the most beautiful facial oil you’ve ever experienced in a unique waterless and waxless balm form. In the jar, it is a solid. Once it touches skin, it turns immediately to a lovely fluid. This is used both as a daily hydrator or as a special treatment for skin that is sensitive, inflamed, damaged, acneic, or irritated.

My biggest beauty trick/ tip is …
For me, diet is key. Eat well—nutritionally dense food, and plenty of it. Drink tons of water, indulge in plenty of healthy fats, and create moments of peace in your day to just be.

My favourite career memory/ highlight is …
This might sound cheesy, but it’s something I rediscover every single day. It's the letters I receive from happy clients, the overflowing inbox I always wake to, the women and men who have opened up their world to me and entrusted me with their most vulnerable organ and every emotion wrapped up in it. I am moved to tears on a near-daily basis by the relationships I have been gifted through this work. It’s growing, and I’m growing with it.

My advice to people getting started in the industry is …
All I know is what I did - leapt, full force. I am ferocious in my commitments and obsessed with quality, integrity, and connection. This is the foundation of everything, every single decision.

We have been built on a series of promises and on the belief that the actions we take matter, the words we speak and write mean something, and every choice we make in our business is a reflection of who we are and the world we aspire to be a part of. Operating from our hearts on a foundation of good creates a ripple that goes out into the world, facilitating transformation far beyond the lives of just our team and clients.

So my advice - find what stirs you to the core. It has to go deep in order for you to be able to wake up every day and work with this kind of resolve. You will always have challenge, have new roadblocks to navigate and pressures that will test every element of who you are and what you stand for. Get your feet rooted firmly in the ground and act from your heart and you will win, no matter the business.