Jagua brings the blue to henna's traditional red.

Polynesian-style line work in jagua gives this piece a definite South Pacific feel. Model: Koren Ann.

Unlike henna, jagua does a great job of staining backs, shoulders and bellies. Model: Caitlyn Darby.

Blue Lotus Mehndi is proud to have been the first vendor in Birmingham to provide jagua to our lineup of body art services. This product has been an absolute smash, especially among our African-American clients and others with medium-dark and dark skin tones who want a bigger "pop" of color against their skin. Jagua also stains areas of the body such as the back, shoulders and chest much better than henna! It's versatile, cool and absolutely gorgeous.

Jagua is made from the juice of a South American fruit: Genipa americana. It also produces the closest thing to a black stain you can achieve without using dangerous, synthetic dyes. The darker your skin, the closer to blue-black the stain will be. Lighter skin stains to indigo or navy.

Here's the lowdown:

• Jagua is applied with a gel made from jagua fruit juice plus lavender oil, xanthan gum (a food-grade gelling agent), and polysorbate 80 (a food-grade preservative). We also can offer a "plain" jagua gel made with just the juice and xanthan gum.
• After two hours, the gel is washed off and leaves behind a light gray stain. This stain darkens to deep blue within 12-24 hours.
• The final color depends on your skin tone and body chemistry, and can be anywhere from navy to indigo to midnight blue to almost blue-black like old-school tattoo ink!
• Unlike henna, it stains almost any part of the body extremely well.