Cobalt is definitely having a moment this Summer. But let’s be totally clear. This is not your shy, maybe-I’ll-be-an-accent kind of hue. This is an electrified blue full of power, depth, and pure unapologetic joy.

Before we slather it on every surface in sight, let’s show some respect. Cobalt blue has been around since the 8th century, when Chinese artisans used it in porcelain. The pigment itself, made from cobalt salts, was expensive and rare—basically the Birkin bag of blue. Fast-forward to the 19th century, when painters like J.M.W. Turner and Vincent van Gogh got their hands on it and never looked back. (That sky in Starry Night? Yep. Cobalt.)