Profile
- Latin name：Rosa damascena
- Family：Rosaceae / rose family
- Extraction：distillation
- Note：middle note
Before use, see where dilution percentages, phototoxicity notes, and notes for children or pregnancy belong. Aroma science.
Opening scene
If one scent can stand for love itself, it is rose. When the inside feels dried out and you long to be treated gently; when you have forgotten how to love yourself and relationships leave you tired; or when you simply want to give yourself an utmost tenderness — the one to call is this final goddess of love and beauty.
One drop of rose oil is a whole garden. Its rich, fine, layered scent can melt the hardest ice in the heart at once, and wake the gentlest, widest universe of love inside you.
Its story: a honey of love running through history
From early times to now, the rose has been the highest sign of love and beauty. Legend says Cleopatra, to win Antony’s heart, covered her palace in rose petals so the scent entered every breath he took. In Persia, people first mastered the distillation of rose oil and hydrosol, and called it a gift of God. Whether in the poems of the East or the romantic tales of the West, the rose remains the flower that opens at the peak of human feeling and does not wither.
A familiar gift: the queen of skin care
The place of rose in skin care is hard to shake. She is an all-round artist of the complexion, able to meet almost every need of the skin: deep moisture, a brighter look and softer marks, care for ageing skin, a settling of inflammation, and a gentle astringency for pores. She especially suits skin that is dry, mature, sensitive or dull. To have rose is to hold a most luxurious oil of renewal.
A ritual of skin care fit for a goddess
- A face oil, “the flower that lasts”: Into a base of 10ml jojoba oil and 10ml rosehip oil, add, with care, 1–2 drops of rose. This face oil is a high offering to the skin. It can lift the quality of the complexion in the round, so a light seems to come from within.
- A rose dew spray: Into 50ml of rose hydrosol, add 1–2 drops of rose and shake well. Mist the face whenever you wish. It can replenish water and brighten at once, so the skin spends the day as if it had drunk rose nectar.
- A blush of love: Take a trace of rose oil on a toothpick and blend it into your cream or blush. The colour of the face can look as flushed and healthy as a living rose petal.
An unexpected talent: a gentle tuner for women
The energy of rose resonates deeply with the female reproductive system. It is a precious tonic oil for the womb, able to help regulate the menstrual cycle and ease period pain and premenstrual discomfort. More important still, it can heal wounds at the level of the heart. For moods that follow a broken love, grief, or a lack of self-worth, the scent of rose is a gentle comfort nothing else quite replaces.
Healing and nourishment
- A massage oil to warm the womb: Blend 1 drop of rose, 2 drops of geranium and 3 drops of clary sage in 10ml of carrier oil, and massage the abdomen. It is a period care many women treasure.
- A diffusion for a broken heart: When you are living through an emotional wound, diffuse rose. It will not force you to “be happy.” It is like the gentlest embrace: it allows the grief, and from inside that grief helps you find the strength to love again.
The soul in flower: an unconditional key to the heart centre
The energy of rose is the energy of love. It corresponds directly to our fourth centre, the heart. It can help clear wounds, fears and limiting beliefs about love, and open the ability to receive love and to give it. It teaches that the highest form of love is an unconditional love of the self. When you truly know how to love yourself, light can leave you from the inside out, and love of a similar frequency can be drawn near.
Open the heart centre: when you doubt yourself and feel unworthy of love, apply diluted rose to the centre of the chest. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and imagine a pink rose slowly opening in the heart. Its light heals every unease and fills you with love and peace.
A whisper from the small cosmos
- Extremely precious; please treasure it: Rose oil is among the most expensive essential oils in the world. It takes about 3000–5000 kilograms of rose petals to distil 1 kilogram of rose oil. Every drop therefore holds a great energy.
- Otto and absolute: Two main forms are on the market. Rose Otto is obtained by distillation; the scent is clearer and more elegant, and the healing energy more settled. Rose Absolute is obtained by solvent extraction; the scent is closer to a fresh rose and is more often used in perfume.
- It crystallises in the cold: Pure Rose Otto becomes crystalline below about 20°C. That is a sign of genuine quality. Warm it in the palm and it returns to liquid.
Rose, this eternal goddess of love, uses an utmost fragrance and gentleness to remind each of us: you were born worthy of love, and what matters most is to be deeply loved by yourself.