mini-post: in praise of rose essential oil

My aromatherapy teacher will often laugh because, whatever, the question, I will answer with rose oil.

Anxiety? Rose.

Dry skin? Rose.

Perfume? Rose.

It is my favourite flower, flavour, fragrance, and essential oil. I love growing roses in the garden (currently, we have Peace, the James Galway rose, along with a lovely yellow and blush pink rose whose names have been forgotten). It’s such a treat to be able to cut fresh roses to decorate the house!

Culinary flavouring is another way that I like to incorporate roses into my life, from flavouring water with rose water (or fresh petals!) to baking rose/pistachio shortbread at Christmas.

Roses are also the main note in some of my favourite perfumes: Aerin Rose de Grasse pour filles, Beautycounter’s Hyper Rose, and Lvnea’s Babylon Rose. If you ever see me, undoubtedly I will be wearing some kind of rose fragrance!

Rose essential oil is another level of appreciation!

Facts about Rose Essential Oil

It’s a precious oil, priced high due to the high cost of production (60 handpicked roses to make 1 drop of essential oil!)
You might see 2 types – rose absolute (produced through solvent extraction) and rose Otto (produced by steam distillation). what’s interesting is that the scent of rose absolute is more “true” to roses, but is best for perfuming rather than topical use. Rose Otto is preferred for skin applications (it’s what is used in my face serum)
Most rose essential oil production goes to perfumery
Rose oil has been studied for its effect on anxiety, depression, sleep, and skin

Why you should add rose to your life

Beyond its beautiful aroma, rose oil has some amazing benefits including enhancing skin, reducing anxiety, improving sleep, and acting as an antimicrobial and anti inflammatory on the body.

A little goes a long way with this pricey but precious oil!

“Emotionally, rose oil eases the heart during times of grief.” Sara-Chana Silverstein in Moodtopia
“Rose has a soothing action on the nerves which may induce sleep…” Robert Tisserand in The Art of Aromatherapy
“Rose has powerful capabilities to stop bleeding, ease headaches, calm an agitated state, and reduce tension.” JJ Pursell in The Woman’s Herbal Apothecary
“The most medicinal and superlative for skincare,rose otto adds resiliency and elasticity to the connective tissues in the skin…it speeds up the healing of tissues with its opulent antiseptic properties.” Nadine Artemis in Renegade Beauty

Cautions

Rose is a beautiful essential oil to use, but be sure that what you are using is a high quality oil from a reputable source. Rose oil is often adulterated or cut with other oils such as geranium. It can be difficult to source but you should expect to pay anywhere between $75-100 for 2ml of oil.

Some companies I like: