A limited edition triple rose Oil Serum

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Rose. Queen of the flowers. Empress of peace. Aphrodite incarnate. Nothing quite compares to the resplendent aromatic presence of this fabled floral. It shimmers across the skin, bestowing an unfurling and blossoming beauty to all those lucky enough to be graced by its radiance.

We are very pleased to introduce you to the new, very limited edition, Replenishing Rose Drops — our quiet love song to the rose. This silky Oil Serum is a potent expression of the multifaceted powers of this miraculous flower. Rose is one of the very best and most important plant allies for skin, and we formulated these little drops of radiance to showcase all that it has to offer.

Meet the rose. Cooling, hydrating, beautifying, barrier supporting/restoring — all skin benefits from the profound therapy of roses, making this serum a perfect choice for everyone. It is especially suitable for skin that is dry, depleted, devitalized, dehydrated, finely-lined, fragile, mature or suffering from rosacea.

Replenishing Rose Drops is a highly concentrated, yet wildly gentle, triple rose potion. It includes whole rose blossoms infused into Arizona-grown jojoba oil, wild Chilean rosehip seed oil and an ample dose of pure, organic, steam-distilled Bulgarian rose otto essential oil. All made dewier, richer and even more rejuvenating with the help of our favorite pomegranate seed oil.

Replenishing Rose Drops is a collaboration between you, your flesh and the majesty of the rose. These nectarous, dreamy drops infuse skin with a supple, peaceful radiance.

The early feedback we’ve gotten is some of the most flattering we’ve ever received. And we’re incredibly excited to get these Rose Drops into your hands and onto your skin. Yet keep in mind — Rose Drops is an early draft in our journey to an upcoming more complex rose petal serum you’ll be seeing in the future, which is why we are releasing this simple version as a limited run.

We have a lot of love for this flower and the serum we made to honor it. To learn more about this special serum read on.

The rose, a brief history

Fragrant web of myth, love, beauty & medicine

Come out here where the roses have opened. Let soul and world meet.

~ Rumi

Wild, native and naturalized varieties of rose grow all around the world, though at this point humans have been unable to trace this plant back to a single place of origin. Fossil evidence from North America indicates that the rose is 35 million years old. There are over 300 species and thousands of hybrids.

Humankind’s unparalleled enamoration with this plant is undeniable. No other plant has received the treatment this flower has. Its history is rich and long, mythic and enchanting. There is a unique magic, power and presence to the rose that is nothing short of captivating, and throughout time it has inspired poets and artists, been woven into religions, into rituals, spells and myths.

If we exclude the major players of agriculture like grains, caffeinated plants, sugar, and plants with narcotic effects, it can be argued that the rose has left behind the biggest cultural imprint worldwide. Rose reaches the heart and mind and spirit in a way no other plant has. Transcending both time and culture.

Rose exists in art, in religion, in medicine. It lives tucked into small moments of our lives and also carries the weight of myth and symbol, love and sacrifice. It is associated with love deities across cultures, like Lakshimi, Aphrodite and Inanna, and with religious icons of compassion like the Virgin Mary.

It is believed rose cultivation began in the gardens of ancient China. Then extending from Asia, cultivation spread to Persia and the Mediterranean. Rose was painted into frescos by the Minoans on the island of Crete in 1450 BCE. It was woven into wreaths by ancient Egyptians. Jumping forward to the end of the Ptolemaic Period, we have stories of Cleopatra with her rooms strewn with rose petals so deep one had to wade through them.

There’s an insightful early Greek myth of the origins of rose that goes like this:

Chloris (Flora in the Roman pantheon), goddess of flowers, one day found the lifeless body of a nymph in the woods and was moved to transform her into a flower. She invited other gods to bestow gifts to the new flower. Aphrodite, goddess of love, gifted beauty. Dionysos, god of wine, liberation and divine ecstasy, gifted nectarous and ambrosial fragrance. The three Graces infused her with brightness, joy and charm. And then Apollo, a solar deity among many other things, shown light upon her and from it all the rose was born.

There was an entire religious holiday in Rome dedicated to roses and the dead, called Rosalia. And also in ancient Rome, roses were a symbol of opulence and power. Emperors would include them — quite dramatically — in their parties. Both Emperor Nero and Emperor Elagabalus had rooms within their villas with rotating ceilings designed to drop rose petals down upon guests. Some accounts claim that a few guests literally drowned under the deluge of flowers.

The distillation of roses began in Persia, and the earliest distillations were for creating rose water, or rose hydrosol, which was used for beauty, medicine and in food. It wasn’t until the Persian physician and mystic Ibn Sena (also known as Avicenna) invented the condenser coil to flow the distillation process down that rose essential oil was able to be extracted from the distillation process and the production of rose hydrosol soon begot rose otto essential oil as well. To this day the prominence of roses can be found in modern-day Iran and the Middle East, in both food and beauty practices.

There are three main forms of rose within the aromatherapy industry. Steam-distilled rose essential oil (rose otto), solvent-extracted rose essential oil (rose absolute) and rose hydrosol.

Rose otto is our favorite rose oil and the only one we use in our products. Of the rose oils the steam-distilled essential oil has the richest history and provides the most therapy. The scent is nectarous. It’s sparkling, shimmering, complex and sweet. It smells bright and juicy, like ripe pears with a touch of citrus. It contains the most complex array of constituents and is the most therapeutic for the skin.

Rose absolute is a more modern, solvent-extracted expression of rose. Its scent is softer, headier and slightly powdery. It’s lovely, but unless it’s certified organic, then it’s extracted with hexane, a practice we find only appropriate if someone is wanting to use it in perfumery, and not ideal for skin care application. While there can be some therapeutic aspects of rose absolute, we prefer the purer form for skin administrations and exclusively work with rose otto in our products.

Rose hydrosol is the water distillate that comes as a result of the distillation of rose flowers and thus, is the watery companion to rose otto.

The world of aromatherapy recognizes the Rose Valley in Bulgaria as the region that produces the most therapeutic roses. This variety isRosa damascena, or the Damask Rose. This is where we source our roses — both the flowers themselves for the oil infusion in our Replenishing Rose Drops and the essential oil. It is also where we source our Rose Petal HydroSoul.

R O S E  +  T H E  B O D Y

An ally of harmony

“Mystery glows in the rose bed, the secret is hidden in the rose.”

~ 12th century Persian poet and perumer, Farid ud-din Attar

Roses have a rich history of medicinal use across multiple healing systems and cultures. Ayurveda, the ancient healing system of India, chooses rose as a cooling tonic for pitta imbalance and to address skin, liver and hormonal disharmony. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) utilizes rose primarily for treating conditions of the liver and spleen, as well as for movingQi and blood. It also recognizes rose as a tonic for one of the three treasures, Shen.

TCM also, very interestingly, sees rose as warming despite its many cooling attributes. There’s speculation that this is because in TCM ‘warming’ is associated with ‘movement,’ and the rose’s gentle ability to move and prevent stagnation aligns it with this categorization.

Traditional western herbalism thinks of rose as a nourishing, anti-inflammatory nervine and will prescribe it as an aphrodisiac, heart tonic and vulnerary. Topical applications include care for sunburns and other skin disharmony.

Rose is a dynamic medicine. Generally, it’s considered mildly astringent, but also moistening. It is cooling, calming, restorative and peace-cultivating, Of all its myriad benefits, where rose shines the most is in the way it supports skin health.

R O S E  +  T H E  S K I N

Lush, radiant & supple

The relationship rose has with the skin is nothing short of dazzling.

This affinity is recognized throughout healing systems from around the world, often as the dominant role rose has regarding human health. Across the board — across cultures, systems, bioregions and time — roses are associated with skin therapy. And for good reason.

Two parts of the rose plant provide therapy — the flowers and the fruit (rosehips).

On the skin, rose flowers are cooling and moistening, yet slightly stringent and tonifying. They infuse a petal-like quality into the skin, creating skin that is plump, succulent, soft, dewy, smooth, harmonious and luminous.

But they are not only an instrument for beauty. Roses help bring harmony to imbalanced skin.

A natural humectant, rose draws and holds moisture. Or as it is sometimes thought, rose creates and holds the essence ofyin. Roses instill what is reminiscent of fresh dew to the skin. Transepidermal water loss (the evaporation of water from the skin, and a main culprit for skin dehydration) is intercepted by topical rose application, and even the scent of rose alone has shown to have a positive impact on the barrier function of skin.

🥀 Rose Flowers 🥀

Regenerate | Rejuvenate | Soothe

Hydrate | Smoothe | Cool

Encourages gentle movement

Minimize the appearance of fine lines

Create glow & radiance

Roses are a wonderful ally for sensitive skin, dehydrated skin, aging skin and skin suffering with rosacea. Rose is one of the most complex plants in terms of the therapeutic constituents that make it up, and it is likely that this complexity, along with millions of years of evolution, that have made it such a wonderful ally for so many different types of skin.

The fruit of the rose — the rosehip — has an equally astonishing relationship with skin.

The flesh of the rosehip has high amounts of vitamin C (a water-soluble vitamin that is not present in the oil), and the seeds within contain a plethora of skin-loving lipids like linoleic acid (omega 6) and linolenic acid (omega 3) as well as a bevvy of fat-soluble vitamins and nutrients, including trans-retinoic acid — the precursor to true vitamin A. Rosehip seed oil is a perfect choice for those looking for a gentle, whole-plant botanical ally to use in place of retinol — without the side effects of sensitivity, flaking, irritation, barrier damage and photosensitivity.

Rosehip seed oil is indicated for skin that is scarred, rough-textured or hyperpigmented. It is a force of nature, creating skin that is supple, smooth and youthful. It minimizes the appearance of hyperpigmentation (dark spots), fine lines and scars and cultivates a general radiance and luster. You can dive deeper into our rosehip seed oil and its many benefitshere.

To capture the exquisite complexity and vast therapy of the rose plant, we included a triple dose of rose in our Replenishing Rose Drops — pure rose otto essential oil woven into a base of rosehip seed oil and whole-rose infused jojoba oil.

R O S E  +  T H E  S P I R I T

Love, softness & boundaries

How did the rose ever open its heart and give this world all its beauty?

~ Hafiz

Rose is rooted in the heart.

Its long associations with love are all true, just limited. Limited by the shallow notion that love lives within the borders of romance, rather than recognizing it as the vast, complex, healing and eternal thing it is. The love rose carries is immaculate, dynamic and all encompassing.

🥀

Love can be soft and beautiful.

Love can be boundaries.

Love can be bloody.

And rose is a remedy that represents love in all its forms.

Rose softens, nourishes, protects, uplifts and comforts. It cradles us in the heart of its soft profusion of petals. As it holds us, it softens us. It opens us. Opens doorways of perception open gateways to the inner chambers of ourselves and others. It melts judgement. It dissolves blocks off shoulders.

Rose medicine is intimate. It’s an inward expansion.

The judgement it softens is judgement of the self and of others. It cultivates compassion and creates for those open to it a peaceful, cradled heart. Rose reaches deep. And depth of Rose’s beauty expands us — touching the heart and the soul in a way few things are able to.

Its magnetic intimacy is what has captivated humankind the way no other plant has managed to do so. It incites courageous vulnerability.

Rose is soft, but rose is protective too. Naturally, roses — especially the wild ones — are adorned with a lattice of thorns. When interacting with living rose plants, one must be totally present. These thorns are sacred boundaries. These thorns protect and cultivate awareness.

Within it rose contains the softness of vulnerability, along with the beauty of boundaries. Rose is the balance between the two. It is open and loving, but with resources to protect. Balanced. Whole.

We should all aspire to be roses in the world.

There is a profound cyclical nature that lives in rose medicine, too. Like many flowers, rose is long associated with fertility, rebirth and the lush pinnacle of life. But roses are also flowers for the dead, flowers of mourning and ancestor veneration, and through these quiet death associations, Rose contains within it the whole cycle of life. Very much like the life/death symbolic therapy of pomegranate, which you can read about here. And that connection is in part why we included pomegranate seed oil within the Rose Drops formula.

There is a peace to rose that is unlike anything else. And perhaps it is that sense of being tucked between those fragrant, silken blossoms, cradled by benevolence. Protected by thorns.

Bliss welcomes you. Love becomes you.

Replenishing Rose Drops

Welcome to the heart of the rose. Replenishing Rose Drops was created just for this. To infuse all the beauty and softness and glory of the rose into your skin. To cradle your heart, and to open it. To cultivate peace and to share it. To connect you with your own radiant, resplendent beauty.

Whole rose buds infused into jojoba oil. Wild Chilean rosehip seed oil. Pomegranate seed oil. Rose otto essential oil. Simple and beautiful, just for you.

This serum is a rose devotional. An altar to beauty. And it will turn flesh into roses. Lush, soft, smooth, luminous, plump and nectarous.

As with all our Oil Serums, Replenishing Rose Drops is meant to be used with your choice of HydroSoul. Our favorite pairings are Tulsi, Frankincense, Immortelle, or for an extra dose of roses, Rose Petal and Rose & Jasmine.

Enjoy.