Well, a rose is a rose is a rose is a rose. And when it comes to all things beautiful, there is no other flower which has the same effect. Indu Saksena Bedi meets experts to substantiate the theory.
In nature's goodie basket of wondrous blooms, the rose holds the kind of authority that would be deemed hegemonistic if its power weren't so readily acceptable to all of us. No stranger to any culture or country across the globe, the rose's multi-faceted charms and uses have been of immeasurable value to us in just about every situation that calls for emotional expression even self-expression!
An unparalleled olfactory delight, a timeless symbol of romance and passion, a culinary luxury (yes, you can have your rose and eat it, too) and a promise of beauty and well-being, this flower clearly blooms to rule.
Terry de Gunzburg, creator of skincare brand By Terry says, "I am passionate about roses and never tire of developing products around the resources of this flower." This bloom enjoys a unique status in skincare products. The benefits of rose extracts like rose oil and rose water in their natural form have been known for centuries. The modern buzz is an effective reprise of old knowledge.
As the story goes, in ancient times women drank the distillation of water in which rose petals were boiled to calm nerves. Because the smell of the brew was so good, women started adding the water to milk and using it as a skin tonic. Cleopatra's famed beauty, enhanced by a daily 'roses regimen', became the finest advertisement for the skincare properties of this bloom. Since then, there hasn't really been any looking back.
Today, beauty products use the rose as an active ingredient in an impressively large range of products from the traditional concoctions like perfumes, soaps and talcs to cleansers, clarifying masks, toners, moisturisers, tinted moisturisers, undereye repair creams even nail cuticle creams. Cosmetics are not immune to the spell either. So now we have blush, foundations, concealers, powder compacts, lipglosses and lip balms with rose extracts as the dominant ingredient!
Nuxe, the luxury skincare brand, recently introduced a range of cleansing care products containing extracts of three roses: black, red and white. The 3 Roses range includes the Micelar Foam Cleanser, Cleansing Milk, Micelar Cleansing Water, Aromatic Exfoliant and a Clarifying and Purifying Face Mask with 3 Roses. Nuxe uses roses from the south of France.
Korres, the Greek skincare brand with roots in a homeopathic pharmacy of Athens, has an extensive range of skincare and make-up products that uses wild rose extracts. The line-up includes a foundation, concealer and powder compact. Korres also has moisturising products made from rose extracts.
The UK-based organic skincare brand, Neal's Yard Remedies, uses the vitamin-rich rose hip seed oil in its hugely popular Wild Rose Beauty Balm. Besides rose hip oil and rose water, NYR's line-up also contains the Rose Formula Hydrating Eye Cream and Anti-Oxidant Facial Mask.
By Terry also has a generous range of products with rose extracts: from Baume de Rose which protects lips as well as nail cuticles from dryness, to Tient de Rose, a tinted moisturiser, and Creme de Rose, a hydrating cream treat for dry skin. By Terry has cleansers and masks with rose extracts. It also has a complementing range of rose-based colour cosmetics including a range of sheer blush-on fluids and lipglosses.
L'oréal's newest offering, the Glam Rose range is a beautifully designed tribute to this classical bloom. The Glam Rose blush contains rose extract ingredients as opposed to many cosmetics simply borrowing the many shades of roses.
According to Natacha Audoye, Pharmacist and managing director of Nuxe Middle East, the main ingredients of the rose that are used in skincare formulations are triterpenes and tannins. "Tannins, also found in fruits like grapes, are packed with astringent, toning and detoxifying properties. Besides they also bring about a smoothening effect." Try this quick experiment: crush a fresh rose petal between your fingers and watch how the extract leaves your skin smooth and soft.
"Wild rose has over a hundred species, all from the northern hemisphere and mostly from temperate regions," says Katerina Vassilatou, head of scientific affairs at skincare brand Korres, Greece. According to Vassilatou, wild rose oil, rich in linoleic and linolenic acid, has healing, moisturising and softening properties. "At the same time, it forms a protective film on the skin that helps cell regeneration and improves the texture of the epidermis. Furthermore, the wild rose fruit is noted for its high vitamin C content that demonstrates significant repairing activity to fine lines and skin colour disorders."
What constitutes the much-advertised 'active' rose ingredients in creams and formulations? Here's a lowdown: the benefits of rose reach us in the form of rose water, rose essential oil, rose hip seed oil, even rose pulp. "The 'parts' that are used include wild rose oil [from seeds], essential rose oil [from petals], rose extract [from flowers] and rose distilled water [from flowers]," says Vassilatou.
"The water soluble components of rose are different from the oil ingredients," explains Dubai-based Aadil Shaikh, brand manager of Neal's Yard's Remedies. "The water-soluble ingredients are very soothing and have antioxidant properties while the oil-soluble components such as anti-inflammatory."
As renowned Delhi-based beauty expert Suparna Trikha explains, rose oil is the essential oil extracted from the petals of rose. "The process sees thousands of kilos of rose petals going into making a litre of pure rose oil. This oil is very expensive and is extensively used in skincare products." Although rose oil has immense hydrating and nourishing properties, it requires a carrier oil when it is to be used as a massage oil. The carrier oils can be olive, almond, rice, bran or any other.
Rose water, which has astringent and toning properties, on the other hand, is distilled from rose petals and contains water-soluble active ingredients. "Rose distilled water is where we draw all the hydrosoluble actives like minerals, carotene, vitamin B complex, maleic and citric acid, sugar, flavonoids, tannins and pectins from the flower," says Vassilatou.
There's a third form of extract not commonly known and that's an oil from the rose plant, not the flower. Neal's Yard Remedies, for instance, has products that contain Rose hip seed oil. "Rose hip seed oil is a pure plant oil from the 'hips' of the wild rose, naturally high in vitamins A and C, the oil is traditionally used to support skin repair and helps improve any scarring. The oil is also rich in essential fatty acids and these nutrients, in combination with the vitamins, make the ingredient beneficial in skincare products," Shaikh says.
Trikha has more to say on the properties of rose extracts: "Rose hips come from a single flowered variety of roses and have a repeat flowering habit. The plum-sized hips are used for making syrups and teas. Rose hip oil, which is very rich in essential fatty acids, flavonoids and carotenoids, is prepared from the hips of both rose canina and rose eglanteria. The hips of dog rose contain notable levels of vitamin C.
This has anti-ageing effects and is also an excellent remedy for chapped and dry skin.
"Besides these forms, rose pulp is used in many natural beauty treatments and rose attar is an extremely expensive perfume concentrate. Both Iran and Bulgaria are major producers of rose products. France also grows and produces attar in the Grasse area."
The scent of roses has always been one of the most pleasurable sensory experiences. Depending on your mood, this wondrous fragrance can calm you, uplift your spirits, induce happiness and joy. Psychiatric wards in hospitals are often known to diffuse rose perfume or rose oil in order to calm patients. Even babies are believed to react favourably to the scent of rose oil.
It is this uplifting effect of the fragrance which has prompted brands like L'Occitane to experiment with different rose fragrances and extend these to a bath and haircare range.
Coralie Joncquiert, product manager, L'Occitane explains, "Our rose-based collection, Rose 4 Reines, consists of 13 scented products, from eau de toilette to body and hair derivatives. It seemed natural for L'Occitane to develop an extensive rose-scented range for several reasons. Roses are flowers that have been cultivated and used all over the Mediterranean basin since antiquity. Rose is a traditional ingredient of Provençal perfumery. Also, rose is an endless source of creativity for perfumers. At L'Occitane, its multiple facets have inspired a collection of three eaux de toilette, that explores the rose in every shade of femininity, from the most romantic to the most mysterious and captivating. Our perfumers source four different kinds of rose extracts for our products: Rose centifolia absolute from Grasse, rose damascena concrete from Morocco, and rose damascena essential oils from Turkey and Bulgaria."
So why do the brand experts think its necessary to convert the natural source into a chemical formulation?
Says Vassilatou, "The rose oil is obtained through a method that involves pressing the seeds, a natural process with no chemistry involved. When developing natural ingredient-based skincare, it is more a case of enhancing the herbs' natural properties rather than reducing them. Active extracts are herbal extracts of maximum effectiveness. The concentration of the main active ingredient in most plant extracts depends on parameters such as ground conditions, weather conditions, time of harvesting, extraction method and so on. Thanks to advanced extraction technologies, the active extracts now offer the richest possible content of active ingredients. Moreover, the standardised concentration of the main active ingredient ensures maximum efficacy independently of the parameters mentioned above. 'Natural' does not mean 'science-free'. Science and technology help natural ingredients offer the best possible results when it comes to treating the skin."
Another reason that supports the case for beauty products is that, in its natural form, the rose has an extremely short lifespan. That makes it difficult to avail of its properties on a daily basis. It is also difficult to preserve roses in everyday life in ways that can still allow for its oils and other components to be extracted and used. Says Audoye, "Companies are making these rose-based products because there is simply no foolproof way to preserve homemade products."
Having said that, even when you buy a rose extract-based product, make sure you use it daily and use it well. The jars must be emptied within three to four months or the effects of oxygenation could reduce the product's efficacy.
