«What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet» Shakespeare knew what he was talking about, because the scent of roses is truly unmistakable. There are two types of roses that make rose scent so unique, damask roses and centifolia roses. Theirs is the oil that is extracted, either through steam or solvents, to create rose absolute, the ingredient that is essential to a lot of world perfumery. Roses are the queen of flowers, and they gift the fragrances that contain them with a floral, fresh, luminous character, with a delicate powdery nuance, and wooden or fruit notes, depending on the type. The perfumes that contain rose scent are feminine, clean, and utterly romantic.
It’s not just perfumery that uses the quality of roses to its advantage. It is also a note that characterizes a lot of cosmetics, using its health benefits as well as its fragrance. Roses have moisturizing, calming and regenerating properties, which makes them very suitable for use on stressed skin that needs a rejuvenating boost. Some brands even extract this in a high-tech manner, using stem cells that try to mimic the behaviour of the cells in your skin, helping cellular regeneration, and slowing down the aging process.
Last but not least, roses are inspiring. Whole makeup collections are dedicated to roses, trying to imitate its daintiness and color, to give your makeup a romantic touch. It’s hard to find a brand that doesn’t have a product named after roses: Call me Rose, Rose Mix, Rose Garden… The list is endless! Lancôme decided to surprise everyone with real special effects this spring, imitating roses in every single detail. Their product you’ll see in the gallery is a blush, inspired by the crazy makeup lines you can sometimes stumble upon in Asia: every petal gives a touch of color when it touches the brush, like magic.
