Anti-aging. Anti-inflammatory. Soothing and cooling for your skin. Uplifting for your mood. Gets you rid of acne, irritation and skin imperfections. The list of accolades to rose water is long… A product that’s supposedly used from the days of Cleopatra (we wish we could verify it, but rumor has it it was her beauty secret…), rose water certainly has a long-standing history. Perhaps that’s why there are literally hundreds of topical rose water products.
Yet, therein lies the problem. In a loosely regulated industry, we are swimming in an ocean of fakes and copycats. While a handful of products stand out, most (including well-known brand names!) just shouldn’t make their way to your precious skin.
Here’s the list of the top 9 red flags. Grab your rose water and let’s see if it holds water (pun intended).
1. It’s in a clear or plastic bottle
What makes rose water valuable, the active ingredient if you will, is the rose oil in it. It’s a well-known fact that essential oils degrade in the sun. They also interact with plastic. Rose water in plastic is detrimental to your skin, environmentally unfriendly, and if it’s clear plastic, that’s a double whammy.
Packaging alone disqualifies most of the products on the market. A brand that cares to deliver a great product would take the effort to package it in dark glass.
2. It’s not made with Rosa Damascena
“A rose is a rose is a rose”. Not when it comes to skincare benefits. Geramium, Centifolia (a.k.a. Rose de Mai), Swiss Rose, Moroccan Rose… a long list of contenders that never managed to dethrone “the Queen of Roses” - the Bulgarian Rosa Damascena (a.k.a. Bulgarian Rose). Unsurpassed for its health and skin benefits, Bulgarian rose has 400 components, compared to 30-40 for a regular rose. There’s a reason it’s considered a super herb, not a flower.
3. It’s cheap
“I’m not that rich to buy cheap”. So true when it comes to rose water. The essential oil of the Bulgarian Rose is by far the most expensive essential oil. Rose water that’s $4.95 or $7.95 can’t cover the cost to include Bulgarian rose extract. Unless it’s highly diluted. You get what you pay for.
4. Rancid or perfume-y smell
The scent a big giveaway. Perfume-y or rancid smell signals inferior quality. One of the top benefits of rose water is its soothing aroma, an aromatherapy experience, if you will. Yet, the divine aroma of fresh roses accounts for painstaking attention to details in how these roses are stored and distilled once they are hand-picked. Unfortunately with fragrance you can mimic the smell of roses, but more on fragrance in a second.
5. Water (“Aqua”) is the first ingredient
Water is not the active ingredient. It’s “the filler”. When buying rose water, are you buying rose, or water?
6. Long ingredient list
Suspicious of long ingredient lists, especially with ingredients you can’t even pronounce? Superior products with beneficial ingredients are easy to recognize. With rose water, Bulgarian rose is what you should be looking for. No reason for much more than that. Definitely no reason for parabens. The purer your product, the more effective it is.
While hydrosol is generally a good ingredient (that’s the name for commercially derived rose water) the issue is that most hydrosols are stabilized with alcohol, which is bad for your skin.
7. Fragrance is an ingredient
Some of us are allergic to fragrance. Another major issue with fragrance is that it’s there to imitate the rose smell and thus mask the absence of the real thing - the rose itself.
8. It’s non-organic
We’ve gone a long way in recognizing the importance of “Organic” when it comes to food. Pesticides undoubtedly cause major health issues. It should be no less of a concern when it comes to what we put on our skin. Topical rose water enters your bloodstream through your biggest organ, your skin!
9. It’s a DIY, home-brewed product
Seen these videos online, “experts” showing you how to make rose water with roses steeped on your stove? Most store bought roses are covered in unwanted toxins and pesticides. Is this really what you want to drench your skin with? Not to mention that ornamental roses don’t have any of the components making rose water beneficial, even if you make DIY rose water that smells rosy. It’s a bad idea to turn your Valentine’s day gift into a skincare product.
You are now well-equipped to make the right choice when it comes to arguably one of the most popular natural skincare products - rose water.
At Pure Rose we’ve made a commitment to bring to you reliable, highest-quality products. We resisted launching a topical product for a long time. Why should we, with hundreds of brands on the market?! It’s only after our well-informed customers insisted on having a topical product from us that we launched Pure Rose Mist (after 2 years of research and development!).
What makes Pure Rose Mist special?
Two ingredients only. Organic Rose Nectar© stabilized with organic Bulgarian Rose Oil. Bulgarian Roses grown in our rose farms in the Rose Valley in Bulgaria, hand-picked at dawn and steam-distilled within hours in deep spring water. Bottled in amber glass to protect your Rose Mist, and your skin. Unmatched aroma that will instantly uplift your mood. To eliminate waste and provide even more value to you, we are the only ones to offer you Rose Mist with a refill bottle. Pay for rose, not for packaging.
We don’t do many things, but what we do, we make sure we do it better than anyone else.
