Ingredient Library
Rose
Rosa damascena
Rose is a classic botanical that hydrates, tones, and comforts while lending a soft natural scent. It suits dry, mature, and sensitive skin.
A natural history
The Damask rose has been a symbol of beauty since ancient times, and few cosmetic ingredients are so labor-intensive to make. It takes on the order of three to four thousand kilograms of hand-picked petals to distill a single kilogram of rose oil, the petals gathered at dawn when their fragrance is richest. Most of the world's rose oil still comes from one storied place, the Rose Valley of Bulgaria, where the harvest is celebrated each spring.
Long before modern distilling, rose was woven into beauty care across Persia, the Middle East, and India. Rose water, distilled from the petals, was splashed on the skin to cool and refresh and treasured as a fragrant beauty water, while rose petal preparations were used to soothe and perfume. That gentle, comforting tradition is why rose remains a classic for calm, well-tended skin.
What it does for your skin
Rose carries fragrant, antioxidant compounds, chiefly citronellol and geraniol, behind its calming reputation. A 2023 study in Molecules found that a polyphenol-rich extract of Damask rose showed strong antioxidant activity and was gentle to human skin cells, supporting its use as an antioxidant ingredient that helps defend the look of skin against everyday stress.[1] In further laboratory and animal work, a rose oil preparation showed antioxidant activity and helped limit the breakdown of collagen and elastin under UV light, early signs of support for firmer, smoother-looking skin.[2]
References
[1] Trendafilova A, Staleva P, Petkova Z, et al. Phytochemical profile, antioxidant potential, antimicrobial activity, and cytotoxicity of dry extract from Rosa damascena Mill. Molecules. 2023;28(22):7666. doi.org/10.3390/molecules28227666
[2] Ranjbar N, Osanloo M, Nasiri-Ghiri M, et al. Investigating the protective effect of Rosa damascena nanogel on collagenase and elastase activity and UVB-induced dermal damage. Photochem Photobiol. 2025;101(6):1443-1453. doi.org/10.1111/php.14072
Found in these formulas
Questions, answered
Yes. Rose is prized for calming and comforting the look of dry, sensitive skin, and rose water has been used to cool and refresh for centuries.
It is the fragrant water distilled from rose petals, long splashed on the skin to cool, refresh, and perfume.
It takes thousands of hand-picked petals to distill a single drop, which is why pure rose oil has always been treasured.
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