Love Is in the Air: Rose Essential Oil

It’s the month of February and Valentine’s Day, so that means love is in the air. What better representation of love than a rose?

Years ago I found a lovely little book by Kate Greenaway called the Language of Flowers. Kate was an artist and writer in the late 1800s with a distinctive style the French coined “Greenawisme.” Her artwork captured the things that were the epitome of childhood in that century: bows, ruffles, ringlets, cherubic faces, tea parties, flowers, and the like.

I turned to the page in her book that lists rose, and low and behold, she details 33 different types of roses and their meanings! The very first one of the list is simply rose, and it’s meaning is love.

Rose Essence Beeswax Perfume

As I sit here writing this, I am, quite coincidentally, wearing a heart locket filled with my Rose essence beeswax perfume. As I open the locket and smooth some on my wrist, I can’t help but smile at the happy fragrance. As an aromatherapist, I love to create fragrance with rose. It improves almost everything you blend it with.

Besides smelling heavenly, rose essential oil, Rosa x damascena, is a beautiful oil that is associated with the heart, compassion, love, and forgiveness. Historically, it is wonderful for mature skin and for the female reproductive system including everything from irregular menstruation to menopause. It also relieves anxiety and is a gentle antidepressant.

True rose essential oil is one of the most expensive oils on the market. One milliter can cost from $27 to $39, which makes it about $2 to $4 per drop. Because of the pricing, rose oil is often sold as a 5 to 10 percent dilution in jojoba oil. You can also purchase rose absolute, which is about half the price as the pure oil. It is still lovely, but not quite the same as the pure oil.

Create Your Own Rose Fragrance

Whatever type of rose oil you may have, it will make an altogether lovely cream, perfume, or oil blend. To create a light rose fragrance, purchase a 1/3 ounce glass roller bottle and fill it one-quarter of the way with jojoba oil. Add 20 drops of rose oil and then fill  the bottle up to the halfway mark with jojoba oil. Gently swish the oils together and sniff. Add more if you would like a stronger aroma. This is perfect for any occasion.

Love Poetry

As I turned to the back of Kate’s little book, I found a poetry section with a poem called “Go, Lovely Rose” by Edmund Waller. In this poem, Waller addresses the rose and tells it to speak to his love for him.

Go, lovely Rose—

Tell her that wastes her time and me,

That now she knows,

When I resemble her to thee,

How sweet and fair she seems to be.

Tell her that’s young,

And shuns to have her graces spied,

That hadst thou sprung

In deserts where no men abide,

Thou must have uncommended died.

Small is the worth

Of beauty from the light retired:

Bid her come forth,

Suffer herself to be desired,

And not blush so to be admired.

Then die—that she

The common fate of all things rare

May read in thee;

How small a part of time they share

That are so wondrous sweet and fair!

Yet, though thou fade,

From they dead leaves let fragrance rise

And teach the maid

That goodness Time’s rude hand defies;

That virtue lives when beauty dies.

Have a love-filled day!

eScentually yours,

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