am sitting in a woodpanelled
meeting room
in Liberty, London, just
I by the shoe department.
And I’m surrounded by
roses. Normally, they don’t have so
many flowers in here – just a table, I’m
told – but today I’m meeting Camille
Goutal, daughter of the late, worldrenowned
French perfumer Annick
Goutal (and now a perfumer herself),
whose business was fuelled by a
passion for roses. “My mother adored
roses,” says Camille. “As well as using
them in nearly all her fragrances, she
ran rose oil in her bath and used rose
serum on her skin.”
With the resurgence of roses in
skincare products and fragrances,
it couldn’t be a more perfect time to
be meeting up with the daughter of
such a fervent connoisseur. “[My
mother] didn’t just appreciate the
ancient flowers for their perfume.
She was interested in roses’ healing
properties,” says Camille. “With the
help of the scientists in her lab, she
created a potent blend of rose sap
[the nutrient-rich liquid that feeds
the plant] and rose oil, which she
incorporated into a line of face creams.
When we tested the cream, we could
show it visibly reduced wrinkles and
improved skin brightness.”
FLOWER POWER
There’s increasingly
concrete evidence about
the properties of roses.
Monique Simmonds,
a plant scientist and
COMING UP
OSES
There is more to the humble
rose than a lovely scent. This
year it’s become an anti-ageing
wonder ingredient
assistant keeper of the Jodrell
Laboratory at Kew Gardens agrees
that roses have hidden powers,
“We’ve always known rose extracts
are therapeutic – they have a 1,000
year-plus history for a start [it is
believed rose oil was used in 10th
century Persia].” After three years of
research into the healing properties of
rose, Monique and her team have now
verified several compounds in roses
that give them an antioxidant effect.
At the University of Bragança in
Portugal, scientists are even more
positive about the power of roses.
Their research has found such a
diversity of antioxidants (believed
to be fully effective on human cells)
that further research has been
commissioned to find out if roses
can be used in modern medicine.
But of course for skincare
companies, it’s the potent anti-ageing
effects of the antioxidants that are
so appealing. It’s why newer niche
skincare brands like Wei East, Neom,
Omorovicza and Sultane de Saba – as
well as more high-tech brands like Dr
Sebagh – are all currently relying on
roses. Witness Dr Sebagh’s Rose de
Vie Serum, Omorovicza’s Rose
Lifting Serum and
WORDS: ANNABEL MEGGESON PHOTOGRAPHY: BEN HASSETT
Sultane’s amazing new Elixir De La
Mariée, re-formulated to be extra
soothing and hydrating (and it smells
better than ever, too).
TRIED AND TRUSTED
More established brands like Ren,
Aromatherapy Associates and Decléor
have long been in on the rose act, but
even they seem to be showing a
renewed excitement. “With all the
high-tech products on the market, it’s
easy to forget about natural remedies,”
says Fiona Brackenbury, head of
training and education at Decléor.
“But companies are beginning to revisit
“Old-fashioned ingredients,
including roses, have benefits for
modern, stressed-out skin”
old-fashioned ingredients, including
roses, and finding they have
great benefits for modern,
stressed-out skin.”
Ren now boasts rose otto (the most
expensive rose extract where several
tonnes of rose petals are distilled to
produce a few teaspoons of oil) in
around 30% of its products. And
Decléor found that extract of rose
damascena (Damask rose) can
strengthen skin by 33%. It’s now being
used in Decléor’s new Harmonie Calm
range for sensitive skins, launching in
September. “Anything that can improve
the quality of the skin is great for
BEAUTY
anti-irritation, not to mention antiageing,”
says Brackenbury.
Rose also has calming and
anti-bacterial effects. “In medieval
France, guests were asked to wash
their hands with rose water and
Persian rose syrup was regularly taken
to soothe the stomach,” say Simmonds.
Nowadays, it’s used as a calmative in
aromatherapy and one of the reasons
it’s so coveted in skincare is because it
has a huge feel-good impact on our
emotions as well a physical impact
on skin cells.
International aromatherapy
consultant Jennie Harding adds that
when it comes to roses, rose absolute
(created by soaking rose petals in a
solvent and skimming off the resulting
oil) works especially well for men.
“I’ve used it to treat male clients and
it can really open them up
emotionally,” she says.
Even make-up companies are
getting in on the act. “Rose is the one
colour that most women can wear,”
says Bobbi Brown, whose hotly
anticipated Denim Rose collection
launches later this summer, along
with Lancôme’s covetable Rose Deco
blush palette (from 1 September).
“In general, roses tick a lot of boxes
right now,” adds Camille. “They’re
natural, active, luxurious and uplifting
and there’s a tried and trusted element
that brings them right up to date.”
TURN THE PAGE FOR
STYLIST’S FAVOURITE
ROSE PRODUCTS
WWW.STYLIST.CO.UK 29
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