The Goddess Rose

“Of all the flowers, methinks a rose is best.” – William Shakespeare. Did you know Shakespeare referred to the Goddess Rose over 70 times in his work? Well, if you weren’t aware, he did and for good reason. He didn’t only refer to the Rose in its conventional association of love and beauty but used it to emphasise the heartbreak that comes with love in Romeo & Juliet. In his contemporaneity, roses were everywhere. It was the current Queen Elizabeth I’s emblem, and highly acclaimed for its visual vigour and medicinal miracles. It is also the most popular flower among British consumers and America’s national flower. Image right harry Stonhill  

In brief, the rose offers our eyes a pleasing and refreshing sight in its bloom, reminding us that warmer days are coming. Have you ever savoured its fragrance?

Undoubtedly, the florid scent of the rose is one to astonish anyone as revealed by Young Rose a fragrance by Byredo collaborating with Chinese artist Chen Wan. “Reframing tradition through the perspective of a new generation” this fragrance layers Sichuan pepper over the Damascus rose, taking a new direction from classic romance and the conventional aroma of the rose fragrance to a novel and vigorous spirit of youth as “an olfactive diary of those who are writing their own future.” 

Image Harry Stonhill

Young Roses’ top notes are musk mallow, an India native plant, and Sichuan pepper. The musk mallow offers the first page in the story of the fragrance. It adorns your olfaction with an obscure sweetness with a hint of cognac in its muskiness. A page turn in the story, gives the Sichuan pepper power with its intoxicating lemony and lavender aroma. 

The heart of the fragrance deepens its vigour. Like reading a book you just can’t simply put down. The demask rose boosts femininity and bourgeoisie gravitating the fragrance to a scent closely related to makeup powder and just-washed fresh linen. This is then fortified through a subtle scent from the iris flower, reminiscent of suede or even a buttery-soft and skin-like scent. 

The base notes of ambroxan and musk give the fragrance experience a delicate and earthy reverie. The ambroxan note peruses in the woody-ambery and earthy tones of the fragrance. The musk note sustains this rich aroma adding to its foundation, creating a paper trail of aspiration and youthfulness. 

This is symbolically emphasised by the package design of Young Rose. Designed by Wan, it is supplemented by Byredo’s belief that product design is an art form. Once opened, the fragrances’ paper sleeve, created through the ancient art of papercraft, opens into a beautiful decorative paper effigy.

In 2004 rose breeders genetically engineered the rose to create the first blue rose. Which through its origination, symbolises accomplishing the impossible. In fact, the study and fascination of the rose’s grandeur has even taken the species on a journey in outer space for bioscience research. The first rose to undertake this journey was named the Overnight Scentsation. In brief, the research found that the low gravity environment altered the rose’s scent. From a green and rosy aroma to a more floral rose scent described as ‘out of this world.’ 

Another otherworldly rose is the Juliet rose. A goddess rose variety bred by David Austin who spent over $5 million breeding it. In 2006, the Juliet rose became the most expensive rose sold (ever), for an astonishing $15.8 million.

In the same fashion, Bvlgari Parfums’ new Rose Goldea Blossom Delight Eau de Toilette writes a new chapter of the classic Rose Goldea. Uniquely, the Rose Goldea Blossom furnishes its rose fragrance with peony rosebuds, lily of the valley and musk cedarwood. It is a new take of the Eau de Parfum, adding a fresher fragrance in the Toilette form. Correspondingly encapsulating the aroma of spring flowers, prompting the icing on the lady-cake for every woman.

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare proffered this in emphasis that things are what they are, leastwise its name. Certainly, the case for Rose Goldea Blossom Delight Eau de Toilette.

The elegance and escapade the fragrance adorns begins with a trip to a bewildering field of peonies. You can smell the rosy sweetness scent from a distance and bask in its spicy undertones in its vicinity. The journey of the fragrance then extends to a field of blooming lilies of the valley. In the light of embracing the blooming of spring and bringing new beginnings to your day. The fragrance’s heart lies on lilting sweetness permeated with a muted citrusy and green scent before arriving at its destination in a field of cedar trees. The cedar trees are the origin of cedarwood, an anchoring ingredient in the Rose Goldea Blossom, nurturing all notes together in a citrus and floral redolence of vintage aura.

If you ever fancy an aromatised trip to Morocco, El Kelaa M’Gouna in mid-May is your bet. This small town on the High Atlas Mountains holds a yearly 3-day Rose Festival. Teeming with song and dance, market stands and a rose shower procession, the festival commemorates the rose’s grace in crowning a Miss Rose in a sort of beauty pageant. The rose is the town’s lifeblood, opening its rosewater factories for public tours, where you can buy rose products, from cream, to soap to body oils. 

If that is too far from home, why not check out REN Clean Skincare? An environmentally friendly skincare brand devoted to zero waste with packaging intended for recycling or re-use. #WeAreAllies is an amazing initiative REN is a part of together with its competitors to only produce planet-friendly packaging by 2025. 

REN Clean Skincare has an enriching Moroccan rose-infused collection of skincare, helping to strengthen your skin’s natural moisture barrier and using a variety of active ingredients to provide long-lasting hydration, energise and purify your skin. 

On a gloomy Monday morning, why not bathe with REN’s Moroccan Rose Otto Body Wash? Your skin will thank you. Its ingredients range from Beta-Gluten to reduce redness, demask rose petals and Neroli flower to soothe and revitalise your senses. 

Moving on to their Moroccan Rose Otto Sugar Body Polish, it revitalises your skin through its exfoliation process, resulting in silky-smooth skin and an even-toned complexion. For the final act of a glorious shower experience, is the choice of the Moroccan Rose Otto Body Lotion or the Moroccan Rose Otto Ultra-Moisture Body Oil. Both products will soothe not only your skin, but your senses. From lustrous skin to glow boosting and long-wearing effects. Don’t let the gloom of a Monday drag you down, let REN skincare revive you. 

After all, Spring is coming. To welcome the warmer, colourful, and floral days, the releases of Young Rose and Rose Goldea Blossom Delight Eau de Toilette transports us to the Gardens of Babylon, bestowing upon our quotidian tasks a sense of self-confidence and a bounce to our step, springing us into season, the rose goddess style. And what’s better than revitalising skincare products to boost your Monday morning? 

Did you enjoy The Goddess Rose? Read Feel Like Adonis next.