Jo & Sarah Love... roses!
One thread has emerged through all our years of Beauty Bible testing: you lot love, love, love roses. And so do we. Our gardens are full of them, mostly via the fabulous David Austin rose breeder – Jo’s favourite being Gertrude Jekyll, while Sarah’s is Olivia Rose Austin, her all-time choice (Munstead Wood) now having been withdrawn.
Now, it probably won’t have escaped your notice that Mothering Sunday is coming up. We prefer to call it that, rather than ‘Mother’s Day’ – because we don’t have mothers, which is poignant, and we don’t have biological children of our own. Yet we do plenty of mothering – to godchildren, nephews and nieces, never mind pets (and most recently, a trio of young men competing in the Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition).
So, for Mothering Sunday, we want to share this rosy round-up of our favourite products, any or all of which we can wholeheartedly recommend, whether for aunties, godmothers, or your own mother (if you’re lucky enough to have one).
JO’S ROSY PICKS
Elemis Pro-Collagen Rose Cleansing Balm
Of all the different options for this repeat Beauty Bible Award-winning cleansing balm, this is the one I’ve bought most often. Breathing the gentle scent of roses while I massage it into my face, then imagine all the day’s cares swishing down the drain when I rinse it away, has become a treasured night-time ritual.
£49 for 100g – buy here
Tom Ford Café Rose Eau de Parfum
Once upon a time, there was another perfume from Tom Ford called ‘Café Rose’. I really liked that – and it was special, being a gift from Karyn Khoury, the Estée Lauder evaluator/fragrance exec who nannied through all the Tom Ford fragrances, for many years. Then it disappeared, only to reappear in this heavenly, lighter-weight version, perhaps a little lighter on the café, with a more delicate rosiness. So wearable, so spritzable, so addictive – I can’t advise you too strongly to have a sniff, when next in the vicinity of a Tom Ford counter.
£106 for 50ml eau de parfum – buy here
By Terry Baume de Rose Le Stick Lèvres Lip Crayon
I’ve adored By Terry Baume de Rose since it first launched Way Back When, but this is my favourite version yet, in a super-easy-to-use swivel-up stick balm. (There are a lot of this design of lip product around, and they’re wonderfully user-friendly.) Same heavenly dewy scent of roses, though – and plenty of lip-caring ingredients, with rose blossom essential wax, vitamin E, ceramides and shea butter.
£28 – buy here
SARAH’S ROSY PICKS
Aromatherapy Associates Rose Bath & Shower Oil
Could there be anything more blissful than lying in a warm bath scented with this voluptuous oil - with mood lifting damask rose essential oil, plus balancing geranium and skin-softening palmarosa. NB do apply as they suggest - warm a capful in your hands, inhale then stroke over your body, before you splosh into your bath.
£58 for 55ml – buy here
Neals Yard Wild Rose Beauty Balm
This one pot wonder, with super nourishing rosehip oil, won a Beauty Bible gold award as an exfoliating cleansing balm but it's also - deep breath! - brill for moisturising top to toe, softening cuticles, even taming stray wisps and frizzy hair. Organic, cruelty free and vegetarian approved.
£43 for 50g – buy here
A hero primer/moisturiser, much loved by make-up artists, BB readers - and us! With hyaluronic acid to hydrate and plump skin, it gives a perfect base for foundation and smells of heavenly Rose Otto, distilled from thousands of petals.
£55 for 50g – buy here
