Not your grandmother's rose

We love to give small glimpses of what goes on behind the giant green curtain - well, maybe we don't have curtains - but behind the scenes in the studio and the process behind what we do and why we do it.

Last month we announced all of the new spring seasonal products in our Spring Newsletter, and several items in the new product line are scented with rose petals:  Rose Petal Soap, Rose Petal Aromatic Spray, and Rose Petal Dead Sea Bath Salts. Why rose? Because February is the month of love and rose is the quintessential flower of love. Seems like they should hold hands and kiss, right?

The fragrance of rose has inspired poets,  lovers, and dreamers for eons. Greek legend claims the red rose came from the blood of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. The name of Aphrodite's son Eros, god of love, is an anagram for rose. Cool, eh?. Folktales from China to Europe tell similar stories about the rose as a symbol for the unfolding of both spiritual and physical love and perfection.
Pure rose essential oil is some of the most expensive stuff on earth because it takes so very many rose petals to distill into a drop of the liquid gold while rose bushes are sensitive and difficult to care for.  We've used a high quality fragrance oil which contains some of the same compounds as the essential oil, yet is as fresh as a bouquet straight from the florist.

The area of the brain which processes scent is right next to the memory department, and as we all know, so much of our experience of smells is directly tied to memories of previous times and places where we have experienced that before - like cinnamon and baking cookies at Grandma's when you were a child. Plus other random stuff, like the scent of Ralph Lauren Polo men's cologne and the 70's, eww.

Rose is one of those scents that evoke quite a few memories, and some of them involve grandmas everywhere since it's a bit of an old fashioned scent.  But rose is also thoroughly modern and lovely.  Nobody turns down a dozen fresh roses on Valentine's Day.  Or thinks oddly that fresh rose petals are scattered on their pillow at the ritziest hotels, or strewn around the poshest of spas.  It's a classic for a reason.  Rose is timeless and beautiful.

Revered for it's gentleness, it soothes and hydrates when used in skin and beauty products, and is often included in anti-aging skin care for its cell rejuvenation properties.  In aromatherapy it eases tension and anxiety, calming stress.

Rose was the perfect pick for this spring.  We've already gotten great feedback from folks who are loving it. And if you're into layering -- and not just socks, but scent too -- then you've got all 3 products play with.