My life as an Italian in a German winter is really not easy. I already mentioned the grey on grey everywhere.
Therefore, I rediscover every year the power of light, or rather of candles. I also admit that prior to my emigration to Germany I was convinced that candles had become a thing of the past following the discovery of electricity. Well … life is a hard taskmaster … it so happened that I began to appreciate candles again, as well as their enhanced relatives: the scented candles. By now, each time I buy one, I would consider which scent I perceive as especially pleasant or which is evocative of particular memories (usually I prefer happy ones). And so, it came to pass that with a “Patchouli – Rose Candle” I had to think of roses (I am a real genius, aren’t I?). Carrying on with my train of thought, my good old rose water came to mind which I used in Italy back then and starting from a very young age. It is called Acqua Distillata alle Rose (Rose Water) from Manetti & Roberts – funny though, the English company’s name! And now I am asking my friend Rosella: is it this water’s fault, that we got the brilliant idea to pluck each and every petal of your mother’s roses (she had lovingly grown them to shower the St. Mary’s statue with rose petals during the May procession) in order to produce cosmetics?
At the end our backsides acquired a glowy complexion, though regretfully not thanks to our wondrous cosmetics …
This is a bit of a digression, but I actually wanted to write that during my latest Italian visit I bought the rose water again.
In our search for a better and better lotion or a tonic sometimes we forget the tried and tested things … I am therefore all the more delighted to have rediscovered this product.
Roses have a long history in my adopted country and followed the illustrious poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who was also extremely appreciative of nature and flowers, his whole life. Here a poem written about the rose:
Most beautiful of all you are acclaimed
In the realm of flowers as queen you are named;
Unanswerable general testament,
Banishing conflict, marvellous event!
You truly are, not merely so appear,
In you belief agrees with vision clear;
Yet science strives and struggles, never tires,
For law and cause, for Why and How enquires.
The rose, so beautifully represented by Goethe, is credited with the following properties:
It stabilises, harmonises, strengthens, opens and lifts the spirit. Maybe because according to an old legend, through an act of mercy she was brought from the Paradise directly to Earth and therefore she still carries heaven within her? Her delicate scent restores and strengthens restless, disheartened and anxious people.
It seems perfect to emerge cheerfully unscathed from the greyest winter ever!
This balancing plant, as a rose water …, gently wakes up and firms your skin in the morning. The skin acquires radiance and is ready to absorb the following products. Aaand, as I said, it lifts your mood for an affordable price (only in Italy, regretfully).
300 ml Rose Water cost in Italy approx. 4€ and elsewhere approx. 9€.
The price is still modest if you read the ingredients. The list runs, logically after water, as follows:
Rosa Gallica Flower Water, Rosa Centifolia Flower Extract, Rosa Canina Fruit Extract, Rosa Damascena Flower Extract, etc.
You can use it as a tonic or you can moisten a cotton pad with Robert’s Rose Water (as I have done innumerable times), put it in the fridge and use the pads afterwards as an eye-mask if you want to refresh your peepers or if you need a “fresh-kick” in the evening before going out.
And … I am at the end of my post! I just wanted to share with you my rediscovery of the marvellous Rose Water!
