Prim and Propah

Monday, January 25, 2016

I was recently looking to purchase some new beauty products and happened upon a $40 Natural Rosewater toner. I thought to myself, self? Let's do some research. Is rose water toner hard to make? What would it entail? Turns out, not a lot at all and totally simple. My toddler granted me a long nap this past Saturday afternoon and I was able to whip up a batch of concentrated Rose Water that I can use for DIY beauty products + food and drink recipes. Rose as an herb is cooling, soothing, anti-inflammatory and an astringent... plus lots more. The possibilities are truly numerous. Below you'll find a quick tutorial on making your own concentrated rose water plus I've compiled a bunch of my favorite uses for rose water on the web. Be warned, some of the imagery is super pretty! ROSES!

Thanks to my wonderful husband for providing the gorgeous red roses for our anniversary. Since I had two dozen (I know, glorious, right?), there were plenty of stems to work with. Since there was still some life left in them, the petals were fragrant and I knew they would provide some great rose water. To note, you should use roses that have not been treated with pesticides, since you're making it to use in bath and body products as well as recipes, so buying them from the grocery store probably won't work. You can use them from your own garden or if it's off season, you can buy from a reputable source like Mountain Rose Herbs. I chose to make mine pretty concentrated because I have a ton of ideas rattling around in my head that I most definitely want to have the rose water on hand for. There are many different methods of making rose water but simmering the petals for 20-30 minutes in distilled water will do the trick. Once it's cooled, you can strain into a mason jar and store in the fridge for a year. A year is a long time and you're going to need lots of ideas on how you can use your newly made rose water. Check out some of my favorite recipes from around the web below and be sure to let me know what you think!