I am so, SO thankful a friend convinced me to take a closer look at a company with a founder who insisted upon quality, transparency, and only the best. I quickly figured out "the best" makes ALL the difference in the world!!
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It takes 10,000 roses to fill a single 5ml bottle that is equal to 833 dozen roses. It also takes 60 roses to create a single drop of Rose Otto oil. That’s just under 5 dozen roses!
Did you know that Rose Otto distilled from the Bulgarian Rosa damascena essential oil becomes solid at temperatures below 21 °C (69.8 °F)? This happens because the waxes in the oil begin to set below a certain temperature.
You might say that Rose Otto is a wax and not a liquid, but that is not entirely accurate. The parts of the rose used for distillation are the rose petals. The steam pushes its way through the petals during the steam distillation process until the wax and the oils become separated from the water during cooling and condensation. What is left is the stunning rose water in one part, and the oil and its waxes in another.
The Bulgarian climate is perfect for the rose oil production since the petals don’t over-produce the wax. In less favorable climates, the petals need to produce more wax for protection. When the climate is too harsh, or has too little sun, the rose petals will not have the optimum amount of wax as they adapt to their less than optimum climate by producing too much, or too little wax.
Knowing the difference on how your oil is extracted is very important. There are two process, Rose Otto is produced using the steam distillation method (the YL way), and Rose Absolute is produced using a solvent extraction method.
While both methods produce beautifully fragrant oils, the extraction method produces more oil and the resulting scent is stronger, which is why Rose Absolute is mostly used by the perfume industry, while Rose Otto is mostly used in Aromatherapy since the steam distillation process keeps its therapeutic grade intact.
My Rose oil is sometimes more gel and solid if it’s gotten cool. I just roll the bottle back and forth in my hands and it is soon back to its beautiful liquid state.
My favorite use of Rose is in DIY Beauty Serum. In a 2 dram dropper bottle, combine 4 drops Frankincense, 3 drops Myrrh, and 2 drops Rose. Top with Johoba oil. A drop of this Serum goes a LONG way and produces beautifully amazing results on my skin!
And of course I had to mention the Ditch & Switch box just in time for the fall! Cleaner for pennies, natural sanitizer? Yes, please!
Read more...I did this video at the end of a trip! I was super frustrated by my blood sugar levels, but I had given in a little too much on the wine and very minute amounts of other snacks. I was pretty frustrated, and knew that I was the only one able to truly manage my willpower. I really wanted you to know that to truly make an impact I have to commit each meal to my awesome blood sugar levels for my health and for my family.
It was a valley, probably not the lowest I've been, but I was processing taking responsibility for my choices. After all, I am an adult. Even so, I don't believe in being too hard on myself or anyone else.
Make sure you're following me HERE (blog post sign up landing page). I promise, I get over this!
My postal worker just paid me the biggest compliment ever!
Postal Worker: Hey beautiful!
Me: (oh, she’s talking to me!) Hey there!
PW: You have lost a lot of weight! Are you OK?
Me: (why do we think people aren’t OK when they’ve lost weight?) Thanks!
PW: I hadn’t seen you in a while! I used to see you walking all the time and here you are! You look
great!
Me: Thanks! I am eating a lot of protein – I put myself on an extreme elimination diet and I actually
haven’t felt better in a long time!
PW: Well, you look great! I’m glad you feel great too!
Gosh, I am just on cloud 9, still! What a compliment! I know I feel great, and I know I’m more muscular
now than before! I got kinda squishy before. Remember – I think I was the poster child for “skinny fat”
but I also know I got up to pregnancy weight when I wasn’t pregnant! I definitely had a lot of
inflammation that I feel so good having let go of.
